The Shamskat dialect (Ladakhi: གཤམ་སྐད) is dialect of Ladakhi language spoken in the Sham region of Ladakh, a region administered by India as a union territory. It is the predominant language in the west of the Buddhist-dominated district of Leh. Shamskat pronunciation resembles classical Tibetan language. Shamskat retains its classical Tibetan vocabulary while the Balti language and Purgi language got little influence from Shina vocabulary. The native speakers of these languages are called shamma.

Shamskat
གཤམ་སྐད་ sham skat
Native to	India
Region	Ladakh
Ethnicity	Ladakhis
Native speakers	Most speakers counted under "Bhoti"[citation needed]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Kanauri Bodish Tibetic Ladakhi–Balti Ladakhi language Shamskat
Writing system	Tibetan script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	sham1264
Ladakhi is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Pronunciation

Shamskat is usually written using Tibetan script, with the pronunciation being much closer to written Classical Tibetan than most other Tibetic languages. Shamskat pronounces many of the prefix, suffix and head letters that are silent in many other Tibetic languages, in particular Central Tibetan.[1]

References

External links

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Research on Tibetan Languages: A Bibliography

Wikivoyage has a phrasebook for Lakakhi.

• A. H. Francke 1901 A Sketch of Ladakhi GrammarJournal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal 70.1 Archived 29 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine

Shamskat test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator