Kyirong language

Kyirong
Lende Kyerung
स्युबा
Region	Tibet
Native speakers	100 (2002, Ethnologue)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Kanauri ? Bodish Tibetic Kyirong–Kagate Kyirong
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kgy
Glottolog	kyer1238  Kyerung

Kyirong is a language from the subgroup of Tibetic languages spoken in the Kyirung district of the Shigatse prefecture, of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Language structure

Kyirong has lexical tone, with a three-tone system.

Relationship to other languages

There is a varying degree of mutual intelligibility between Kyirong and other Kyirong-Yolmo varieties. It is most closely related to the Nubri and Gyalsomdo languages, and more distantly related to other languages in the family.

Phonology

Consonants

There are 36 consonants in Kyirong, which are summarized in the table below.

	Bilabial	Apico-Dental	Retroflex	Lamino-post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Voiceless stop	p	t	ʈ		c	k
Aspirated stop	pʰ	tʰ	ʈʰ		cʰ	kʰ
Voiced stop	b	d	ɖ		ɟ	ɡ
Voiceless fricative		s		ɕ			h
Voiced fricative		z		ʑ			ɦ
Voiceless affricate		ts		tɕ
Aspirative affricate		tsʰ		tɕʰ
Voiced affricate		dz		dʑ
Nasal	m	n			ɲ	ŋ
Voice liquid		r
voiced lateral approximant		l
unvoiced lateral fricative		ɬ
Semivowel	w				j

Vowels

There are eight places of articulation for vowels. There is a length distinction at each place of articulation, as well as a long nasalised vowel.

	Front I	Front II	Central	Back
Close	i iː iː	y yː yː		u uː uː
Half-close	e eː eː	ø øː øː		ɔ ɔː ɔː
Half-open		ɛ ɛː ɛː
Open			a aː aː

Tone

Kyriong has a three tone system; high, medium and low. Low tone is often accompanied by breathy voice.

Sources

• Hedlin, M. (2011). An Investigation of the relationship between the Kyirong, Yòlmo, and Standard Spoken Tibetan speech varieties. Masters thesis, Payap University, Chiang Mai.
• Huber, B. (2005). The Tibetan dialect of Lende (Kyirong). Beiträge zur tibetischen Erzählforschung, 15.