Damu language

Damu is a poorly documented Tani (Sino-Tibetan) language spoken in Tibet. Only 80 speakers of this language were reported to exist in 1985, and the language community was experiencing strong language contact with speakers of Bodic languages at that time. No documentation or description of the Damu language other than some brief remarks and a wordlist in Ouyang (1985) appears to exist, and it is not known whether the Damu community is still intact and speaking their language.

The precise genetic affiliation of Damu remains unclear. Although Sun (1993) clearly identified Damu as a member of the Tani languages, he noted some difficulties that prevented its precise alignment within either Western Tani or Eastern Tani. In addition, Sun speculated that Damu might represent a northern variety of the Tangam language. Post (2013a) concluded that Tangam and Damu are in fact distinct, despite sharing a number of features. In particular, both Tangam and Damu share an early sound change which would suggest aligning them with Western Tani, despite sharing an overall Eastern Tani–like profile.

Phonology

 * Vowel length is only contrastive in open syllables.
 * /ɹ̩/ and /ɻ̩/ are only found in loanwords from Tibetan.

Additionally, the following diphthongs have been observed: /iu/, /iə/, /ia/, /iaː/, /yu/, /yo/, /yə/, /ui/, /ue/, /ei/, /əɯ/.