| Nancowry | |
|---|---|
| Nang-kauri[1] | |
| Mūöt | |
| Pronunciation | [mɯːət] |
| Native to | Nicobar Islands, India |
| Region | Nancowry Island (Mūöt) |
Native speakers | (930 cited 2001 census)[2] |
Austroasiatic
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | nanc1247 |
 Muot is classified as Critically Endangered according to the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger[3] | |
Nancowry (Nancoury, Nankwari, Mūöt) is a Nicobarese language spoken on the Nancowry Island in the central Nicobar Islands. It is not mutually intelligible with the other Central Nicobarese languages, and is distantly related to Vietnamese and Khmer.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar/ Retroflex |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | t̪ | c | k | ʔ |
| Nasal | m | n̪ | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Fricative | f ʋ | s | h | ||
| Tap | ɾ | ||||
| Approximant | l | j |
- The labial glide written variously v and w is written ʋ.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɯ | u |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ə | ɔ |
| Open | æ | a |
Vocabulary
Paul Sidwell (2017)[4] 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) (subscription required)
- Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (Report) (3rd ed.). UNESCO. 2010. p. 31.
- Sidwell, Paul. 2017. "Proto-Nicobarese Phonology, Morphology, Syntax: work in progress". International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics 7, Kiel, Sept 29-Oct 1, 2017.