A descriptive account of the Bjokapakha language

Since 2012, I have conducted field research in Geneva with two speakers of the Bjokapakha language, a member of the Tshangla subgroup of Tibeto-Burman. Bjokapakha is spoken in the Bjoka geo (rged-ḥog) in the southeast of the Zh’ämgang district in Bhutan. This research has resulted in a 296-page sketch grammar written as a Master’s thesis, representing the first ever descriptive account of the Bjokapakha language. Bjokapakha exhibits several linguistic traits which differ from the Tshangla, as described by Andvik (2010). Additionally, Bjokapakha presents a number of features which must be deemed to be archaic within the Tshangla dialect cluster and which are therefore of major interest for a diachronic understanding of the Tshangla subgroup as a whole. The most salient features of Bjokapakha grammar will be presented and illustrated with the field material collected in Geneva.