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Vowel sounds /i,u/ have the allophones [ɪ,ʊ] when between consonants and in closed syllables.[5]
Tones
There are four distinct tones; high /v́/, high falling /v̂/, low /v̀/, and low rising /v̌/. Regardless of the regular tone of the word, the last syllable of a question is to be pronounced with a rising tone.
Grammar
Verbs
Verb stems are modified for aspect and mood. The imperfective and perfective aspects and the volitional (whether an action was intentional), infinitive, disjunct, and imperative (commands) moods are differentiated. In verb suffixes, the infinitive, disjunct (action not intended or not known to be intended), past observational, mirative (speaker's surprise), volitional, augmentative (greater intensity), participle, durative (action lasts through an extended time), hortative (plural imperative), dictative (narrating a story), descentive, ablative, and locative are distinguished. A verb stem may take on up to three suffixes. The perfective and imperfective aspects are often treated as past and non-past tenses, respectively. The labels "locative" and "ablative" do not refer to the function of the aspect but rather the homomorphous case-like clitic of the same name. Sherpa is strictly verb-final.
Aspect-mood suffixes
Form
Suffix
Infinitive
-u/-p
Disjunct/Hortative
-(k)i
Past Observational
-suŋ
Mirative
-nɔk
Volitional
-ĩ
Augmentative
-(s)a
Participle
-CṼ(C),-n
Durative
-i
Dictative
-si
Ablative
-ne
Locative
-la
The infinitive also marks the verb of a relative clause and a general action with no specific subject.
ɲɛ
1SG.GEN
pèt̪-u
spill.PRF-INF
čʰū
water
t̪í
DEF
t̪èŋa
cold
nɔ́k
MIR
ɲɛ pèt̪-u čʰū t̪í t̪èŋa nɔ́k
1SG.GEN spill.PRF-INF water DEF cold MIR
The water that I spilled is cold
The ablative marking denotes successive actions with some causal relationship.
t̪í-ci
3SG-GEN
dzím-ne
catch.PRF-ABL
gal
go.PRF.DSJT
t̪í-ci dzím-ne gal
3SG-GEN catch.PRF-ABL go.PRF.DSJT
He caught (it) and went
The locative marking denotes when the action in the main clause is done for the purpose of achieving the action in the locative clause.
The copula(Imperfective hín, perfective hot̪u)is used for existence, location, identity, and adjectival predicates. The evidential particle wɛ́ occurs at the end of phrases to denote an action which the speaker witnessed. The negative particle má is used with perfective verbs.
Personal pronouns in Sherpa inflect for number and case. Third-person pronouns may be used as demonstratives, and the third person singular nominative also serves as the postnominal definite marker.
Person
Singular
Plural
Nominative
Genitive
Locative
Nominative
Genitive
Locative
1 (incl.)
--
--
--
d̪ʌkpu
d̪ʌkpi
d̪ʌkpula
1 (excl.)
ŋʌ
ɲɛ
ŋʌla
ɲirʌŋ
ɲire
ɲirʌŋla
2
cʰuruŋ
cʰore
cʰuruŋla
cʰírʌŋ
cʰíre
cʰírʌŋla
3
t̪í
t̪íki
t̪íla
t̪iwɔ́
t̪íwi
t̪iwɔ́la
There are two articles, which occur phrase-finally. The indefinite form is signaled with the enclitic -i at the end of a noun phrase.
Adjectives
The general word order within noun-phrases is Noun-Adjective. Quantifiers and numerals also follow the noun they modify. Numerals may take on the suffix -pa to denote ordinality or -kʌr to denote collectivity.
Sherpa numerals
Gloss
one
čìk
eleven
čučik
two
ɲì
twelve
čìŋɲi
three
sùm
thirteen
čùpsum
four
ǰi
twenty
kʰʌlǰik
five
ŋà
twenty-one
kʰʌlǰik
six
t̪úk
thirty
kʰʌlsum
seven
d̪in
fifty
kʰʌlŋa
eight
jɛ́
seventy
kʰʌld̪in
nine
gu
ninety
kʰʌlgu
ten
čìt̪ʰʌmba
one hundred
kʰʌl čìt̪ʰʌmba
Vocabulary
The following table lists the days of the week, which are derived from the Tibetan language ("Pur-gae").
Mi rig te ri raṅvāṅ daṅ cithoṅ gi thopthaṅ ḍaḍaï thog kyeu yin. Gaṅ ga namjyod daṅ śesrab lhankye su oddub yin caṅ, pharchur cyiggi-cyigla pungyi duśes jyoggogyi.
Mi rigs te ri rang dbang dang rtsi thong gi thob thang 'dra 'dra'i thog skyeu yin. Gang ga rnam dpyod dang shes rab lhan skyes su 'od dub yin tsang, phar tshur gcig gis gcig la spun gyi 'du shes 'jog dgos kyi.
Translation
Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
^Tournadre, N. (2014). The Tibetic languages and their classification. Trans-Himalayan linguistics: Historical and descriptive linguistics of the Himalayan area, 266(1), 105-29.
^ abGraves, Thomas E. (2007). The Phonetics and Phonology of the Sherpa Language.
