Introduction

The languages of Bhutan are often assumed to be Tibetan dialects, perhaps due to some of the apparent cultural similarities with Tibet and the fact that a version of the Tibetan writing system is employed to represent Bhutan's national language, Dzongkha. Buddhism still operates as a National Religion, with a majority of the country's inhabitants self-identifying as practitioners of various streams of the religion. This religion is also directly linked to Tibetan through the writing system. Classical Tibetan, called Chöke in Bhutan, is the liturgical language of the various forms of Bhutanese Buddhism and still enjoys a very high level of prestige in the country. As such, Chöke extends pressure on the modern languages, and has likely been doing so for over one millennium, since the introduction of Buddhism into Bhutan. In this way, one can see Chöke is a language of influence, crossing borders of language, time, and geopolitical space, to change and shape other modern languages.

Despite a modern perception that Bhutanese ‘language’ might be synonymous with ‘Tibetan,’ Bhutan is actually home to 19 distinct Tibeto-Burman languages (van Driem 1998). Many of these languages are identified as occupying an unknown position within Tibeto-Burman; these include Tshangla, Black Mountain Mönpa, Lhokpu and Gongduk.