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{{Short description|Extinct Great Andamanese language of India}}{{Cleanup lang|date=April 2025|iso=abj}}{{Infobox language
| name = Bea
| nativename = {{lang|abj|Aka-Bea}}
| states = [[India]]
| region = [[Andaman Islands]]; South Andaman island except northeast coast, and north and east interiors; Rutland island except south coast; small islands southeast of Rutland; Labyrinth Islands.
| extinct = 1920s
| ref = <ref name=":0" />
| familycolor = Andamanese
| fam1 = [[Great Andamanese languages|Great Andamanese]]
| fam2 = Southern
| iso3 = abj
| linglist = abj.html
| glotto = akab1249
| glottorefname = Akabea
| altname = Bojigyab, Bôjingîjîda
| map = Languages_and_dialects_of_the_Andaman_Islands_at_British_contact.png
| mapcaption = {{legend|#fea500|Aka-Bea}}
| ethnicity = Bea
}}

The '''Bea language''', '''''Aka-Bea''''',<ref>also Beada ~ Biada or Bogijiab ~ Bojigniji ~ Bojigyab</ref> also called '''Bojigyab''',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Andamanese Languages |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095411491?p=emailAuoKDOz0i0WyA&d=/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095411491 |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=Oxford Reference |language=en |doi=10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095411491?p=emailauokdoz0i0wya&d=/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095411491| doi-broken-date=1 July 2025 }}</ref> is an extinct [[Great Andamanese languages|Great Andamanese]] language of the Southern<ref name=Manoh1>Manoharan, S. (1983). "Subgrouping Andamanese group of languages." ''International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics''
XII(1): 82-95.</ref> group. It was spoken around the western [[Andaman Strait]] and around the northern and western coast of [[South Andaman]]. It was well documented in the late 19th century, but died out in the 1920s. The term {{Lang|abj|Aka-Bea}} was used both to name the language and the people who spoke it, derived from the prefix {{Lang|abj|aka-}}, used to name objects related to the tongue, and {{Lang|abj|bea}}, meaning 'spring-water'.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Zamponi |first1=Raoul |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/41657 |title=A grammar of Akabea |last2=Comrie |first2=Bernard |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-885579-8 |location=New York}}</ref>

==History==
The Bea were one of the [[indigenous peoples]] of the [[Andaman Islands]], one of the ten or so [[Great Andamanese]] tribes identified by [[British Empire|British]] colonials in the 1860s. Their language was closely related to the other [[Great Andamanese languages]]. They were extinct as a distinct people between 1921 and 1931.<ref name="vanDriem2001">{{Citation | title=Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region : Containing an Introduction to the Symbiotic Theory of Language | author=George van Driem | date=2001 | publisher=BRILL | isbn=90-04-12062-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fiavPYCz4dYC | quote=''The Oko-Juwoi of Middle Andaman and the Aka-Bea of South Andaman and Rutland Island were extinct by 1931.''}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
! rowspan="3" | [[Plosive]]
! {{small|voiceless}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t̪|t}}
|
| {{IPA link|ʈ}}
|
| {{IPA link|k}}
|-
! {{small|aspirated}}
|
| {{IPA link|t̪ʰ|tʰ}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! {{small|voiced}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d̪|d}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɖ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Affricate]]
!{{small|voiceless}}
|
|
|
|
|{{IPA link|tʃ}}{{Efn|{{IPA|[s]}} occurs as an optional and idiosyncratic realization of word-final {{IPA|/tʃ/}}, as well as in non-final positions.<ref name=":0" />}}
|
|-
!{{small|voiced}}
|
|
|
|
|{{IPA link|dʒ}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
|
| {{IPA link|n}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɲ}}
| {{IPA link|ŋ}} {{IPA link|ŋʲ}}
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Fricative]]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
|
| {{IPA link|r}}
|{{IPA link|ɽ}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant]]
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
|}

==== Notes ====

{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! !! [[Front vowel|Front]]!![[Central vowel|Central]]!![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}} {{IPA link|iː}}
|
|{{IPA link|u}} {{IPA link|uː}}
|-
![[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}} {{IPA link|eː}}
|
|{{IPA link|o}} {{IPA link|oː}}
|-
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
|{{IPA link|ɛ}} {{IPA link|ɛː}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɔ}} {{IPA link|ɔː}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|a}} {{IPA link|aː}}
|
|}

==Grammar==
The Great Andamanese languages, including Aka-Bea, are [[agglutinative]] languages, with an extensive prefix and suffix system.<ref name="Templ">{{Cite book |last=Temple |first=Richard C. |url=https://digital.soas.ac.uk/content/AA/00/00/05/19/00001/PDF.pdf |title=A Grammar of the Andanamese Languages. Being Chapter IV of Part I of the Census Report of the Andanaman and Nicobar Islands. |date=1902 |publisher=Port Blair: Superintendent's Printing Press}}</ref> They have a distinctive [[noun class]] system based largely on body parts, in which every [[noun]] and [[adjective]] may take a [[Prefix (linguistics)|prefix]] according to which body part it is associated with (on the basis of shape, or functional association). Thus, for instance, the *aka- at the beginning of the language names is a prefix for objects related to the [[tongue]].<ref name="Templ"/> An adjectival example can be given by the various forms of ''yop'', "pliable, soft:<ref name="Templ"/>
*A [[cushion]] or [[sponge]] is ''ot-yop'' "round-soft", from the prefix attached to words relating to the head or heart.
*A [[Walking stick|cane]] is ''ôto-yop'', "pliable", from a prefix for long things.
*A [[wikt:stick|stick]] or [[pencil]] is {{Lang|abj|aka-yop}}, "pointed", from the tongue prefix.
*A fallen [[tree]] is {{Lang|abj|ar-yop}}, "rotten", from the prefix for [[Limb (anatomy)|limb]]s or upright things.
Similarly, ''beri-nga'' "good" yields:
*''un-bēri-ŋa'' "clever" (hand-good).
*''ig-bēri-ŋa'' "sharp-sighted" (eye-good).
*''aka-bēri-ŋa'' "good at languages" (tongue-good.)
*''ot-bēri-ŋa'' "virtuous" (head/heart-good)

The prefixes are,

{| class=wikitable
! !!Bea !!Bojigyab
|-
!head/heart
| ot- ||ote-
|-
!hand/foot
|ong- ||ong-
|-
!mouth/tongue
|âkà- ||o-
|-
!torso (shoulder to shins)
|ab- ||ab-
|-
!eye/face/arm/breast
|i-, ig- ||ir-
|-
!back/leg/butt
|ar- ||ar-
|-
!waist
|ôto-
|
|}

Body parts are [[Inalienable possession|inalienably possessed]], requiring a [[possessive adjective]] [[Prefix (linguistics)|prefix]] to complete them, so one cannot say "head" alone, but only "my, or his, or your, etc. head".

The basic pronouns are almost identical throughout the Great Andamanese languages; with the Aka-Bea forms given below:
{| class=wikitable
| I, my
| ''d-''
| we, our
| ''m-''
|-
| thou, thy
| ''ŋ-''
| you, your
| ''ŋ-''
|-
| he, his, she, her, it, its
| ''a''
| they, their
| ''l-''
|}

'This' and 'that' are distinguished as ''k-'' and ''t-''.

=== Numerals ===
Judging from the available sources, the Andamanese languages have only two [[cardinal number (linguistics)|cardinal number]]s — [[1 (number)|one]] and [[2 (number)|two]] — and their entire numerical lexicon is one, two, one more, some more, and all.<ref name="Templ" /> Akabea has been analyzed as an anumeric language, where words analyzed as numerals actually do not refer to specific quantities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zamponi |first1=Raoul |last2=Comrie |first2=Bernard |title=Akabea (Great Andamanese) as an anumeric language, and the problem of Akabea ordinals |url=https://www.academia.edu/120181191 |journal=Italian Journal of Linguistics |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=3–28}}</ref>

==Sample texts==

The following [[poem]] in Aka-Bea was written by a [[Tribal chief|chief]], ''Jambu'', after he was freed from a six-month [[Prison|jail]] term for [[manslaughter]].<ref>Man, E.H. (1923). ''Dictionary of the South Andaman Language''. British India Press: Bombay</ref>

: ''ngô:do kûk l'àrtâ:lagî:ka,''
: ''mō:ro el:ma kâ igbâ:dàla''
: ''mō:ro el:mo lê aden:yarà''
:: ''pō:-tōt läh.''
: Chorus: ''aden:yarà pō:-tōt läh.''

Literally:

: thou heart-sad art,
: sky-surface to there looking while,
: sky-surface of ripple to looking while,
:: bamboo spear on lean-dost.

Translation:

: Thou art sad at heart,
: gazing there at the sky's surface,
: gazing at the ripple on the sky's surface,
:: leaning on the bamboo spear.

Note, however, that, as seems to be typical of Andamanese [[poetry]], the words and sentence structure have been somewhat abbreviated or inverted in order to obtain the desired [[rhythm]]ical effect.

== See also ==
*[[Andamanese languages]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Andamanese languages}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andamanese, Aka-Bea, Language}}
[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Great Andamanese languages]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]
[[Category:Languages of India]]
[[Category:Languages extinct in the 1930s]]

Akabea - Revision history

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