TibetanlanguageTibetanlanguage,Tibetic(orBodie)languagebelongingtotheTibeto-BurmangroupoftheSino-Tibetan(汉藏语系)Ianguagefamily;itisspokeninTibet,Bhutan,Nepal,andinpartsofnorthernIndia(includingSikkim).TheIanguageisusuallydividedbyscholarsintofourdialectgroups(方言):Central,Southern,Northern(innorthernTibet),andWestern(inwesternTibet).ThewidelyuseddialectofLhasa,thecapitalofTibet,belongstotheCentralgroup,whiletheSoutherngroupisfoundprimarilyinSikkim,Bhutan,andNepal.TheWesterndialectsaremoreconservativeintheirsoundsystems,havingbestpreservedtheinitialconsonantclustersandthefinalstops(soundsformedwithcompleteclosureinthevocaltract)ofOldTibetanandhavinglessdevelopmentoftonesthantheotherdialects・TibetaniswritteninascriptderivedfromthatofIndianGuptainaboutAD600.Ithasasyllabaryof30consonantsandfivevowels;sixadditionalsymbolsareusedinwritingSanskritwords.Thescriptitselfhasfourvariations-dbu-can(primarilyforBuddhisttextbooks),dbu-medandXhyug-yig(forgeneraluse),andfbru-tsha(fordecorativewriting).LearnTheLanguageBasicTermsTashiDelek........ATibetangreetingKusudewo?..........howareyou?Paia.................father.Amala..............motherAcha................sisterCho-cho...........brotherzakhang...........restaurantThu-chi-che........thankyoupaar...............picturegawo...............loveNyima................SundayDawa................MondayMingma............TuesdayLhakpa.............WednesdayPhurbu.............ThursdayPasang.............FridayPemba..............SaturdayTheAlphabetConsonantsTheTibetanalphabetisderivedfromtheancientBrahmiscript-soonecanseesimilaritiestotheIndianalphabets.ThereareactuallytwodifferentstylesoftheTibetanscript.Theonepresentedhereisdbucan(u-chen)orheadedwriting.Thisismostcommonlyfoundinprint-thatisinnewspapers,books,etc.andelectronicformat.Herearetheconsonantscalledgsalbyed(salje).Ifyounoticed,eachTibetanterm「vealreadypresentediswritten,andthensomethingappearsinparentheses・FirstistheWylietranscription-thisis,justarepresentationoftheTibetanlettersintheRoman(English)script.Theninparenthesesishowitispronouncedinthestandard(Lhasa)dialect.SuchadifferenceappearsbetweenthetwosincemanyoftheTibetanlettersareusedtomarktone.So,IsuggestlearningtheWylietranscriptionschemesoyoucanwritetranscribedwordsinthenativeTibetan.Then,learnthepronunciationsoyoucanactuallyspeakthelanguage.Forthefollowingchart,theWylietranscriptionappears,thentheLhasapronunciationappearsinparentheses・Aslashindicatesthateithersymbolcouldbeused.51^-円kk#)—£$cJkj(c)乡ny/wt曰HAsdq5XQ喝pkqt^(p)&£+号+晁1QNw冋wh(日a^(e)a‘G¥(2JI1»k氓w罷闭Jka謂Vowels(元音)Herearethevowelsordbyangs(yang).Eachletterabovehasaninherentf,aHpronouncedlike“but.”Inordertochangethisvoweltoanothersound,amarkisplacedaboveorbelowtheconsonant.AvowelwrittenaloneuseseithertheTibetanletteraorfa-thedifferenceintranscriptionsymbolisonlytorepresentadifferentletterform,/ispronouncedlike"fit.”Eispronouncedlike”May.”L/ispronouncedlikenfood/'ConsonantsConjuncts(辅音复合词丿Onewillfrequentlyfindconsonantstacks-thatislettersontopofeachother.Someletterstakespecialformswhenbeingstacked・Herearethosespecialformsattachedtotheletterkforthesakeofexample・Somecharactersalwaysformthesestackseveniftheydonothaveaspecialform.Threearecalledrango,lango,andsango.Thesemeanthatthelettersra,la,andsaaresuperscribed(orontopof)anotherletter.Thesubscr...