Research Papers on Tibetan Studies

Author: Hu Tan
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-12-01
Features: This book is one of the series "Modern Tibetan Studies Library." The study of the Tibetan language in China has a long history and outstanding achievements. For example, the creation and reform of the Tibetan alphabet itself demonstrate that early Tibetan scholars had a precise analysis of their own language, especially the phonetic system. Based on the characteristics of their language, they retained what they had and discarded what they lacked, adding new letters to express their unique phonemes. This creative transformation could not have been achieved without a comprehensive analysis of the Tibetan phonetic system. According to later Tibetan historical and literary records, Thonmi Sambhota, the creator of the Tibetan script, also conducted a detailed analysis of the grammatical features of Tibetan while designing the script. He wrote eight treatises on correct pronunciation, correct writing, and grammar, but most of them are lost. The surviving "Thirty Verses of the Oracle's Instructions" and "The Nature of the Sound" (also known as "The Theory of Phonetic Forces") have become the foundational works of Tibetan phonetics and grammar. Later Tibetan scholars used these as the basis for interpretation and development, gradually forming an independent discipline listed as one of the "Five Sciences" in traditional Tibetan studies, commonly known as "Phonology." Subsequently, significant contributions were made in vocabulary standardization, semantic interpretation, and dictionary compilation. These are extremely valuable legacies in the history of linguistics in China.
With the changing times, the development of linguistic theories, and the improvement of research methods, scholars in China have made deeper and broader advancements in the field of Tibetan studies, moving from traditional linguistics to modern linguistics. Especially after the founding of the People's Republic of China in the latter half of the 20th century, Tibetan studies have experienced rapid progress. In the 1950s, Tibetan and Han scholars collaborated to conduct large-scale surveys on the current state of Tibetan, the distribution of dialects, and the similarities and differences in structure, laying a solid foundation and enabling significant progress in synchronic descriptions of modern Tibetan. From modern to ancient, from synchronic to diachronic, from phonetics and vocabulary to grammar, from the study of language itself to applied language research, it can be said that modern Tibetan studies in China have entered a new stage of flourishing and prosperity.
The author of this book, Hu Tan, entered university (Central Institute for Nationalities) in the early 1950s to major in Tibetan. Under the patient guidance of professors Yu Daoquan, Ma Xueliang, and many other Tibetan scholars, he graduated and joined the faculty. On one hand, he taught, and on the other, he continued to study Tibetan, gradually entering the field of Tibetan research. This book is a collection of his decades of research on the Tibetan language. It is divided into four parts.
Part 1: General Theory includes the following articles: "Tibetan," "Tibetan Language Studies," "The Current Situation and Prospects of Tibetan Language and Script," and "A Review of Foreign Tibetan Grammar Studies." The article "Tibetan" introduces the creation of the Tibetan script, the establishment of written Tibetan, the structure of the script, and its characteristics.
Part 2: Phonetics includes the following articles: "Tone Study of Tibetan (Lhasa Dialect)," "A Comparison Between Tonal and Atonal Tibetan," "Several Types of Historical Sound Changes in Tibetan," "On the Occurrence and Non-occurrence of Final Consonants in Tibetan," and "A Brief Discussion of Rules and Exceptions." Tone is an important feature of the Sino-Tibetan language family. To study Sino-Tibetan languages, it is essential to examine their tonal systems and their history. The article "Tone Study of Tibetan (Lhasa Dialect)" provides a detailed introduction to the tonal system of Lhasa Tibetan and its origins.
Part 3: Vocabulary includes the following articles: "Volitional and Volitional-Related Nouns in Tibetan," "Some Characteristics of Compound Words in Tibetan," "Etymology of Tibetan Time Words," "The Creation and Modernization of Tibetan Technical Terms," "The Creation and Standardization of Tibetan Technical Terms," "The Characteristics of Tibetan Transliteration Terms as Seen in the Nomenclature of Chemical Elements," and "Phonetic Variation and Change in Tibetan."
Part 4: Grammar includes the following articles: "Analysis of Several Verb Sentence Patterns in Lhasa Tibetan," "On Comparative Sentences in Tibetan," "Nominalization of Tibetan Verbs," "The 'Is' Clause in Lhasa Tibetan," "Noun-Verb Combinations in Tibetan," "Word Order and Variation in Tibetan," "The Occurrence and Non-occurrence of the Subject in Tibetan Sentences," and "Typological Features of Tibetan Grammar."
Part 5: Appendices includes articles such as "Tense and Length of Vowels in Hani," "Tone Experiment of Tibetan (Lhasa Dialect)," "Phonetic Symbols and Transcription," "China's National Minorities and Their Languages," "Comparative Sentences in Tibetan," "Comment: Language Rights and Language Policies," and "Recherches sur les Tons du Tibetain (Dialecte de Lhasa)."