Puneet Varma (Editor)

Amdo Tibetan

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Native to
  
China

Writing system
  
Tibetan alphabet

Native speakers
  
1.8 million (2005)

ISO 639-3
  
adx

Region
  
Qinghai, Gansu, Tibet, Sichuan

Language family
  
Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Kanauri ? Bodish Tibetic Amdo

The Amdo language (Tibetan: ཨ་མདོ་སྐད་, Wylie: A-mdo skad, Lhasa dialect IPA: ámtokɛ́ʔ; also called Am kä) is the Tibetic language spoken by the majority of Amdo Tibetans, mainly in Qinghai and some parts of Sichuan (Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture) and Gansu (Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture).

Contents

Amdo is one of the four main spoken Tibetic languages, the other three being Central Tibetan, Khams Tibetan, and Ladakhi. These four related languages share a common written script but their spoken pronunciations, vocabularies and grammars are different. These differences may have emerged due to geographical isolation of the regions of Tibet. Unlike Khams and Standard Tibetan, Amdo language is not a tonal language. It retains many word-initial consonant clusters that have been lost in Central Tibetan.

Dialects

Dialects are:

  • North Kokonor (Kangtsa, Themchen, Arik, etc.)
  • West Kokonor (Dulan, Na'gormo, etc.),
  • Southeast Kokonor (Jainca, Thrika, Hualong, etc.)
  • Labrang (Labrang, Luchu)
  • Golok (Machen, Matö, Gabde)
  • Ngapa (Ngapa, Dzorge, Dzamthang)
  • Kandze

    • Bradley (1997) includes Thewo and Choni as close to Amdo if not actually Amdo dialects.

    Media

    Inside China
  • The Qinghai Television station broadcasts in Amdo Tibetan and Mandarin Chinese language.
  • The Qinghai Tibetan Radio (མཚོ་སྔོན་བོད་སྐད་རླུང་འཕྲིན།) station broadcasts in Amdo Tibetan on FM 99.7.
    • Dispora
  • Radio Free Asia broadcasts in three Tibetan languages: Standard Tibetan, Khams language and Amdo language.

    • References

    Amdo Tibetan Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA