Central Tibetan

Central Tibetan
Ü-Tsang
དབུས་སྐད་, Dbus skad / Ükä
དབུས་གཙང་སྐད་, Dbus-gtsang skad / Ü-tsang kä
The name of the language written in the Tibetan script
Pronunciation[wýkɛʔ, wýʔtsáŋ kɛʔ]
Native toTibet, India, Nepal, China
RegionNgari, Ü-Tsang, Amdo, Kham, Himachal Pradesh
Native speakers
(1.2 million cited 1990–2014)
Standard forms
Tibetan script
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
bod  Lhasa Tibetan
dre  Dolpo
hut  Humla, Limi
lhm  Lhomi (Shing Saapa)
muk  Mugom (Mugu)
kte  Nubri
ola  Walungge (Gola)
loy  Lowa/Loke (Mustang)
tcn  Tichurong
Glottologtibe1272  Tibetan
sout3216  South-Western Tibetic (partial match)
basu1243  Basum
ELPWalungge
 Dolpo
 Lhomi
Shingsaba is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Central Tibetan language, also known as Dbus Tibetan, Ü Tibetan or Ü-Tsang Tibetan, is the most widely spoken Tibetic language and the basis of Standard Tibetan.

Dbus is the Wylie spelling of the name in Tibetan script, དབུས་, whereas Ü is the pronunciation of the same in Lhasa dialect, [wy˧˥˧ʔ] (or [y˧˥˧ʔ]). All of these names are frequently applied specifically to the prestige dialect of Lhasa.