Cover not available

Article published In: Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area
Vol. 43:2 (2020) ► pp.226–255

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

How many vowels are there in Lhasa Tibetan?

 | SOAS University of London
Published online: 4 January 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.19004.gon
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.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Overview of vowel correspondence among the sources
  • 3.Features of the Lhasa Tibetan vowel system
    • 3.1Length and nasality
    • 3.2Vowel harmony
      • 3.2.1Vowels
      • 3.2.2General tendencies of vowel harmony
      • 3.2.3Non-harmonic disyllables
      • 3.2.4Conclusion
  • 4.The vowel ɔ
    • 4.1Reality
    • 4.2General pattern of distribution
    • 4.3Phonemic distinction between ɔ and o
      • 4.3.1Nasalised long vowel ɔ̃ɔ̃
      • 4.3.2Short ɔ in numerals
      • 4.3.3  ̄ poo ‘grandfather’ and  ̄ moo ‘grandmother’
    • 4.4Conclusion
  • 5.The vowel ə
    • 5.1Reality and general pattern of distribution
    • 5.2Phonemic distinction between ə and a
      • 5.2.1Contrast between -əp and -ap in disyllabic words
      • 5.2.2̱ kəm ~̱ khəm <gang.bu> ‘pea pod, peas in a pod’
      • 5.2.3Conclusion
  • 6.The vowels ɪ, ʊ
    • 6.1Reality
    • 6.2Phonemic distinctiveness of ɪ and ʊ
      • 6.2.1Vowels ɪ and ʊ of morphological origin
      • 6.2.2-ʊʊ̀ from Old Tibetan <-ab(s)>
      • 6.2.3-ʊʊ from Old Tibetan <-i.ba> and <u.ba>
      • 6.2.4-ʊʊ and -ɪɪ from reanalysis
  • 7.Conclusion: The changs are right
    • 7.1Lhasa Tibetan, central Tibetan, ‘Standard Tibetan’
    • 7.2Phonological rules no longer phonological
    • 7.3An essay in “a philology of descriptions”
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (40)
References
Chang, Kun & Betty Shefts. 1964. A manual of spoken Tibetan (Lhasa dialect). Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1971. Vowel harmony in spoken Lhasa Tibetan. Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica 421: 623–765.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chang, Kʻun & Betty Shefts Chang. 1978–1981. Spoken Tibetan texts. 41v. Taipei: Institute of History and Philology, Acadaemia Sinica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dawson, Willa. 1980. Tibetan phonology. Seattle: University of Washington PhD dissertation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 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 logo with link to Google Scholar
DeLancey, Scott. 2003. Lhasa Tibetan. In Graham Thurgood & Randy J. LaPolla (eds.), The Sino-Tibetan languages, 270–288. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Denwood, Philip. 1999. Tibetan. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goldstein, Melvyn C. 2001. The new Tibetan-English dictionary of Modern Tibetan. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goldstein, Melvyn C. & Ngawangthondup Norkyid. 1984. English-Tibetan dictionary of Modern Tibetan. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goldstein, Melvyn C. & Nawang Nornang. 1970. Modern spoken Tibetan: Lhasa dialect. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gong, Xun. 2016a. A phonological history of Amdo Tibetan rhymes. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 791: 347–374. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016b. Prenasalized reflex of Old Tibetan <ld-> and related clusters in Central Tibetan. Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 451: 127–147. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoshi, Izumi. 2003. Gendai 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 logo with link to Google Scholar
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 logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoshi, Michiyo & Hoshi, Izumi. 1995. Chibetto-go kaiwa, Chibetto-go kenshu tekisuto, vol. 11. Tokyo Gaikokugo Daigaku, Ajia-Afurika Gengo Bunka Kenkyusho.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jin, Peng. 1983. 藏语简志 Zàngyǔ Jiǎnzhì [A sketch of Tibetan]. Beijing: Nationalities Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
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 logo with link to Google Scholar
Kitamura, Hajime & Nagano, Yasuhiko. 1990. Gendai Chibetto Bunrui Jiten – A classified lexicon of modern Tibetan. Tokyo: Kyukoshoin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lim, Keh Sheng. 2018. The tonal and intonational phonology of Lhasa Tibetan. Ottawa: University of Ottawa PhD dissertation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mellac, Eric, Françoise Robin & Camille Simon. 2014. Vocabulaire thématique de langue parlée français-tibétain. Paris: L’Asiathèque.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Miller, Roy Andrew. 1955. The independent status of the Lhasa dialect within Central Tibetan. Orbis 41: 49–55.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1966. Early evidence for vowel harmony in Tibetan. Language 421: 252–277. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Qu, Aitang. 1981. 藏语的变调 Zàngyǔ de Biàndiào [Tibetan tone sandhi]. Minzu Yuwen 41: 20–28.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1983. 阿里藏语 Ālǐ Zàngyǔ [Ngari Tibetan]. Beijing: Chinese Academy of Social Science Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
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. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Samuels, Jonathan. 2015. Colloquial Tibetan. London, New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sprigg, R. Keith. 1954a. Verbal phrases in Lhasa Tibetan – i. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 161: 134–156. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1954b. Verbal phrases in Lhasa Tibetan – ii. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 161: 320–350. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1954c. Verbal phrases in Lhasa Tibetan – iii. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 161: 566–591. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1955. The tonal system of Tibetan (Lhasa dialect) and the nominal phrase. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 171: 133–153. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 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 Studies 241:116–138. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1968. The phonology of the grammatical constituents of verbal-phrase words in spoken Tibetan (Lhasa dialect). London: SOAS, University of London PhD dissertation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
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 Kenkyu 1041: 157–167.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tournadre, Nicolas. 1996. L’ergativité en tibétain: approche morphosyntaxique de la langue parlée, Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tournadre, Nicolas & Sangda Dorje. 2003a. Manuel de tibétain standard. 2ème ed. Paris: L’Asiathèque.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003b. Manual of standard Tibetan. Translated by Charles Ramble. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Twaddell, W. Freeman. 1938. A note on Old High German umlaut. Monatshefte für deutschen Unterricht: 177–181.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
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.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yu, Dawchyuan & Yuanrenn Jaw. 1930. Love Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama. National Research Institute of History and Philology Monographs, series A, vol. 51. Peiping: Academia Sinica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhou, Jiwen & Houfang Xie. 2003. 藏语拉萨话语法 Zàngyǔ Lāsàhuà Yǔfǎ [A grammar of spoken Lhasa Tibetan]. Beijing: Nationalities Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Bialek, Joanna & Camille Simon
2024. The cycle of applicative in Tibetic. Diachronica 41:4 ► pp. 437 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue