Nicobarese languages

"Nicobarese" redirects here. For the indigenous peoples, see Nicobarese people

The Nicobarese languages form an isolated group of half a dozen closely related Austro-Asiatic languages, spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands of India. They have a total of about 30,000 speakers (22,100 native). The majority of Nicobarese speakers use the Car language.

They appear to be unrelated to the Shompen languages of the indigenous inhabitants of the interior of Great Nicobar Island.

The morphological similarities between Nicobarese and Austronesian languages have been used to help support the Austric hypothesis.

Nicobarese languages

From north to south:

• Car
• Chaura–Teressa: Chaura (Sanenya), Teressa (Bompoka dialect)
• Central Nicobarese languages: Camorta, Nancowry, Katchal (Trinket dialect)
• Southern Nicobarese or 'Sambelong'

Further reading

• Adams, K. L. (1989). Systems of numeral classification in the Mon–Khmer, Nicobarese and Aslian subfamilies of Austroasiatic. Canberra, A.C.T., Australia: Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. ISBN 0858833735
• Radhakrishnan, R. (1981). The Nancowry Word: Phonology, Affixal Morphology and Roots of a Nicobarese Language. Current Inquiry Into Language and Linguistics 37. Linguistic Research Inc., P.O. Box 5677, Station 'L', Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6C 4G1. ISBN 0-88783-041-2

See also

• Shompen languages

External links

• The Nicobarese by Dr. Simron Jit Singh