Dzongkha: Leid

The wird "dzongkha" means the leid (kha) spoken in the dzong, – dzong being the fortress-like monasteries established throughoot Bhutan bi Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in the 17t century.

"Bhutani" is no anither name for Dzongkha, but the name o a Balochi leid. The twa are sometimes confused, even in some published ISO 639 codeleets.

Linguistically, Dzongkha is a Sooth Tibetan leid. It is closely relatit tae an partially intelligible wi Sikkimese (Wylie: 'Bras-ljongs-skad), the naitional leid o the erstwhile kinrick o Sikkim; an tae some ither Bhutanese leids such as Cho-cha-na-ca (khyod ca nga ca kha), Brokpa (me rag sag steng 'brog skad), Brokkat (dur gyi 'brog skad), and Laka (la ka).

Dzongkha bears a close linguistic relationship tae J'umowa spoken in the Chumbi valley o Soothren Tibet an tae the Dranjongke leid o Sikkim. It haes a muckle mair distant relationship tae staundart modren Central Tibetan. Although spoken Dzongkha an Tibetan are lairgely mutually unintelligible, the literary forms o baith are baith heichlie influenced bi the liturgical (clerical) Classical Tibetan leid, kent in Bhutan as Chöke, which haes been uised for centuries bi Buddhist monks. Chöke wis used as the leid o education in Bhutan till the early 1960s when it wis replaced bi Dzongkha in public schuils.