Kham (Nepali: खाम भाषा)—narrowly defined—is a complex of Sino-Tibetan, specifically Magaric languages spoken natively in the highlands of the Rolpa and Rukum districts of Rapti and the westernmost part of Baglung district in Dhawalagiri Zone and Karnali region by western clans of the Kham Magar tribes, called collectively western Khams.^{[citation needed]} Randy LaPolla (2003) proposes that Kham Magar and Dhut Magar may be part of a larger "Rung" group. ^{[citation needed]} However, both may ultimately go for separate ethnic identity as they have distinct linguistic and cultural barriers.

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Geographical distribution

Ethnologue lists the following location information for the varieties of Kham.

Eastern Parbate Kham (dialects: Bhujel Kham, Nishel Kham) is spoken in the following villages of Baglung District, Dhawalagiri Zone.

• Nishel dialect: Nisi, Bhalkot, and Budhathok villages
• Bhujel dialect: Kuku, Diza, Kang, Masbang, Musuri, and Sukurdung villages

Western Parbate Kham (dialects: Takale, Maikoti, Mahatale, Lukumel, Wale, Thabangi)

• Rukum District, Rapti Zone
• Rolpa District, Rapti Zone
• Dolpa District, Karnali Zone

Taka-Shera is considered to be the center of the Western Parbate Kham variety.

Gamal Kham (dialects: Tamali, Ghusbanggi)

• Rolpa District, Rapti Zone
• Baglung District, Dhawalagiri Zone

Gamal Kham is spoken in the western hills of Gam Khola, in Gam, Jhyalgung, Chalbang, Tamali, Dangadhara, Sheram, Ghusbang, Huiching, Guwakholagau, Maulabang, and Kuipadhara villages.

Sheshi Kham (dialects: Tapnanggi, Jangkoti)

• Western hills of Rolpa District, Rapti Zone: in Jangkot, Kotgaon (Tapnang), Rimsek, Korcabang, Dangdung, Hwama, Dhangsi, Bhabang, and Ghapa villages.

Dialects

Watters (2002:12) classifies the Kham dialects as follows.

Proto-Kham

• Sheshi
  • Tapnangi
  • Jangkoti
• Gamal
  • Tamali
  • Ghusbangi
• Parbate
  • Eastern Parbate
    • Nishel
    • Bhujel
  • Western Parbate
    • Maikoti
    • Takale (including the Takale, Sheral, Ghumilbangi, Garkhanyel, Koral, and Nakhale village sub-dialects)
    • Lukumel
    • Thabangi
    • Wale

Phonology

Consonants

Taka dialect[2] of Western Parbate Kham has 22 consonant phonemes while Gamale Kham possesses around 29 to 30 consonant phonemes.

• green phonemes do not occur in Parbate Kham.[2]
• the phonemes in Light salmon colour appear in Ghusbang and Sheram[3] dialect. All others appear in every Kham dialect.
• The rhotic /ɾ/ is realized as a trill [r] at the end of words. Otherwise, it is a flap.

Vowels

Taka dialect of Western Parbate has 25 vowel phonemes.

• Light salmon vowels occur in every dialect of Kham.
• Breathy vowels
• Diphthongs

Tone

See vocal registers.

Writing

Consonants

Vowels

Vowels for Gamale Kham

Reconstruction

Proto-Kham has been reconstructed by Watters (2002). Proto-Kham reconstructions from Watters (2002: 443–456) are given below.

Further reading

• Wilde, Christopher P. 2017. A Phonological Comparison of Gamale, Sheram and Ghusbang – Three Kham Varieties. JSEALS Volume 10.1 (2017).
• Moore, Glen M. 2020. A Description of Selected Aspects of Gamale Kham Verbal Morphology. pdf available for download on academia.edu

References

• Kansakar, Tej R. (July 1993), "The Tibeto-Burman Languages of Nepal, A General Survey" (PDF), Contributions to Nepalese Studies, Kirtipur, Nepal: Tribhuvan University, 20 (2): 165–173, retrieved April 10, 2011
• Watters, David E. (2002), A grammar of Kham, Cambridge grammatical descriptions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-81245-3

External links

• List of Gamale Kham words at Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Sheshi Kham test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

На других языках

[de] Kham-Magar

[fr] Kham (langue)