Tamangic languages

The Tamangic languages, TGTM languages, or West Bodish languages, are a family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in the Himalayas of Nepal. They are called West Bodish by Bradley (1997).

Languages

The languages are:

• Tamang (several divergent varieties, with a million speakers)
• Gurung (two varieties with low mutual intelligibility)
• Thakali (including the Seke dialect; ethnically Tamang)
• Manang language cluster: the closely related Manang, Gyasumdo, Nar Phu, and Nyeshangte languages.
• Chantyal
• Ghale languages (Ghale and Kutang): spoken by ethnic Tamang, perhaps related to Tamangic.
• Kaike (moribund): may be the most divergent.

Classification

Tamangic is united with the Bodish and West Himalayish languages in Bradley's (1997) "Bodish" and Van Driem's (2001) Tibeto-Kanauri.

Reconstruction

Proto-TGTM has been reconstructed in Mazaudon (1994). (Note: TGTM, which is another name used to refers to the Tamangic branch, stands for Tamang-Gurung-Thakali-Manang.)

Footnotes

References

• Bradley, David (1997). "Tibeto-Burman languages and classification". In Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas, Papers in South East Asian linguistics. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
• George van Driem (2001) Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill.
• Georg, Stefan (1996). Marphatan Thakali. Untersuchungen zur Sprache des Dorfes Marpha im Oberen Kali-Gandaki-Tal/Nepal. München: LINCOM EUROPA. ISBN 90-04-09905-0.
• Mazaudon, Martine. 1994. Problèmes de comparatisme et de reconstruction dans quelques langues de la famille tibéto-birmane. Thèse d'Etat, Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle.