Sartang is a small language of India. It is one of the
Kho-Bwa languages
The Kho-Bwa languages, also known as Bugunish and Kamengic, are a small family of languages spoken in Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India. The name ''Kho-Bwa'' was originally proposed by George van Driem (2001). It is based on the reconstructed ...
, closest to
Sherdukpen
The Sherdukpen are an ethnic group of Arunachal Pradesh state of India. Their population of 9,663 is centered in West Kameng district in the villages of Rupa, Jigaon, Thongri, Shergaon, to the south of Bomdila. All of these are at elevations be ...
(50–60% lexical similarity).
[ Varieties include Sartang of
Jergaon and Sartang of Rahung (Blench 2015).][Blench, Roger. 2015]
''The Mey languages and their classification''
Presentation given at the University of Sydney.
Distribution
Sartang (Boot Monpa) is spoken in the villages of Khoitam, Rahung, Namku-thangka (Salari), and Boot (Jerigaon) Khoina, West Kameng District
West Kameng (pronounced ) is a district of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India. It accounts for 8.86% of the total area of the state. The name is derived from the Kameng river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, that flows through the district ...
(Dondrup 2004:1).[Dondrup, Rinchin. 2004. ''An introduction to the Boot Monpa language''. Itanagar: Directorate of Research, Government of Arunachal Pradesh.] There were 2,986 Sartang people as of 1996.
The ''Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...
'' lists Jerigaon, Sellary, Khoitam, Rahung, Darbu and Khoina villages in Nafra and Dirang
Dirang is a village in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. West Kameng is the name of the district that contains village Dirang.
Dirang is one of the 60 constituencies of Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh. Name of current MLA (August ...
circles, West Kameng district
West Kameng (pronounced ) is a district of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India. It accounts for 8.86% of the total area of the state. The name is derived from the Kameng river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, that flows through the district ...
.
Varieties
According to Roger Blench
Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and works ...
(2015), Sartang is a cover term referring to various languages spoken in 11 villages southeast of Dirang in Nafra and Dirang circles in West Kameng District
West Kameng (pronounced ) is a district of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India. It accounts for 8.86% of the total area of the state. The name is derived from the Kameng river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, that flows through the district ...
. There are 4 varieties total, and only Sartang of Rahung and Sartang of Jergaon have been documented.
Lieberherr & Bodt (2017)[Lieberherr, Ismael; Bodt, Timotheus Adrianus. 2017]
Sub-grouping Kho-Bwa based on shared core vocabulary
In ''Himalayan Linguistics'', 16(2). list the following varieties.
*Rahung: spoken in Rahung village and nearby hamlets. Approximately 600 speakers.
*Khoitam: spoken in two main villages and nearby hamlets. Approximately 500 speakers.
*Jerigaon: spoken in Jerigaon village. Approximately 400 speakers.
*Khoina: spoken in Khoina village and nearby hamlets. Approximately 500 speakers.
References
Kho-Bwa languages
Languages of India
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