Gongduk language


Gongduk or Gongdu is an endangered Sino-Tibetan language spoken by about 1,000 people in a few inaccessible villages located near the Kuri Chhu river in the Gongdue Gewog of Mongar District in eastern Bhutan. The names of the villages are Bala, Dagsa, Damkhar, Pam, Pangthang, and Yangbari.
Gongduk has complex verbal morphology, which Ethnologue considers a retention from Proto-Tibeto-Burman, and is lexically highly divergent. On this basis, it is apparently not part of any major subgroup and will probably have to be assigned to its own branch.
The people are said to have come from hunters that would move from place to place at times.
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.

Classification

George van Driem proposes that the Greater Bumthang languages, including Bumthang, Khengkha, and Kurtöp, may have a Gongduk substratum. Gongduk itself may also have a non-Tibeto-Burman substrate.
Gerber notes that Gongduk has had extensive contact with Black Mountain Mönpa before the arrival of East Bodish languages in Bhutan. Gongduk also has many Tshangla loanwords. The following comparative vocabulary table from Gerber compares Gongduk, Black Mountain Mönpa, and Bjokapakha, which is a divergent Tshangla variety.
GlossGongdukBlack Mountain MönpaBjokapakha
hair θɤmguluŋtsham
tonguedəli’liːlɪ
eyemikmek ~ mikmiŋ
earnərəŋnaktaŋnabali
toothɤn’aː ~ waːsha
bonerukɤŋɦɤtphok ~ yöphokkhaŋ-
bloodwiniʔkɔkyi
hand/armgurlɤk ~ lokgadaŋ
leg/footbidɤʔdɤkpɛŋ ~ tɛ̤kɛŋbitiŋ
faeceskicokkhɨ
waterdɤŋlicö, kheri
rainwɤghöŋamtsu
dogokicüla ~ khulakhu
pigdonpɔkphakpa
fishkuŋwənye̤ŋa
lousedɤrθæːkshiŋ
bearbekpələwɤm ~ womomsha
sonledəbæθaːza
housekiŋmhiː̤ ~ mhe̤ːphai
firemi’aːmik ~ ’aːmitmɨ
to hearlə yu-goː-nai tha
to seetɤŋ-tuŋ-thoŋ-
to lookməl- ~ mɤt-mak-gotto
to sitmi- ~ mu-buŋ- ~ bæŋ-laŋ-
to diekomθ-θɛː- ~ θɛʔ-shi-
to killtɤt-θüt- ~ θut- ~ θit-she-
1sg pronounðəköjaŋ
2sg pronoungiiŋnan
3sg pronoungonhoʔma ; hoʔmet dan
1pl pronounðiŋɔŋdat ; anak ai
2pl pronoungiŋiŋnaknai
3pl pronoungonməhoʔoŋdai

Grammar

Morphology

Gongduk has productive suffixal morphology.
;<-məˀtⁿ> ‘plural suffix in human nouns’
Examples:
However, non-human plural nouns do not take on any suffixes, and remain the same:
;<-e ~ -ðe ~ -θe> ‘ergative and possessive suffix’
Examples:
;<-gi> ‘ablative suffix’
Examples:
;<-gu ~ -go ~ -ku ~-ko> ‘dative / locative suffix’
Examples:
Gongduk demonstratives precede head nouns.
;ohaŋ ‘that ’
Examples:
Gongduk has the following personal pronoun paradigm.
singular singular plural plural dual dual
first personðəðeðiŋðiŋ, ðiŋ ŋəŋpoe
second persongigigiŋgiŋ, giŋ ŋəŋpoe
third persongongonðegonməgonməe, gonma ŋəŋpoe
inclusiveiθi, iθirəŋ gəŋpodei, dei gəŋpoe

van Driem compares the Gongduk first person singular personal pronoun ðə 'I, me' to Kathmandu Newar dʑiː ~ dʑĩ- 'I, me' and Tshangla dʑaŋ ~ dʑi- ~ dʑiŋ- 'I, me'. He also compares the Gongduk first person plural personal pronoun ðiŋ 'we, us' to Kathmandu Newar dʑʰai ~ dʑʰĩ- 'we, us'.

Vocabulary

The Gongduk words and phrases below are from van Driem.

Basic vocabulary