| Andamanese | |
|---|---|
| (geographic) | |
| Geographic distribution | Andaman Islands, India |
| Ethnicity | Andamanese |
| Linguistic classification | Not a single family |
| Subdivisions |
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| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | None |
 Ethnolinguistic map of the precolonial Andaman Islands | |
 Distribution of Andamanese tribes at time of British contact | |
TheAndamanese languages are the various languages spoken by theindigenous peoples of theAndaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. There are two known Andamanese language families,Great Andamanese andOngan, as well as two presumed but unattested languages,Sentinelese andJangil.
Although the languages in the Andaman Islands were once assumed to be in the same language family, it is now widely accepted that Great Andamanese and Ongan have nogenealogical relationship. Thus, the term "Andamanese languages" is now a geographic label.
The attested Andamanese languages fall into two genetically unrelated families:[1][2]
In addition, there are two unattested languages:
The languages of the Andaman Islands have frequently been assumed to be from the same single Andamanese language family. However, the similarities between Great Andamanese and Ongan are so far mainly of a typologicalmorphological nature, with little common vocabulary. Abbi (2009) demonstrated that the Andaman Islands have two unrelated language families: Great Andamanese and Ongan.[2]
Blevins (2007) summarizes,
a relationship between Jarawa and Onge and languages of the Great Andaman group is not widely accepted. Radcliffe-Brown (1914:40) found only seven potential cognates between Onge and Bea/Jeru, and noted that the difference between Onge and the Great Andaman languages "is such that it would not be possible from consideration of the vocabulary alone to prove that they belonged to the same language stock." [...] Abbi (2006:93) is agnostic, stating that "current linguistic analysis does not, with any certainty, indicate any genetic relationship between Great Andamanese and the other two languages." The only positive evidence offered in support of this relationship is a listing of 17 word pairs as proposed cognates in Manoharan (1989:16667). There are several problems with Manoharan's proposal [such as semantic mismatches and failing to identify loans. ...] Given evidence that shows these languages have been in contact, and the scarcity of data available at present on Great Andaman languages, there remains no persuasive evidence of a family relationship between Jarawa-Onge and the Great Andaman languages. [...] Greenberg (1971:810) is unconvinced of the relation between Great Andaman and Onge-Jarawa, agreeing with Radcliffe-Brown (1914) that " there are very few vocabulary resemblances between this language [Onge] and those of Great Andaman and the only real point of contact is typological. A few citations from Onge have been included in the general Indo-Pacific vocabulary, but both its special relationship to the languages of the rest of the Andamans and its assignment to Indo-Pacific must be considered highly provisional."
Joseph Greenberg proposed that the Great Andamanese languages are related to westernPapuan languages as members of a phylum he calledIndo-Pacific,[6] but this is not generally accepted by other linguists.Stephen Wurm states that the lexical similarities between Great Andamanese and theWest Papuan and certain languages ofTimor "are quite striking and amount to virtual formal identity […] in a number of instances", but considers this to be due to a linguisticsubstratum rather than a direct relationship.[7]
Blevins (2007) proposes that the Ongan languages are related toAustronesian in anAustronesian–Ongan family, for which she has attempted to establish regular sound correspondences.[8] The proposed connection between Austronesian and Ongan has not been supported by Austronesianists, andRobert Blust (2014) finds that Blevins' conclusions are not supported by her data: Of her first 25 reconstructions, none are reproducible using the comparative method, and Blust concludes that the grammatical comparison does not hold up. Blust, in addition, cites non-linguistic (such as cultural, archaeological, and biological) evidence against Blevins' hypothesis.[9]
The indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands have lived there for thousands of years. Although the existence of the islands and their inhabitants was long known to maritime powers and traders of theSouth– andSoutheast–Asia region, contact with these peoples was highly sporadic and very often hostile. As a result, almost nothing is recorded of them or their languages until the mid-18th century.
By the late 18th century, when theBritish first established a colonial presence on the Andaman Islands, there were an estimated 5,000Great Andamanese living onGreat Andaman and surrounding islands, comprising 10 distinct tribes with distinct but closely related languages.
From the 1860s onwards, the British established apenal colony on the islands, which led to the subsequent arrival of mainland settlers and indentured labourers, mainly from theIndian subcontinent. This coincided with the massive population reduction of the Andamanese due to outside diseases.
One of the first accounts in English of the languages was by the early phoneticianAlexander John Ellis, who presented to the Philological Society on the South Andamanese languages on his retirement. This presentation was later adapted into aReport of Researches into the Language of the South Andaman Island.[10]
By the beginning of the 20th century most of these populations were greatly reduced in numbers, and the various linguistic and tribal divisions among the Great Andamanese effectively ceased to exist, despite a census of the time still classifying the groups as separate.[11] Their linguistic diversity also suffered as the surviving populations intermingled with one another, and some also intermarried withKaren (Burmese) andIndian settlers.
By the latter part of the 20th century, the majority of Great Andamanese languages had become extinct.
At the start of the 21st century only about 50 or so individuals of Great Andamanese descent remained, resettled to a single small island (Strait I.). About half of these individuals speak what may be considered a modified version (orcreole) of Great Andamanese, based mainly onAka-Jeru.[2] This modified version has been called "Present Great Andamanese" by some scholars,[12][13] but also may be referred to simply as "Jero" or "Great Andamanese".Hindi increasingly serves as their primary language, and is the only language for around half of them.[3]
The Ongan languages survive mainly because of the greater isolation of the peoples who speak them. This isolation has been reinforced by an outright hostility towards outsiders and extreme reluctance to engage in contact with them by South Andamanese tribes, particularly theSentinelese andJarawa. The Sentinelese have been so resistant that their language remains entirely unknown to outsiders.
Abbi (2009)[2] lists the following lexical items forOnge,Jarawa, andGreat Andamanese, showing thatOngan andGreat Andamanese are distinct language families sharing few lexical similarities.
| English | Onge | Jarawa | Great Andamanese |
|---|---|---|---|
| boat | ɖaŋɛ cɨ | (cagiya paɖa)-taŋ/daŋ | rowa |
| bow | ɪja | aːw | ko |
| child | ɨcɨʐɨ | ɨcɨʐə | ʈʰire |
| crocodile | ʈɔjəgɨ | torogijəi | sare-ka-teo |
| crows | wawa-le | waːraw | pʰaʈka |
| dog | wəːme, uame | wɔm | caːw |
| goat | ʈikʷabuli | tʰikʰwa-gopejajo | – |
| laugh | ɨɲja | əniaː | kʰole |
| water | ɨɲe | iːɲ | ino |
| 1SG (I) | mi | mi | ʈʰu |
| 2SG (you) | ɲi | ɲi | ɲ |
| forehead | -ejale | -ejea | -beŋ |
| eye | -ejebo | -ejebo | -ulu |
| ear | -ekʷagɨ | -ikʰəwə | -boa |
| elbow | -ito-ge | -itʰo-ha | -bala-tara ɖole |
| wrist | -moɲa-ge | -eɲia | -ʈʰo |
| palm | -obanaŋ-ge | -obaŋna | -koro |
| thumb | -oboʈa-ge | -obotʰa | -kənap |
| thigh | -ibo | -ibə | -buco |
| knee | -ola-ge | -olak ~ -ola | -curok |
| sole | -ubtəga-me | -ugɖaga | -moʈora-ɖole |
| neck | -aŋgiʈo | -agiʈʰo | -loŋɔ |
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