Ladakhi language

Dialects

The dialects of Ladakhi are:

• Lehskat, named after Leh where it is spoken.
• Shamskat, spoken northwest of Leh in the sham region of ladakh.
• Stotskat, spoken in the upper Indus valley of ladakh and which unlike the others is tonal.
• Nubraskat, spoken north of Leh in the nubra region of Ladakh.

Classification

Nicolas Tournadre considers Ladakhi, Balti, and Purgi to be distinct languages on the basis of mutual intelligibility (Zangskari is not as distinct). As a group they are termed Ladakhi–Balti or Western Archaic Tibetan.

Zangskari is a dialect of Ladakhi spoken in Zanskar and also spoken by Buddhists in the upper reaches of Lahaul (Himachal Pradesh) and Paddar (Paldar). It has four subdialects, Stod, Zhung, Sham, and Lungna. It is written using the Tibetan script by Buddhists and the Arabic script by Muslim and Christian Ladakhis.

Phonology

Consonants

• can fricative sounds as allophones that occur within free variation.
• has an allophone of a retracted velar stop .
• can have allophones when occurring initially before a voiceless consonant.

Vowels

Ladakhi has a regular five vowel system, but with being replaced with , making it unusual, as most languages have .

• Allophones of in word-final position are heard as .
• Allophones of are heard as .
• Allophones occur in free variation.

Script

Ladakhi is usually written using Tibetan script, and the pronunciation of Ladakhi is much closer to written Classical Tibetan than that of most other Tibetic languages. Ladakhis pronounce many of the prefix, suffix and head letters that are silent in many other Tibetic languages, in particular the Central Tibetan. This tendency is more pronounced to the west of Leh, and on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control, in Baltistan. Although the pronunciation is relatively conservative, the Ladakhi language has accumulated significant grammatical differences from the classical, written language.

The question of whether to write colloquial Ladakhi (phalskat) in the Tibetan script or to write an only slightly Ladakhified version of Classical Tibetan (choskat) is controversial in Ladakh. Muslim Ladakhis speak Ladakhi but most do not read the Tibetan script. Most Buddhist Ladakhis can sound out the Tibetan script but do not understand Classical Tibetan, yet many Ladakhi Buddhist scholars insist that Ladakhi must be written only in a form of Classical Tibetan, seeing the vernacular-based orthography only as deviation from the "proper" language. A limited number of books and magazines have been published in colloquial Ladakhi, one example being Ladags Melong from SECMOL.

In Ladakhi language, it is customary to add the suffix 'le' at the end of sentences as a sign of respect towards the individual being spoken to. This linguistic convention is a way to express politeness and honor towards the listener, emphasizing the cultural values of respect and courtesy.

Written Ladakhi is most often romanised using modified Wylie transliteration, with th denoting an aspirated dental t, for example.

Grammar

Nouns

Ladakhi nouns inflect for number and case. There are two numbers: singular (unmarked) and plural (indicated by -kun, -gun or -sək). For example:

khəŋpə

house

→

khəŋpəgun/khəŋpəkun/khəŋpəsək

houses

Plurality is usually unmarked when it is clear from context.

There are 7 cases:

• direct case
• ergative case
• dative case
• instrumental case
• associative case
• ablative case
• genitive case