Writing system Tibetan alphabet Glottolog bumt1240 | Native speakers 20,000 (2011) ISO 639-3 kjz | |
Language family Sino-TibetanTibeto-Kanauri ?BodishEast BodishBumthang | ||
The Bumthang language (Dzongkha: བུམ་ཐང་ཁ་, Wylie: bum thang kha); also called "Bhumtam", "Bumtang(kha)", "Bumtanp", "Bumthapkha", and "Kebumtamp") is an East Bodish language spoken by about 20,000 people in Bumthang and surrounding districts of Bhutan. Van Driem (1993) describes Bumthang as the dominant language of central Bhutan.
Related languages
Historically, Bumthang and its speakers have had close contact with speakers of the Kurtöp, Nupbi and Kheng languages, nearby East Bodish languages of central and eastern Bhutan, to the extent that they may be considered part of a wider collection of "Bumthang languages."
Bumthang language is largely lexically similar with Kheng (92%), Nyen (75%–77%), and Kurtöp (70%–73%); but less so with Dzongkha (47%–52%) and Tshangla (40%–50%, also called "Sharchop"). It is either closely related to or identical with the Tawang language of the Monpa people of Tawang in India and China.