Roman Dzongkha

Roman Dzongkha is the official romanization of Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan. It was developed by the Dzongkha Development Commission in 1991 and represents modern Dzongkha pronunciation as spoken in Thimphu and Punakha.

Consonants

Roman Dzongkha uses the following consonant symbols:{{cite book |title=Guide to Official Dzongkha Romanization |last=van Driem |first=George |author-link=George van Driem |year=1991 |publisher= Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC) |location=Thimphu, Bhutan |archive-date=2015-09-23 |url=http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/publications/publication_pdf/1191-1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923221236/http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/publications/publication_pdf/1191-1.pdf|page=6}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" !colspan=5 \| Consonants
Roman Dzongkha !IPA !Description
style="background:#cfc"\|k \|Voiceless velar plosive \|Unaspirated k, like in English skill.
style="background:#cfc"\|kh \|Voiceless velar plosive \|Aspirated k, like in English kiss.
style="background:#ccf"\|g \|Voiced velar plosive \|Like the g in English goal.
style="background:#ccf"\|g° \|Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate \|Unaspirated k, but followed by a murmured vowel.
style="background:#cfc"\|c \|Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate \|Alveolar-palatal, unaspirated. No direct equivalent in English, but similar to the ch in English churchyard.
style="background:#cfc"\|ch \|Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate \|Alveolar-palatal, aspirated. No direct equivalent in English, but similar to the ch in English punchy.
style="background:#ccf"\|j \|Voiced alveolo-palatal affricate \|Alveolar-palatal, voiced. No direct equivalent in English, but similar to the j in English jeep.
style="background:#ccf"\|j° \|Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate \|Like c, but followed by a murmured vowel.
style="background:#cfc"\|t \|Voiceless alveolar plosive \|Unaspirated t, like in English stop.
style="background:#cfc"\|th \|Voiceless alveolar plosive \|Aspirated t, like in English take.
style="background:#ccf"\|d \|Voiced dental and alveolar plosives \|Like the d in English date.
style="background:#ccf"\|d° \|Voiceless alveolar plosive \|Unaspirated t, but followed by a murmured vowel.
style="background:#cfc"\|p \|Voiceless bilabial plosive \|Unaspirated p, like in English space.
style="background:#cfc"\|ph \|Voiceless bilabial plosive \|Aspirated p, like in English part.
style="background:#ccf"\|b \|Voiced bilabial plosive \|Like the b in English boat.
style="background:#ccf"\|b° \|Voiceless bilabial plosive \|Unaspirated p, but followed by a murmured vowel.
style="background:#cfc"\|pc \|[ptɕ] \|A combination of p + c.
style="background:#cfc"\|pch \|[ptɕʰ] \|A combination of p + ch.
style="background:#ccf"\|bj \|[bdʑ] \|A combination of b + j.
style="background:#ccf"\|bj° \|[b̥d̥ʑ]~[ptɕ] \|Like pc, but followed by a murmured vowel.
style="background:#cfc"\|tr \|Voiceless retroflex plosive \|
style="background:#cfc"\|thr \|Voiceless retroflex plosive \|
style="background:#ccf"\|dr \|Voiced retroflex plosive \|
style="background:#ccf"\|dr° \|Voiceless retroflex plosive \|
style="background:#cfc"\|ts \|Voiceless alveolar affricate \|Unaspirated. Like the zz in English pizza.
style="background:#cfc"\|tsh \|Voiceless alveolar affricate \|Aspirated. Like the ts in English bats.
style="background:#ccf"\|dz \|Voiced alveolar affricate \|Like the ds in English loads.
style="background:#cfc"\|sh \|Voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant \|Alveolo-palatal, unaspirated. No direct equivalent in English, but similar to the sh in English push.
style="background:#ccf"\|zh \|Voiced alveolo-palatal fricative \|
style="background:#ccf"\|zh° \|Voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant \|
style="background:#cfc"\|s \|Voiceless alveolar sibilant \|Like the s in English snake.
style="background:#ccf"\|z \|Voiced alveolar fricative \|Like the z in English zipper.
style="background:#ccf"\|z° \|Voiceless alveolar sibilant \|Like s, but followed by a murmured vowel.
style="background:#fcc"\|y \|Palatal approximant \|Like the y in English year.
style="background:#fcc"\|w \|Labio-velar approximant \|Like the w in English water.
style="background:#ccf"\|r \|Voiced dental, alveolar and postalveolar trills \|
style="background:#cfc"\|hr \|Voiceless alveolar trill \|
style="background:#fcc"\|l \|Alveolar lateral approximant \|Like the l in English lake.
style="background:#cfc"\|lh \|Voiceless dental and alveolar lateral fricatives \|
style="background:#fcc"\|n \|Alveolar nasal \|Like the n in English name.
style="background:#fcc"\|ng \|Voiced velar nasal \|Like the ng in English song.
style="background:#fcc"\|ny \|Voiced palatal nasal \|Like the ñ in Spanish jalapeño.
style="background:#fcc"\|m \|Bilabial nasal \|Like the m in English make.
style="background:#cfc"\|h \|Voiceless glottal fricative \|Like the h in English hat.

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!colspan=5 | Consonants

Roman Dzongkha

!IPA

!Description

style="background:#cfc"|k

|Voiceless velar plosive

|Unaspirated k, like in English skill.

style="background:#cfc"|kh

|Voiceless velar plosive

|Aspirated k, like in English kiss.

style="background:#ccf"|g

|Voiced velar plosive

|Like the g in English goal.

style="background:#ccf"|g°

|Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate

|Unaspirated k, but followed by a murmured vowel.

style="background:#cfc"|c

|Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate

|Alveolar-palatal, unaspirated. No direct equivalent in English, but similar to the ch in English churchyard.

style="background:#cfc"|ch

|Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate

|Alveolar-palatal, aspirated. No direct equivalent in English, but similar to the ch in English punchy.

style="background:#ccf"|j

|Voiced alveolo-palatal affricate

|Alveolar-palatal, voiced. No direct equivalent in English, but similar to the j in English jeep.

style="background:#ccf"|j°

|Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate

|Like c, but followed by a murmured vowel.

style="background:#cfc"|t

|Voiceless alveolar plosive

|Unaspirated t, like in English stop.

style="background:#cfc"|th

|Voiceless alveolar plosive

|Aspirated t, like in English take.

style="background:#ccf"|d

|Voiced dental and alveolar plosives

|Like the d in English date.

style="background:#ccf"|d°

|Voiceless alveolar plosive

|Unaspirated t, but followed by a murmured vowel.

style="background:#cfc"|p

|Voiceless bilabial plosive

|Unaspirated p, like in English space.

style="background:#cfc"|ph

|Voiceless bilabial plosive

|Aspirated p, like in English part.

style="background:#ccf"|b

|Voiced bilabial plosive

|Like the b in English boat.

style="background:#ccf"|b°

|Voiceless bilabial plosive

|Unaspirated p, but followed by a murmured vowel.

style="background:#cfc"|pc

|[ptɕ]

|A combination of p + c.

style="background:#cfc"|pch

|[ptɕʰ]

|A combination of p + ch.

style="background:#ccf"|bj

|[bdʑ]

|A combination of b + j.

style="background:#ccf"|bj°

|[b̥d̥ʑ]~[ptɕ]

|Like pc, but followed by a murmured vowel.

style="background:#cfc"|tr

|Voiceless retroflex plosive

style="background:#cfc"|thr

|Voiceless retroflex plosive

style="background:#ccf"|dr

|Voiced retroflex plosive

style="background:#ccf"|dr°

|Voiceless retroflex plosive

style="background:#cfc"|ts

|Voiceless alveolar affricate

|Unaspirated. Like the zz in English pizza.

style="background:#cfc"|tsh

|Voiceless alveolar affricate

|Aspirated. Like the ts in English bats.

style="background:#ccf"|dz

|Voiced alveolar affricate

|Like the ds in English loads.

style="background:#cfc"|sh

|Voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant

|Alveolo-palatal, unaspirated. No direct equivalent in English, but similar to the sh in English push.

style="background:#ccf"|zh

|Voiced alveolo-palatal fricative

style="background:#ccf"|zh°

|Voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant

style="background:#cfc"|s

|Voiceless alveolar sibilant

|Like the s in English snake.

style="background:#ccf"|z

|Voiced alveolar fricative

|Like the z in English zipper.

style="background:#ccf"|z°

|Voiceless alveolar sibilant

|Like s, but followed by a murmured vowel.

style="background:#fcc"|y

|Palatal approximant

|Like the y in English year.

style="background:#fcc"|w

|Labio-velar approximant

|Like the w in English water.

style="background:#ccf"|r

|Voiced dental, alveolar and postalveolar trills

style="background:#cfc"|hr

|Voiceless alveolar trill

style="background:#fcc"|l

|Alveolar lateral approximant

|Like the l in English lake.

style="background:#cfc"|lh

|Voiceless dental and alveolar lateral fricatives

style="background:#fcc"|n

|Alveolar nasal

|Like the n in English name.

style="background:#fcc"|ng

|Voiced velar nasal

|Like the ng in English song.

style="background:#fcc"|ny

|Voiced palatal nasal

|Like the ñ in Spanish jalapeño.

style="background:#fcc"|m

|Bilabial nasal

|Like the m in English make.

style="background:#cfc"|h

|Voiceless glottal fricative

|Like the h in English hat.

Consonants in green are always followed by a high tone vowel.
Consonants in purple are always followed by a low tone vowel.
Consonants in pink follow a low tone vowel by default, but can also be followed by a high tone vowel (see #Tones).

Vowels

Roman Dzongkha uses the following vowel symbols:{{cite book |title=Guide to Official Dzongkha Romanization |last=van Driem |first=George |author-link=George van Driem |year=1991 |publisher= Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC) |location=Thimphu, Bhutan |archive-date=2015-09-23 |url=http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/publications/publication_pdf/1191-1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923221236/http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/publications/publication_pdf/1191-1.pdf|page=7}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" !colspan=5 \| Vowels
Roman Dzongkha !IPA !Description
a \|Open back unrounded vowel \|Like the a in English father.
â \|Open back unrounded vowel \|Like the a in English father, but longer.
ä \|Open-mid front unrounded vowel \|Like the e in English let, but longer.
e \|Close-mid front unrounded vowel \|
ê \|Close-mid front unrounded vowel \|
i \|Close front unrounded vowel \|Like the ee in English bee, but shorter.
î \|Close front unrounded vowel \|Like the ee in English bee.
o \|Close-mid back rounded vowel \|
ô \|Close-mid back rounded vowel \|
ö \|Close-mid back rounded vowel \|Like the ö in German schön.
u \|Close back rounded vowel \|Like the oo in English boot, but shorter.
û \|Close back rounded vowel \|Like the oo in English boot.
ü \|Close front rounded vowel \|Like the u in French tu, but longer.

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!colspan=5 | Vowels

Roman Dzongkha

!IPA

!Description

|Open back unrounded vowel

|Like the a in English father.

|Open back unrounded vowel

|Like the a in English father, but longer.

|Open-mid front unrounded vowel

|Like the e in English let, but longer.

|Close-mid front unrounded vowel

|Close front unrounded vowel

|Like the ee in English bee, but shorter.

|Close front unrounded vowel

|Like the ee in English bee.

|Close-mid back rounded vowel

|Like the ö in German schön.

|Close back rounded vowel

|Like the oo in English boot, but shorter.

|Close back rounded vowel

|Like the oo in English boot.

|Close front rounded vowel

|Like the u in French tu, but longer.

Note: vowels are always long before ng, so â, ê, î and û do not occur in that position.

Tones

Standard Dzongkha is a tonal language with two tones. As mentioned in #Consonants, certain consonants are always followed by either a high or low tone, making the tone predictable for words starting with those consonants. In Roman Dzongkha, tone is only indicated when it is unpredictable, that is, when a word starts with a vowel, voiced nasal or a glide.

The low tone is always unmarked.
The high tone is indicated by an apostrophe immediately preceding the word: 'a, 'n, 'y, etc.
The rising and falling tones of the central Dzongkha dialects{{cite book |title=Guide to Official Dzongkha Romanization |last=van Driem |first=George |author-link=George van Driem |year=1991 |publisher= Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC) |location=Thimphu, Bhutan |archive-date=2015-09-23 |url=http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/publications/publication_pdf/1191-1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923221236/http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/publications/publication_pdf/1191-1.pdf|page=64}} are not indicated in Roman Dzongkha.

Examples

class="wikitable" ! Tibetan Script !! Wylie !! Roman Dzongkha !! Meaning !! Notes{{cite book\|last=Driem\|first=George van\|authorlink=George van Driem\|title=The Grammar of Dzongkha\|location=Thimphu, Bhutan \|publisher=Dzongkha Development Commission of the Royal Government of Bhutan\|year=1992\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0wNDHAAACAAJ}}
---- \| {{bo-textonly\|ས་ཁྲ་}}	sa khra	sapthra	map	In Roman Dzongkha, p sometimes appears at the end of a syllable, even though it is not present in Tibetan script.
---- \| {{bo-textonly\|འཆར་གཞི་}}	char gzhi	char'zhi	governmental	Syllable-final r only occurs in literary words and names borrowed from Classical Tibetan. It's always dropped in native Dzongkha words.
---- \| {{bo-textonly\|ལྟོ་ཚང་}}	lto tshang	totsha	friend	Syllable-final ng is sometimes dropped in Roman Dzongkha. This is not predictable.
---- \| {{bo-textonly\|བལྟ་ཤིག་}}	blta shig	tash	look (imperative)	Syllable-final sh corresponds to the particle {{bo-textonly\|ཤིག}} shig in Tibetan script.
----

The lyrics to the national anthem of Bhutan (Druk Tsenden):{{Cite web|url=http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=167955|title=Bhutan: The Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan|website=www.wipo.int|language=en|access-date=2018-10-27}}

class="wikitable"

!Dzongkha original{{cite web|url=http://www.bhutan.gov.bt/government/abt_nationalanthem.php|title=National Anthem |publisher=Government of Bhutan|work=Bhutan Portal|access-date=2011-10-29|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209135920/http://www.bhutan.gov.bt/government/abt_nationalanthem.php|archive-date=2012-02-09}}

!Roman Dzongkha

!IPA {{efn|See Help:IPA and Dzongkha § Phonology.}}

!Official English translation{{cite web|title=Constitution of Bhutan|url=http://www.bhutanaudit.gov.bt/About%20Us/Mandates/Constitution%20of%20Bhutan%202008.pdf|access-date=18 October 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905083724/http://www.bhutanaudit.gov.bt/About%20Us/Mandates/Constitution%20of%20Bhutan%202008.pdf|archive-date=5 September 2014}}

style="vertical-align:top; white-space:nowrap;"

|{{lang|dz|འབྲུག་ཙན་དན་བཀོད་པའི་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ནང་༎

དཔལ་ལུགས་གཉིས་བསྟན་སྲིད་𝄆སྐྱོང་བའི་མགོན་𝄇༎

འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་པོ་མངའ་བདག་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་༎

སྐུ་འགྱུར་མེད་བརྟན་ཅིང་𝄆ཆབ་སྲིད་འཕེལ་𝄇༎

ཆོས་སངས་རྒྱས་བསྟན་པ་དར་ཞིང་རྒྱས་༎

འབངས་བདེ་སྐྱིད་ཉི་མ་𝄆ཤར་བར་ཤོག་𝄇༎}}

|{{transliteration|dz|italic=no|Dru tsend°en kepä gäkhap na

Pä lu’nyi tensi 𝄆 kyongwä gin 𝄇

Dru gäpo ’ngada rinpoche

Ku gyûme tencing 𝄆 chap si phe 𝄇

Chö sanggä tenpa dâzh°ing gä

Bang deki nyima 𝄆 shâwâsho. 𝄇}}

|{{IPA|wrap=none|[ɖ(ʐ)ṳ̀e̯ t͡sén.d̥è̤n ké.pɛ́ː {{!}} gɛ̤̀ː(l).kʰɑ́(p̚) nɑ̤̀]

[pɛ́ː(l) lɔ̤̀ː.ɲ(j)ɪ́ː tɛ́ːn.sɪ́ {{!}} 𝄆 cɔ́ːŋ.wɛ̤̀ː gɪ̤̀n 𝄇]

[ɖ(ʐ)ṳ̀e̯ gɛ̤̀ː(l).pó ŋɑ́.dɑ̤̀ {{!}} rɪ̤̀n.pó.t͡ɕʰé]

[kúe̯ ɟʊ̤̀ː.mè̤ tɛ́n.t͡ɕɪ́ːŋ {{!}} 𝄆 t͡ɕʰɑ́(p̚) sɪ́ pʰé(l) 𝄇]

[t͡ɕʰǿ sɑ́ːŋ.gɛ̤̀ː tɛ́n.pɑ́ {{!}} dɑ̤̀ː.ʑ̥ɪ́ːŋ gɛ̤̀ː(l)]

[bɑ̤̀ːŋ dè̤.kɪ́ ɲ(j)ɪ̤̀.mɑ̤̀ {{!}} 𝄆 ɕɑ́ː.wɑ̤̀ː.ɕó 𝄇]}}

|In the Kingdom of Bhutan adorned with cypress trees,

The Protector who reigns over the realm of spiritual and secular traditions,

He is the King of Bhutan, the precious sovereign.

May His being remain unchanging, and the Kingdom prosper,

May the teachings of the Enlightened One flourish,

May the sun of peace and happiness shine over all people.

Notes

References

Category:Bhutan

Category:Phonetic alphabets

Category:Phonetic guides

Category:Ruby characters

Roman Dzongkha

Consonants

Vowels

Tones

Examples

See also

Notes

References