Tamang (तामाङ‎ / རྟ་དམག‎)

Tamang is a member of the Tamangic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is spoken mainly in eastern Nepal, and also northern India and Bhutan, by about 1.3 million people. Tamang is officially recognised as an indigenous language in Nepal.

The main varieties of Tamang are:

Eastern Tamang is spoken by about 1.2 million people in Nepal in the Bagmati, Narayani, Janakpur and Sagarmatha zones and in Kathmandu. There are also about 20,200 speakers of Eastern Tamang in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and West Bengal states in northern India. It is also known as Ishang, Murmi or Sei. Dialects include Outer-Eastern or Sailung Tamang, Central-Eastern or Temal Tamang, and Southwestern Tamang.
Western Tamang is spoken by about 356,500 people in the Bagmati and Narayani zones of Nepal. It is also known as Murmi, Sain, Tamang Gyot and Tamang Tam. Dialects include Trisuli, Rasuwa, Northwestern Tamang (Dhading) and Southwestern Tamang.
Northwestern Tamang has about 67,200 speakers in Nuwakot district of the Bagmati zone of Nepal. It is also known as Kath-Bhotiya, Lama Bhote, Murmi, Rongba, Sain, Tamang Gyoi, Tamang Gyot, Tamang Lengmo or Tamang Tam.
Eastern Gorkha Tamang has about 3,980 speakers in the Gorkha and Jagat districts of the Gandaki zone of Nepal. Dialects include Kasigaon and Kerounja.

Eastern Tamang is taught and/or used as a medium of instruction in primary schools in Nepal and Sikkim. It is also used in newspapers, literature, and on the radio and TV in Nepal.

Western Tamang and Northwestern Tamang are taught in primary schools, used in literature and newspapers, and on the radio.

Tamang is written mainly with the Devanagari alphabet, and also with the Tibetan alphabet sometimes.

Devanagari alphabet for Tamang

Tibtan alphabet for Tamang

Tibetan alphabet for Tamang

Download alphabet charts for Tamang (Excel)

Sample text in Eastern Tamang (Devanagari script)

बेनान म्हीकादे प्रतिष्ठा थेन याङतामला आधाररी केमाहेन्सेन स्वतन्त्र थेन च्योच्यो ताला। थेनीकादे बुद्धि थेन विवेक किन्दासी खाबा ताला ओम गीसेमगीला गुङरी डीक्पा ह्रिक्पा लातोसेदा मुला।

Sample text in Eastern Tamang (Tibetan script)

བེན།ན་ མཱི།ཀ།དེ པྲཏིཥྛ། ཐེན་ ཡ།ངཏ།མལ། ཨ།ན།ར་རཱི ཀེམ།ཧེནྶེན་ སྭ་ཏནྟྲ ཐེན་ ཙོཙོ ཏ།ལ།. ཐེནཱིཀ།དེ བུདྣི ཐེན་ ཝིཝིཀ་ ཀིནྡ།སཱི ཁ།བ། ཏ།ལ། ཨོམ་ གཱིསེམ་གཱིལ། གུང་རཱི ཌཱིཀྤ། ཧྲིཀྤ། ལ།ཏོསེད། མུལ།.

IPA transcription

benanʌ mʰikade prʌtisʈʰa tʰenʌ yaŋʌtamʌla adʰarʌri kemahensenʌ sʷʌtʌntrʌ tʰenʌ tsʲotsʲo tala. tʰenikade buddʰi tʰenʌ wiwekʌ kindasi kʰaba tala omʌ ɡisemɡila ɡuŋʌri ɖikpa rʰikpa latoseda mula.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Details provided by Biswajit Mandal (biswajitmandal[dot]bm90[at]gmail[dot]com)

Sample videos

Links

Information about Tamang
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamang_(language)
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/taj
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/tdg/23
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/tge/23
https://www.academia.edu/1361754/A_Linguistic_Description_of_Tamang_Language_Spoken_in_Sikkim_State

Tamangic languages

Chhantyal, Gurung, Tamang, Thakali

Languages written with the Devanāgarī alphabet

Aka-Jeru, Angika, Athpare, Avestan, Awadhi, Bahing, Balti, Bantawa, Belhare, Bhili, Bhumij, Bilaspuri, Bodo, Bhojpuri, Braj, Car, Chamling, Chhantyal, Chhattisgarhi, Chambeali, Danwar, Dhatki, Dhimal, Dhundari, Digaro Mishmi, Dogri, Doteli, Gaddi, Garhwali, Gondi, Gurung, Halbi, Haryanvi, Hill Miri, Hindi, Ho, Jarawa, Jaunsari, Jirel, Jumli, Kagate, Kannauji, Kham, Kangri, Kashmiri, Khaling, Khandeshi, Kharia, Khortha, Korku, Konkani, Kullui, Kumaoni, Kurmali, Kurukh, Kusunda, Lambadi, Limbu, Lhomi, Lhowa, Magahi, Magar, Mahasu Pahari, Maithili, Maldivian, Malto, Mandeali, Marathi, Marwari, Mewari, Mundari, Nancowry. Newar, Nepali, Nimadi, Nishi, Onge, Pahari, Pali, Pangwali, Rajasthani, Rajbanshi, Rangpuri, Sadri, Sanskrit, Santali, Saraiki, Sirmauri, Sherpa, Shina, Sindhi, Sunwar, Sylheti, Tamang, Thakali, Thangmi, Wambule, Wancho, Yakkha, Yolmo

Languages written with the Tibetan alphabet

Amdo Tibetan, Balti, Bokar, Chocha Ngacha, Choni, Dzongkha (Bhutanese), Jirel, Khams Tibetan, Khengkha, Ladakhi, Sikkimese, Tibetan, Sherpa, Tamang, Tshangla

Page last modified: 31.01.24

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