Minyag, Western
PrintPrimary tabs
A language of China
Alternate Names
Darmdo Minyag, Menya, Munya, Muya
User Population
11,500 (2020 A. Conrad).
Location
Sichuan province: Ganzi (Garzê) Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Kangding and Shimian counties.
Language Maps
Language Status
6b (Threatened). Language of recognized nationality: Tibetan.
Typology
SOV; adjectives and number-classifier constructions follow noun heads; case-marking; compounding; affixation; reduplication; 3 aspects (stative, perfective, imperfective); 40 consonants and 13 vowels; consonant initial pre-nasals; tense-lax vowel distinction; nasalized vowels; wide variety of vowel harmonies; tonal (tone is minimally productive in some varieties and unproductive in others); fossilized system of verbal orientation prefixes.
Language Use
Home, village. Some young people, all adults. Neutral attitudes. Some also use Khams Tibetan [khg] (Bai 2019).
Language Development
Grammar. Texts.
Speakers feel themselves to be culturally aligned with the speakers of majority Tibetan varieties, such as Kham Tibetan [khg] found further North (2020 A. Conrad). Buddhist.