Basum language


Basum is a divergent Bodish language spoken by about 2,500 people in Gongbo'gyamda County 工布江达县, Nyingtri Prefecture, Tibet, China. Basum is spoken by 13.5% of the population of Gongbo'gyamda County. Glottolog lists Basum as unclassified within Bodish.
Basum is spoken in Cuogao Township 错高乡 and Xueka Township 雪卡乡 of Gongbo'gyamda County 工布江达县, Nyingtri Prefecture, Tibet, China.

Classification

Qu, et al. notes that Basum is mutually unintelligible with and quite different from Gongbu Tibetan, which is a Central Tibetan language variety closely related to Nyingchi Tibetan. Basum is also unintelligible with Niangpu 娘蒲话, which is a Khams Tibetan language variety spoken by 4,310 people in Jiaxing 加兴 and Niangpu 娘蒲 townships of Gongbo'gyamda County. Qu, et al. notices some lexical similarities between Basum and Cuona Menba, an East Bodish language.
Suzuki & Nyima consider Basum to be a non-Tibetic language.
Tournadre classifies Basum as an unclassified Bodish language that does not belong to the Tibetic branch. Tournadre notes that Basum has the negator a-, as opposed to the negator ma- or myi- in Tibetic languages. Also, unlike Tibetic languages, Basum does not palatalize Proto-Bodish *ti- and *si-.

Lexicon

Qu, et al. list the following Basum words with no cognates in neighboring Tibetic languages.
Chinese glossEnglish glossBasum
脚foot, leg
酥油yak butter
盐salt
一one
七seven
走to walk
看to look
睡to sleep
坐to sit
我I
你you
他he
那that
多many
红red
吝啬stingy
一点儿a little, a bit
立即soon, quickly
全部all
根本basically
一定definitely, must

Other divergent Basum words are :
GlossBasum
one
four
five
seven
you
blood
meat
iron
pig