Southern Nicobarese language

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

Southern Nicobarese is a Nicobarese language, spoken on the Southern Nicobar Islands of Little Nicobar (Lamôngsĕ), Great Nicobar (Tökahāṅilā), and small neighboring islands, Kondul and Pulo Milo (Milo Island) each of which have own dialects.

Distribution

Parmanand Lal (1977:23) 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.

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

Vocabulary

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

WordSouthern Nicobareseproto-Nicobarese
hottait*taɲ
fourfôat*foan
childkōˑan*kuːn
lippaṅ-nōˑin*manuːɲ
dogâm*ʔam
nighthatòm*hatəːm
male(otāˑha)*koːɲ
earnâng*naŋ
oneheg*hiaŋ
bellywīˑang*ʔac
sunhēg-
sweetshai(t)-

See also

References

  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.