The Cari (occasionally "Kari"), Chariar or Sare language, also known as ''Aka-Cari'', is an extinct Great Andamanese language, of the Northern group, which was spoken by the

Cari people Cari may refer to: People * Cari people, also Kari, an indigenous tribe of the Andaman Islands * Cari (name) *Cari Cari, Austrian band Places * Carì, a village in the Swiss canton of Ticino Organizations * Cari Internet, Malaysian internet co ...

, one of a dozen Great Andamanese peoples.George Weber (~2009),
Numbers
''. Chapter 7 o

. Accessed on 12 July 2012. In the 19th century the Cari lived on the north coast of North Andaman and on Landfall and other nearby small islands. By 1994 the population had been reduced to two women aged over 50 living with the other few surviving Great Andamanese on

Strait Island Strait Island is an island of the Andaman Islands. It belongs to the North and Middle Andaman administrative district, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The island lies north from Port Blair. History Strait ...

. Aka-Cari became extinct with the death of Licho in April 2020.A. N. Sharma (2003),
Tribal Development in the Andaman Islands
', page 62. Sarup & Sons, New Delhi.

History

The Cari population at the time of first European contacts (in the 1790s) has been estimated at 100 individuals, out of perhaps 3500 Great Andamanese. Like other Andamanese peoples, the Cari were decimated during colonial and post-colonial times, by diseases,

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

, colonial warfare and loss of territory. The population was down to 39 individuals in the 1901 census, falling to 36 in 1911, 17 in 1921, and 9 in 1931. In 1949 any remaining Cari were relocated, together with all other surviving Great Andamanese, to a reservation on Bluff island; and then again in 1969 to a reservation on

.Rann Singh Mann (2005)
Andaman and Nicobar Tribes Restudied: Encounters and Concerns
page 149. Mittal Publications. By 1994, the tribe was reduced to only two women, aged 57 and 59, and therefore was on its way to extinction. The last speaker, a woman called Licho, died from chronic tuberculosis on 4 April 2020 in Shadipur,

Port Blair Port Blair () is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headquarters for the district of South And ...

. They are a designated Scheduled Tribe.

Grammar

The Great Andamanese languages are agglutinative languages, with an extensive prefix and suffix system.Temple, Richard C. (1902). ''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. They have a distinctive noun class system based largely on body parts, in which every noun and adjective may take a

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...

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: *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 Stick or the stick may refer to: Thin elongated objects * Twig * The weapon used in stick fighting * Walking stick, a device to facilitate balancing while walking * Shepherd's crook * Swagger stick * Digging stick * Swizzle stick, used to stir d ...

or pencil is ''aka-yop'', "pointed", from the tongue prefix. *A fallen tree is ''ar-yop'', "rotten", from the prefix for

limb Limb may refer to: Science and technology * Limb (anatomy), an appendage of a human or animal *Limb, a large or main branch of a tree *Limb, in astronomy, the curved edge of the apparent disk of a celestial body, e.g. lunar limb *Limb, in botany, ...

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, Body parts are inalienably possessed, requiring a possessive adjective

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 numbers —

one 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

and two — and their entire numerical lexicon is one, two, one more, some more, and all.

References

External links

Aka-Cari Swadesh List
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andamanese, Aka-Cari, Language Agglutinative languages Great Andamanese languages Extinct languages of Asia Languages of India Languages extinct in the 2020s

History

Grammar

See also

References

External links