1887
Volume 43, Issue 2
  • ISSN 0731-3500
  • E-ISSN: 2214-5907
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

Lhasa Tibetan is described in a number of independent research traditions which give different accounts of its phonology. To what extent do these discrepancies reflect real dialectal or idiolectal differences? To what extent do they reflect different analyses of the same system?

In this paper, we examine one aspect of Lhasa Tibetan phonology on which different descriptions show substantial discrepancies: vowels. Different descriptions of Lhasa Tibetan transcribe from 8 to more than 16 vowel qualities, ascribing to them different degrees of phonemicity. A detailed comparison of the transcription systems shows that all reflect the same underlying system of 12 vowel sounds, which agrees with the transcription conventions of the Seattle Tibetanists. The discrepancies among the systems mostly concern four vowels, namely ɔ, ə, ɪ and ʊ. These vowels, which started as allophonic variants of other vowels, later appear in a set of words which cannot be explained as allophony, and hence are unambiguous phonemes in contemporary Lhasa Tibetan.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/ltba.19004.gon
2021-01-04
2024-12-14
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Chang, Kun & Betty Shefts
    1964A manual of spoken Tibetan (Lhasa dialect). Seattle: University of Washington Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. 1971 Vowel harmony in spoken Lhasa Tibetan. Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica42: 623–765.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Chang, Kʻun & Betty Shefts Chang
    1978–1981Spoken Tibetan texts. 4v.Taipei: Institute of History and Philology, Acadaemia Sinica.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Dawson, Willa
    1980 Tibetan phonology. Seattle: University of Washington PhD dissertation.
  5. 1985 The Tibetan vowel feature ‘constricted’. In Suriya Ratanakul , David Thomas & Suwilai Premsrirat (eds.), Studies presented to Andre-G. Haudricourt, 158–177. Bangkok: Mahidol University.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. DeLancey, Scott
    2003 Lhasa Tibetan. In Graham Thurgood & Randy J. LaPolla (eds.), The Sino-Tibetan languages, 270–288. London: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Denwood, Philip
    1999Tibetan. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/loall.3
    https://doi.org/10.1075/loall.3 [Google Scholar]
  8. Goldstein, Melvyn C.
    2001The new Tibetan-English dictionary of Modern Tibetan. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Goldstein, Melvyn C. & Ngawangthondup Norkyid
    1984English-Tibetan dictionary of Modern Tibetan. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press. 10.1525/9780520907485
    https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520907485 [Google Scholar]
  10. Goldstein, Melvyn C. & Nawang Nornang
    1970Modern spoken Tibetan: Lhasa dialect. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Gong, Xun
    2016a A phonological history of Amdo Tibetan rhymes. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies79: 347–374. 10.1017/S0041977X16000070
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X16000070 [Google Scholar]
  12. 2016b Prenasalized reflex of Old Tibetan <ld-> and related clusters in Central Tibetan. Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale45: 127–147. 10.1163/19606028‑00452p02
    https://doi.org/10.1163/19606028-00452p02 [Google Scholar]
  13. Hoshi, Izumi
    2003Gendai Chibetto-go Doushi Jiten (Rasa-hougen) – A verb dictionary of the modern spoken Tibetan of Lhasa (Tibetan-Japanese). [Asian and African Lexicon Series, vol. 42.] Tokyo: Tokyo Gaikokugo Daigaku, Ajia-Afurika Gengo Bunka Kenkyusho.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Hoshi, Michiyo
    1973 Rasa-hogen no goto no haretsuon, hasatsuon onso ni tsuite [On initial stops and affricates in Lhasa Tibetan]. Nihon Chibetto Gakkai Kaiho: 8–10.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Hoshi, Michiyo & Hoshi, Izumi
    1995Chibetto-go kaiwa, Chibetto-go kenshu tekisuto, vol.1. Tokyo Gaikokugo Daigaku, Ajia-Afurika Gengo Bunka Kenkyusho.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Jin, Peng
    1983 藏语简志Zàngyǔ Jiǎnzhì [A sketch of Tibetan]. Beijing: Nationalities Press.
  17. Kitamura, Hajime
    1963 /^drum/ sgrung -1- Chibetto-go Rasa-hogen tekisuto [/^drum/ sgrung -1- Tibetan Lhasa dialect text]. Nishogakusha Daigaku Ronshu: 1–16.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Kitamura, Hajime & Nagano, Yasuhiko
    1990Gendai Chibetto Bunrui Jiten – A classified lexicon of modern Tibetan. Tokyo: Kyukoshoin.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Lim, Keh Sheng
    2018 The tonal and intonational phonology of Lhasa Tibetan. Ottawa: University of Ottawa PhD dissertation.
  20. Mellac, Eric , Françoise Robin & Camille Simon
    2014Vocabulaire thématique de langue parlée français-tibétain. Paris: L’Asiathèque.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Miller, Roy Andrew
    1955 The independent status of the Lhasa dialect within Central Tibetan. Orbis4: 49–55.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. 1966 Early evidence for vowel harmony in Tibetan. Language42: 252–277. 10.2307/411688
    https://doi.org/10.2307/411688 [Google Scholar]
  23. Qu, Aitang
    1981 藏语的变调Zàngyǔ de Biàndiào [Tibetan tone sandhi]. Minzu Yuwen4: 20–28.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. 1983 阿里藏语Ālǐ Zàngyǔ [Ngari Tibetan]. Beijing: Chinese Academy of Social Science Press.
  25. Róna-Tas, András
    2014 Some remarks on the vowel system of spoken Tibetan. In András Róna-Tas (ed.), Tibeto-Mongolica Revisited, 413–433. Leiden: Global Oriental. 10.1163/9789004251229_013
    https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004251229_013 [Google Scholar]
  26. Samuels, Jonathan
    2015Colloquial Tibetan. London, New York: Routledge. 10.4324/9780203067406
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203067406 [Google Scholar]
  27. Sprigg, R. Keith
    1954a Verbal phrases in Lhasa Tibetan – i. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies16: 134–156. 10.1017/S0041977X00143526
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00143526 [Google Scholar]
  28. 1954b Verbal phrases in Lhasa Tibetan – ii. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies16: 320–350. 10.1017/S0041977X00106007
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00106007 [Google Scholar]
  29. 1954c Verbal phrases in Lhasa Tibetan – iii. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies16: 566–591. 10.1017/S0041977X00086869
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00086869 [Google Scholar]
  30. 1955 The tonal system of Tibetan (Lhasa dialect) and the nominal phrase. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies17: 133–153. 10.1017/S0041977X00106391
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00106391 [Google Scholar]
  31. 1961 Vowel harmony in Lhasa Tibetan 1: prosodic analysis applied to interrelated vocalic features of successive syllables. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies24:116–138. 10.1017/S0041977X00140431
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00140431 [Google Scholar]
  32. 1968 The phonology of the grammatical constituents of verbal-phrase words in spoken Tibetan (Lhasa dialect). London: SOAS, University of London PhD dissertation.
  33. Takeuchi, Tsuguhito
    1993 Shohyo: Kitamura Hajime, Nagano Yasuhiko cho Gendai Chibetto-go bunrui-jiten [Review: A classified lexicon of modern Tibetan by Kitamura Hajime and Nagano Yasuhiko]. Gengo Kenkyu104: 157–167.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Tournadre, Nicolas
    1996L’ergativité en tibétain: approche morphosyntaxique de la langue parlée, Leuven: Peeters.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Tournadre, Nicolas & Sangda Dorje
    2003aManuel de tibétain standard. 2ème ed.Paris: L’Asiathèque.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. 2003bManual of standard Tibetan. Translated by Charles Ramble . Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Twaddell, W. Freeman
    1938 A note on Old High German umlaut. Monatshefte für deutschen Unterricht: 177–181.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Yu, Daoquan
    1983 藏汉对照拉萨口语词典Zànghàn duìzhào Lāsà kǒuyǔ cídiǎn [Tibetan-Chinese dictionary of spoken Lhasa Tibetan]. Beijing: Nationalities Press.
  39. Yu, Dawchyuan & Yuanrenn Jaw
    1930Love Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama. National Research Institute of History and Philology Monographs, series A, vol.5. Peiping: Academia Sinica.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Zhou, Jiwen & Houfang Xie
    2003 藏语拉萨话语法Zàngyǔ Lāsàhuà Yǔfǎ [A grammar of spoken Lhasa Tibetan]. Beijing: Nationalities Press.
/content/journals/10.1075/ltba.19004.gon
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/ltba.19004.gon
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Lhasa Tibetan; phonemicity; transcription convention; vowels
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error