The Bhotias in Indian Himalayas : A Socio-Linguistic Approach

Contents: Preface. Introduction. Abbreviations. 1. The Bhotias in the Indian Himalayas : a socio-linguistic approach. 2. The Bhotia speeches : Western Sector. 3. The Bhotia speeches: Central and Eastern Sector. 4. The latest trend of the Bhotia speech. 5. Culture patterns of the Bhotias. Appendices: 1. Thonmi Sambhota and His Sumtag (gsum-rtags). 2. Methodology followed. 3. Statistical data. Vocabularies. Bibliography. Index.

"Indian Himalayas is inhabited by multi-ethnic group of peoples who migrated from the neighbouring areas since the hoary past. Among the Mongoloids, Tibetan speakers settled widely from Baltistan to Arunachal Pradesh come in purview. Linguistically some of them are Tibeto-Burmese. During the field works by the authoress the Mon speakers of Arunachal Pradesh claimed themselves as offshooted from Lhoyul of Tibet or those from 'brug yul'.

The book under study deals with the Bhotia speech belonging to Western Sector, Central Sector and Eastern Sector of Indian Himalayas comparing with Tibetan, their homeland speech as enunciated by Thonmi Sambhata. They are all Indians nationals through ages. They may claim 'Bhotia' as one of the Indian languages though it is not a scheduled language. A focus on the culture pattern of the Bhotias narrates their way of life as preserved through centuries in Indian Himalayas." (jacket)