Ethnolinguistic map of the precolonial Andaman Islands (drawn 1902)

The Andamanese languages form a proposed language family spoken by the Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands, a union territory of India. There are two unquestionably related clusters of Andamanese languages, Great Andamanese and South Andamanese (also called Onge-Jarawa to avoid confusion with the southern branch of Great Andamanese), plus one unknown language (Sentinelese), all of which are generally believed to be related in an Andamanese family. Download high resolution version (1209x2216, 597 KB)Ethnolinguistic map of the precolonial Andaman islands, from E. H. Mans Dictionary of the South Andaman Language, 1923 (he died in 1929, so its out of copyright, as far as I know) This image has been released into the public domain... Download high resolution version (1209x2216, 597 KB)Ethnolinguistic map of the precolonial Andaman islands, from E. H. Mans Dictionary of the South Andaman Language, 1923 (he died in 1929, so its out of copyright, as far as I know) This image has been released into the public domain... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... The Andamanese is a collective term to describe the peoples who are the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands and Nicobar Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. ... This article or section may be confusing for some readers, and should be edited to be clearer or more simplified. ... A Union Territory is an administrative division of India. ...

History

The indigenous Andamanese peoples have lived on the islands for thousands, if not tens of thousands, of years, and for the great majority of this period their societies and languages have remained quite undisturbed by external influences. Although the existence of the islands and their inhabitants was long known to maritime powers and traders of the South– and Southeast–Asia region, contact with these peoples was highly sporadic and very often hostile; as a result, almost nothing is recorded of them or their languages until the mid-18th century. From the 1860s onwards, the setting up of a permanent British penal colony and the subsequent arrival of immigrant settlers and indentured labourers mainly from the Indian subcontinent brought the first sustained impacts upon these societies, particularly among the Great Andamanese groups. A Penal Colony is a colony used to detain prisoners and generally use them for penal labor in an economically underdeveloped part of the states (usually colonial) territories, and on a far larger scale than the prison farm. ... Satellite image of the Indian subcontinent Map of South Asia (see note) This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia. ...

By the turn of the 20th century most of these 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 with one another, and some also intermarried with Karen (Burmese) and Indian settlers. ကရင္‌လူမ္ယုိး Total population 7,400,000 Regions with significant populations Myanmar: 7,000,000 Thailand:  400,000 Language Karen Religion Buddhism, Christianity, Animism Related ethnic groups Padaung The Karen (Burmese: ; MLCTS: ), also known in Thailand as the Kariang (Thai: ) or Yang, are an ethnic group in Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand. ...

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 as well as A-Pucikwar, but also incorporating elements of Hindi and Burmese. This modified version has been called "Present Great Andamanese" by some scholars[1], 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. The word Creole (and its cognates in other languages, such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kriulo, kriol, krio, etc. ... A-Pucikwar (also known as Pucikwar) is a nearly extinct language of the Andaman Islands, India. ... Hindi (हिन्दी or हिंदी in Devanagari; pronunciation: ), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in northern and central India, is the official language of the Union government of India [1][2]. It is part of a dialect continuum of the Indic family, bounded on the northwest and west by Punjabi, Sindhi, Urdu, and...

The South Andamanese (Onge-Jarawa) languages survive mainly because of the greater isolation of the peoples who speak them. This isolation has been reinforced by an extreme reluctance against outside contact and outright hostility towards outsiders by South Andamanese tribes, particularly the Sentinelese and Jarawa. The Sentinelese have been so resistant that their language remains entirely unknown to outsiders to this day. The Sentinelese (also Sentineli, Senteneli, Sentenelese, North Sentinel Islanders) are one of the Andamanese indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. ... The Jarawa are an isolated people native to the Andaman Islands of the Bay of Bengal, south of India. ...

Grammar

The Andamanese languages are agglutinative languages, with an extensive prefix and suffix system. Possibly their most distinctive characteristic is a noun class 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 so many Andamanese languages' names is actually the prefix for objects related to the tongue. An adjectival example can be given by the various forms of yop, "pliable, soft", in Aka-Bea: An agglutinative language is a language in which the words are formed by joining morphemes together. ... In linguistics, grammatical genders, also called noun classes, are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words; every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be very few which belong to several classes at once. ... A noun, or noun substantive, is a part of speech which can co-occur with (in)definite articles and attributive adjectives, and function as the head of a noun phrase. ... An adjective is a part of speech which modifies a noun, usually describing it or making its meaning more specific. ... In linguistics, a prefix is a type of affix that precedes the morphemes to which it can attach. ... A human tongue The tongue is the large bundle of skeletal muscles on the floor of the mouth that manipulates food for chewing and swallowing, (deglutition). ...

• A cushion 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 pencil is aka-yop, "pointed", from the tongue prefix.
• A fallen tree is ar-yop, "rotten", from the prefix for limbs or upright things.

Similarly, beri-nga "good" yields: hello im inpact hello inpact im luke howson ... Classes Calcarea Hexactinellida Demospongiae The sponges or poriferans (from the Greek poros pore and ferro to bear) are animals of the phylum Porifera. ... A cane is a long, straight wooden stick, generally of bamboo, Malacca (rattan), or some similar plant, mainly used as a support, such as a walking stick or as an instrument of punishment. ... Look up stick in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A selection of coloured pencils. ... The coniferous Coast Redwood, the tallest tree species on earth. ... A limb (from the Old English lim) is a jointed appendage of the human or animal body; a large or main branch of a tree; a representative, branch or member of a group or organization. ...

• Un-beri-nga "clever" (hand-good).
• Ig-beri-nga "sharp-sighted" (eye-good).
• Aka-beri-nga "quick language learner" (tongue-good.)

Another peculiarity of terms for body parts is that they 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". Possessive case is a case that exists in some languages used for possession. ... Headline text hjvhwhatsgm,Possessive adjectives modify nouns. ... In linguistics, a prefix is a type of affix that precedes the morphemes to which it can attach. ...

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):

The South Andamanese/Onge-Jarawa pronouns are rather different; we cite Onge here:

Judging from the available sources, the Andamanese languages have only two cardinal numbers: one and two. However, they have at least six ordinal numbers. This gap in the vocabulary was remedied where necessary by the use of gesture. In linguistics, cardinal numbers is the name given to number words that are used for quantity (one, two, three), as opposed to ordinal numbers, words that are used for order (first, second, third). ... Look up one in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 2 (two) is a number, numeral, and glyph. ... Commonly, ordinal numbers, or ordinals for short, are numbers used to denote the position in an ordered sequence: first, second, third, fourth, etc. ... Military signalmen use hand and body gestures to direct flight operations aboard aircraft carriers. ...

The languages and their classification

The Andaman languages fall into two clear families, Great Andamanese and South Andamanese/Onge-Jarawa, plus one unattested language, Sentinelese. These are generally seen as related. However, the similarities between Great and South Andamanese are so far mainly of morphological nature, with little demonstrated common vocabulary. As a result, researchers such as Joseph Greenberg have expressed doubts as to the validity of Andamanese as a family. Others, such as Timothy Usher, believe they have found significant shared vocabulary between the two families, for example the Onge vs. Aka-Bea pronouns mi "I" vs. m- "we" and ngi "thou" vs. ng- "thou/you", though not enough to establish regular sound correspondences. Image File history File links Andamanese_comparative_distribution. ... Morphology is a subdiscipline of linguistics that studies word structure. ... Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915–May 7, 2001) was a prominent and controversial linguist, known for his work in both language classification and typology. ...

The Andaman languages are:

• Great Andamanese (spoken by Great Andamanese peoples)
  • Central
    • Aka-Bea or Bea (extinct)
    • Akar-Bale or Bale (extinct)
    • Aka-Kede or Kede (extinct)
    • Aka-Kol or Kol (extinct)
    • Oko-Juwoi or Juwoi (extinct)
    • A-Pucikwar or Pucikwar; 36 speakers in 1997, bilingual in Hindi
  • Northern
    • Aka-Cari or Chari (extinct)
    • Aka-Kora or Kora (extinct)
    • Aka-Jeru or Jeru (extinct)
    • Aka-Bo or Bo (extinct)
• South Andamanese/Onge-Jarawa
  • Onge or Önge; 96 speakers (Onge) in 1997, mostly monolingual
  • Jarawa or Järawa; estimated at 200 speakers (Jarawa) in 1997, monolingual

In addition, Great Andamanese is a collective term used to refer to related groups or tribes of indigenous peoples who lived throughout most of the Great Andaman archipelago, the main and closely-situated group of islands in the Andaman Islands. ... An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ... An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ... An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ... An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ... An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ... A-Pucikwar (also known as Pucikwar) is a nearly extinct language of the Andaman Islands, India. ... Hindi (हिन्दी) is a language spoken mainly in North and Central India. ... An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ... An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ... An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ... An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ... The Onge (also Ongee) are one of the Andamanese indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. ... The Jarawa are an isolated people native to the Andaman Islands of the Bay of Bengal, south of India. ...

• Sentinelese; likely at least 50 speakers, and perhaps up towards 250 (the population of the Sentinelese is unknown). Since interactions with the Sentinelese have been extremely rare, brief and generally shunned by the people themselves, there has been no material or even wordlists published on their language, and hence there can be no classification. On the two documented occasions when Onge and Aka-Bea individuals were taken to North Sentinel Island in order to attempt communication, in neither case were they able to recognise any of the language spoken by the inhabitants, though the exchanges were admittedly brief and hostile. However, based on what little is known about similarities in culture and technology, and their geographical proximity, it is supposed that their history and language is more closely related to the South Andamanese branch than that of the Great Andamanese.

Joseph Greenberg proposed that these languages, or at least Great Andamanese, are related to the Papuan and Tasmanian languages as members of a phylum he called Indo-Pacific, and especially close to the western branches of Indo-Pacific. This proposal is not generally accepted by linguists. (See Extended West Papuan.) The Sentinelese (also Sentineli, Senteneli, Sentenelese, North Sentinel Islanders) are one of the Andamanese indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. ... Outline map of the Andaman Islands, with the location of North Sentinel Island highlighted (in red). ... The term Papuan languages refers to those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. ... The Tasmanian languages are a group of aborigine languages spoken in the island of Tasmania, Australia, extinct by 1877. ... The Indo-Pacific super-family groups together several language families, mainly spoken in Papua New Guinea and nearby regions, which are not Austronesian, together with the native languages of Tasmania and the Andaman Islands. ... The Extended West Papuan language family is a tentative proposal in Malcolm Rosss classification of Papuan languages. ...

The Andaman Islanders are physically Negritos - short-statured, peppercorn-haired, dark-skinned people found in small surviving pockets all over tropical Asia and New Guinea, and perhaps beyond. However, old skulls of unmixed Andaman aborigines display many morphological affinities to crania of the Caucasoid race. Moreover, recent phylogenetic studies of the human Y-chromosome have shown that the Y-chromosomes of unmixed Andaman aborigines are ultimately derived from the same ancient YAP+ clade, Haplogroup D, that produced the Y-chromosomes of about 90% of the Ainu of Japan and about 50% of the Tibetans of Tibet. Interestingly, while all other Negrito groups in Asia proper speak languages closely related to those of their non-Negrito neighbors, Andamanese shows no similarity to the language even of the nearby Nicobar Islands. This has led some to speculate that the Andamanese languages may be the last representative of the (or one of the) original languages spoken by the Asian Negritos throughout Southeast Asia before neolithic groups took over their areas, leaving them in their current fragmented distribution. The Negritos include the Ati, the Aeta and at least 4 other tribes of the Philippines, the Semang of the Malay peninsula, and 12 Andamanese tribes of the Andaman Islands. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... The Ainu IPA: /?ajnu/) are an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaido and north of Honshu in Northern Japan, the Kuril Islands, much of Sakhalin, and the southernmost third of the Kamchatka peninsula. ... Ethnolinguistic Groups of Tibet, 1967 ( See entire map, which includes a key) Ethnic Tibetan autonomous entities set up by the Peoples Republic of China. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Map of Nicobar Islands The Nicobar Islands are an island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean, and are part of India. ...

Samples

The following poem in Aka-Bea was written by a chief, Jambu, after he was freed from a six-month jail term for manslaughter. Poetry (ancient Greek: poieo = create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view. ...

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.

(translation: E. H. Man, 1902.)

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 rythmical effect. The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poesis, making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ... // Rhythm (Greek ρυθμός = tempo) is the variation of the duration of sounds or other events over time. ...

As another example, we give part of a creation myth in Oko-Juwoi, reminiscent of Prometheus: Creation beliefs and stories describe how the universe, the Earth, life, and/or humanity came into being. ... Prometheus, by Gustave Moreau In Greek mythology, Prometheus (Ancient Greek, Προμηθεύς, forethought) is the Titan chiefly honored for stealing fire from the gods in the stalk of a fennel plant and giving it to mortals for their use. ...

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 God was sleeping. He gave the brand to the late Lech, who then made fires at Karat-tatak-emi.

Pigeon redirects here. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ...

Bibliography

• Abbi, Anvita. Endangered Languages of the Andaman Islands. Germany: Lincom GmbH 2006.
• Das Gupta, D., and SR Sharma. A Handbook of the Önge Language. Anthropological Survey of India: Calcutta 1982.
• E. H. Man, Dictionary of the South Andaman Language, British India Press: Bombay 1923.
• Manoharan, S. 1997. “Pronominal Prefixes and Formative Affixes in Andamanese Language.” A. Abbi (ed.). The Languages of Tribal and Indigenous Peoples of India. The Ethnic Space. Delhi: Motilal Benarsidass
• Senkuttuvan, R. 2000. The Language of the Jarawa: Phonology. Calcutta: Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, Ministry of Culture, Youth Affairs, and Sports, Dept. of Culture.
• Richard C. Temple. A Grammar of the Andamanese Languages, being Chapter IV of Part I of the Census Report on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Superintendent's Printing Press: Port Blair 1902.
• Yogendra Yadaav. "Great Andamanese, a Preliminary Study". Pacific Linguistics A67, 1985.
• Zide, Norman Herbert & V. Pandya. “A Bibliographical Introduction to Andamanese Linguistics” JAOS 109:639-51

Port Blair is the largest town in the Andaman Islands and the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory of India. ...

External links

• South Asia Bibliography - Andamanese
• Ethnologue - Andamanese family
• Andaman Association
• Rosetta Project: Onge
• Jero in IPA transcription
• Freelang Onge Dictionary
• Burenhult's Paper on Andamanese