Tibetan language

“ But, as there is yet nothing fixed with respect to Tibetan orthography, I fear if I should send my papers, without going myself to Calcutta, they could not make proper use of them there, and it would give again rise to many mistakes, which, as I observe in every publication on the Tibetan language, are now also too much multiplied. The completion of the vocabulary or dictionary, since I missed my aim on my second return to Ladak, must be the fruit of some years’ industry. ”

“ You can acquire all the knowledge of the Tibetan language you want, here, and you can go back to Japan, where you will be respected as a Tibetan scholar.” I told my host that my purpose was not only to learn the Tibetan language, but that it was to complete my studies in Buḍḍhism. “That may be,” said my host, “and a very important thing it no doubt is with you; but what is the use of attempting a thing when there is no hope of accomplishing it? If you go into Tibet, the only thing you can count upon is that you will be killed!” ”

“ I hope that my sojourn in this inhospitable country, for the express purpose of mastering its language and examining its literary stores, will not have been time unprofitably spent, and that the Grammar and Dictionary may attest the sincerity of my endeavours to attain the object I have determined to prosecute.
“The structure of the Tibetan language is very simple. There is only one general form for all sorts of declinable words. In the verbs there is no variation in respect to person or number. ”

“ The government established a comprehensive national Tibetan-language curriculum, and many elementary schools in Tibetan areas used Tibetan as the primary language of instruction. Tibetan students also were required to study Chinese, and Chinese generally was used to teach certain subjects, such as arithmetic and science. In middle and high schools--even some officially designated as Tibetan schools--teachers often used Tibetan only to teach classes in Tibetan language, literature, and culture and taught all other classes in Chinese. ”

“ The present Governor of Darjeeling can speak the Tibetan language to some extent, but not with much ease; so interpreters are hired in most cases. But the British Indian Government greatly encourages these Governors of the districts adjoining Tibet to study the Tibetan language, and they can take an examination if they are able to speak colloquial Tibetan and explain easy composition; and if they pass the examination they can obtain a prize of a thousand rupees. Therefore most of them study Tibetan. ”

“ Then I would leave my two men concealed in some secluded spot, and assuming a disguise, I would penetrate alone during the night into the city. This would have been easy enough, as Lhassa [190] has no gates, and only a ruined wall round it.
I was able to purchase some clothing and boots from the Tibetans. The pigtail that I needed in order to pass for a Tibetan I could make with the silky hair of my yaks. I would pretend to be deaf and dumb, as I could not speak the Tibetan language perfectly enough to pass for a native. ”

“ Tibet is so remote and rude a land that it is a surprise to learn that it has a voluminous literature and further that much of this literature, though not all, is learned and scholastic. The explanation is that the national life was most vigorous in the great monasteries which were in close touch with Indian learning. Moreover Tibetan became to some extent the Latin of the surrounding countries, the language of learning and religion. ”

“ Ethnic culture in Tibet is enjoying unprecedented prosperity, and freedom of religious belief is respected and protected. The central and regional governments always attach great importance to carrying on, protecting and developing the excellent traditional culture of the Tibetan ethnic group. The study, use and development of the Tibetan language are protected by law, and the Tibetan script has become the first ethnic-minority script in China that has international text coding standards for information exchange. ”

“ Csoma, who collected and arranged 40,000 words of the Tibetan language in a situation that would have driven most men to despair. He has already nearly completed the Dictionary, and the Vocabulary is far advanced, and both, as well as I may venture to judge, exhibit singular industry and research. He told me with vivacity that he has acquired a sufficient knowledge of Tibetan, to enable him to accomplish his objects, even should he be deprived of the Lama’s services by sickness or other causes. ”

“ Here, on hearing a few words of the Tibetan language, he was struck by their resemblance to Magyar; and, in the hope of thus resolving his cherished problem, he crossed Little Bucharia to the desert of Gobi; traversed many of the valleys of the Himalaya; and finally buried himself for four years (1827-1830) , in the Buddhist Monastery of Kanam, deeply engaged in the study of Tibetan; four months of which time he spent in a room nine feet square, (without once quitting it) , and in a temperature below zero! He quickly discovered his mistake as to the affinity of Tibetan with Magyar ”

“ Many of these old soft initial consonants which are now hardened in the modern dialects are preserved in classical Tibetan, i.e. in Tibetan of the 7th to the 9th century A.D. The old language seems to have pronounced prefixes extensively which in modern pronunciation in central Tibet are largely lost, whilst the soft initials have become aspirated or hardened and tones have developed, and in the west and east, where prefixes and soft initials have been preserved, there are no tones. ”

“ The origin of the Tibetan race is attributed to a fabulous union between a she-demon and an ape. Some refer their origin to India, others to China, others again to the Mongols or Turks. They admit five races among themselves, according to the countries they live in; their pronunciation differs much, but they all understand each other. Except the Mohammedans of Ladak and Baltistan, they all profess the religion of Buddha, whose records are written in the same language and character. ”

“ That their language is closely allied to the language of Bhután.
The Garo, the Bodo, the Dhimál, and Chépáng, will come under consideration again; these being the tribes which will supply the chief facts connected with the question as to the affinity or non-affinity between the great Tibetan and Indian families. At present it is sufficient to draw attention to the state of opinion upon this point. With few exceptions amongst the English (Dr. Bird and Mr. Hodgson being the most decided) , both philologists and physiologists consider the line of demarcation to be an exceedingly broad one. ”

“ Moorcroft’s liberal assistance, of learning of what sort and origin the Tibetan literature was, I cheerfully engaged in the study of it, hoping that it might serve me as a vehicle to my immediate purpose, namely, my researches respecting the origin and language of the Hungarians. The result of my investigation is that the literature of Tibet is entirely of Indian origin, the immense volumes, on different branches of science, being exact and faithful translations from Sanskrit works. ”

“ The more north-westerly part of Tibet is Belti-yul—Baltistan or little Tibet—divided among several chiefs. In the mountain defiles on the south live the predatory people known as the Dardús; they are barbarians of Afghan or Hindu origin. [178] The inhabitants for the most part are Shiah Mohammedans. Their language is a dialect of the Tibetan, but what literature there is, is Persian. The climate is warm; in the lower part snow never falls.
Lakes in Tibet are few. The principal one is Ma-pham-yu-tsho (Mansarovara) , in Nari ”

“ The predilection of Eastern Asiatics for a system of ceremonials in the language is met with also in Tibetan. There is one separate class of words, which must be used in reference to the honoured person, when spoken to as well as when spoken of. To this class belong, besides the pronouns ཉིད་རང་, ཁྱེད་, ཁོང་, all the respectful terms by which the body or soul, or parts of the same, and all things or persons pertaining to such a person, and [36] even his actions, must be called. ”

“ A vocabulary of more than 30,000 words in Tibetan and [52] English, introducing all technical terms used in arts and sciences, leaving alone every conjecture respecting the relation of Tibetan words to any other language. (c.) A short account on the Tibetan literature. (d.) A succinct history of Tibet, in Tibetan language, taken from the works of native historians, word for word, accompanied by a short geography and chronology in Tibetan. (e.) Selected specimens of every kind in Tibetan. ”

“ I did not meet a single Chinese between Chê-to and Li-chiang in Yunnan179—a journey that occupied about a month—and the Chinese language was entirely unknown.
Tibetan houses are gloomy stone buildings with small windows, and the rooms are both dark and158 dirty. I was sometimes grateful to the darkness for concealing some of the dirt, but my sense of smell unfortunately remained painfully acute. The windows are necessarily small, as paper is too scarce to be used as a protection against the wind, and glass is of course unknown. The apparent size of the houses is deceptive. ”

“ The people were forbidden to style themselves subjects of the Lamas or of the T’u Ssu. And being subjects of the Emperor, every man was to shave his head and wear the queue. Headmen of villages were to be elected for triennial periods by the villagers themselves, and were to be removable by the villagers if they acted unjustly. Under each district official (presumably a Chinaman) were to be three Chinese and three Tibetans, to be jointly responsible for the collection of the land tax and the hearing of suits, and all six of them were to know both the Chinese and Tibetan languages. ”

“ Who are entitled to be called pure Tibetans—if such people exist—and who should be regarded as of hybrid or alien race, are therefore questions not very easily determined. All the country west of the Ta Tu river and the Chien-ch'ang valley may rightly enough be designated Tibetan Ssuch'uan or Chinese Tibet, if the name does not mislead us into supposing that the natives of the king of Chala's state, for instance, are of the same type as the inhabitants of Lhasa. But as these tribes are certainly not Chinese, what are we to call them if Tibetan is, strictly speaking, a misnomer? ”

“ It must be understood that all Tibetan literature is 'sacred,' though some of the volumes of exquisite calligraphy on parchment, which for our benefit were divested of their silken and brocaded wrappings, contain nothing better than fairy tales and stories of doubtful morality, which are recited by the lamas to the accompaniment of incessant cups of chang, as a religious duty when they visit their 'flocks' in the winter. ”

“ At all events, whatever be its origin and meaning, no other prayer used by human beings in any quarter of the globe is repeated so often. Every Tibetan believes it to be a panacea for all evil, a compendium of all knowledge, a treasury of all wisdom, a summary of all religion. ”

“ In Burma and Siam, where a far purer form of the Buddhist religion is observed, the monks are the schoolmasters of the people, and the monasteries are the village schools; but no such scholastic work is undertaken by the lamas of Tibetan countries, who believe that nothing is worth studying except what is in their sacred books, and that only lamas are worthy to study them. It is no wonder that the people of Tibet are the most ignorant and superstitious of any semi-civilised race in Asia. ”

“ Nearly all the people of eastern Tibet have adopted the peculiar form of Buddhism which as Lamaism we have learned to associate with that country, and their languages and customs are saturated with Tibetan influences. In spite of many dialectical peculiarities I found that the people of the Yalung watershed were nearly always able to speak and268 understand Tibetan. Yet many of them are bi-lingual, and their own languages—as may be seen from the vocabularies in the Appendix—appear to be nearly as distinct from Tibetan as they are from Chinese. ”

“ Tibetan fathers teach their sons to write, to read the sacred classics, and to calculate with a frame of balls on wires. If farther instruction is thought desirable, the boys are sent to the lamas, and even to the schools at Lhassa. The Tibetans willingly receive and read translations of our Christian books, and some go so far as to think that their teachings are 'stronger' than those of their own, indicating their opinions by tearing pages out of the Gospels and rolling them up into pills, which are swallowed in the belief that they are an effective charm. ”

“ From our elevated point of vantage we looked down on a sea of heads, a conglomeration of human beings, a mosaic of vivid glaring colours, an exhibition of national costumes, among which the Tibetan dress was certainly the most conspicuous, but where the eye lighted on figures hailing from Bhotan and Sikkim, Nepal and Ladak, while Chinese merchants, or soldiers and pilgrims from the grassy steppes of Mongolia, were easily distinguishable. ”

“ And, in dismissing them, he simply said over his shoulder to his interpreter, “Tell them to go.” Our countrymen are often accused, and sometimes with justice, of being too high-handed with Asiatics, but we are not so high-handed with Asiatics as Asiatics are with one another.
In another respect the Chinese are very different from us in their dealings with a feudatory State. Hardly one of the Chinese officials we met in Tibet could speak a word of Tibetan. ”

“ In 1890 Captain H. Ramsay published at Lahore his useful Practical Dictionary of Western Tibet. In 1902 was brought out at Calcutta Sarat Chandra Das's Tibetan English Dictionary with Sanskrit synonyms, a massive volume compiled with the aid of Tibetan lamas and edited by Graham Sandberg and the Moravian missionary A. W. Heyde. The Tibetan Manual by V. C. Henderson (1903) is a useful work, and so is the Manual of Colloquial Tibetan by C. A. Bell (Calcutta, 1905) , which has full English-Tibetan vocabularies, graduated exercises and examples in the Lhasa dialect of to-day. ”