ཨ་པ། ཨཔ།

It is interesting that in rDzong-kha a distinction is made between a pa “(biological) father” and ap “an elderly man” (mostly honorific, e.g. Ap mDo-phu). There is no doubt that ap is actually a mere syllabic contraction for a pa (e.g. phorp for phor pa “cup”). Similarly, “mother” in rDzong-kha is called a’i and am (a syllabic contraction for a ma) is reserved for a “lady” (honorific), a “respectable woman.” Strangely in a rDzong-kha dictionary (e.g. http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/online/dictionaries/dz-en-dict/Contents/30-00-A.html), a’i is not recorded as a lexeme, whereas a ma is. There, a ma is said to mean both a “mother” and a “lady.” But one cannot deny the use of a’i in rDzong-kha in the sense of “mother” (as in a pa dang a’i “father and mother”).