>TheAwesomeAtom at 21:52, 8 September 2021

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{{Infobox language
| name = Bea
| nativename = ''Aka-Bea''
| states = [[India]]
| region = [[Andaman Islands]]; South Andaman island except northeast coast, and north and east interiors; Rutland island except south coast; small islands southeast of Rutland; Labyrinth Islands.
| extinct = by 1931
| ref = <ref name="vanDriem2001">{{Citation | title=Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region : Containing an Introduction to the Symbiotic Theory of Language | author=George van Driem | date=2001 | publisher=BRILL | isbn=90-04-12062-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fiavPYCz4dYC | quote=''The Oko-Juwoi of Middle Andaman and the Aka-Bea of South Andaman and Rutland Island were extinct by 1931.''}}</ref>
| familycolor = Andamanese
| fam1 = [[Great Andamanese languages|Great Andamanese]]
| fam2 = Southern †
| iso3 = abj
| glotto = akab1249
| glottorefname = Akabea
| map = Schematic Map of Andamanese Languages & Tribes.png
}}

The '''Bea language''', '''''Aka-Bea''''',<ref>also Beada ~ Biada or Bogijiab ~ Bojigniji ~ Bojigyab</ref> is an extinct [[Great Andamanese languages|Great Andamanese]] language of the Southern<ref name=Manoh1>Manoharan, S. (1983). "Subgrouping Andamanese group of languages." ''International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics''
XII(1): 82-95.</ref> group. It was spoken around the western [[Andaman Strait]] and around the northern and western coast of [[South Andaman]].

==History==
The Bea were one of the [[indigenous peoples]] of the [[Andaman Islands]], one of the ten or so [[Great Andamanese]] tribes identified by [[British Empire|British]] colonials in the 1860s. Their language was closely related to the other [[Great Andamanese languages]]. They were extinct as a distinct people by 1931.<ref name="vanDriem2001"/>

==Grammar==
The Great Andamanese languages are [[agglutinative]] languages, with an extensive prefix and suffix system.<ref name=Templ>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.</ref> They have a distinctive [[noun class]] system based largely on body parts, in which every [[noun]] and [[adjective]] may take a [[Prefix (linguistics)|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 the language names is a prefix for objects related to the [[tongue]].<ref name="Templ"/> An adjectival example can be given by the various forms of ''yop'', "pliable, soft", in Aka-Bea:<ref name="Templ"/>
*A [[cushion]] or [[sponge]] is ''ot-yop'' "round-soft", from the prefix attached to words relating to the head or heart.
*A [[Walking stick|cane]] is ''ôto-yop'', "pliable", from a prefix for long things.
*A [[wikt:stick|stick]] or [[pencil]] is ''aka-yop'', "pointed", from the tongue prefix.
*A fallen [[tree]] is ''ar-yop'', "rotten", from the prefix for [[Limb (anatomy)|limb]]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,

{| class=wikitable
! !!Bea !!Balawa? !!Bajigyâs? !!Juwoi !!Kol
|-
!head/heart
| ot- ||ôt- ||ote- ||ôto- ||ôto-
|-
!hand/foot
|ong- ||ong- ||ong- ||ôn- ||ôn-
|-
!mouth/tongue
|âkà- ||aka- ||o- ||ókô- ||o-
|-
!torso (shoulder to shins)
|ab- ||ab- ||ab- ||a- ||o-
|-
!eye/face/arm/breast
|i-, ig- ||id- ||ir- ||re- ||er-
|-
!back/leg/butt
|ar- ||ar- ||ar- ||ra- ||a-
|-
!waist
|ôto-
|}

Body parts are [[Inalienable possession|inalienably possessed]], requiring a [[possessive adjective]] [[Prefix (linguistics)|prefix]] 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):
{| class=wikitable
| I, my
| ''d-''
| we, our
| ''m-''
|-
| thou, thy
| ''ŋ-''
| you, your
| ''ŋ-''
|-
| he, his, she, her, it, its
| ''a''
| they, their
| ''l-''
|}

'This' and 'that' are distinguished as ''k-'' and ''t-''.

Judging from the available sources, the Andamanese languages have only two [[cardinal number (linguistics)|cardinal number]]s — [[1 (number)|one]] and [[2 (number)|two]] — and their entire numerical lexicon is one, two, one more, some more, and all.<ref name="Templ"/>

==Samples==

The following [[poem]] in Aka-Bea was written by a [[Tribal chief|chief]], ''Jambu'', after he was freed from a six-month [[Prison|jail]] term for [[manslaughter]].<ref>Man, E.H. (1923). ''Dictionary of the South Andaman Language''. British India Press: Bombay</ref>

: ''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.

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 [[rhythm]]ical effect.

As another example, we give part of a [[creation myth]] in Oko-Juwoi, reminiscent of [[Prometheus]]:

: ''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.

==See also==
*[[Andamanese languages]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Andamanese languages}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andamanese, Aka-Bea, Language}}
[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Great Andamanese languages]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]
[[Category:Languages of India]]
[[Category:Languages extinct in the 1930s]]

Aka-Bea language - Revision history

>TheAwesomeAtom at 21:52, 8 September 2021