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ʼOle, also called ʼOlekha or Black Mountain Monpa, is a moribund, possibly Sino-Tibetan language spoken natively by 1 person in the Black Mountains of Wangdue Phodrang and Trongsa Districts in western Bhutan. The term ʼOle refers to a clan of speakers.

Geographic distribution

According to the Ethnologue, ʼOlekha is spoken in the following locations of Bhutan.

• Trongsa District: 3 enclaves west of Mangde river
• Wangdue Phodrang District: Adha, Jangji, Rukha, Thrumzur, and Wangling villages

Dialects are separated by the Black Mountains.

Classification

ʼOle forms a distinct branch of Sino-Tibetan/Tibeto-Burman. it is not closely related to Tshangla language of eastern Bhutan, also called "Monpa" and predating Dzongkha in the region, which belongs to a different branch of the family.

Gerber (2018) notes that Black Mountain Mönpa has had extensive contact with Gongduk before the arrival of East Bodish languages in Bhutan. The following comparative vocabulary table from Gerber (2020) compares Gongduk, Black Mountain Mönpa, and Bjokapakha, which is a divergent Tshangla variety.

Comparison of numerals:

Comparison of pronouns:

Dialects

Black Mountain Monpa is spoken in at least 6 villages. The variety spoken in Rukha village, south-central Wangdi is known as ʼOlekha. Out of a population of 100-150 people (about 15 households) in Rukha village, there is only one elderly female fluent speaker and two semi-fluent speakers of ʼOlekha.

George van Driem (1992) reports a Western dialect (spoken in Rukha and Reti villages) and Eastern dialect (spoken in Cungseng village).

According to Tournadre & Suzuki (2023), there are three dialects, spoken by 500 speakers in Tronsa ཀྲོང་སར་ and Wangdi Phodr’a དབང་འདུས་ཕོ་བྲང་ districts..

• western (in Riti and Rukha)
• northern (in Wangling, Jangbi, and Phumz’ur)
• southern (in Cungseng and Berti)

History

ʼOle was unknown beyond its immediate area until 1990, and is now highly endangered, and was originally assumed to be East Bodish. George van Driem described ʼOle as a remnant of the primordial population of the Black Mountains before the southward expansion of the ancient East Bodish tribes.

More recently, Gwendolyn Hyslop (2016), agreeing with van Driem, has suggested that ʼOle is an isolate branch of the Sino-Tibetan family that has been heavily influenced by East Bodish languages. Because of the small number of cognates with East Bodish languages once loans are identified, Blench and Post provisionally treat ʼOle as a language isolate, not just an isolate within Sino-Tibetan.

Phonology

• Consonants in parentheses are only found in loanwords.
• /s z/ are realized as dental fricatives in eastern dialects.
• The stops /t k/ are glottalised and unreleased at the end of syllables.

• /a/ can often be heard as .
• A distinction in vowel length can be attested, but it is not known whether it is phonemic.

Additionally, ʼOle has two tones; high and low.

Vocabulary

Hyslop (2016) notes that ʼOlekha has borrowed heavily from East Bodish and Tibetic languages, but also has a layer of native vocabulary items. Numerals are mostly borrowed from East Bodish languages, while body parts and nature words are borrowed from both Tibetic and East Bodish languages. Hyslop (2016) lists the following ʼOlekha words of clearly indigenous (non-borrowed) origin.

• six: wok
• head: peː
• face: ék
• rain: gø
• earth: tʰabak
• ash: tʰækʰu
• stone: loŋ
• fire: ámik
• grandfather: tana
• grandmother: ʔɐˈpeŋ
• chicken: ˈkɤgɤ
• mustard: pekoŋ
• cotton: ʔɐˈpʰɪt
• eggplant: ˈpandala
• foxtail millet: ʔamet

The pronouns and lexical items for all foraged plants are also of indigenous origin. Additionally, the central vowel /ɤ/ and voiced uvular fricative /ʁ/ are only found in non-borrowed words.

Words whose origin is not certain (i.e., may or may not be borrowed) are:

• nose: ná (perhaps borrowed from East Bodish?)
• arm: lok (perhaps borrowed from Tibetic?)
• wind: lǿ
• water: cø
• mother: ʔɔmɔ
• father: ʔɔpɔ
• dog: tʃylɔ
• sheep: lu
• barley: nápʰa
• bitter buckwheat: máma

The cardinal numerals are:

1. tɛk
2. nhü
3. sam
4. blö
5. lɔŋ
6. o̤ːk
7. nyí
8. jit
9. doːga
10. chö

References

1. "Olekha".
2. van Driem, George (July 1992). "In Quest of Mahākirānti" (PDF). Center of Nepal and Asian Studies Journal. 19 (2): 241–247. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
3. ^ van Driem, George L. (2011). "Tibeto-Burman subgroups and historical grammar". Himalayan Linguistics Journal. 10 (1): 31–39. Archived from the original on 12 January 2012.
4. Gerber, Pascal. 2018. Areal features in Gongduk, Bjokapakha and Black Mountain Mönpa phonology. Unpublished draft.
5. ^ Gerber, Pascal (2020). "Areal features in Gongduk, Bjokapakha and Black Mountain Mönpa phonology". Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 43 (1): 55–86. doi:10.1075/ltba.18015.ger. ISSN 0731-3500.
6. ^ Gwendolyn Hyslop. 2016. Worlds of knowledge in Central Bhutan: Documentation of ʼOlekha. Language Documentation & Conservation 10. 77-106.
7. van Driem, George. 1992. The Monpa language of the Black Mountains. Presented at ICSTLL 25.
8. Tournadre, Nicolas; Suzuki, Hiroyuki (2023). The Tibetic Languages: an introduction to the family of languages derived from Old Tibetan. Paris: LACITO. ISBN 978-2-490768-08-0.
9. ^ Blench, R. & Post, M. W. (2013). Rethinking Sino-Tibetan phylogeny from the perspective of Northeast Indian languages
10. van Driem, George L. (1993). "Language Policy in Bhutan". London: SOAS, University of London. Archived from the original on 1 November 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2011.

Further reading

• Namgyel, Singye. The Language Web of Bhutan. Thimphu: KMT.
• van Driem, George L; Karma Tshering of Gaselô (collab) (1998). Dzongkha. Languages of the Greater Himalayan Region. Leiden: Research School CNWS, School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies. ISBN 905789002X.
• van Driem, George (2001). Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region: Containing an Introduction to the Symbiotic Theory of Language. Brill. ISBN 9004120629.
• van Driem, George (2007). "Endangered Languages of Bhutan and Sikkim: East Bodish Languages". In Moseley, Christopher (ed.). Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages. Routledge. p. 295. ISBN 978-0700711970.

External links

• Himalayan Languages Project: Black Mountain Mönpa

v t e Sino-Tibetan branches
Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim)	West Himalayish Tamangic Newaric Newar Baram–Thangmi Kiranti Dhimalish Dhimal Toto Lhokpu Lepcha Greater Magaric Magaric Magar Kham Chepangic Chepang Bhujel Raji–Raute Dura–Tandrange
Eastern Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal)	Bodish Tibetic East Bodish Tshangla Basum Nam? Gongduk ʼOle Tani Chamdo
Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border	Karbi Kuki-Chin Mruic Mru Hkongso Pyu Taman "Naga" Ao Angami–Pochuri Meitei Tangkhulic Zeme Sal Boro–Garo Konyak Jingpho–Luish
East and Southeast Asia	Sinitic Bai Tujia Nungish Karenic Gong Kathu Cai–Long Caijia Longjia Luren Burmo-Qiangic Qiangic Gyalrongic Ersuic Naic Lolo-Burmese Mondzish Burmish Loloish
Dubious (possible isolates) (Arunachal)	Hrusish Hruso Mijiic Kho-Bwa Puroik Miju–Meyor Songlin Greater Siangic Siangic Koro Milang Idu–Taraon
Proposed groupings	Central Tibeto-Burman Kuki-Chin–Naga Macro-Bai Mahakiranti Rung Tibeto-Burman Tibeto-Kanauri
Proto-languages	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Proto-Tibeto-Burman Proto-Loloish Proto-Karenic Proto-Min Proto-Hakka
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches.

• Languages of Bhutan
• East Bodish languages