Dzongkha

Dzongkha (རྫོང་ཁ Wylie: rdzong-kha, Jong-kă) is the national language of Bhutan. The word "dzongkha" means the language (kha, jong) spoken in the dzong (jong), dzong being the fortress-like monasteries established throughout Bhutan by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel in the 17th century.

Dzongkha bears a linguistic relationship to modern Tibetan. Although the spoken varieties are largely mutually unintelligible, they share a common literary language, as well as a liturgical (clerical) Tibetan language (Chöke ) which has been used for centuries by Buddhist monks. Chöke was used as the language of education until the early 1960s when it was replaced by Dzongkha in public schools.

Dzongkha and its dialects are the native tongue of eight western districts of Bhutan (viz. Phodrang, Punakha, Thimphu, Gasa, Paro, Ha, Dhakana, and Chukha). There are also some speakers found near the Indian town of Kalimpong, once part of Bhutan but now in West Bengal. Dzongkha study is mandatory in all schools in Bhutan, and the language is the lingua franca in the districts to the south and east where it is not the mother tongue.

Linguistically, Dzongkha is a South Bodish language belonging to the proposed Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan group. It is closely related to Sikkimese (Wylie: 'Bras-ljongs-skad), the national language of the erstwhile kingdom of Sikkim; and to some other Bhutanese languages such as Cho-cha-na-ca (khyod ca nga ca kha), Brokpa (me rag sag steng 'brog skad), Brokkat (dur gyi 'brog skad), and Laka (la ka). Modern Tibetan is a Central Bodish language and thus belongs to a different sub-branch.

Dzongkha is usually written in Bhutanese forms of the Tibetan script known as Joyi (mgyogs yig) and Joshum (mgyogs tshugs ma). Dzongkha books are typically printed using Ucan fonts like those to print the Tibetan abugida.

Dzongkha is rarely heard outside Bhutan and environs. However, the 2003 Bhutanese film, Travellers and Magicians is entirely in Dzongkha.

"Bhutani" is not another name for Dzongkha - although the two are sometimes confused, even in some ISO 639 codelists.

Microsoft

In October 2005, an internal Microsoft proposal blocked the term "Dzongkha" from all company software and promotional material, substituting the term "Tibetan - Bhutan" instead. This was done at the request of the government of the People's Republic of China, who insisted the name "Dzongkha" implied an affiliation with the Dalai Lama, and hence, with Tibetan independentism. The Bhutanese, who have never been under the rule of the Dalai Lamas, even if they revere the 14th Dalai Lama, were dismayed by the decision. Linguists have pointed out that the word "Dzongkha" has no particular association with the Dalai Lama.

References

Bibliography

• van Driem, George L, with the collaboration of Karma Tshering of Gaselô (1998). Dzongkha. Leiden: Research School CNWS, School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies. ISBN 90-5789-002-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (CNWS publications Languages of the Greater Himalayan Region, 1566-1970 ; vol. 1) - A language textbook with three audio compact disks.

• Dzongkha Development Commission (1999). The New Dzongkha Grammar (rdzong kha'i brda gzhung gsar pa). Thimphu: Dzongkha Development Commission.

• Dzongkha Development Commission (1990). Dzongkha Rabsel Lamzang (rdzong kha rab gsal lam bzang). Thimphu: Dzongkha Development Commission.

• Dzongkha Development Authority (2005). English-Dzongkha Dictionary (ཨིང་ལིཤ་རྫོང་ཁ་ཤན་སྦྱར་ཚིག་མཛོད།). Thimphu: Dzongkha Development Authority, Ministry of Education. ISBN 999-663-3-5.

See also

• Wikiquote:Bhutanese proverbs for a list of proverbs given in both romanized Dzongkha and English.

External links

• Dzongkha Development Authority Thimphu, Bhutan
• Languages on the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas - Nicolas Tournadre
• Ethnologue entry on Dzongkha
• Podcast to learn conversational Dzongkha - Shankar