Editing Tibet (section)

== Language ==
{{Main|Standard Tibetan}}
[[File:"TIBETO-BURMAN" GROUPS 1967 map with group key, "COMMUNIST CHINA ETHNOLINGUISTIC GROUPS" by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Directorate of Intelligence, Office of Basic Geographic Intelligence, 1967 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Ethnolinguistic map of Tibet (1967)]]
Linguists generally classify the [[Standard Tibetan|Tibetan language]] as a [[Tibeto-Burman]] language of the [[Sino-Tibetan language]] family, although the boundaries between 'Tibetan' and certain other [[Himalaya]]n languages can be unclear. According to [[Matthew Kapstein]]:<blockquote>
From the perspective of historical linguistics, Tibetan most closely resembles [[Burmese language|Burmese]] among the major languages of Asia. Grouping these two together with other apparently related languages spoken in the [[Himalaya]]n lands, as well as in the highlands of Southeast Asia and the Sino-Tibetan frontier regions, linguists have generally concluded that there exists a Tibeto-Burman family of languages. More controversial is the theory that the Tibeto-Burman family is itself part of a larger language family, called [[Sino-Tibetan language family|Sino-Tibetan]], and that through it Tibetan and Burmese are distant cousins of Chinese.<ref>Kapstein 2006, pg. 19</ref>
</blockquote>

[[File:People of Tibet46.jpg|thumb|Tibetan family in [[Kham]] attending a horse festival]]
The language has numerous regional dialects which are generally not mutually intelligible. It is employed throughout the Tibetan plateau and [[Bhutan]] and is also spoken in parts of [[Nepal]] and northern India, such as [[Sikkim]]. In general, the dialects of central Tibet (including Lhasa), [[Kham]], [[Amdo]] and some smaller nearby areas are considered Tibetan dialects. Other forms, particularly [[Dzongkha]], [[Sikkimese language|Sikkimese]], [[Sherpa language|Sherpa]], and [[Ladakhi language|Ladakhi]], are considered by their speakers, largely for political reasons, to be separate languages. However, if the latter group of Tibetan-type languages are included in the calculation, then 'greater Tibetan' is spoken by approximately 6&nbsp;million people across the Tibetan Plateau. Tibetan is also spoken by approximately 150,000 exile speakers who have fled from modern-day Tibet to India and other countries.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

Although spoken Tibetan varies according to the region, the written language, based on [[Classical Tibetan]], is consistent throughout. This is probably due to the long-standing influence of the Tibetan empire, whose rule embraced (and extended at times far beyond) the present Tibetan linguistic area, which runs from [[Gilgit Baltistan]] in the west to [[Yunnan]] and [[Sichuan]] in the east, and from north of [[Qinghai Lake]] south as far as Bhutan. The Tibetan language has its [[Tibetan script|own script]] which it shares with [[Ladakhi language|Ladakhi]] and [[Dzongkha language|Dzongkha]], and which is derived from the ancient Indian [[Brāhmī script]].<ref>Kapstein 2006, p. 22.</ref>

Starting in 2001, the local [[deaf sign language]]s of Tibet were standardized, and [[Tibetan Sign Language]] is now being promoted across the country.

The first Tibetan-English dictionary and grammar book was written by [[Sándor Kőrösi Csoma|Alexander Csoma de Kőrös]] in 1834.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=a78IAAAAQAAJ&q=csoma Essay towards a Dictionary, Tibetan and English. Prepared, with assistance of Bandé Sangs-rgyas Phuntshogs ... by Alexander Csoma de Kőrös, etc., Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1834] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164813/https://books.google.com/books?id=a78IAAAAQAAJ&q=csoma |date=March 26, 2023 }}.</ref>