Karma Tshering of Gaselô George van Driem1
Table of contents :
List of abbreviations
Preface
The Dzongkha language
Dzongkha, Chöke and Dränjoke
Earlier work on Dzongkha
Roman Dzongkha and Phonological Dzongkha
Exercises to Chapter 1
Dzongkha Script
The ’Ucen Script
Bhutanese Cursive
Exercises to Chapter 2
Dzongkha Phonology
Dzongkha initials and tones
Dzongkha vowels
Phonetic description of Dzongkha vowels
Phonetic description of Dzongkha initials
Dzongkha finals
Roman Dzongkha and traditional orthography
Contour tones
Exercises to Chapter 3
Pronouns, postpositions, numerals and the verbs `to be’
Dzongkha pronouns
Suffixes and postpositions
The verbs ‘to be’ ཨིན་ ’ing and ཨིན་པས་ ’ime
The verbs ‘to be’ ཡོད་ yö and འདུག་ dû
The comparative བས་ -wa and superlative ཤོས་ -sho
The verb སྨོ་ mo ~ ’mô
Numerals: the decimal system
Numerals: the vigesimal system
Telling time
Exercises to Chapter 4
Present tenses, the ergative, negation, the adhortative, optative, supine and modal verbs
The ergative case
The steady state present and the suffix of acquired knowledge
The progressive
The factual tenses and inflected stems
The present continuous
Experienced perceptions
The adhortative and the optative
The supine
Modals expressing permission, ability, opportunity, exigency and probability
Rhetorical questions
Exercises to Chapter 5
Past tenses, perfective aspect, the present gerund, the past, participle and conjunctions
The witnessed past
The inferred past
Perfective aspect, auxiliaries expressing Aktionsart and verb stem alternation
The present and durative gerunds
The past participle and perfect gerunds
The conditional conjunction ‘if’
The concessive conjunction ‘although’
The adversative conjunction ‘but’
The alternative conjunction ‘or’
The causative conjunction ‘because’
The adverbialiser
Exercises to Chapter 6
Periphrastic constructions with the infinitive, the potential, the future, interrogative and indefinite pronouns, the Bhutanese calendar
The infinitive
Periphrastic constructions with the infinitive
The potential auxiliary
The autolalic future and future perfect
Interrogative and indefinite pronouns
The Bhutanese calendar
Exercises to Chapter 7
Subordinate clauses, indirect speech, the imperative, honorifics, fixed expressions and proverbs
Subordinate clauses, indirect speech and the hearsay evidential
The subordinator མི་ -mi
The imperative
Honorific speech
Fixed expressions
Some Dzongkha proverbs
Exercises to Chapter 8
References
Appendices
Answer Key
People’s Names
Place Names
Guide to Roman Dzongkha (Dzongkha)
Guide to Phonological Dzongkha (Dzongkha)
Guide to Roman Dzongkha (English)
Guide to Phonological Dzongkha (English)
Sample Texts in Roman Dzongkha and Phonological Dzongkha
