Kyirong language

Kyirong
Kyirong
Lende; Kyerung;
स्युबा
Region	Tibet
Native speakers	100 (2002)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Kanauri ? Bodish Tibetic Kyirong–Kagate Kyirong; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kgy
Glottolog	kyer1238 Kyerung

Kyirong is a language from the subgroup of Tibetic languages^[2] spoken in the Gyirong County of the Shigatse prefecture, of the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Kyirong has lexical tone, with a three-tone system.^[3]

Relationship to other languages

There is a varying degree of mutual intelligibility between Kyirong and other Kyirong-Yolmo varieties. It is most closely related to the Nubri and Gyalsomdo languages,^[4] and more distantly related to other languages in the family.^[5]

Phonology

Consonants

There are 36 consonants in Kyirong, which are summarized in the table below.^[3]

		Bilabial	Apico-Dental		Retroflex	Lamino- post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n				ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	ts	ʈ	tɕ	c	k
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	tsʰ	ʈʰ	tɕʰ	cʰ	kʰ
	voiced	b	d	dz	ɖ	dʑ	ɟ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless		s			ɕ			h
Fricative	voiced		z			ʑ			ɦ
Liquid	rhotic		r
	voiced lateral		l
	unvoiced lateral		ɬ
Semivowel		w					j

Vowels

There are eight places of articulation for vowels. There is a length distinction at each place of articulation, as well as a long nasalised vowel.^[3]

		Front		Central	Back
Close	oral	i iː	y yː		u uː
Close	nasal	ĩː	ỹː		ũː
Half-close	oral	e eː	ø øː
Half-close	nasal	ẽː	ø̃ː
Half-open	oral	ɛ ɛː			ɔ ɔː
Half-open	nasal	ɛ̃ː			ɔ̃ː
Open	oral			a aː
Open	nasal			ãː

Tone

Kyriong has a three tone system; high, medium and low. Low tone is often accompanied by breathy voice.^[3]

Sources

Hedlin, M. (2011). An Investigation of the relationship between the Kyirong, Yòlmo, and Standard Spoken Tibetan speech varieties. Masters thesis, Payap University, Chiang Mai.
Huber, B. (2005). The Tibetan dialect of Lende (Kyirong). Beiträge zur tibetischen Erzählforschung, 15.

References

^ Kyirong at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
Kyirong at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ N. Tournadre (2005) "L'aire linguistique tibétaine et ses divers dialectes." Lalies, 2005, n°25, p. 7–56 [1]
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Huber, Brigitte (2005). The Tibetan dialect of Lende (Kyirong). Bonn: VGH Wissenschaftsverlag.
^ Hedlin, Matthew (2011). An investigation of the relationship between the Kyirong, Yòlmo, and Standard Spoken Tibetan speech varieties (unpublished MA thesis). Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
^ Gawne, Lauren (2013). "Report on the relationship between Yolmo and Kagate". Himalayan Linguistics. 12: 1–27.

[e25-1] Kyirong at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
Kyirong at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)

[:122-2] N. Tournadre (2005) "L'aire linguistique tibétaine et ses divers dialectes." Lalies, 2005, n°25, p. 7–56 [1]

[:0-3] Huber, Brigitte (2005). The Tibetan dialect of Lende (Kyirong). Bonn: VGH Wissenschaftsverlag.

[4] Hedlin, Matthew (2011). An investigation of the relationship between the Kyirong, Yòlmo, and Standard Spoken Tibetan speech varieties (unpublished MA thesis). Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

[:13-5] Gawne, Lauren (2013). "Report on the relationship between Yolmo and Kagate". Himalayan Linguistics. 12: 1–27.

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