Created by Lancepark
Last edited June 17, 2021

Template:Distinguish Template:Infobox language

Nyishi (Kamle) or Sarak is a Tani language of India. It is spoken in Arunachal Pradesh by an estimated 9,000 people of the Nyishi tribe.[1] It appears to be a dialect of the Nishi language.[2]

File:314a.jpg
Portrait of a girl of the Nyishi people of kamle

Description

Nyishi(muri-mugli) is a member of the Tani branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages and is considered a dialect of the Nishi language. It is spoken by 9,000 people in the northern regions of India by the Nyishi people of Kamle.[3] It is threatened because the younger generation is slowly breaking away from their people's traditions and language.[4][5] Many audio books of gospel narratives in the Nyishi language of Kamle have been collected FROM THE iNDIA .

History of scholarship

George Abraham Grierson, in his survey of India regarding its linguistics, researched the Nyishi language and published a record over a century ago.Template:Citation needed

Phonology

Consonants

The following table includes an inventory of Nyishi (Kamle) consonants.[6]

Labial Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Velar Glottal
Nasal Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link[7] Template:IPA link
Stop Template:Small Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link[8] Template:IPA link
Template:Small Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link[9] Template:IPA link
Fricative Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Approximant Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Trill? Template:IPA link

Vowels are front Template:IPA, central Template:IPA,[10] and back Template:IPA. Vowels occur long and short.

Grammar

The basic Nyishi (Kamle) grammar and basic word order are like those of related Sino-Tibetan languages, similar to that of Nishi.

Numerals

Nyishi (Kamle)
1 aken
2 eñi
3 oum
4 epi
5 ango/angngo
6 ake
7 kenne
8 pine
9 kora
10 íri

Pronouns

Personal

Singular Plural
1st person ngo ngu-lu
2nd person no nu-lu
3rd person bu, bú bu-lu, bú-lu

References

  1. Encyclopedia of the world's endangered languages{{#if:Moseley|, Moseley}. Routledge(2007). ISBN 978-0-7007-1197-0
  2. Post, Mark W. (2013). Defoliating the Tani Stammbaum: An exercise in areal linguistics. Paper presented at the 13th Himalayan Languages Symposium. Canberra, Australian National University, Aug 9.
  3. [1]
  4. Audio
  5. Nabam Tadar Rikam, "Emerging religious Identities of Arunachal Pradesh", Mittal Publications, 2005
  6. Ju Namkung, "Phonological inventories of Tibeto-burman languages", Center for Southeast Asia Studies, University of California, 1996
  7. Value unclear, perhaps Template:IPA?
  8. Value unclear, perhaps Template:IPAblink?
  9. Value unclear, perhaps Template:IPAblink?
  10. Transcribed Template:Angbr IPA in Namkung

Further reading

Template:Sino-Tibetan languages Template:Tani languages Template:Arunachal languages Template:Languages of Northeast India