Damu language

Damu
Region	Tibet
Native speakers	(80 cited 1985)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tani Western? Damu
Dialects	Panggi?
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None(mis)
Glottolog	damu1236

Damuis a poorly documentedTani(Sino-Tibetan) language spoken in Tibet. Only 80 speakers of this language were reported to exist in 1985,and the language community was experiencing strong language contact with speakers ofBodiclanguages at that time. No documentation or description of the Damu language other than some brief remarks and a wordlist in Ouyang (1985) appears to exist, and it is not known whether the Damu community is still intact and speaking their language.

The precise genetic affiliation of Damu remains unclear. Although Sun (1993) clearly identified Damu as a member of theTani languages,he noted some difficulties that prevented its precise alignment within either Western Tani or Eastern Tani. In addition, Sun speculated that Damu might represent a northern variety of theTangam language.Post (2013a) concluded that Tangam and Damu are in fact distinct, despite sharing a number of features. In particular, both Tangam and Damu share an early sound change which would suggest aligning them with Western Tani, despite sharing an overall Eastern Tani–like profile.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	oral	pb	td			cɟ	kg	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ				kʰ
Affricate	oral	prbr	tsdz	ʈʂɖʐ	tɕdʑ
	aspirated		tsʰ	ʈʂʰ	tɕʰ
Fricative			sz			ç	x	ɦ
Nasal		m̥m	n		ɲ	ŋ̊ŋ
Approximant		w	l̥l	r		j

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
	Unrounded	Rounded
Syllabic	(ɹ̩)		(ɻ̩)
High	iiː	yyː	ɯɯː	uuː
Mid	eeː	øøː	əəː	ooː
Low			aaː

• Vowel length is only contrastive in open syllables.
• /ɹ̩/ and /ɻ̩/ are only found in loanwords fromTibetan.

Additionally, the following diphthongs have been observed: /iu/, /iə/, /ia/, /iaː/, /yu/, /yo/, /yə/, /ui/, /ue/, /ei/, /əɯ/.

References

• Ouyang, Jueya (1985). Lạc ba tộc ngữ ngôn giản chí ( băng ni - bác ca nhĩ ngữ ) [Luobazu Yuyan Jianzhi (Bengni Boga'eryu)/Brief Description of the Luoba Nationality Language (The Bengni-Bokar Language)]. Beijing, dân tộc xuất bản xã [Minzu Chubanshe/Nationalities Press].
• Post, Mark W. (2013a).'The Tangam language of Kugɨŋ Təəraŋ.'Paper presented at the 46th International Conference of Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics. Hanover, Dartmouth College, Jul 10.
• Post, Mark W. (2013b).'Defoliating the TaniStammbaum:An exercise in areal linguistics.'Paper presented at the 13th Himalayan Languages Symposium. Canberra, Australian National University, Aug 9.
• Sun, Tian-Shin Jackson (1993). A Historical-Comparative Study of the Tani (Mirish) Branch of Tibeto-Burman. PhD Dissertation. Department of Linguistics. Berkeley, University of California.