Thakali language explained

Thakali
Nativename:थकाली
States:Nepal
Ethnicity: Thakali (2021 census)
Date:2002–2021 census
Ref:e27
Familycolor:Sino-Tibetan
Fam2:Tamangic
Fam3:Gurung–Tamang
Fam4:Gurungic
Dia1:Thakali
Dia2:Tangbe
Dia3:Tetang
Dia4:Chuksang
Lc1:ths
Ld1:Thakali
Lc2:skj
Ld2:Seke
Glotto:thak1245
Glottoname:Thakali
Glotto2:seke1240
Glottoname2:Seke
Glottorefname2:Seke (Nepal)
Elp2:5688
Elpname2:Seke (Nepal)
Script:Devanagari (modern)[1]
Tibetan script (historical)[2]

Thakali is a Sino-Tibetan language of Nepal spoken by the Thakali people, mainly in the Myagdi and Mustang Districts. Its dialects have limited mutual intelligibility.

Seke (Serke, Tangbe, Tetang, Chuksang) is sometimes considered a separate language. Other names and dialect names are Barhagaule, Marpha, Panchgaunle, Puntan Thakali, Syang, Tamhang Thakali, Thaksaatsaye, Thaksatsae, Thaksya, Tukuche, Yhulkasom.[3] Seke (Serke) is spoken in the villages of Tangbe, Tetang, Chuksang, Chaile, and Gyakar in Mustang District, northern Nepal. Martine Mazaudon has documented the Tangbe dialect of Seke as spoken by an expatriate speaker in Paris.[4] Honda (2002) also documented two other dialects of Seke, Tetang and Chuksang.[5]

Geographical distribution

Thakali is spoken in the middle of the Kali Gandaki River valley and in the upper part of the Kali Gandaki Gorge (also known as Thak Khola), in Mustang District, Gandaki Province. The Thakali area is bounded by Annapurna Himal on one side and Dhawalagiri Himal on the other, with Tatopani village in the south and Jomsom in the north (Ethnologue).

The Tukuche dialect is spoken from Tukuche to Thaksatsae, in 13 villages: Tukuche, Khanti, Kobang, Larjung, Dampu, Naurikot, Bhurjungkot, Nakung, Tithi, Kunjo, Taglung, Lete, Ghansa. Many live outside the area.

Seke is spoken by Gurung of Chuksang, Tsaile, Tangbe, Tetang, and Gyakar villages of Mustang District, Dhawalagiri Zone. There are only 700 native speakers of this language, 100 of whom live in New York City. Reportedly, half of the New York City speakers live in the same apartment building.[6] [7] [8]

Dialects

Ethnologue lists the following dialects of Thakali.

Seke has the following dialects.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Vinding, Michael. The Thakali: A Himalayan Ethnography. January 10, 1998. Serindia Publications, Inc.. 9780906026502. Google Books.
  2. http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/kailash/pdf/kailash_09_01_02.pdf
  3. Web site: OLAC resources in and about the Thakali language. www.language-archives.org.
  4. Mazaudon, Martine. 2023. The name of the Se(r)ke language and the reconstruction of a final -s in proto-TGTM (Tamangish). 26th Himalayan Languages Symposium, 4-6 September 2023. Paris: INALCO.
  5. Honda, Isao. 2002. Seke phonology: a comparative study of three Seke dialects. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 25(1): 191-210.
  6. News: Just 700 Speak This Language (50 in the Same Brooklyn Building). Freytas-Tamura. Kimiko de. 2020-01-07. The New York Times. 2020-01-08. en-US. 0362-4331.
  7. Web site: Dazzling Map Shows NYC's Incredible Linguistic Diversity. Christopher. Robbins. 2019-12-03. Gothamist. en. 2020-02-12.
  8. Web site: There's New Hope For Endangered Languages In NYC. 2020-01-09. en-US. 2020-02-12.