Koro language
Encyclopedia
Koro is a Tibeto-Burman language
spoken by approximately 800–1,200 people in the East Kameng district at the western end of Arunachal Pradesh
, India
. Few speakers are under 20 years old. The people live among the Aka (Hruso), but their language is only distantly related, with distinct words for numerals, body parts, and other basic vocabulary. Although it has resemblances to Tani
farther to the east, it appears to be a separate branch of Tibeto-Burman. Researchers hypothesize it may have originated from a group of people enslaved and brought to the area.
In October 2010, the National Geographic Daily News published an article corroborating the findings of the Ethnologue based on research conducted in 2008 by a linguistic team of David Harrison, Gregory Anderson, and Ganesh Murmu while documenting two Hruso languages
(Aka
and Miji) as part of National Geographic's "Enduring Voices
" project. It was reported to them as a dialect of Aka, but turned out to be highly divergent.
Post & Roger Blench (2011) propose that it is related to Milang
in a branch they call Siangic
.
Tibeto-Burman languages
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Chinese members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken thoughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma ....
spoken by approximately 800–1,200 people in the East Kameng district at the western end of Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh is a state of India, located in the far northeast. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Burma in the east, Bhutan in the west, and the People's Republic of China in the north. The majority of the territory is claimed by...
, 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...
. Few speakers are under 20 years old. The people live among the Aka (Hruso), but their language is only distantly related, with distinct words for numerals, body parts, and other basic vocabulary. Although it has resemblances to Tani
Tani languages
Tani, Miric, Adi–Galo–Mishing–Nishi , or Abor–Miri–Dafla is a compact family of Tibeto-Burman languages situated at the eastern end of the Himalayas, in an area skirted on four sides by Tibet, Assam, Bhutan, and Burma....
farther to the east, it appears to be a separate branch of Tibeto-Burman. Researchers hypothesize it may have originated from a group of people enslaved and brought to the area.
Identification
Recognition in the academic literature of Koro as a distinct language goes back at least to the 2009 edition of the Ethnologue (Lewis 2009), which based its findings on a language survey conducted in 2005. It notes that Koro has only 9 percent lexical similarity with Hruso Aka, and that it is "highly dissimilar to neighboring languages".In October 2010, the National Geographic Daily News published an article corroborating the findings of the Ethnologue based on research conducted in 2008 by a linguistic team of David Harrison, Gregory Anderson, and Ganesh Murmu while documenting two Hruso languages
Hruso languages
The Hruso languages are a small family of Tibeto-Burman languages of India. They are Hruso , Dhammai , and possibly also Levai , which may be a dialect of Hruso but which some scholars leave unclassified.-References:...
(Aka
Hruso language
Hruso, also Aka or Angka, is a small Tibeto-Burman language of India. Levai has traditionally been considered a dialect, but may be a separate language....
and Miji) as part of National Geographic's "Enduring Voices
Enduring Voices
Enduring Voices is a project for documenting world's endangered languages and trying to prevent language extinction by identifying the most crucial areas where languages are endangered and embarking on expeditions to record these languages...
" project. It was reported to them as a dialect of Aka, but turned out to be highly divergent.
Post & Roger Blench (2011) propose that it is related to Milang
Milang language
Milang is a small Tibetan–Burman language of India. It has traditionally been classified as the most divergent of the Tani languages, but Post & Blench reclassified it as Siangic.-References:...
in a branch they call Siangic
Siangic languages
The Siangic languages are a small family of possibly Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India . They are Koro and Milang, the latter previously classified as a divergent member of the Tani languages....
.