West Himalayish languages


The West Himalayish languages, also known as Almora and Kanauric, are a family of Sino-Tibetan languages centered in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and across the border into Nepal. LaPolla proposes that the West Himalayish languages may be part of a larger "Rung" group.

Languages

The languages include:
Zhangzhung, the sacred language of the Bon religion, was spoken north of the Himalayas across western Tibet before being replaced by Tibetan. James Matisoff provides lexical and phonological evidence for the classification of Zhangzhung within West Himalayish.

Classification

Widmer classifies the West Himalayish languages as follows. The recently discovered Dhuleli language has been added from Regmi & Prasain.
;West Himalayish
Widmer classifies Zhangzhung within the Eastern branch of West Himalayish, and notes that it appears particularly close to languages of the Central subgroup.
Widmer notes that many Tibetan varieties in the western Tibetan Plateau have been influenced by West Himalayish languages.

Vocabulary

Widmer lists the following lexical items that differ in the Eastern and Western branches of West Himalayish.
Language‘one’‘hand’‘cry’‘black’
Proto-Eastern
West Himalayish		*it*gut*krap-*rok-
Manchaditsagùṛakrap-roki
Kanashiidhguḍkərop-roko
Kinnauri
idgŭd'krap-rŏkh
Proto-Western
West Himalayish		*tik*lak*tjo-*kʰaj/*wom
Bunantikilaktjo-kʰaj
Rongpotiglagtyõ-kʰasyũ
Byangsitigɛlàtye-wamdɛ

Widmer classifies Zhangzhung within the eastern branch of West Himalayish, and lists the following cognates between Zhangzhung and Proto-West Himalayish.
GlossZhangzhungProto-West Himalayish
barleyzad*zat
blueting*tiŋ-
diminutive suffix-tse*-tse ~ *-tsi
earra tse*re
fattsʰas*tsʰos
girltsa med*tsamet
godsad*sat
gold ?zang*zaŋ
heartshe*ɕe
old shang ze*ɕaŋ
redmang*maŋ
whiteshi nom*ɕi

Footnotes