Nyen language


Nyenkha is an East Bodish language spoken by about 10,000 people in the eastern, northern, and western areas of the Black Mountains. Speakers live primarily between the Tang Chuu to the east and Mangde Chhu to the west, from the town of Trongsa in Trongsa District; along Black River passes in the Trongsa District villages of Taktse and Usar; to in Ridha and Tashiding villages, and Phobji, Dangchu, and Sephu Gewogs and surrounding villages in southeast Wangdue Phodrang District.
Nyenkha is related to the East Bodish Bumthangkha and Kurtöpkha, with 75–77% and 69% lexical similarity, respectively, however they are not mutually intelligible. Dialects within Nyenkha show variation in tone and vocabulary. Dialects are generally named for their villages, such that names for the overall language are largely confined to academia.

Population

The 1991 census revealed 11,472 Nyenkha speakers in six gewogs of Bhutan. In 1993, the number of speakers was around 10,000 according to van Driem. A 2010 study showed about 8700 speakers in 10 gewogs, which had been redrawn several times since 1991. The decline in numbers may be attributed to population shifts as landless families and former slash-and-burn agriculturalists relocate to areas opened for settlement. In addition to migration and movement, modernization trends have served to limit the practicality of Nyenkha as a fully functional language. Despite the decline in numbers and a shift toward bilingualism, the majority of young people remain fluent in the language.
Many speakers of Nyen have extensive contact with other languages of Bhutan, often through trade. Traditionally, Nyen speakers raised sheep and other livestock for Labi speakers in exchange for cereals from lower altitudes. The communities also traditionally shared Bonpo orators.

Vocabulary

Nyenkha basic vocabulary shows significant difference to Kurtöp, a sister East Bodish language, and to Dzongkha, the national language.
NyenkhaKurtöpDzongkhaEnglish
dasudasum/dusumdaritoday
dawldanglakhatsayesterday
naembaeyambanabatomorrow
doe/doegyidodlainyaedasleep
zoo/zayeezooyezaeat
chhungthrungchhumrice
nesnadnaabarley
zengkarkaawheat
kapchkebtangkebtabread
khehkhoechhuwater

Grammar

Nyenkha has no grammatical gender. Nouns and pronouns may be singular or plural.
SingularPlural
1pསྔ་
nga		ནེ་
ney
2pགཡེ་
gye		ཡིད་
yid
3pཁི་
khi		བོས་
boe

Unlike Dzongkha and most other languages of Bhutan, Nyenkha verbs inflect according to subject number: སྔ་ལཱེག་དོ་ nga laeg-do, "I am going;" ནེ་ལཱ་ཆུག་དོ་ ney laachhug-do, "We are going;" ཁི་ལས་ཤི་ khi las-shi, "He/she has gone"; བོས་ལཱ་ཆུག་ཤི་ boe laachhug-shi, "They have gone."