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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