Urbanization, Schooling, and Tibetan Dialect Standardization in Khams

By Konchok Gelek

དཀནོ་མཆགོ་དག་ེལགེས།

Workshop on Minority Languages of the Chinese Tibetosphere.

Uppsala University, Nov 3-4, 2014

Language Varieties of Yul shulSga ba, Chu dmar leb & ‘Bri stod,and Nang chen & Rdza stod

Migration, Urbanization and Dialect Standardization in Yul shul

CountiesUrbanpopulation

Ruralpopulation

Urbanizationrate %

Yul shul 56,802 63,645 47.16

Rdza stod 20,671 37,597 35.48

Khri 'du 4,644 50,975 8.35

Bri stod 12,293 17,744 40.93

Nang cheng 18,358 67,467 21.39

Chu dmar leb 8,753 19,490 30.99 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Yul shul Rdza stod Khri 'du Bri stod Nang cheng Chu dmarleb

Urbanization rate %

Skye dgu mdo in 1930s and before 2010

Skye dgu mdoin 1930 and before the earthquake

Skye dgu mdo before the earthquake

Yul shul City in 2014

Seng ze Village in 2009

Seng ze Village in 2009

Seng ze Village in 2013

In 2009

In 2014

Religious meeting in 2009

Religious Meeting in Seng ze Village in winter 2013

The Standardization of Skye dgumdo Dialect

Lexicon

Written language

interchange certain key function words as needed འོ། ཡདོ ། (has/ have) ཧོ།ཁོད། (you)

གདའ། འགིའདུག Existential-assertive copula

avoid using local slang

The subfix r is omitted in Skye dgu dialect

English Wylie in written Tibetan

Written Tibetan Wylie in written Tibetan Skye dgu mdo

Written Tibetan in Sga ba dialect

write ‘bri འབི། ‘bi འབི།

cloud sprin སིན། spin སིན།

rice ‘bras འབས། ‘bas འབས།

boulder brag བག bag བག

horizontal ‘phred འཕེད། ‘phed འཕེད།

yak hair tent sbra སྦྲ། sba སྦ།

Chest brang kha བང་ཁ། bang kha བང་ཁ།

Interactions between Khams and A mdo

Qinghai TV and radio Broadcast

Tibetan language teachers

recitation of text and singing of lyrics

How important is it for you to speak Skye dgu mdo accent very well?

Not at all,

3

A little, 14

Moderately, 16

Quite a lot, 23

Absolutely, 5

How important is it for you children to speak your home place accent if you have children?

Not at all9%

A little 10%

Moderately 8%

Quite a lot34%

Absolutely 39%

If you speak Skye dgu mdoaccent to your family, what is your parents’ attitude?

Do not allow22%

little rejection15%

Do not care23%

Accept23%

Encourage17%

I prefer to speak in my home dialect

Not at all7%

A little 4%

Moderately 43%Quite a lot

24%

Absolutely 22%

My home accent is not very appreciated in school

Not at all8%

A little19%

Moderately56%

Quite a lot0%

Absolutely17%

Is your Skye dgu mdo accent the same as local people’s?

52%

48%

Yul shul Prefecture Middle

School

Same Not same

7%

93%

Yul shul Vocational School

Same Not same30%

70%

Both schools

Same Not same

Are jokes told in your home accent funnier?

31%

6%

63%

Funnier don’t know The same

Student’s home counties

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Yul shul Nangchen

Chudmar

leb

Rdzastod

Khri ‘du ‘Bri stod Dkarmdzes

0

5

10

15

20

25

Yulshul

Nangchen

Chudmar

leb

Rdzastod

Khri ‘du ‘Bri stod

Dkarmdzes

Yul shul PrefectureMiddle School

Yul shulVocational School

Do people notice that you are from a certain place by your accent?

21

10

18

12

0

5

10

15

20

25

Do notice Don’t notice

Yul shul Prefecture Middle School Yul shul Vocational School

64%

36%

do notice

Don't notice

In your daily circle people who speak Skye dgu mdo accent are

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Absolute majority Majority Half Less than half Minority

Conclusion

The destination for many regional immigrants

Migrant numbers have skyrocketed

Migrants’ home dialects have adapted to the new circumstance through schooling

Dialect leveling is triggered by contracts of dialects through migration.