Sikkimese Bhutia language
| Bhutia language | |
|---|---|
| Drenjongké, lhokay, Bhutia | |
| འབྲས་ལྗོངས་སྐད་ bras ljongs skad | |
| Region | Sikkim, Nepal (Koshi Province), and Bhutan |
| Ethnicity | Bhutia |
Native speakers | 70,000 (2022) |
| Tibetan script | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | India |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | sip |
| Glottolog | sikk1242 |
Bhutia (Tibetan: འབྲས་ལྗོངས་སྐད་, Wylie: 'bras ljongs skad, THL: dren jong ké, Tibetan pronunciation: [ɖɛ̀n dʑòŋ ké]; "rice valley language"), is a language of the Tibeto-Burman languages spoken by the Bhutia people in Sikkim in northeast India, parts of Koshi province in eastern Nepal, and Bhutan. It is one of the official languages of Sikkim.
The Bhutia refer to their own language as Drendzongké (also spelled Drenjongké, Dranjoke, Denjongka, Denzongpeke or Denzongke) and their homeland as Drendzong (Tibetan: འབྲས་ལྗོངས་, Wylie: 'bras-ljongs, "Rice Valley"). Up until 1975, Bhutia was not a written language. After gaining Indian statehood, the language was introduced as a school subject in Sikkim and the written language was developed.