The Nicobarese languages or Nicobaric languages, form an isolated group of about half a dozen closely related
Austroasiatic languages
The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China and are t ...
, spoken by most of the inhabitants of the
Nicobar Islands
The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of the Indian s ...
of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. They have a total of about 30,000 speakers (22,100 native). Most Nicobarese speakers speak the
Car language
Car (') is the most widely spoken of the Nicobarese languages spoken in the Nicobar Islands of India.
Although related distantly to Vietnamese and Khmer, it is typologically much more akin to nearby Austronesian languages such as Nias and A ...
.
Paul Sidwell
Paul James Sidwell is an Australian linguist based in Canberra, Australia who has held research and lecturing positions at the Australian National University. Sidwell, who is also an expert and consultant in forensic linguistics, is most notable ...
(2015:179) considers the Nicobarese languages to subgroup with
Aslian
The Aslian languages () are the southernmost branch of Austroasiatic languages spoken on the Malay Peninsula. They are the languages of many of the '' Orang Asli'', the aboriginal inhabitants of the peninsula. The total number of native speakers ...
.
The Nicobarese languages appear to be related to the
Shompen language
Shompen, or Shom Peng is a language or group of languages spoken on Great Nicobar Island in the Indian union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in the Indian Ocean, northwest of Sumatra, Indonesia.
Partially because the native people ...
of the
indigenous inhabitants of the interior of
Great Nicobar Island
Great Nicobar is the southernmost and largest of the Nicobar Islands of India, north of Sumatra.
History
The Nicobar Island has been well known to Indian mariners since the time of the seafaring Cholas https://www.britannica.com/place/Nicobar- ...
(Blench & Sidwell 2011), which is usually considered a separate branch of Austroasiatic. However,
Paul Sidwell
Paul James Sidwell is an Australian linguist based in Canberra, Australia who has held research and lecturing positions at the Australian National University. Sidwell, who is also an expert and consultant in forensic linguistics, is most notable ...
(2017)
classifies Shompen as a Southern Nicobaric language rather than as a separate branch of Austroasiatic.
The morphological similarities between Nicobarese and
Austronesian languages have been used as evidence for the
Austric hypothesis (Reid 1994).
[Reid, Lawrence A. 1994. Morphological evidence for Austric. Oceanic Linguistics 33(2):323-344.]
Languages
From north to south, the Nicobaric languages are:
*Car:
Car
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as ...
(Pū)
*Chaura–Teressa:
Chaura (Tutet/Sanënyö),
Teressa (Taih-Long/Lurö)
*
Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
:
Nancowry (Nang-kauri/Mūöt),
Camorta,
Katchal (Tehnu)
*Southern:
Southern Nicobarese (Sambelong),
Shompen
The Shompen or Shom Pen are the indigenous people of the interior of Great Nicobar Island, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Shompen are a designated Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Tribe.
...
(Shom Peng)
Classification
Paul Sidwell (2017) classifies the Nicobaric languages as follows.
[Sidwell, Paul. 2017.]
Proto-Nicobarese Phonology, Morphology, Syntax: work in progress
. International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics 7, Kiel, Sept 29-Oct 1, 2017.
*
Car
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as ...
*Chaura–Teressa
**
Teressa,
Chaura
*Central-Southern
**Central:
Nancowry,
Camorta,
Katchall
**Southern:
Southern Nicobarese,
Shompen
The Shompen or Shom Pen are the indigenous people of the interior of Great Nicobar Island, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Shompen are a designated Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Tribe.
...
See also
*
Shompen language
Shompen, or Shom Peng is a language or group of languages spoken on Great Nicobar Island in the Indian union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in the Indian Ocean, northwest of Sumatra, Indonesia.
Partially because the native people ...
*
List of Proto-Nicobarese reconstructions (Wiktionary)
References
Further reading
*Adams, K. L. (1989). ''Systems of numeral classification in the Mon–Khmer, Nicobarese and Aslian subfamilies of Austroasiatic''. Canberra, A.C.T., Australia: Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University.
*Radhakrishnan, R. (1981). ''The Nancowry Word: Phonology, Affixal Morphology and Roots of a Nicobarese Language''. Current Inquiry Into Language and Linguistics 37. Linguistic Research Inc., P.O. Box 5677, Station 'L', Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6C 4G1.
*Sidwell, Paul. 2018
Proto-Nicobarese phonology In ''Papers from the Seventh International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics'', 101-131. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society Special Publication No. 3. University of Hawai’i Press.
External links
Nicobarese Languages Project(
Paul Sidwell
Paul James Sidwell is an Australian linguist based in Canberra, Australia who has held research and lecturing positions at the Australian National University. Sidwell, who is also an expert and consultant in forensic linguistics, is most notable ...
)
{{Austro-Asiatic languages
Languages of India