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Gongduk has complex verbal morphology, which Ethnologue considers a retention from Proto-Tibeto-Burman,[1] and is lexically highly divergent.[3] On this basis, it is apparently not part of any major subgroup and will probably have to be assigned to its own branch.[3][4]
The people are said to have come from hunters that would move from place to place at times.[5]
The language is notable for only being discovered by linguists in 1991.[6] Currently, George van Driem is working towards the completion of a description of Gongduk based on his work with native speakers in the Gongduk area.[4]
Classificationedit
George van Driem (2001:870)[7] proposes that the Greater Bumthang (East Bodish) languages, including Bumthang, Khengkha, and Kurtöp, may have a Gongduk substratum. Gongduk itself may also have a non-Tibeto-Burman substrate.[citation needed]
Gongduk has the following personal pronoun paradigm.[10]
singular (absolutive)
singular (ergative & genitive)
plural (absolutive)
plural (ergative & genitive)
dual (absolutive)
dual (ergative & genitive)
first person
ðə
ðe
ðiŋ
ðiŋ, ðiŋ ŋəŋpoe
second person
gi
gi
giŋ
giŋ, giŋ ŋəŋpoe
third person
gon
gonðe
gonmə
gonməe, gonma ŋəŋpoe
inclusive
iθi, iθirəŋ gəŋpo
dei, dei gəŋpoe
van Driem (2014) compares the Gongduk first person singular personal pronoun ðə 'I, me' to Kathmandu Newardʑiː ~ dʑĩ- 'I, me' and Tshangladʑaŋ ~ dʑi- ~ dʑiŋ- 'I, me'. He also compares the Gongduk first person plural personal pronoun ðiŋ 'we, us' to Kathmandu Newardʑʰai ~ dʑʰĩ- 'we, us'.
Vocabularyedit
The Gongduk words and phrases below are from van Driem (2014).[10]
^ abBlench, R. & Post, M. W. (2013). Rethinking Sino-Tibetan phylogeny from the perspective of Northeast Indian languages
^ abHimalayan Languages Project. "Gongduk". Himalayan Languages Project. Archived from the original on 2012-03-03. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
^"Languages and Ethnic Groups of Bhutan". www.languagesgulper.com. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
^"Why do languages die?", by Christopher Moseley, in The 5-Minute Linguist, ISBN 978-1-908049-49-0
^van Driem, George. 2001. Languages of the Himalayas. Leiden: Brill
^Gerber, Pascal. 2018. Areal features in Gongduk, Bjokapakha and Black Mountain Mönpa phonology Archived 2019-03-24 at the Wayback Machine. Unpublished draft.
^ abcGerber, Pascal (2020). "Areal features in Gongduk, Bjokapakha and Black Mountain Mönpa phonology". Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 43 (1): 55–86. doi:10.1075/ltba.18015.ger. ISSN 0731-3500. S2CID 225218734.
^ abcdvan Driem, George. 2014. Gongduk Nominal Morphology and the phylogenetic position of Gongduk. Paper presented at the 20th Himalayan Languages Symposium, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 16 July 2014.
Bibliographyedit
Dzongkha Development Authority; Dasho Sangay Dorji; Col. Wangdi Tshering; Namgay Thinley; Gyembo Dorji; Phuntsho Wangdi; Lekyi Tshering; Sangay Phuntsho (2005). དགོང་འདུས་རྫོང་ཁ་ཨིན་སྐད་ཤན་སྦྱར་ཚིག་མཛོད། (Gongduk-Dzongkha-English Dictionary). Thimphu: Dzongkha Development Authority. p. 115. ISBN 99936-663-1-9.
Gerber, Pascal. 2019. Gongduk agreement morphology in functional and diachronic perspective. Paper presented at the ISBS Inaugural Conference, Magdalen College, University of Oxford.
van Driem, George L; et al. (Karma Tshering of Gaselô) (1998). Dzongkha. Languages of the Greater Himalayan Region. Leiden: Research School CNWS, School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies. pp. 32–33. ISBN 90-5789-002-X.
van Driem, George L (2007). "Endangered languages of Bhutan and Sikkim". In Brenzinger, Matthias (ed.). Language diversity endangered. Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 314–15. ISBN 978-3-11-017050-4.
van Driem, George. 2014. Gongduk Nominal Morphology and the phylogenetic position of Gongduk. Paper presented at the 20th Himalayan Languages Symposium, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 16 July 2014.
External linksedit
ELAR archive of Documentation of the flora and fauna of Gongduk