Nancowry language
Nancowry (Nancoury, Nankwari, Mūöt) is a Nicobarese language spoken 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
Vocabulary
Paul 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
Presence 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
- Edward Horace Man, 1889, A dictionary of the central Nicobarese language
- Nicobarese, Central at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- Sidwell, Paul. 2017. "Proto-Nicobarese Phonology, Morphology, Syntax: work in progress". International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics 7, Kiel, Sept 29-Oct 1, 2017.
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