Evolution of Languages in Bhutan

Small country like Bhutan has more than twenty different languages. Most children in Bhutan grown up speaking multiple language.

The linguistics landscape of Bhutan is changing very fast and dramatically. It is very likely that in few decades most dialects and many minor languages will be dead.

Some of the languages that are prevalent in Bhutan are;

Dzongkha- Dzongkha is a modern name for the language spoken in the western valleys. It is known as Ngalongkha or the language of the Ngalong region. Ngalongkha became the dominant medium for official transactions as the political offices were mainly based in area where it was spoken. Ngalongkha became an official language in the administrative offices and momastic institutions based in large døng. Ngalongkha slowly came to be known as Dzongkha, the languguage of the Dzong. Bhutan adopted Ngalongkha as the national language in the 1960s.

Dzongkha is the only written local language so far and it is written using Tibetan alphabets. Dzongkha is spoken as the native tongue by people of the Haa, Paro, Chukkha, Thimphu, Punkaha, Gasa, Wangdiphodrang and Dagana districts.

Bumthangkha

Bumthangkha is mainly spoken in the four valleys of Bumthang and is split into numerous dialects. Bumthangkha is spoken as far as Kurtoes, the upper course of Mangduechu river to the east and as far as Nubchutoe, the upper course of Mangechu river to the west.

Khengkha

Khengkha is spoken south of Bumthang and as far as the Panbang area in lower Zhemgang. Due to the vast area, the language covers the rough terrains, the difference in the various dialect is intense. The language is closely linked to Bumthangkha and it is plausible that it originated from an older version of Bumthangkha.

 Kurtoep

 The Kurtop language is spoken in the northwestern part of kortoe district around the Lhuntse area. The area is geographically connected to Bumthang with which it had strong historical relations.

 Tsangla

Tsangla is spoken by a large percentage of people in Bhutan as the eastern districts are more densely populated than other parts of Bhutan. Tsangla is known as sharshopkha, the language of the easterners. The language is also spoken in small pockets of Arunachal Pradesh in India and in southern Tibet, where the language spread with groups that emigrated from Bhutan.

 Monkha/Olekha

The Olekha is spoken by the people living near the black mountain range in central Bhutan. The people are called Monpa by other Bhutanese and some researchers have speculated that they are remnants of the earliest inhabitants of the country. the language is spoken by a few hundred people and only fluently by a handful of elderly people.

 Lhophikha

The Lhop language is spoken by the indigenous communities of the Lhop and Taba Dramtep in the south western districts of Samtse and north of Phuntsoling. Lhops were probably the first aboriginal groups encountered by the early Ngalongs during southward expansion in ancient times.

Gongdupikha

The language of Gongduk is spoken in an isolated area south of Mongar in the Kurichu Valley. Now spoken barely by just over a thousand people. Gongduk language is one of the two languages in Bhutan which has retained complex conjugations that appear to reflect the ancient Tibeto-Burma Verbal agreement system.

Nepali

In Bhutan, Nepali is spoken by the people of Nepali origin who have settled in the southern districts of Samtse, Chukha, Sarphang, Tsirang, Dagana and Samdrup Jongkhar in the twentieth century. However, the Bhutanese people of Nepali ancestry are referred to by the politically correct term Lhotsampa and their language Lhotsampikha. Many Bhutanese in the midlands also speak basic Nepali.

English

Among the languages commonly spoken in Bhutan, English is certainly the most recent but it is also definitely the fastest-growing language in the country today. The first speakers of English to visit Bhutan were the British envoys in the 1770s.

English is the only foreign language taught in Bhutanese schools. It is now also the dominant medium of official correspondences and written communication with most educated people still incapable of reading and writing in Dzongkha with proficiency. Only those who attend monastic colleges or the regular college for Bhutan's Language and Culture are able to speak, read and write dzongkha with good command.