Central Tibetan language

Central Tibetan
Ü-Tsang
དབུས་སྐད་ Dbus skad / Ükä དབུས་གཙང་སྐད་ Dbus-gtsang skad / Ü-tsang kä
Pronunciation	[wýkɛʔ, wýʔtsáŋ kɛʔ]
Native to	China (Tibet Autonomous Region), Nepal, India
Native speakers	(1.2 million cited 1990 census)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Kanauri ? Bodish Tibetic Central Tibetan
Standard forms	Standard Tibetan
Writing system	Tibetan script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: bod – Lhasa Tibetan dre – Dolpo hut – Humla, Limi lhm – Lhomi (Shing Saapa) muk – Mugom (Mugu) kte – Nubri ola – Walungge (Gola) loy – Lowa/Loke (Mustang) tcn – Tichurong thw – Thudam (duplicate code)
Glottolog	tibe1272  (Tibetan)[2] sout3216  (South-Western Tibetic (partial match))[3] basu1243  (Basum)[4]

Central Tibetan, also known as Dbus AKA Ü or Ü-Tsang, is the most widely spoken Tibetic language and the basis of Standard Tibetan.

Dbus and Ü are forms of the same name. Dbus is a transliteration of the name in Tibetan script, དབུས་, whereas Ü is the pronunciation of the same in Lhasa dialect, [wy˧˥˧ʔ] (or [y˧˥˧ʔ]). That is, in Tibetan, the name is spelled Dbus and pronounced Ü. All of these names are frequently applied specifically to the prestige dialect of Lhasa.

There are many mutually intelligible Central Tibetan dialects besides that of Lhasa, with particular diversity along the border and in Nepal:^[5]

Limi (Limirong), Mugum, Dolpo (Dolkha), Mustang (Lowa, Lokä), Humla, Nubri, Lhomi, Dhrogpai Gola, Walungchung Gola (Walungge/Halungge), Tseku, Basum

Ethnologue reports that Walungge is highly intelligible with Thudam, Glottolog that Thudam is not a distinct variety. Tournadre (2013) classifies Tseku with Khams.

See also

• Amdo Tibetan
• Ladakhi language
• Balti language

References

1. Lhasa Tibetan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Dolpo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Humla, Limi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Lhomi (Shing Saapa) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Mugom (Mugu) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Nubri at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Tibetan". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
3. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "South-Western Tibetic". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
4. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Basum". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
5. N. Tournadre (2005) "L'aire linguistique tibétaine et ses divers dialectes." Lalies, 2005, n°25, p. 7–56