Kolong language


Kolong is a language spoken in the upper Bhaga Valley in Lahaul Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, India.

History

The area where the language is spoken was one of the several kothi or administrative divisions of Lahaul. The area was named Kothi Kolong, after Kolong, the chief village of the Kothi. Grierson termed the language the Lahaul dialect and classified it under the Tibeto-Himalayan group of the Tibeto-Burman family.
The language was first studied after the foundation of a Moravian Church mission office in 1854. In 1881, H.A. Jaeschke published a Tibetan–English dictionary that included a comparative table of words from different languages spoken in the region, including sTodpa, but without explicitly mentioning the name of the language.
In 1934, Roerich studied this language extensively, naming it Kolong.
The People's Linguistic Survey of India identified two prominent features of the language: a distinct tone and simplification of compound consonants. A grammar book has also been published.