The
endonym of the Japhug language is IPA:[kɯrɯskɤt]. The name Japhug (IPA:[tɕɤpʰɯ];
Tibetan: ja phug;
Chinese: 茶堡;
pinyin: Chápù) refers in Japhug to the area comprising Gsar-rdzong and Da-tshang, while that of Gdong-brgyad is also known as IPA:[sɤŋu] (Jacques 2004), but speakers of Situ Gyalrong use this name to refer to the whole Japhug-speaking area.
Phonology
Japhug is the only toneless Gyalrong language. It has 49 consonants and seven vowels.
The phoneme /
ʁ/ is realized as an
epiglottal fricative in the coda or preceding another consonant.
The
prenasalized consonants are analyzed as units for two reasons. First, there is a phoneme /ɴɢ/, as in /ɴɢoɕna/ "large spider", but neither /ɴ/ nor /ɢ/ exist as independent phonemes. Second, there are clusters of fricatives and prenasalized voiced stops, as in /ʑmbri/ "
willow", but never clusters of fricatives and prenasalized voiceless stops.
Japhug distinguishes between palatal plosives and velar plosive + j sequences, as in /co/ "valley" vs. /kjo/ "drag". These both contrast with alveolo-palatal affricates.
There are at least 339 consonant clusters in Japhug (Jacques 2008:29), more than in
Old Tibetan or in most
Indo-European languages. Some of these clusters are typologically unusual: in addition to the previously mentioned clusters of fricatives and prenasalized stops, there are clusters where the first element is a semivowel, as in /jla/ "
hybrid of a yak and a cow".
Vowels
Japhug has eight vowel phonemes: a, o, u, ɤ, ɯ, y, e and i. The vowel y is attested in only one native word (/qaɟy/ "fish") and its derivatives, but appears in Chinese loanwords.
Grammar
Jacques (2008) is a short grammar and Jacques and Chen (2010) a text collection with interlinear glosses. Other studies on morphosyntax include Jacques (2010) on
direct–inverse marking, Jacques (2012a) on valency (
passive,
antipassive,
anticausative,
lability etc.), Jacques (2012b) on
incorporation and Jacques (2013) on
associated motion.
Jacques, Guillaume (2007). "La réduplication partielle en japhug, révélatrice des structures syllabiques". Faits de Langues (in French). 29: 9–21.
doi:
10.1163/19589514-029-01-900000003.
Jacques, Guillaume (2012).
"Argument demotion in Japhug Rgyalrong". In Authier, Gilles; Haude, Katharina (eds.). Ergativity, Valency and Voice. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 199–225.