Southern Nicobarese language

(Redirected from ISO 639:nik)

Southern Nicobarese is a Nicobarese language, spoken on the Southern Nicobar Islands of Little Nicobar (Ong), Great Nicobar (Lo'ong), and a couple small neighboring islands, Kondul (Lamongshe) and Pulo Milo (Milo Island). Each is said to have its own dialect.

Southern Nicobarese
Sambelong
Native toIndia
RegionLittle Nicobar, Great Nicobar
Native speakers
7,500 (2001 census)[1]
Austroasiatic
Dialects
  • Great Nicobarese
  • Little Nicobarese
Language codes
ISO 639-3nik
Glottologsout2689
ELPSouthern Nicobarese
Approximate location where Southern Nicobarese is spoken
Approximate location where Southern Nicobarese is spoken
Southern Nicobarese
Location in the Bay of Bengal.
Coordinates: 6°50′N 93°48′E / 6.83°N 93.80°E / 6.83; 93.80

Distribution

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Parmanand Lal (1977:23)[2] reported 11 Nicobarese villages with 192 people in all, located mostly along the western coast of Great Nicobar Island. Pulo-babi village was the site of Lal's extensive ethnographic study.

  • Pulo-kunyi
  • Kopenhaiyen
  • Kashindon
  • Koye
  • Pulo-babi
  • Batadiya
  • Kakaiyu
  • Pulo-pucca
  • Ehengloy
  • Pulo-baha
  • Chinge

Lal (1977:104) also reported the presence of several Shompen villages in the interior of Great Nicobar Island.

  • Dakade (10 km northeast of Pulo-babi, a Nicobarese village; 15 persons and 4 huts)
  • Puithey (16 km southeast of Pulo-babi)
  • Tataiya (inhabited by the Dogmar River Shompen group, who had moved from Tataiya to Pulo-kunyi between 1960 and 1977)

Vocabulary

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Paul Sidwell (2017)[3] published in ICAAL 2017 conference on Nicobarese languages.

Word Southern Nicobarese proto-Nicobarese
hot tait *taɲ
four fôat *foan
child kōˑan *kuːn
lip paṅ-nōˑin *manuːɲ
dog âm *ʔam
night hatòm *hatəːm
male (otāˑha) *koːɲ
ear nâng *naŋ
one heg *hiaŋ
belly wīˑang *ʔac
sun hēg -
sweet shai(t) -

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Southern Nicobarese at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Lal, Parmanand. 1977. Great Nicobar Island: study in human ecology. Calcutta: Anthropological Survey of India, Govt. of India.
  3. ^ Sidwell, Paul. 2017. "Proto-Nicobarese Phonology, Morphology, Syntax: work in progress". International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics 7, Kiel, Sept 29-Oct 1, 2017.