Gserpa language explained

Gserpa
State:China
Region:Sichuan
Speakers:ca. 1000?
Date:2005
Familycolor:Sino-Tibetan
Fam2:Tibeto-Kanauri ?
Fam3:Bodish
Fam4:Tibetic
Iso3:none
Glotto:none

Gserpa (Wylie: gser pa; Chinese: 色尔坝; also Gserskad) is an eastern Tibetic language of Sichuan. It is spoken by a few hundred or thousand people in Sêrba (Tibetan:གསེར་པ་; Wylie: gser pa; Tibetan pinyin: Sêrba; Chinese: 色尔坝; pinyin: Sè'ěrbà) District, Sêrtar County, Sichuan, China and is different from the Amdo Tibetan language, the dominant Tibetan language in the surrounding region.[1] [2]

Distribution

Gserpa is spoken in Shelgrub Township (旭日乡), Yangs’go Township (杨各乡), Sbomda’ Town (翁达镇), and Rgyashod Township (甲学乡) along the lower Gserchu River (色曲河) in eastern Gserthar County (色达县) in Dkarmdzes Prefecture (甘孜州).[3]

The closely related Khalung language, also known as Rdo, Rdoskad, or Khalong, is spoken to the east of the Gserpa area.

Notes and References

  1. N. Tournadre (2005) "L'aire linguistique tibétaine et ses divers dialectes." Lalies, 2005, n°25, p. 7–56 http://tournadre.nicolas.free.fr/fichiers/2005-aire.pdf
  2. Sun, Jackson Tianshin. 2006. "Special Linguistic Features of gSerpa Tibetan ." In Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 29, no. 1: 107-126.
  3. Sun, Jackson T.-S. 2021. Gser-Rdo: A New Tibetic Language Across the Rngaba-Dkarmdzes Border.