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Appellation and honorific in Tibetan culture

 

Tibetans like to address each other with very suave words. To express their kindness, Tibetans are used to add auxiliary words in front of or after titles and names. For example, they add "La" after the name, such as "Ami La", "Aye La", "Tenzin La", and "Tashi Niyima La". If you travel to Tibet you may have chance to experience.

At some places in Tibet, people are used to add "Kyabu", such as "Kyabu Tobgye". In other places, people might call "Ga" or "Lo" to those persons who are of the same age or younger to show their affection; for example, "Lozang Dargye" is shortened as "Lo Ga", and "Tenzin Kyibuk" is referred to as "Ten Ga". They also shorten names as an expression of friendship. For instance, "Tashi Sonam" is called "Ta So".

 In Tibetan custom, people are not allowed directly call elders' full names. For instance, the young generation can only call an old man named "Namgyal Tsering" as "Old father Namgyal". Actually, "Namgyal" is not his surname. Tibetans are used to having no surname.

Tibetan is divided into two categories, the honorific and general language. The popularity of honorific language in Tibet closely connects with social status. For instance, the greeting in Tibetan of "You are here" is spoken as " khyod thon tang" in general language, but in honorific it must be "khyed la slebs tang"; to express "please sit down", it is in general and honorific language respectively as "khye sdod" and "khye bzhug"; regarding "please have a tea", it was said "ja tung" in general Tibetan, but "ja bzhes" in honorific; to say "please have some roasted barley flour", the general usage is "tsampaso", and the honorific is "tsamba mchod"; when the guest leaves, the host says "please take care".

 In general it is "galer"gro", and the honorific is "galer pebs"; "please mount the horse" is "zhaon" in general language, but it is "mgyogs" in honorific; when people say "please come here", Tibetans usually say to their peers "gro ba", but say to the elders "pebs ba"; the laymen calls the bowel "ka yol", but addressing a lama, it is "gsaol zhas"; horse for a secular Tibetan is "rta", but for a lama, it is "bcibs ba"; a layman"s head is called "mgo", but "dbu" for lama; when the gift is presented by a normal person, it is called "bin ba", but it is called "gnang" if bestowed by lama; the death of younger one is referred as "shis song", but "ja song" refers as the death of old person.

In what kinds of environment and what kinds of person will use Tibetan honorific words? This is a difficulty for not only the non-Tibetans, who are used to being embarrassed by their own mistakes, but also to Tibetans themselves, who feel so nervous and self-conscious about speaking in a prefect way. There are many rules regarding how to speak Tibetan honorific language properly.

Though honorific language manifests Tibetan traditional culture and social status, it is actually the way and measure of Tibetans to preserve their richest language. It, of course, further enhances the diversified wording system of Tibetan.

 

Master Catherine Jigme

About the Author - Master Catherine Jigme

With exceptional passion and outstanding leadership, Mrs. Catherine has dedicated herself to Tibet inbound tourism and China tour for 15 years. As one of the handful females who see great potential of Chinese inbound tourism, Catherine has made great contribution to promoting Tibet tourism and enhancing the employment of Tibetans and prosperity of local Tibetan community.

Over the years, she travelled overseas with Tibet Tourism Bureau many times to promote Tibet tourism. Currently, Catherine works as the marketing director of Tibet Vista, an opinion leader behind the whole team of Tibet Vista.

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