Ebook: Amdo Tibetan Media Intelligibility

Publisher: SIL International®
Date: 2012
Pages: 50Amdo Tibetan (ISO 639-3 code adx) is one of the three major Tibetan dialect groups in China. It is spoken in all Tibetan areas of Qīnghǎi province except for Yùshù Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and it is spoken in neighbouring areas of Gānsū province (i.e. the western half of Gānnán Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and Tiānzhù Tibetan Autonomous County) and northern Sìchuān (parts of Ābà Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture and parts of Gānzī Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture). In and surrounding this region, Amdo Tibetan also serves as a language of wider communication. Radio broadcasts, movies, television programs, and audio recordings in Amdo Tibetan use a range of registers, the entire set of which will be referred to as Media Amdo Tibetan. The goal of this investigation is to determine for which segments (if any) of the Amdo population is oral Media Amdo Tibetan an appropriate reference dialect for meeting non-print language development needs. Specifically, I investigate the question of which segments of the population are not served by development in Literary Tibetan and demonstrate adequate comprehension and positive attitudes towards Media Amdo Tibetan. Furthermore, this investigation addresses whether any particular register of Media AmdoTibetan is better suited than the others for these purposes. The Tibetan languages belong to the Bodish branch of the Bodic group of the Tibeto-Burman language family; they are descended from Old Tibetan1 and traditionally used Literary Tibetan as their common literary language (Tournadre 2005:16). Amdo Tibetan (ISO 639-3 code adx) is one of the three major Tibetan dialect groups in China. Amdo Tibetan (AT) is spoken in all Tibetan areas of Qīnghǎi2 province except for Yùshù Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 玉树藏族自治州 (Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture will hereafter be abbreviated as TAP), and it is spoken in neighbouring areas of Gānsū province (i.e. the western half of Gānnán TAP 甘南藏族自治州, and Tiānzhù Tibetan Autonomous County 天祝藏族自治县) and northern Sìchuān (parts of Ābà Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture 阿坝藏族羌族自治州 and parts of Gānzī TAP 甘孜藏族自治州).3 This makes the Amdo region at least 350,000 km2 in area.