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THE LINGUISTICS STUDENT’S HANDBOOK 344
Language name Tigrinya ti�ɡri�njə
Language name Tibetan ti�betən
Autonym (if known and different)
Autonym (if known and different)
Language family Afro-Asiatic Semitic
Language family Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman
Spoken in Eritrea
Spoken in Tibet, India, Nepal, China
Approximate number of speakers 3m
Approximate number of speakers 4m
Writing system Amharic syllabary
Writing system its own syllabary
Phonetics/phonology
Phonetics/phonology
Stress word-final
Stress
Contains following rare pharyngeal; ejective
consonant (types)
Contains following rare retroflex, uvular
consonant (types)
Said to have how many vowels? 7
Said to have how many vowels? 5 + nasalisation (3)
Marked vowel types
Marked vowel types front rounded
Tone none
Tone register
Rhythm no information
Rhythm no information
Vowel harmony some limited
Vowel harmony dominant/recessive
Morphology fusional stem-based
Morphology agglutinative word-based
Particular formation types prefix; root-and-pattern; suffix
Particular formation types apophony; dvandva; prefix; full reduplication; suffix
Syntax
Word order SOV AN prepositions
PossN
Syntax
Word order SOV NA and AN postpositions
PossN
Particular syntactic phenomena gender; morphological aspect; conjugation classes
Particular syntactic phenomena absolutive / ergative marking; inclusive /
exclusive 1st plural; dual
Points of interest
Points of interest
Sources Bender et al. (1976), Campbell (1991), Katzner
(1977), Maddieson (1984), Ruhlen (1976)
Sources Chang (2003), Chang & Shefts (1964), Delancey (2003),
Wälchli (2005)