This article's factual accuracy is disputed. (February 2024) |
Classical Tibetan refers to the language of any text written in Tibetic after the Old Tibetan period. Though it extends from the 12th century until the modern day, it particularly refers to the language of early canonical texts translated from other languages, especially Sanskrit. The phonology implied by Classical Tibetan orthography is very similar to the phonology of Old Tibetan, but the grammar varies greatly depending on period and geographic origin of the author. Such variation is an under-researched topic.[citation needed]
| Classical Tibetan | |
|---|---|
| Region | Tibet, North Nepal, Sikkim |
| Era | 11th–19th centuries |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
Early form | Old Tibetan |
| Tibetan script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xct |
Linguist List | xct |
| Glottolog | clas1254 |
In 816 AD, during the reign of King Sadnalegs, literary Tibetan underwent a thorough reform aimed at standardizing the language and vocabulary of the translations being made from Sanskrit, which was one of the main influences for literary standards in what is now called Classical Tibetan.
Nouns
Structure of the noun phrase
Nominalizing suffixes — pa or ba and ma — are required by the noun or adjective that is to be singled out;
- po or bo (masculine) and mo (feminine) are used for distinction of gender.
The plural is denoted, when required, by adding the morpheme -rnams; when the collective nature of the plurality is stressed the morpheme -dag is instead used. These two morphemes combine readily (e.g. rnams-dag 'a group with several members', and dag-rnams 'several groups').
Cases
The classical written language has ten cases.
- absolutive (unmarked morphologically)
- genitive (-གི་ -gi, -གྱི་ -gyi, -ཀྱི་ -kyi, -འི་ -'i, -ཡི་ -yi)
- agentive (-གིས་ -gis, གྱིས་ -gyis, -ཀྱིས་ -kyis, -ས་ -s, -ཡིས་ -yis)
- locative (-ན་ -na)
- allative (-ལ་ -la)
- terminative (-རུ་ -ru, -སུ་ -su, -ཏུ་ -tu, -དུ་ -du, -ར་ -r)
- comitative (-དང་ -dang)
- ablative (-ནས་ -nas)
- elative (-ལས་ -las)
- comparative (-བས་ -bas)
Case markers are affixed to entire noun phrases, not to individual words (i.e. Gruppenflexion).
Traditional Tibetan grammarians do not distinguish case markers in this manner, but rather distribute these case morphemes (excluding -dang and -bas) into the eight cases of Sanskrit.
Pronouns
There are personal, demonstrative, interrogative and reflexive pronouns, as well as an indefinite article, which is plainly related to the numeral for "one."
Personal pronouns
As an example of the pronominal system of classical Tibetan, the Milarepa rnam thar, exhibits the following personal pronouns.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| First person | ང་ nga | ངེད་ nged |
| First + Second | རང་རེ་ rang-re | |
| Second person | ཁྱོད་ khyod | ཁྱེད་ khyed |
| Third person | ཁོ་ kho | ཁོང་ khong |
The plural (ཁྱེད་ khyed) can be used as a polite singular.
Verbs
Verbs do not inflect for person or number. Morphologically there are up to four separate stem forms, which the Tibetan grammarians, influenced by Sanskrit grammatical terminology, call the "present" (lta-da), "past" ('das-pa), "future" (ma-'ongs-pa), and "imperative" (skul-tshigs), although the precise semantics of these stems is still controversial. The so-called future stem is not a true future, but conveys the sense of necessity or obligation.
The majority of Tibetan verbs fall into one of two categories, those that express implicitly or explicitly the involvement of an agent, marked in a sentence by the instrumental particle (kyis, etc.) and those that express an action that does not involve an agent. Tibetan grammarians refer to these categories as tha-dad-pa and tha-mi-dad-pa respectively. Although these two categories often seem to overlap with the English[citation needed] grammatical concepts of transitive and intransitive, most modern writers on Tibetan grammar have adopted the terms "voluntary" and "involuntary", based on native Tibetan descriptions.[citation needed] Most involuntary verbs lack an imperative stem.
Inflection
Many verbs exhibit stem ablaut among the four stem forms, thus a or e in the present tends to become o in the imperative byed, byas, bya, byos ('to do'), an e in the present changes to a in the past and future (len, blangs, blang, longs 'to take'); in some verbs a present in i changes to u in the other stems ('dzin, bzung, gzung, zung 'to take'). Additionally, the stems of verbs are also distinguished by the addition of various prefixes and suffixes, thus sgrub (present), bsgrubs (past), bsgrub (future), 'sgrubs (imperative). Though the final -s suffix, when used, is quite regular for the past and imperative, the specific prefixes to be used with any given verb are less predictable; while there is a clear pattern of b- for a past stem and g- for a future stem, this usage is not consistent.
| Meaning | present | past | future | imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| do | བྱེད་ byed | བྱས་ byas | བྱ་ bya | བྱོས་ byos |
| take | ལེན་ len | བླངས་ blangs | བླང་ blang | ལོངས་ longs |
| take | འཛིན་ 'dzin | བཟུངས་ bzungs | གཟུང་ gzung | ཟུངས་ zungs |
| accomplish | སྒྲུབ་ sgrub | བསྒྲུབས་ bsgrubs | བསྒྲུབ་ bsgrub | སྒྲུབས་ sgrubs |
Only a limited number of verbs are capable of four changes; some cannot assume more than three, some two, and many only one. This relative deficiency is made up by the addition of auxiliaries or suffixes both in the classical language and in the modern dialects.
Negation
Verbs are negated by two prepositional particles: mi and ma. Mi is used with present and future stems. The particle ma is used with the past stem; prohibitions do not employ the imperative stem, rather the present stem is negated with ma. There is also a negative stative verb med 'there is not, there does not exist', the counterpart to the stative verb yod 'there is, there exists'.
Honorifics
As with nouns, Tibetan also has a complex system of honorific and polite verbal forms. Thus, many verbs for everyday actions have a completely different form to express the superior status, whether actual or out of courtesy, of the agent of the action, thus lta 'see', hon. gzigs; byed 'do', hon. mdzad. Where a specific honorific verb stem does not exist, the same effect is brought about by compounding a standard verbal stem with an appropriate general honorific stem such as mdzad.
See also
- Standard Tibetan
References
- Tournadre 2003, p. 27.
- Hodge 1993, p. vii.
- Hahn 2003.
- Hill 2012.
- Waddell & de Lacouperie 1911, p. 919.
- Hill 2007.
- Hill 2010.
- Waddell & de_Lacouperie 1911, p. 920.
Further reading
- Bialek, Joanna (2022), A Textbook in Classical Tibetan, London: Routledge, ISBN 9781032123561
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Waddell, Lawrence Austine; de Lacouperie, Albert Terrien (1911). "Tibet § Language". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 919–921.
- Beyer, Stephen (1992). The Classical Tibetan language. New York: State University of New York. Reprint 1993, (Bibliotheca Indo-Buddhica series, 116.) Delhi: Sri Satguru.
- Hahn, Michael (2003). Schlüssel zum Lehrbuch der klassischen tibetischen Schriftsprache. Marburg: Indica et Tibetica Verlag.
- Hill, Nathan W. (2007). "Personalpronomina in der Lebensbeschreibung des Mi la ras pa, Kapitel III". Zentralasiatische Studien. 36: 277–287.
- Hill, Nathan W. (2010), "Brief overview of Tibetan Verb Morphology" (PDF), Lexicon of Tibetan Verb Stems as Reported by the Grammatical Tradition, Studia Tibetica, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, pp. xv–xxii
- Hill, Nathan W. (2012). "Tibetan -las, -nas, and -bas". Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale. 41 (1): 3–38. doi:10.1163/1960602812X00014.
- Hodge, Stephen (1993). An Introduction to Classical Tibetan (Revised ed.). Warminster: Aris & Phillips. pp. vii. ISBN 0856685488.
- Schwieger, Peter (2006). Handbuch zur Grammatik der klassischen tibetischen Schriftsprache. Halle: International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies.
- Tournadre, Nicolas (2003). Manual of Standard Tibetan (MST). Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications.
- skal-bzhang 'gur-med (1992). Le clair miroir : enseignement de la grammaire Tibetaine. Translated by Stoddard, Heather; Tournadre, Nicholas. Paris: Editions Prajna.
External links
- Tibetan in Digital Communication Archived 2014-03-24 at the Wayback Machine
- Translations of Tibetan texts, Tibetan language courses & publications by Erick Tsiknopoulos and the Trikāya Translation Committee.
This article s factual accuracy is disputed Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page Please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced February 2024 Learn how and when to remove this message Classical Tibetan refers to the language of any text written in Tibetic after the Old Tibetan period Though it extends from the 12th century until the modern day it particularly refers to the language of early canonical texts translated from other languages especially Sanskrit The phonology implied by Classical Tibetan orthography is very similar to the phonology of Old Tibetan but the grammar varies greatly depending on period and geographic origin of the author Such variation is an under researched topic citation needed Classical TibetanRegionTibet North Nepal SikkimEra11th 19th centuriesLanguage familySino Tibetan Tibeto Kanauri BodishTibeticClassical TibetanEarly formOld TibetanWriting systemTibetan scriptLanguage codesISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code xct class extiw title iso639 3 xct xct a Linguist ListxctGlottologclas1254 In 816 AD during the reign of King Sadnalegs literary Tibetan underwent a thorough reform aimed at standardizing the language and vocabulary of the translations being made from Sanskrit which was one of the main influences for literary standards in what is now called Classical Tibetan NounsStructure of the noun phrase Nominalizing suffixes pa or ba and ma are required by the noun or adjective that is to be singled out po or bo masculine and mo feminine are used for distinction of gender The plural is denoted when required by adding the morpheme rnams when the collective nature of the plurality is stressed the morpheme dag is instead used These two morphemes combine readily e g rnams dag a group with several members and dag rnams several groups Cases The classical written language has ten cases absolutive unmarked morphologically genitive ག gi ག gyi ཀ kyi འ i ཡ yi agentive ག ས gis ག ས gyis ཀ ས kyis ས s ཡ ས yis locative ན na allative ལ la terminative ར ru ས su ཏ tu ད du ར r comitative དང dang ablative ནས nas elative ལས las comparative བས bas Case markers are affixed to entire noun phrases not to individual words i e Gruppenflexion Traditional Tibetan grammarians do not distinguish case markers in this manner but rather distribute these case morphemes excluding dang and bas into the eight cases of Sanskrit Pronouns There are personal demonstrative interrogative and reflexive pronouns as well as an indefinite article which is plainly related to the numeral for one Personal pronouns As an example of the pronominal system of classical Tibetan the Milarepa rnam thar exhibits the following personal pronouns Person Singular PluralFirst person ང nga ང ད ngedFirst Second རང ར rang reSecond person ཁ ད khyod ཁ ད khyedThird person ཁ kho ཁ ང khong The plural ཁ ད khyed can be used as a polite singular VerbsVerbs do not inflect for person or number Morphologically there are up to four separate stem forms which the Tibetan grammarians influenced by Sanskrit grammatical terminology call the present lta da past das pa future ma ongs pa and imperative skul tshigs although the precise semantics of these stems is still controversial The so called future stem is not a true future but conveys the sense of necessity or obligation The majority of Tibetan verbs fall into one of two categories those that express implicitly or explicitly the involvement of an agent marked in a sentence by the instrumental particle kyis etc and those that express an action that does not involve an agent Tibetan grammarians refer to these categories as tha dad pa and tha mi dad pa respectively Although these two categories often seem to overlap with the English citation needed grammatical concepts of transitive and intransitive most modern writers on Tibetan grammar have adopted the terms voluntary and involuntary based on native Tibetan descriptions citation needed Most involuntary verbs lack an imperative stem Inflection Many verbs exhibit stem ablaut among the four stem forms thus a or e in the present tends to become o in the imperative byed byas bya byos to do an e in the present changes to a in the past and future len blangs blang longs to take in some verbs a present in i changes to u in the other stems dzin bzung gzung zung to take Additionally the stems of verbs are also distinguished by the addition of various prefixes and suffixes thus sgrub present bsgrubs past bsgrub future sgrubs imperative Though the final s suffix when used is quite regular for the past and imperative the specific prefixes to be used with any given verb are less predictable while there is a clear pattern of b for a past stem and g for a future stem this usage is not consistent Meaning present past future imperativedo བ ད byed བ ས byas བ bya བ ས byostake ལ ན len བ ངས blangs བ ང blang ལ ངས longstake འཛ ན dzin བཟ ངས bzungs གཟ ང gzung ཟ ངས zungsaccomplish ས བ sgrub བས བས bsgrubs བས བ bsgrub ས བས sgrubs Only a limited number of verbs are capable of four changes some cannot assume more than three some two and many only one This relative deficiency is made up by the addition of auxiliaries or suffixes both in the classical language and in the modern dialects Negation Verbs are negated by two prepositional particles mi and ma Mi is used with present and future stems The particle ma is used with the past stem prohibitions do not employ the imperative stem rather the present stem is negated with ma There is also a negative stative verb med there is not there does not exist the counterpart to the stative verb yod there is there exists Honorifics As with nouns Tibetan also has a complex system of honorific and polite verbal forms Thus many verbs for everyday actions have a completely different form to express the superior status whether actual or out of courtesy of the agent of the action thus lta see hon gzigs byed do hon mdzad Where a specific honorific verb stem does not exist the same effect is brought about by compounding a standard verbal stem with an appropriate general honorific stem such as mdzad See alsoAsia portalLanguages portalStandard TibetanReferencesTournadre 2003 p 27 Hodge 1993 p vii Hahn 2003 Hill 2012 Waddell amp de Lacouperie 1911 p 919 Hill 2007 Hill 2010 Waddell amp de Lacouperie 1911 p 920 Further readingBialek Joanna 2022 A Textbook in Classical Tibetan London Routledge ISBN 9781032123561 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain Waddell Lawrence Austine de Lacouperie Albert Terrien 1911 Tibet Language In Chisholm Hugh ed Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 26 11th ed Cambridge University Press pp 919 921 Beyer Stephen 1992 The Classical Tibetan language New York State University of New York Reprint 1993 Bibliotheca Indo Buddhica series 116 Delhi Sri Satguru Hahn Michael 2003 Schlussel zum Lehrbuch der klassischen tibetischen Schriftsprache Marburg Indica et Tibetica Verlag Hill Nathan W 2007 Personalpronomina in der Lebensbeschreibung des Mi la ras pa Kapitel III Zentralasiatische Studien 36 277 287 Hill Nathan W 2010 Brief overview of Tibetan Verb Morphology PDF Lexicon of Tibetan Verb Stems as Reported by the Grammatical Tradition Studia Tibetica Munich Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften pp xv xxii Hill Nathan W 2012 Tibetan las nas and bas Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale 41 1 3 38 doi 10 1163 1960602812X00014 Hodge Stephen 1993 An Introduction to Classical Tibetan Revised ed Warminster Aris amp Phillips pp vii ISBN 0856685488 Schwieger Peter 2006 Handbuch zur Grammatik der klassischen tibetischen Schriftsprache Halle International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies Tournadre Nicolas 2003 Manual of Standard Tibetan MST Ithaca NY Snow Lion Publications skal bzhang gur med 1992 Le clair miroir enseignement de la grammaire Tibetaine Translated by Stoddard Heather Tournadre Nicholas Paris Editions Prajna External linksWikibooks has a book on the topic of Research on Tibetan Languages A Bibliography Wikibooks has a book on the topic of A Textbook of Classical Tibetan Tibetan in Digital Communication Archived 2014 03 24 at the Wayback Machine Translations of Tibetan texts Tibetan language courses amp publications by Erick Tsiknopoulos and the Trikaya Translation Committee
