Chocha Ngacha | |
Also Known As: | Tsamang |
Region: | Bhutan |
Familycolor: | Sino-Tibetan |
Speakers: | 20,000 |
Date: | 1993 |
Fam2: | Tibeto-Kanauri ? |
Fam3: | Bodish |
Fam4: | Tibetic |
Fam5: | Dzongkha–Lhokä |
Script: | Tibetan alphabet |
Iso3: | cgk |
Glotto: | choc1275 |
Glottorefname: | Chocangacakha |
The Chocha Ngacha language or Chochangachakha (Dzongkha: ཁྱོད་ཅ་ང་ཅ་ཁ་ "'You' and 'I' language";[1] also called "Kursmad-kha", "Maphekha", "rTsamangpa'i kha", and "Tsagkaglingpa'i kha") or Tsamang is a Southern Tibetic language spoken by about 20,000 people in the Kurichu Valley of Lhuntse and Mongar Districts in eastern Bhutan.[2] [3]
Chocha Ngacha is a "sister language" to Dzongkha. Under pressure to assimilate into the mainstream Dzongkha-speaking Ngalop culture, this proximity has resulted in significant loss of its particularly distinctive Kurichu linguistic substrate.[2] [4] Nicholas Tournadre writes: