Nyen language

{{Short description|Bodish language spoken in Bhutan}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Nyenkha

|states= Bhutan

|familycolor=Sino-Tibetan

|speakers=8,700

|ref=

|date=2010

|fam2=Tibeto-Burman

|fam3=Tibeto-Kanauri (?)

|fam4=Bodish

|fam5=East Bodish

|script=Tibetan script

|iso3=neh

|glotto=nyen1254

|glottorefname=Upper Mangdep

}}

Nyenkha (Dzongkha: འནྱེན་ཁ་; Wylie: 'Nyen-kha; also called "'Nyenkha", "Henkha", "Lap", "Nga Ked", and "Mangsdekha") is an East Bodish language spoken by about 10,000 people in the eastern, northern, and western areas of the Black Mountains.{{cite journal |journal=Journal of Bhutan Studies |volume=24 |date=Summer 2011 |first=Jagar |last=Dorji |title=Hen Kha: A Dialect of Mangde Valley in Bhutan |url=http://www.bhutanstudies.org.bt/pubFiles/JBS_24/04%20Henka_JDorji.pdf |pages=69–86 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127042612/http://www.bhutanstudies.org.bt/pubFiles/JBS_24/04%20Henka_JDorji.pdf |archive-date=2012-01-27 }} Speakers live primarily between the Tang Chuu to the east and Mangde Chhu to the west, from the town of Trongsa in Trongsa District; along Black River passes in the Trongsa District villages of Taktse and Usar; to in Ridha and Tashiding villages, and Phobji, Dangchu, and Sephu Gewogs and surrounding villages in southeast Wangdue Phodrang District.{{cite web |url=http://repository.forcedmigration.org/pdf/?pid=fmo:3003 |format=PDF |last=van Driem |first=George L. |author-link=George van Driem |title=Language Policy in Bhutan |publisher=SOAS |location=London |year=1993 |access-date=2011-01-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101101084255/http://repository.forcedmigration.org/pdf/?pid=fmo%3A3003 |archive-date=2010-11-01 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=neh |title=Nyenkha |work=Ethnologue Online |publisher=SIL International |location=Dallas |year=2006 |access-date=2011-01-18}}

Nyenkha is related to the East Bodish Bumthangkha and Kurtöpkha, with 75–77% and 69% lexical similarity, respectively,{{rp|76}} however they are not mutually intelligible. Dialects within Nyenkha show variation in tone and vocabulary. Dialects are generally named for their villages, such that names for the overall language are largely confined to academia.{{rp|72–74}}