Jad language
| Jad | |
|---|---|
| Dzad | |
| Native to | India |
|
Native speakers
|
300 (1997) |
|
Sino-Tibetan
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | jadd1243 |
Jad (Dzad), also known as Bhotia and Rongba, is a language spoken by a community of about 300 in the Uttar Pradesh region of the Himalayas, in India. It is spoken in several villages, and the two major villages are Jadang and Nilang in the Harsil sub-division of the Uttarkashi District. Jad is closely related to the Lahuli–Spiti language, which is another Tibetic language. Jad is spoken alongside Garhwali and Hindi. Code switching between Jad and Garhwali is very common. The language borrows some vocabulary from both Hindi and Garhwali.
All written communication is in Hindi, not Jad. Attitudes toward Jad are negative with little institutional support. Education, media, television, and all other official sources of communication are in [Hindi. There is no known literature, with the exception of a one page translation of a story about a prodigal son. It is vigorously endangered and under severe threat, and it is unclear if the current state of bilingualism and code switching will continue or if Jad will be entirely replaced by either Hindi or Garhwali.
The name Bhotia means "those from the north", referring to the geographical location of the population who speaks the language. The name Bhotia encompasses a large set of languages and is used to refer to multiple groups, Jad is specifically spoken by the Bhotias of Nilang Tehri. The term Bhotia is unrelated to the language of the people of Bhutan, which is an independent Himalayan state in the northeastern area of the subcontinent. The name Jad is derived from the summer village name, where the Jad people spend the summer season, which is called Jadang.
Scholarship on Jad and people has been very limited. The population has not been subjected to a thorough study or survey. Work has been scattered and of uncertain quality. As of 1977, there were two reasons for the lack of scholarship on the language and people. First, the Bhotias reside in places which are difficult to reach geographically. Secondly, security clearance must be obtained from the Home Department and Defense Department of India before scholars are allowed to visit the border where the Jad live. As a result, the amount of research that has been conducted is limited in volume and scope.
The following table describes the location in the mouth where vowels are pronounced in Jad.
Only the back u and o are rounded (see: roundedness) in context of lip positioning, all other vowels are unrounded. There are no diphthongs in Jad, but vowels frequently occur in sequence. There is no strong rule for which order the vowels must fall in when in a sequence, so many different orders are found in Jad.
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