Great Andamanese languages
Encyclopedia
The Great Andamanese languages are a nearly extinct language family
spoken by the Great Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands
, a union territory
of India
.
penal colony
and the subsequent arrival of immigrant settlers and indentured labourers, mainly from the Indian subcontinent
, had a sustained destructive impact upon Great Andamanese society. By the turn of the 20th century the populations were greatly reduced in numbers, and the various linguistic and tribal divisions among the Great Andamanese effectively ceased to exist, despite a census of the time still classifying the groups as separate. Their linguistic diversity also suffered as the surviving populations intermingled, and some of them intermarried with Karen (Burmese)
and Indian
settlers.
By the latter part of the 20th century the majority of Great Andamanese languages had become extinct, as the multi-lingual knowledge of the older generations was not replaced in succeeding ones. At the start of the 21st century only about 50 or so individuals of Great Andamanese descent remained, resettled to a single small island (Strait I.
); about half of these speak what may be considered a modified version (or creole
) of Great Andamanese, based mainly on Aka-Jeru
. This modified version has been called "Present Great Andamanese" by some scholars, but also may be referred to simply as "Jero" or "Great Andamanese". Hindi increasingly serves as their primary language, and is the only language for around half of them.
system based largely on body parts, in which every noun
and adjective
may take a prefix according to which body part it is associated with (on the basis of shape, or functional association). Thus, for instance, the *aka- at the beginning of the language names is a prefix for objects related to the tongue
. An adjectival example can be given by the various forms of yop, "pliable, soft", in Aka-Bea:
Similarly, beri-nga "good" yields:
The prefixes are,
Body parts are inalienably possessed
, requiring a possessive adjective
prefix to complete them, so one cannot say "head" alone, but only "my, or his, or your, etc. head".
The basic pronouns are almost identical throughout the Great Andamanese languages; Aka-Bea will serve as a representative example (pronouns given in their basic prefixal forms):
'This' and 'that' are distinguished as k- and t-.
Judging from the available sources, the Andamanese languages have only two cardinal number
s — one and two — and their entire numerical lexicon is one, two, one more, some more, and all.
The Andaman languages fall into two clear families, Great Andamanese and Ongan
, plus one unattested language, Sentinelese
. These are generally seen as related. However, the similarities between Great Andamanese and Ongan are so far mainly of a typological morphological
nature, with little demonstrated common vocabulary. As a result, even long-range researchers such as Joseph Greenberg
have expressed doubts as to the validity of Andamanese as a family, and Abbi (2008) considers the surviving Great Andamanese language to be an isolate
. The Great Andaman languages are:
Joseph Greenberg proposed that Great Andamanese is related to western Papuan languages
as members of a larger phylum he called Indo-Pacific
, but this is not generally accepted by other linguists. Stephen Wurm
states that the lexical similarities between Great Andamanese and the West Papuan
and certain languages of Timor
"are quite striking and amount to virtual formal identity […] in a number of instances", but considers this to be due to a linguistic substratum
rather than a direct relationship.
, Jambu, after he was freed from a six-month jail
term for manslaughter
.
Literally:
Translation:
Note, however, that, as seems to be typical of Andamanese poetry
, the words and sentence structure have been somewhat abbreviated or inverted in order to obtain the desired rhythm
ical effect.
As another example, we give part of a creation myth in Oko-Juwoi
, reminiscent of Prometheus
:
Literally:
Translated (by Portman):
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
spoken by the Great Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands
Andaman Islands
The Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal between India to the west, and Burma , to the north and east...
, a union territory
Union Territory
A Union Territory is a sub-national administrative division of India, in the federal framework of governance. Unlike the states of India, which have their own elected governments, union territories are ruled directly by the federal government; the President of India appoints an Administrator or...
of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
History
From the 1860s onwards, the setting up of a permanent BritishBritish Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
penal colony
Penal colony
A penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory...
and the subsequent arrival of immigrant settlers and indentured labourers, mainly from the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
, had a sustained destructive impact upon Great Andamanese society. By the turn of the 20th century the populations were greatly reduced in numbers, and the various linguistic and tribal divisions among the Great Andamanese effectively ceased to exist, despite a census of the time still classifying the groups as separate. Their linguistic diversity also suffered as the surviving populations intermingled, and some of them intermarried with Karen (Burmese)
Karen people
The Karen or Kayin people , are a Sino-Tibetan language speaking ethnic group which resides primarily in southern and southeastern Burma . The Karen make up approximately 7 percent of the total Burmese population of approximately 50 million people...
and Indian
Demographics of India
The demographics of India are inclusive of the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.21 billion people , more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing...
settlers.
By the latter part of the 20th century the majority of Great Andamanese languages had become extinct, as the multi-lingual knowledge of the older generations was not replaced in succeeding ones. At the start of the 21st century only about 50 or so individuals of Great Andamanese descent remained, resettled to a single small island (Strait I.
Strait Island
Strait Island is a tribal reservation in a Union territory of India.-Description:Strait Island is a small island of 6.01 km² located 5.5 km east of Baratang Island, Great Andaman, in the Diligent Strait that separates Great Andaman from Ritchie's Archipelago. The population as of the 2001...
); about half of these speak what may be considered a modified version (or creole
Creole language
A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...
) of Great Andamanese, based mainly on Aka-Jeru
Aka-Jeru language
The Jeru language, Aka-Jeru , is a Great Andamanese language, of the Northern group. Whether Jeru is extinct is disputed. The Andaman website reports 7 speakers; at issue is whether the surviving Great Andamanese language is Jeru, Pucikwar, or a creole based on several languages, of which Jeru is a...
. This modified version has been called "Present Great Andamanese" by some scholars, but also may be referred to simply as "Jero" or "Great Andamanese". Hindi increasingly serves as their primary language, and is the only language for around half of them.
Grammar
The Great Andamanese languages are agglutinative languages, with an extensive prefix and suffix system. Possibly their most distinctive characteristic is a noun classNoun class
In linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of characteristic features of its referent, such as sex, animacy, shape, but counting a given noun among nouns of such or another class is often clearly conventional...
system based largely on body parts, in which every noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
and adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
may take a prefix according to which body part it is associated with (on the basis of shape, or functional association). Thus, for instance, the *aka- at the beginning of the language names is a prefix for objects related to the tongue
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
. An adjectival example can be given by the various forms of yop, "pliable, soft", in Aka-Bea:
- A cushionCushionA cushion is a soft bag of some ornamental material, stuffed with wool, hair, feathers, polyester staple fiber, non-woven material, or even paper torn into fragments. It may be used for sitting or kneeling upon, or to soften the hardness or angularity of a chair or couch...
or sponge is ot-yop "round-soft", from the prefix attached to words relating to the head or heart. - A cane is ôto-yop, "pliable", from a prefix for long things.
- A stick or pencilPencilA pencil is a writing implement or art medium usually constructed of a narrow, solid pigment core inside a protective casing. The case prevents the core from breaking, and also from marking the user’s hand during use....
is aka-yop, "pointed", from the tongue prefix. - A fallen treeTreeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
is ar-yop, "rotten", from the prefix for limbLimb (anatomy)A limb is a jointed, or prehensile , appendage of the human or other animal body....
s or upright things.
Similarly, beri-nga "good" yields:
- un-bēri-ŋa "clever" (hand-good).
- ig-bēri-ŋa "sharp-sighted" (eye-good).
- aka-bēri-ŋa "good at languages" (tongue-good.)
- ot-bēri-ŋa "virtuous" (head/heart-good)
The prefixes are,
| Bea | Balawa? | Bajigyâs? | Juwoi | Kol | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| head/heart | ot- | ôt- | ote- | ôto- | ôto- |
| hand/foot | ong- | ong- | ong- | ôn- | ôn- |
| mouth/tongue | âkà- | aka- | o- | ókô- | o- |
| torso (shoulder to shins) | ab- | ab- | ab- | a- | o- |
| eye/face/arm/breast | i-, ig- | id- | ir- | re- | er- |
| back/leg/butt | ar- | ar- | ar- | ra- | a- |
| waist | ôto- |
Body parts are inalienably possessed
Inalienable possession
In linguistics, inalienable possession refers to the linguistic properties of certain nouns or nominal morphemes based on the fact that they are always possessed. The semantic underpinning is that entities like body parts and relatives do not exist apart from a possessor. For example, a hand...
, requiring a possessive adjective
Possessive adjective
Possessive adjectives, also known as possessive determiners, are a part of speech that modifies a noun by attributing possession to someone or something...
prefix to complete them, so one cannot say "head" alone, but only "my, or his, or your, etc. head".
The basic pronouns are almost identical throughout the Great Andamanese languages; Aka-Bea will serve as a representative example (pronouns given in their basic prefixal forms):
| I, my | d- | we, our | m- |
| thou, thy | ŋ- | you, your | ŋ- |
| he, his, she, her, it, its | a | they, their | l- |
'This' and 'that' are distinguished as k- and t-.
Judging from the available sources, the Andamanese languages have only two cardinal number
Cardinal number
In mathematics, cardinal numbers, or cardinals for short, are a generalization of the natural numbers used to measure the cardinality of sets. The cardinality of a finite set is a natural number – the number of elements in the set. The transfinite cardinal numbers describe the sizes of infinite...
s — one and two — and their entire numerical lexicon is one, two, one more, some more, and all.
The languages and their classification
Ongan languages
Ongan, or South Andamanese, is a small family of two languages, Önge and Jarawa, spoken in the southern Andaman Islands:*Ongan**Önge or Onge; 96 speakers in 1997, mostly monolingual...
, plus one unattested language, Sentinelese
Sentinelese language
Sentinelese is the unknown language of the Sentinelese people of North Sentinel Island in the Andaman Islands, India. It is presumably a distinct Andamanese language, but how closely it may be related to other languages of those families is unknown...
. These are generally seen as related. However, the similarities between Great Andamanese and Ongan are so far mainly of a typological morphological
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
nature, with little demonstrated common vocabulary. As a result, even long-range researchers such as Joseph Greenberg
Joseph Greenberg
Joseph Harold Greenberg was a prominent and controversial American linguist, principally known for his work in two areas, linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages.- Early life and career :...
have expressed doubts as to the validity of Andamanese as a family, and Abbi (2008) considers the surviving Great Andamanese language to be an isolate
Language isolate
A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...
. The Great Andaman languages are:
- Great Andamanese (spoken by Great AndamaneseGreat AndamaneseGreat Andamanese is a collective term used to refer to related indigenous peoples who lived throughout most of the Great Andaman archipelago, the main and closely situated group of islands in the Andaman Islands. Numbering between 200 and 700, each of the Great Andamanese peoples maintained a...
peoples)- Southern
- Aka-BeaAka-Bea languageThe Bea language, Aka-Bea, is an extinct Great Andamanese language of the Southern group. It was spoken around the western Andaman Strait and around the northern and western coast of South Andaman.-External links:*...
or Bea (extinctExtinct languageAn extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
) - Akar-BaleAkar-Bale languageThe Bale language, Akar-Bale , is an extinct Southern Great Andamanese language once spoken in the Andaman Islands in Ritchie's Archipelago, Havelock Island, and Neill Island.-External links:*...
or Bale (extinctExtinct languageAn extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
)
- Aka-Bea
- Central
- Aka-KedeAka-Kede languageThe Kede language, Aka-Kede, is an extinct Great Andamanese language, of the Northern group. It was spoken in the Northern section of Middle Andaman island .-Sources:...
or Kede (extinctExtinct languageAn extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
) - Aka-KolAka-Kol languageThe Kol language, Aka-Kol, is an extinct Great Andamanese language, of the Central group. It was spoken in the southeast section of Middle Andaman.-External links:*...
or Kol (extinctExtinct languageAn extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
) - Oko-JuwoiOko-Juwoi languageThe Juwoi language, Oko-Juwoi , is an extinct Great Andamanese language, of the Central group. It was spoken in the west central and southwest interior of Middle Andaman.-External links:*...
or Juwoi (extinctExtinct languageAn extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
) - A-PucikwarA-Pucikwar languageThe Pucikwar language, A-Pucikwar, is an extinct language of the Andaman Islands, India, formerly spoken by the A-Pucikwar people on the south coast of Middle Andaman, the northeast coast of South Andaman, and on Baratang Island....
or Pucikwar (extinctExtinct languageAn extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
)
- Aka-Kede
- Northern
- Aka-CariAka-Cari languageThe Cari language, Aka-Cari , is an extinct Great Andamanese language, of the Northern group. It was spoken on the north coast of North Andaman and on Landfall and other nearby small islands.-External links:*...
or Chari (extinctExtinct languageAn extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
) - Aka-KoraAka-Kora languageThe Kora language, Aka-Kora, is an extinct Great Andamanese language, of the Northern group. It was spoken on the northeast and north central coasts of North Andaman and on Smith Island....
or Kora (extinctExtinct languageAn extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
) - Aka-JeruAka-Jeru languageThe Jeru language, Aka-Jeru , is a Great Andamanese language, of the Northern group. Whether Jeru is extinct is disputed. The Andaman website reports 7 speakers; at issue is whether the surviving Great Andamanese language is Jeru, Pucikwar, or a creole based on several languages, of which Jeru is a...
or Jeru; 36 speakers in 1997, bilingual in Hindi - Aka-BoAka-Bo languageThe Bo language, Aka-Bo , is an extinct Great Andamanese language, of the Northern group. It was spoken on the west central coast of North Andaman and on North Reef Island of the Andaman Islands in India...
or Bo (extinctExtinct languageAn extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
)
- Aka-Cari
- Southern
Joseph Greenberg proposed that Great Andamanese is related to western Papuan languages
Papuan languages
The Papuan languages are those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. The term does not presuppose a genetic relationship. The concept of Papuan peoples as distinct from Melanesians was first suggested and named by Sidney Herbert Ray in 1892.-The...
as members of a larger phylum he called Indo-Pacific
Indo-Pacific languages
Indo-Pacific is a hypothetical language macrofamily proposed in 1971 by Joseph Greenberg. Supporters of Indo-Pacific see it as an extremely ancient and internally diverse family...
, but this is not generally accepted by other linguists. Stephen Wurm
Stephen Wurm
Stephen Adolphe Wurm was a Hungarian-born Australian linguist.- Biography :Wurm was born in Budapest, the second child to the German-speaking Adolphe Wurm and Hungarian-speaking Anna Novroczky, and was christened Istvan Adolphe Wurm...
states that the lexical similarities between Great Andamanese and the West Papuan
West Papuan languages
The West Papuan languages are a hypothetical language family of about two dozen Papuan languages of the Bird's Head Peninsula of far western New Guinea and the island of Halmahera, spoken by about 220 000 people in all....
and certain languages of Timor
Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...
"are quite striking and amount to virtual formal identity […] in a number of instances", but considers this to be due to a linguistic substratum
Substratum
In linguistics, a stratum or strate is a language that influences, or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum is a language which has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum is the language that has higher power or prestige. Both substratum and superstratum...
rather than a direct relationship.
Samples
The following poem in Aka-Bea was written by a chiefTribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
, Jambu, after he was freed from a six-month jail
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
term for manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
.
- ngô:do kûk l'àrtâ:lagî:ka,
- mō:ro el:ma kâ igbâ:dàla
- mō:ro el:mo lê aden:yarà
- pō:-tōt läh.
- Chorus: aden:yarà pō:-tōt läh.
Literally:
- thou heart-sad art,
- sky-surface to there looking while,
- sky-surface of ripple to looking while,
- bamboo spear on lean-dost.
Translation:
- Thou art sad at heart,
- gazing there at the sky's surface,
- gazing at the ripple on the sky's surface,
- leaning on the bamboo spear.
Note, however, that, as seems to be typical of Andamanese poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, the words and sentence structure have been somewhat abbreviated or inverted in order to obtain the desired rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
ical effect.
As another example, we give part of a creation myth in Oko-Juwoi
Oko-Juwoi language
The Juwoi language, Oko-Juwoi , is an extinct Great Andamanese language, of the Central group. It was spoken in the west central and southwest interior of Middle Andaman.-External links:*...
, reminiscent of Prometheus
Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan, the son of Iapetus and Themis, and brother to Atlas, Epimetheus and Menoetius. He was a champion of mankind, known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals...
:
- Kuro-t'on-mik-a Mom Mirit-la, Bilik l'ôkô-ema-t, peakar at-lo top-chike at laiche Lech-lin a, kotik a ôko-kodak-chine at-lo Karat-tatak-emi-in.
Literally:
- "Kuro-t'on-mik-in Mr. Pigeon, God ?-slep-t, wood fire-with stealing-was fire the.late Lech-to he, then he ?-fire-make-did fire-with Karat-tatak-emi-at."
Translated (by Portman):
- Mr. Pigeon stole a firebrand at Kuro-t'on-mika, while GodGodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
was sleeping. He gave the brand to the late Lech, who then made fires at Karat-tatak-emi.