In the my last post, I stated that Hindi and Tibetan derive from
the same language in their written form.They are not similar in their spoken form. This is an interesting story.
Their are no records of any formalized written Tibetan Language
until King Songtsen Gampo (reigned AD 629-649). The only evidence that there
might have been a written language prior was that there is record that reports King Songsten Gampo wrote a
letter to the King of Nepal for his daughters hand of marriage. There is no record of the letter. This supposed letter was written prior
to sending Tönmi Sambhoti to Northern India (around Kashmir) with a group of
scholars to study language and literature. Tönmi Sambhoti is credited
with creating a uniformed grammar system to the Tibetan language.He adapted a
Northern Indian Gupta script, and modified the rules of written Sanskrit to the
Tibetan words. That is pretty impressive. Tibetans were speaking Tibetan, but no written representation existed.
Why is this interesting? It is the political implication for
today. China has “absorbed” Tibet claiming that Tibet is really a part of
China. This occured after China's Cultural Revolution around 1950. One of many arguments against China’s claim of Tibet being originally
part of China is the language. The oral and written language bare no
resemblance to any form of Chinese languages- neither Mandarin, Cantonese, or Mongolian. How can an area (Tibet) be China's lost brother/sister, when such an integral part of existence shares no resemblance? Instead of going to China to develop a written language, Tibetans went to India. I'm not going to launch into a political diatribe (well, I did but deleted it).This is more food for thought. Language is integral with culture.
More on this next time.
Until I ramble on again . . .
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