Nancowry (Nancoury, Nankwari, Mūöt) is a Nicobarese language spoken on the Nancowry Island in the central Nicobar Islands. It is not mutually intelligible with the other Central Nicobarese languages, and is distantly related to Vietnamese and Khmer.
| Nancowry | |
|---|---|
| Nang-kauri[1] | |
| Mūöt | |
| Pronunciation | [mɯːət] |
| Native to | Nicobar Islands, India |
| Region | Nancowry Island (Mūöt) |
Native speakers | 930 (2001 census)[2] |
Austroasiatic
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | nanc1247 |
Phonology
editConsonants
edit| Labial | Alveolar/ Retroflex |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | t̪ | c | k | ʔ |
| Nasal | m | n̪ | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Fricative | f ʋ | s | h | ||
| Tap | ɾ | ||||
| Approximant | l | j |
- The labial glide written variously v and w is written ʋ.
Vowels
edit| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɯ | u |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ə | ɔ |
| Open | æ | a |
Vocabulary
editPaul Sidwell (2017)[3] published in ICAAL 2017 conference on Nicobarese languages.
| Word | Nancowry | proto-Nicobarese |
|---|---|---|
| hot | táɲ | *taɲ |
| four | koan | *foan |
| child | kúan | *kuːn |
| lip | manúɲ | *manuːɲ |
| dog | ʔám | *ʔam |
| night | hatə́m | *hatəːm |
| male | kóɲ | *koːɲ |
| ear | náŋ | *naŋ |
| one | hĩaŋ | *hiaŋ |
| belly | wíaŋ | *ʔac |
| sun | hɛ́ŋ | - |
| sweet | síaŋ | - |
| deep | cijáw | - |
| thigh | pulóʔ | - |
| python | tulán | - |
| road | kají | - |
| yawn | hiŋáp | - |
| centipede | kaʔiáp | - |
| dream | ʔinfuá | - |
| tongue | kaliták | - |
| overflow | yuait-nga | *roac |
| nose | moah | *moah |
| breast | toah | *toah |
| to cough | oōàh | *ʔoah |
| arm | koâl | *koal |
| in, inside | oal, òl | *ʔoal |
| four | fōan | *foan |
| elbow | det-ongkēang | *keaŋ |
Morphology
editPresence of a coda-copy-infixation system. Stock of lexical roots is reduced by active word taboo and hence rely on derivation extensively.
- kóɲ - 'male, husband'
- ʔumkóɲ -'to turn into a man'
- mumkóɲ - 'eunuch'
- ʔinkóɲtet - 'widower'
- kóɲu - 'to marry, to have a man'
- kamóɲu - 'married women'
Shared morphological alternations: the old AA causative has two allomorphs, prefix ha- with monosyllabic stems, infix -um- in disyllabic stems (note: *p > h onset in unstressed σ).
- ŋok - 'to eat' / haŋok 'to feed'
- cim - 'to cry' / hacim 'to make someone cry'
- lapəʔ - 'pretty' / lumpəʔ 'to make someone pretty'
- karuʔ - 'large' / kumdruʔ 'to enlarge'
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | cə̃ˑ ~ cɯ̃ˑə | xãˑʔ (incl.) ci ʔaˑj (excl.) |
xeˑʔ (incl.) ci ʔəˑj (excl.) |
| 2nd | mɛ̃ˑ | ʔinãˑ | ʔifeˑ |
| 3rd | ʔə̃ˑn | ʔunãˑ | ʔufeˑ |
| Dem- Prox | nɛˑʔ | - | ʔiˑn |
| Dem- Dist | ʔãˑn | ŋãˑŋ | kəˑʔ |
References
edit- ^ Edward Horace Man, 1889, A dictionary of the central Nicobarese language
- ^ Nicobarese, Central at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Sidwell, Paul. 2017. "Proto-Nicobarese Phonology, Morphology, Syntax: work in progress". International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics 7, Kiel, Sept 29-Oct 1, 2017.