Ajay Kumar at 11:08, 22 August 2023

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{{Short description|Nearly extinct language family of the Andaman Islands}}
{{Infobox language family
| name = Great Andamanese
| ethnicity = [[Great Andamanese people]]
| region = Formerly on [[Great Andaman Island]]
| familycolor = Andamanese
| family = One of the world's primary [[language family|language families]]<ref>{{Citation
|last=Blevins
|first=Juliette
|year=2007
|title=A Long Lost Sister of Proto-Austronesian? Proto-Ongan, Mother of Jarawa and Onge of the Andaman Islands
|journal=Oceanic Linguistics
|volume=46
|issue=1
|pages=154–198
|url=http://email.eva.mpg.de/~blevins/pdf/webpub2007a.pdf
|doi=10.1353/ol.2007.0015
|s2cid=143141296
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110111172242/http://email.eva.mpg.de/~blevins/pdf/webpub2007a.pdf
|archive-date=2011-01-11
}}</ref>
| glotto = grea1241
| glottorefname = Great Andamanese
| child1 = [[Bea language|Aka-Bea]] (Bea) †
| child2 = [[Akar-Bale language|Akar-Bale]] (Bale) †
| child3 = [[Kede language|Aka-Kede]] (Kede) †
| child4 = [[Aka-Kol language|Aka-Kol]] (Kol) †
| child5 = [[Juwoi language|Oko-Juwoi]] (Juwoi) †
| child6 = [[Pucikwar language|A-Pucikwar]] (Pucikwar) †
| child7 = [[Cari language|Aka-Cari]] (Chari) †
| child8 = [[Aka-Kora language|Aka-Kora]] (Kora) †
| child9 = [[Jeru language|Aka-Jeru]] (Jeru)
| child10 = [[Aka-Bo language|Aka-Bo]] (Bo) †
| iso3 = gac (Great Andamanese, Mixed)
| ELP = 2064
| ELPname = Mixed Great Andamanese
| map = Schematic Map of Andamanese Languages & Tribes.png
| mapcaption = Ethnolinguistic map of the precolonial Andaman Islands. The languages with prefixes (which mean "language") are Great Andamanese. Note that on southernmost islands, Jarawa, Onge, Jangil<sup>†</sup> and possibly Sentinelese are forming the unrelated [[Ongan languages]] family).
}}

The '''Great Andamanese languages''' are a nearly extinct [[language family]] once spoken by the [[Great Andamanese people]]s of the northern and central [[Andaman Islands]] in the [[Indian Ocean]], and part of [[Andamanese languages|Andamanese sprachbund]].

== History ==
By the late 18th century, when the British first established a colonial presence on the Andaman islands, there were an estimated 5,000 Great Andamanese living on [[Great Andaman]] and surrounding islands, comprising 10 distinct tribes with distinct but closely related languages. From the 1860s onwards, the [[British Empire|British]] established a [[penal colony]] on the islands, which led to the subsequent arrival of mainland settlers and indentured labourers, mainly from the [[Indian subcontinent]]. This coincided with the massive population reduction of the Andamanese due to outside diseases, to a low of 19 individuals in 1961.<ref name="asi1990">{{Citation | title=The Jarawa | author=Jayanta Sarkar | publisher=Anthropological Survey of India | date=1990 | isbn=81-7046-080-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HxBuAAAAMAAJ | quote=''... The Great Andamanese population was large till 1858 when it started declining ... In 1901, their number was reduced to only 600 and in 1961 to a mere 19 ...''}}</ref>

Since then their numbers have rebounded somewhat, reaching 52 by 2010.<ref name=telegraph2/> However, by 1994 there were no remembers of any but the northern lects,<ref>A. N. Sharma (2003), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=WEztW7c0CqQC&pg=PA75 Tribal Development in the Andaman Islands]'', page 75. Sarup & Sons, New Delhi.</ref> and divisions among the surviving tribes ([[Jeru people|Jeru]], [[Kora people|Kora]], [[Bo people (Andaman)|Bo]] and [[Cari people|Cari]]) had effectively ceased to exist<ref>Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (1922). ''The Andaman Islanders: A study in social anthropology.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref> due to intermarriage and resettlement to a much smaller territory on [[Strait Island]]. Some of them also intermarried with [[Karen people|Karen (Burmese)]] and [[Demographics of India|Indian]] settlers. [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]] serves as their primary language.<ref name="lansuv">{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100424231241/http://infochangeindia.org/Media/Languages-of-India/The-case-for-a-linguistic-survey.html Anosh Malekar, "The case for a linguisitic survey," ''Infochange Media,'' August 1, 2011.]}}</ref><ref>Abbi, Anvita, Bidisha Som and Alok Das. 2007. "Where Have All The Speakers Gone? A Sociolinguistic Study of the Great Andamanese." Indian Linguistics, 68.3-4: 325-343.</ref>
Some of the population spoke a ''[[Koiné language|koine]]'' based mainly on [[Jeru language|Aka-Jeru]], but even this is only partially remembered and no longer a language of daily use.<ref name=abbi>Abbi, Anvita (2008). "Is Great Andamanese genealogically and typologically distinct from Onge and Jarawa?" ''Language Sciences'', {{doi|10.1016/j.langsci.2008.02.002}}</ref><ref name=Abbi06>Abbi, Anvita (2006). ''Endangered Languages of the Andaman Islands.'' Germany: Lincom GmbH.</ref><ref name=Burenh>{{Cite web |url=http://cts.lub.lu.se/ojs/index.php/LWPL/article/view/2475/2050 |title=Burenhult, Niclas (1996). "Deep linguistic prehistory with particular reference to Andamanese." ''Working Papers'' 45, 5-24. Lund University: Department of Linguistics |access-date=2016-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917204823/http://cts.lub.lu.se/ojs/index.php/LWPL/article/view/2475/2050 |archive-date=2016-09-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[Aka-Kora]] became fully extinct in November 2009, when its last rememberer, Boro Sr, died.<ref name=Boro>{{cite news |title=Andamanese tribes, languages die |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article100977.ece |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=February 5, 2010 |access-date=2010-02-05 }}</ref>
The last semi-fluent speaker of the ''koine'', Nao Jr., also died in 2009.<ref name=e23b>{{e23|gac|Mixed Great Andamanese}}</ref>
The [[Boa Sr.|last rememberer]] of [[Aka-Bo language|Aka-Bo]] died in 2010 at age 85.<ref name=telegraph2>(2011) ''[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/7207731/Lives-Remembered.html Lives Remembered]. [[The Daily Telegraph]], London, 10 February 2010. Accessed on 2010-02-22. Also [https://web.archive.org/web/20100213125406/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/7207731/Lives-Remembered.html on web.archive.org]</ref> The last rememberer of [[Aka-Cari language|Aka-Cari]], a woman called Licho, died from chronic tuberculosis in April 2020 in Shadipur, [[Port Blair]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=International|first=Survival|date=1 June 2020|title=The last speaker of the Sare language has died|url=https://medium.com/@survivalinternational/the-last-speaker-of-the-sare-language-has-died-767013159e83|access-date=28 June 2020|website=Medium|language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/mourning-the-death-of-a-language-amid-the-pandemic Mourning the death of a language amid the pandemic], ''Straits Times'', 2020 June 3</ref>
As of reports published in 2020, there remained three heritage-speakers of [[Aka-Jeru]].<ref name=e23>{{e23|akj|Aka-Jeru}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The Pandemic Also Threatens Endangered Languages|url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/the-pandemic-also-threatens-endangered-languages/|website=scientificamerican.com|publisher=Scientific American|last=Abbi|first=Anvita|date=30 April 2020|access-date=24 January 2023}}</ref>

==Grammar==
The Great Andamanese languages are [[agglutinative]] languages, with an extensive prefix and suffix system.<ref name="Abbi06"/><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).<ref name="Burenh"/> 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-
|}

Abbi (2013: 80) lists the following body part prefixes in Great Andamanese.
{| class="wikitable"
! Class !! Partonomy of the human body !! Body class marker
|-
| 1 || mouth and its semantic extensions || a=
|-
| 2 || major external body parts || ɛr=
|-
| 3 || extreme ends of the body (e.g., toes and fingernails) || oŋ=
|-
| 4 || bodily products and part-whole relationships || ut=
|-
| 5 || organs inside the body || e=
|-
| 6 || parts designating round shape or sexual organs || ara=
|-
| 7 || parts for legs and related terms || o= ~ ɔ=
|}

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".<ref name="Burenh"/>

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"/>

===Phonology===

The following is the sound system of the present-day Great Andamanese (PGA):
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+Vowels<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=A Grammar of the Great Andamanese Language|last=Abbi|first=Anvita|year=2013|location=Brill's Studies in South and Southwest Asian Languages, Volume 4.}}</ref>
|-
! !! [[Front vowel|Front]]!![[Central vowel|Central]]!![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}}
|
|{{IPA link|u}}
|-
![[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}}
|
|{{IPA link|o}}
|-
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
|{{IPA link|ɛ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɔ}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|ɑ}}
|}
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+Consonants<ref>{{Cite book|title=Great Andamanese: a preliminary study|last=Yadav|first=Yogendra|publisher=Pacific Linguistics|year=1985|location=Canberra: The Australian National University.|pages=185–214}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
|-
! colspan="2" |
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
|
| {{IPA link|n}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɲ}}
| {{IPA link|ŋ}}
|-
! rowspan="3" | [[Plosive]]
! {{small|plain}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t}}
|
| {{IPA link|ʈ}}
| {{IPA link|c}}
| {{IPA link|k}}
|-
! {{small|voiced}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɖ}}
| {{IPA link|ɟ}}
|
|-
! {{small|aspirated}}
| {{IPA|pʰ}}
| {{IPA|tʰ}}
|
| {{IPA|ʈʰ}}
| {{IPA|cʰ}}
| {{IPA|kʰ}}
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Fricative]]
|[{{IPA link|ɸ}} ~ {{IPA link|β}} ~ {{IPA link|f}}]
|
| {{IPA link|s}}
|
| {{IPA link|ʃ}}
|[{{IPA link|x}}]
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|
| {{IPA link|l}} ~ [{{IPA|lʷ}}]
|
|[{{IPA link|ʎ}}]
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
|
| {{IPA link|ɾ}} ~ {{IPA link|r}}
|[{{IPA link|ɽ}}]
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Semivowel]]
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
|}

It is noted that a few sounds would have changed among more recent speakers, perhaps due to the influence of Hindi. Older speakers tended to have different pronunciations than among the more younger speakers. The consonant sounds of /pʰ, kʰ, l/ were common among older speakers to pronounce them as [ɸ~f~β, x, lʷ]. The lateral /l/ sound may have also been pronounced as [ʎ]. Sounds such as a labio-velar approximant /w/, only occur within words or can be a word-final, and cannot occur as a word-initial consonant. The sounds [ɽ, β] can occur as allophones of /r, b/.

==Classification==
The languages spoken in the Andaman islands fall into two clear families, Great Andamanese and [[Ongan languages|Ongan]], plus one unattested language, [[Sentinelese language|Sentinelese]]. These are generally seen as related. However, the similarities between Great Andamanese and Ongan are so far mainly of a typological [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] nature, with little demonstrated common vocabulary. As a result, even long-range researchers such as [[Joseph Greenberg]] have expressed doubts as to the validity of Andamanese as a family,<ref name = Greenb>Greenberg, Joseph (1971). "The Indo-Pacific hypothesis." ''Current trends in linguistics vol. 8'', ed. by Thomas A. Sebeok, 807.71. The Hague: Mouton.</ref> and Abbi (2008)<ref name=abbi /> considers the surviving Great Andamanese language to be an [[language isolate|isolate]]. The Great Andaman languages are:<ref name=Manoh1>Manoharan, S. (1983). "Subgrouping Andamanese group of languages." ''[[International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics]]'' XII(1): 82-95.</ref>

*'''Great Andamanese'''
**Southern
***[[Bea language|Aka-Bea]] or Bea (†)
***[[Akar-Bale language|Akar-Bale]] or Bale (†)
**Central
***[[Kede language|Aka-Kede]] or Kede (†)
***[[Aka-Kol language|Aka-Kol]] or Kol (†)
***[[Juwoi language|Oko-Juwoi]] or Juwoi (†)
***[[Pucikwar language|A-Pucikwar]] or Pucikwar (†)
**Northern
***[[Cari language|Aka-Cari]] or Chari (†)
***[[Aka-Kora language|Aka-Kora]] or Kora (†)
***[[Jeru language|Aka-Jeru]] or Jeru
***[[Aka-Bo language|Aka-Bo]] or Bo (†)

Joseph Greenberg proposed that Great Andamanese is related to western [[Papuan languages]] as members of a larger phylum he called [[Indo-Pacific languages|Indo-Pacific]],<ref name="Greenb"/> but this is not generally accepted by other linguists. [[Stephen Wurm]] states that the lexical similarities between Great Andamanese and the [[West Papuan languages|West Papuan]] and certain languages of [[Timor]] "are quite striking and amount to virtual formal identity [...] in a number of instances", but considers this to be due to a linguistic [[substratum]] rather than a direct relationship.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.papuaweb.org/dlib/bk/pl/C38/_toc.html |title=Wurm, S.A. (1977). ''New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study, Volume 1: Papuan Languages and the New Guinea Linguistic Scene''. Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra. |access-date=2009-08-13 |archive-date=2010-06-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620132933/http://papuaweb.org/dlib/bk/pl/C38/_toc.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Names and spellings, with populations, from the 1901 and 1994 censuses were as follows:<ref>A. N. Sharma (2003), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=WEztW7c0CqQC&pg=PA62 Tribal Development in the Andaman Islands]'', page 62. Sarup & Sons, New Delhi.</ref>

;1901 census
:Aka-Cari: 39
:Aka-Cora: 96
:Aka-Bo: 48
:Aka-Jeru: 218
:Aka-Kede: 59
:Aka-Koi: 11
:Oka-Juwoi: 48
:Aka-Pucikwar: 50
:Aka-Bale: 19
:Aka-Bea: 37

;1994 census
:Aka-Jeru: 19
:Aka-Bo: 15
:Aka-Kari: 2
:('local': 4)

==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]]:

{{interlinear|indent=3
|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.
|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.}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
* Yadav, Yogendra. 1985. "Great Andamanese: a preliminary study." ''Pacific Linguistics'', Series A, No. 67: 185-214. Canberra: The Australian National University.
*Abbi, Anvita. 2011. ''Dictionary of the Great Andamanese language''. Port Blair: Ratna Sagar.
*Abbi, Anvita. 2013. ''A Grammar of the Great Andamanese Language''. Brill's Studies in South and Southwest Asian Languages, Volume 4.

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071006105316/http://www.jnu.ac.in/jero_andamanese/Jero.html Jero in IPA transcription]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160917204823/http://cts.lub.lu.se/ojs/index.php/LWPL/article/view/2475/2050 Burenhult's Paper on Andamanese]

{{Andamanese languages}}
{{Language families}}
{{Eurasian languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andamanese languages}}
[[Category:Great Andamanese languages| ]]
[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Andamanese languages| ]]
[[Category:Languages of India]]
[[Category:Endangered languages of India]]
[[Category:Language families|Great Andamanese]]

Great Andamanese languages - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 11:08, 22 August 2023