Songlin language
Songlin is a divergent, unclassified Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Zayu County, Nyingchi Prefecture, Tibet. A linguistic description of Songlin has been published in a monograph by Song.
Names
Songlin speakers refer to their language as sang3lin1bu1lo3gye1, and to Songlin village as sang3lin1.History of documentation
Jiang Huo first learned about the existence of Songlin while doing research on Idu during the 2000s, when local Idu people in the Upper Chayu Town area reported that the "Songleng Tuyu" 松冷土语 was spoken nearby. After preliminary data was collected in 2014, intensive field work was conducted during the summers of 2015–2017 by a Chinese research team led by Li Daqin . A monograph documenting the Songlin language, Xizang Chayu Songlin yu, was written by Song Cheng and submitted for publication in 2018. The book was released in 2019.Demographics
The language is spoken in Songlin Village 松林村, Upper Chayu Town 上察隅镇 by approximately 1,000 people. The local lingua franca of the area is the Zayu dialect of Khams Tibetan. Some Songlin speakers can speak Idu and gSerkhu, both of which are also spoken in Upper Chayu Town 上察隅镇.Songlin village is located on the western banks of the Kangrigarbo Qu river, several kilometers to the northwest of the Upper Chayu/Shangchayu Town. Some nearby villages include Gonggu 巩固, Xiba 西巴, and Rongyu 荣玉 to the north, and Zongba 宗巴 and Migu 米古 to the south.
Classification
Song & Lin shows that Songlin is not closely related to any of the surrounding Tibeto-Burman languages and cannot be classified as a Tibetic language. A computational phylogenetic study by Jiang also demonstrates the divergent position of Songlin. Songlin and the Mishmi languages all are spoken in Zayu County, but Songlin is not closely related to any of them.Phonology
Consonants
The consonant inventory of Songlin is as follows.Consonant clusters include: nb, nd, nȡ, nɟ, ng, ndz, ndʑ, ndʐ, pʐ, pʰʐ, bʐ, nbʐ, kʐ, kʰʐ, gʐ, nbʐ, ngʐ. /n/- is treated as part of consonant clusters, rather than as part of prenasalized initial consonants.
Note: In Sinology, ȵ is roughly equivalent to or, while ȶ and ȡ can typically be transcribed as and, respectively, although in practice they can actually be equivalent to or instead, or other similar affricates. Also, ɕ and ʑ often, but not always, correspond to and in IPA transcriptions used by non-Sinologists. For further information, see obsolete and nonstandard symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Vowels
There are 12 vowels: i, y, ɯ, u, e, ø, o, ə, ɛ, ɑ, ɿ, ʮ.Songlin has 5 diphthongs: ui, ɯi, ou, ie, iɛ.
Note that ɿ is used by Sinologists, as well as ʮ, which is a labialized syllabic denti-alveolar approximant used by Sinologists.
Tones
There are three tones in Songlin.| Tone number | Pitch value | Chao tones | Description |
| 1 | /˥/ | /55/ | high level |
| 2 | /˨˦/ | /24/ | mid rising |
| 3 | /˧˩/ | /31/ | low falling |
About 50% of all words in Songlin have the high level tone /˥/, while the mid rising /˨˦/ and low falling /˧˩/ tones are each found in approximately 25% of all Songlin words.
Script
Song proposes a pinyin-based script for Songlin.| Songlin script | IPA |
| a | ɑ |
| b | p |
| c | tsʰ |
| d | t |
| e | ə |
| f | f |
| g | k |
| h | h |
| i | i |
| j | tɕ |
| k | kʰ |
| l | l |
| m | m |
| n | n |
| o | o |
| p | pʰ |
| q | tɕʰ |
| r | ʐ |
| s | s |
| t | tʰ |
| u | u |
| v | y |
| w | w |
| x | ɕ |
| y | j |
| z | ts |
| Songlin script | IPA |
| nbb | nb |
| ndd | nd |
| nddy | nȡ |
| nggy | nɟ |
| ngg | ng |
| nz | ndz |
| nj | ndʑ |
| nzh | ndʐ |
| br | pʐ |
| pr | pʰʐ |
| bbr | bʐ |
| gr | kʐ |
| kr | kʰʐ |
| ggr | gʐ |
| nbbr | nbʐ |
| nggr | ngʐ |
| Songlin script | IPA |
| a | ɑ |
| e | ə |
| ee | e |
| eee | ɛ |
| i | i |
| ii | ɿ |
| iii | ʮ |
| o | o |
| oo | ø |
| u | u |
| uu | ɯ |
| v | y |
| Songlin script | IPA |
| in | in |
| ing | iŋ |
| eng | əŋ |
| eeen | ɛn |
| an | ɑn |
| ang | ɑŋ |
| uun | ɯn |
| uung | ɯŋ |
| ian | iɛn |
| ong | oŋ |
Tones are transcribed using the numerals 1, 2, and 3 :
| Songlin script | Pitch value |
| 1 | /55/ |
| 2 | /24/ |
| 3 | /31/ |
Example phrase :
Morphology
Some common prefixes in Songlin are :- ɑ˧˩-: nominal prefix
- mɑ˧˩-: nominal prefix
- kə˧˩-: used before some verbs, some body parts, and various nouns
- -pɑ˥: used with human-related terms, body parts, and others
- -tso˥: 'son' ; masculine/diminutive, used to mark an animate noun as male, juvenile, or small
Pronouns
The Songlin pronouns are :Interrogatives
Songlin interrogatives are :| Gloss | Songlin |
| who? | ʃɑŋ˧˩ŋɑ˥ |
| what?; which? | cʰe˥/hɑ˧˩mi˥ |
| when? | ȵɛn˨˦kʰɑ˧˩ |
| where? | hɑ˧˩ndɑ˥ |
| how many? | hɑ˧˩ȶi˥ |
| how? | hɑ˧˩nbo˥ |
Sentence examples
The following Songlin sentence examples are from Yan. Songlin has SOV word order.Vocabulary
The following are Songlin words cited from Song.| Chinese gloss | English gloss | Songlin |
| 一 | one | tɕi˧˩tɑ˥ |
| 二 | two | kʰɑ˧˩ȵi˥ |
| 三 | three | sɯŋ˥ |
| 四 | four | ʑi˨˦ |
| 五 | five | po˧˩ŋoŋ˨˦ |
| 六 | six | tʂʰɯ˨˦ |
| 七 | seven | ȵ̥in˨˦ |
| 八 | eight | pu˧˩ndʑe˨˦ |
| 九 | nine | gu˨˦ |
| 风 | wind | kʐi˨˦ |
| 虹 | rainbow | zɑ˥ |
| 右 | right | tʂoŋ˥lɑ˥ |
| 外面 | outside | pɑ˧˩tɕy˨˦ |
| 跳蚤 | flea | kɑ˧˩ji˥ |
| 角 | horn | goŋ˨˦kʰʐɿ˥ |
| 尾巴 | tail | ndʑoŋ˥mɑŋ˥ |
| 脖子 | neck | kɑ˥loŋ˥ |
| 背 | back | ci˨˦tsʰɿ˥ |
| 叶子 | leaf | kʰɑ˧˩pɑ˨˦ |
| 汗 | sweat | tsʰɑ¹³pɑ˨˦ |
| 尿 | urine | tɕʰi˧˩li˥ |
| 官 | government official | ngə˥tʂʰɿ˥ |
| 孙子 | grandson | noŋ˧˩tɕy˥ |
| 鞋 | shoe | ku˧˩ȵu˥ |
| 刀子 | knife | nba˧˩ju˥ |
| 船 | boat | tʂɿ˧˩dzin˥ |
| 鬼 | ghost, spirit | tɕʰo˨˦ |
| 走 | walk | ci˥ |
| 飞 | fly | ku˨˦ |
| 吃 | eat | ndzo˥ |
| 烤 | roast, bake | pu˥ |
| 拔 | pull | pʰʐo˨˦ |
| 捆 | tie | pɯi˥ |
| 睡 | sleep | ŋoŋ˨˦ |
| 敢 | dare | pin˥ |
| 他 | he | pu˨˦ |
| 好 | good | ȵe˨˦ȵe˥ |
| 小 | small | kɑ˧˩tsɛ˥ |
| 旧 | old | bi˨˦ |
| 很 | very | ʐɛ˨˦ |
| 星星 | star | kɑ˥mɑ˥ |
| 地、土 | earth, soil | pʐo˨˦ |
| 山 | mountain | ʐɿ˨˦ |
| 金子 | gold | sie˥ |
| 水獭 | otter | nɑ˥sɛn˥ |
| 毛 | hair | n̥oŋ˨˦ |
| 柱子 | pillar | kɑ˥wɑ˥ |
| 针 | needle | kʰɛ˨˦ |
| 布 | cloth | ʐe˨˦ |
| 寺 | temple | nɟø˥nba˥ |
| 镰刀 | sickle | ɕin˥koŋ˥ |
| 锯子 | saw | su˥li˥ |
| 绳子 | rope | nbɑ˧˩je˨˦ |
| 听 | listen | ndʑo˥ |
| 大 | big | hɑ˥ndu˥ |
| 高 | high, tall | sen˥ |
| 你 | you | nu˥ |
| 干净 | clean | ɕɑŋ˥ngʐɑŋ˥ |
| 软的 | soft | ȵɛ˨˦ȵɛ˨˦ |
| 黄的 | yellow | sɛ˥sɛ˥ |
| 轻的 | light | jɑŋ˨˦jɑŋ˥ |
| 新的 | new | ɕi˧˩tso˨˦ |
| 桥 | bridge | dɑŋ˨˦ |
| 火柴 | firewood | mi˧˩tʂʰe˥ |
| 树 | tree | tɕʰɑŋ˨˦ |