94 Note on the Pronunciation of the Tibetan Language. [No. 2, 



But all this would leave the linguist hopeless as to the question of 

 the historical periods when these changes took place, as it Only adds 

 the a posteriori proof, that the pronunciation has once agreed with 

 the spelling, to the d priori conclusion which everybody may infer from 

 the mere fact of the present discrepancy. A step towards the solution 

 of this question may perhaps be possible by the study of the languages 

 of some frontier districts. An instance of peculiar interest in this 

 respect is found in the Boo-nan language, spoken in a small district 

 of Lahoul, and in part of Kunawur, where it is called Tibar-skad, 

 Tibar-language. It is the familiar tongue of the Lahoul villages in the 

 Bhaga valley, just above the junction of the Bhaga and Chundra rivers, 

 over an extent of about 10 miles on both sides, whereas Tibetan is 

 understood and spoken fluently enough in intercourse with genuine 

 Tibetans by the adult men, but more or less imperfectly by women 

 and children, and many Tibetan words, very common in books, and 

 generally known in Ladak, are not understood by any one in this 

 district. The fact of this language existing in two different provinces, 

 like two islands separated from each other by the pure Tibetan 

 population of Spiti and the pure Hindu nationality of Kooloo, renders 

 the theory of a wider diffusion, of the Tibarskad language in former 

 times probable, and agrees with the assertion of the Lahoul people, 

 that even within the remembrance of the present generation, its dis- 

 trict was greater that it is now, and has been more and more encroach- 

 ed upon by the Tibetan. Now in this language a great many Tibetan 

 words are to be met with, which may have induced General Cunningham 

 to class this Tibarskad under the head of dialects of the Tibetan ; 

 but I think the great difference of the grammatical structure of both 

 languages (the Boo-nan being at least as elaborate as the Hindi, the 

 Tibetan nearly devoid of inflections at all) and even a closer examina- 

 of the lexical stock of the language, must lead to a different opinion. 

 Nearly all the words of primary necessity (an inference against which 

 Latham objects, I do not see exactly with how much reason), and 

 many others are not borrowed from the Tibetan, any more than from 

 Sanscrit, but have an original character. Here is a small list of words 

 all of which seem to be original, or at least I know not from what 

 other language they might be derived. 



