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{{Short description|Language family found in Northeast India}}
{{Infobox language family
|name=Tani
|altname=Miric
|region=[[Arunachal Pradesh]]
|familycolor=Sino-Tibetan
|fam1=[[Sino-Tibetan]]
|fam2=[[Tibeto-Burman]]
|child1=Eastern (Abor)
|child2=Western (Nishi) |child3=Middle (Tagin)
|glotto=tani1259
|glottorefname=Tani
}}

'''Tani''' (alternatively '''Miric''', ''Adi–Galo–Mising–Nishi-Tagin'' (Bradley 1997), or ''Abor–Miri–Dafla'' (Matisoff 2003)), is a branch of [[Sino-Tibetan languages]] spoken mostly in [[Arunachal Pradesh]], [[Assam]], and neighboring regions.

==Background==
The Tani languages are spoken by about 600,000 people of [[Arunachal Pradesh]], including the [[Adi people|Adi]], [[Apatani people|Apatani]], [[Galo people|Galo]], [[Mising people|Mising]], [[Nishi people|Nyishi]], [[Tagin people|Tagin]], and of the [[East Kameng]], [[West Kameng]], [[Papumpare]], [[Lower Subansiri]], [[Upper Subansiri]], [[West Siang]], [[East Siang]], [[Upper Siang]], [[Lower Dibang Valley]] and [[Lohit district]]s of Arunachal Pradesh and [[Dhemaji district|Dhemaji]], [[Lakhimpur district|North Lakhimpur]], [[Sonitpur district|Sonitpur]] etc. districts of Assam. In Arunachal Pradesh alone the Tani-speaking area covers some 40,000 square kilometers, or roughly half the size of the state. Scattered Tani communities spill over the Sino-Indian border into adjacent areas in [[Mêdog County|Mêdog]] ([[Miguba]] people), [[Mainling County|Mainling]] ([[Bokar]] and Tagin peoples), and [[Lhünzê County|Lhünzê]] ([[Nishi people|Bangni]], [[Nga people|Na]], [[Bayi people|Bayi]], Dazu, and [[Mara people|Mara]] peoples) counties of Tibet.

The name ''Tani'' was originally suggested by Jackson Tianshin Sun in his 1993 doctoral dissertation.<ref>Sun, Tianshin Jackson, 1993. [http://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/eip/FILES/publish/2008.9.30.77798097.5477484.pdf ''A Historical–Comparative Study of the Tani (Mirish) Branch in Tibeto-Burman.''] Berkeley, University of California PhD Dissertation.</ref>

==Classification==
The Tani languages are conservatively classified as a distinct branch in Sino-Tibetan. Their closest relatives may be their eastern neighbors the [[Digaro languages]], Taraon and Idu; this was first suggested by Sun (1993), but a relationship has not yet been systematically demonstrated. Blench (2014) suggests that Tani has a [[Greater Siangic languages|Greater Siangic]] [[stratum (linguistics)|substratum]], with the Greater Siangic languages being a non-Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of [[Idu Mishmi language|Idu]]-[[Taraon language|Taraon]] and [[Siangic languages|Siangic]] languages.

Mark Post (2015)<ref>Post, M. W. 2015. ‘Morphosyntactic reconstruction in an areal-historical context: A pre-historical relationship between North East India and Mainland Southeast Asia?’ In N. J. Enfield and B. Comrie, Eds. ''Languages of Mainland Southeast Asia: The State of the Art''. Berlin, Mouton de Gruyter: 205 – 261.</ref> observes that Tani typologically fits into the [[Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area]], which typically has creoloid morphosyntactic patterns,<ref>McWhorter, John H. 2007. ''Language Interrupted: Signs of non-native acquisition in standard
language grammars''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref> rather than with the languages of the Tibetosphere. Post (2015) also notes that Tani culture is similar to those of Mainland Southeast Asian hill tribe cultures, and is not particularly adapted to cold montane environments.

A provisional classification in Sun (1993), who argued that Tani is a primary branch of [[Tibeto-Burman languages|Tibeto-Burman]] (within Sino-Tibetan), is:

*'''Eastern Tani''' ([[Abor language|Adi/Abor]])
**?[[Damu language|Damu]]
**[[Bori language|Bori]]
**[[Mishing language|Mishing ({{sm|aka}} Plains Miri) – Padam (Bor Abor) – Minyong]]
**[[Bokar language|Bokar]] (incl. Palibo & Ramo)
*'''Western Tani'''
**[[Apatani language|Apatani]] ({{sm|aka}} Apa)
**Nishi
*** [[Nishi language|Nishi]] ({{sm|aka}} E. Dafla, Nishing; possibly including Nyisu, [[Yano language|Yano]]), [[Tagin language|Tagin]] ({{sm|aka}} W. Dafla), [[Bangni language|Bangni]] ({{sm|aka}} Na), [[Hill Miri language|Hill Miri]] ({{sm|aka}} Sarak), ?[[Gallong language|Gallong]] ({{sm|aka}} Duba, Galo)

To Eastern Tani, van Driem (2008)<ref>http://www.himalayanlanguages.org/files/driem/pdfs/2008Naga-English.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> adds the following possible languages:
:[[Tangam language|Tangam]]

[[Milang language|Milang]] has traditionally been classified as a divergent Tani language, but in 2011 was tentatively reclassified as [[Siangic languages|Siangic]] (Post & Blench 2011).

Proto-Tani was partially reconstructed by Sun (1993). A large number of reconstructed roots have cognates in other Sino-Tibetan languages. However, a great deal of Proto-Tani vocabulary have no cognates within Sino-Tibetan (Post 2011), and most Tani grammar seems to be secondary, without cognates in grammatically conservative Sino-Tibetan languages such as [[Jingpho language|Jingpho]] or the [[Kiranti languages]] (Post 2006). Post (2012)<ref>Post, Mark. 2012. ''[https://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/conference/2012_MSA_Languages/pdf/Post_MSEALeipzig_MorphologyNEIMSEA_Handout.pdf Morphological typology, North East India and Mainland Southeast Asia]''. Mainland Southeast Asian Languages: The State of the Art in 2012. Workshop held at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.</ref> suggests that Apatani and Milang have non-Tani substrata, and that as early Tani languages had expanded deeper into Arunachal Pradesh, mixing with non-Tani languages occurred.

Mark Post (2013)<ref>Post, Mark W. (2013). [https://www.academia.edu/4167715/Defoliating_the_Tani_Stammbaum_An_exercise_in_areal_linguistics ''Defoliating the Tani Stammbaum: An exercise in areal linguistics.''] Paper presented at the 13th Himalayan Languages Symposium. Canberra, Australian National University, Aug 9.</ref> proposes the following revised classification for the Tani languages.

*'''Tani'''
**?[[Milang language|Milang]]
**Eastern Tani
***''[[Bori language|Bori]]''
***[[Adi language|Siang (Adi)]]
****''[[Minyong language|Minyong]]''
****''[[Mishing language|Mising]]''
****''[[Pasi language (India)|Pasi]]''
****''[[Padam dialect|Padam]]''
****''[[Bokar language|Bokar]]''
**Pre-Western Tani
***''[[Tangam language|Tangam]]'', ''[[Damu language|Damu]]''?
***Western Tani
****''[[Apatani language|Apatani]]''
****Subansiri
*****''[[Bangni language|Bangni]]-[[Tagin language|Tagin]]''
*****''[[Nishi language|Nyishi]]–[[Hill Miri language|Hill Miri]]''
*****[[Gallong language|Galo]]
******''Lare''
******''Pugo''

The undocumented [[Ashing language]] presumably belongs here.

However, Macario (2015) notes that many Apatani words are closer to reconstructions of [[Proto-Tibeto-Burman]] (Matisoff 2003) than to Proto-[[Tani languages|Tani]] (Sun 1993). Possible explanations include Apatani having a substratum belonging to an extinct Tibeto-Burman branch or language phylum, or linguistic variation in Proto-Tani.<ref name="NEILS 7">{{cite book |last=Macario |first=Macario |editor-last1=Konnerth |editor-first1=Linda |editor-last2=Morey |editor-first2=Stephen |editor-last3=Sarmah |editor-first3=Priyankoo |editor-last4=Teo |editor-first4=Amos |date=2015 |title=North East Indian Linguistics |volume=7 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1885/95392 |location=Canberra |publisher=Asia-Pacific Linguistics, Australian National University |isbn=9781922185273 |pages=213–233|hdl=1885/95392 }}</ref>

==Isoglosses==
Sun (1993: 254-255) lists the following 25 lexical [[isogloss]]es between Western Tani and Eastern Tani.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Gloss !! Proto-Western Tani !! Proto-Eastern Tani
|-
| urine || *sum || *si
|-
| blind || *mik-čiŋ || *mik-maŋ
|-
| mouth || *gam || *nap-paŋ
|-
| nose || *ñV-pum || *ñV-buŋ
|-
| wind (n.) || *rji || *sar
|-
| rain (n.) || *mV-doŋ || *pV-doŋ
|-
| thunder || *doŋ-gum || *doŋ-mɯr
|-
| lightning || *doŋ-rjak || *ja-ri
|-
| fish || *ŋo-i || *a-ŋo
|-
| tiger || *paŋ-tə || *mjo/mro
|-
| root || *m(j)a || *pɯr
|-
| old man || *mi-kam || *mi-ǰiŋ
|-
| village || *nam-pom || *duŋ-luŋ
|-
| granary || *nam-suŋ || *kjum-suŋ
|-
| year || *ñiŋ || *tak
|-
| sell || *pruk || *ko
|-
| breath || *sak || *ŋa
|-
| ferry/cross || *rap || *koŋ
|-
| arrive || *-ki || *pɯŋ
|-
| say/speak || *ban±man || *lu
|-
| rich || *mi-tə~mi-ta || *mi-rem
|-
| soft || *ñi-mjak || *rə-mjak
|-
| drunk || *kjum || -
|-
| back (adv.) || *-kur || *lat²
|-
| ten || *čam || *rjɯŋ
|}

==Unified writing script==
[[File:Shukla Tani Lipi.svg|thumb|center|350px|'Tani Lipi' in a new alphabet for Tani languages.]]
A new alphabetical writing system for Tani languages was invented by Tony Koyu, a social scientist from Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. It was first presented at a seminar at the [[North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology]] at [[Nirjuli]], Arunachal Pradesh in November 2001. It is not related to any other writing system, but some of the letters are similar to Bengali or Latin letters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://omniglot.com/writing/tani.htm|title=Tani Lipi|date=10 August 2021|website=Omniglot.com}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Siangic languages]]
* [[Greater Siangic languages]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Bradley, David, 1997. "Tibeto-Burman languages and classification." In David Bradley, ed. ''Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas.'' Canberra, Australian National University Press: 1–72. {{ISBN|978-0-85883-456-9}}.
* Blench, Roger (2014). ''[https://www.academia.edu/8136744/Fallen_leaves_blow_away_a_neo-Hammarstromian_approach_to_Sino-Tibetan_classification Fallen leaves blow away: a neo-Hammarstromian approach to Sino-Tibetan classification]''. Presentation given at the University of New England, Armidale, 6 September 2014.
* James A. Matisoff, 2003. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=fp8lDQAAQBAJ The Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman: System and Philosophy of Sino-Tibetan Reconstruction].'' Berkeley, University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-520-09843-5}}.
* van Driem, George, 2001. ''Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region.'' Brill. {{ISBN|978-90-04-12062-4}}.
* Post, Mark, 2006. "[https://www.academia.edu/197269/Compounding_and_the_structure_of_the_Tani_lexicon Compounding and the structure of the Tani lexicon]." ''Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area'' '''29''' (1): 41–60.
* Post, Mark, 2011. "Isolate substrates, creolization and the internal diversity of Tibeto-Burman." ''Workshop on The Roots of Linguistic Diversity.'' The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Australia, June 9–10.
* Post, Mark, 2012. "The language, culture, environment and origins of Proto-Tani speakers: What is knowable, and what is not (yet)." In T. Huber and S. Blackburn, Eds. ''Origins and Migrations in the Extended Eastern Himalayas''. Leiden, Brill: 161–194. {{ISBN|978-90-04-22691-3}}.
* Post, Mark W. and Roger Blench, 2011. "[https://unibe-ch.academia.edu/MarkWPost/Talks/33486/Siangic_A_new_language_phylum_in_North_East_India Siangic: A new language phylum in North East India]." ''6th International Conference of the North East Indian Linguistics Society'', Tezpur University, Assam, India, January 29 – February 2.
* Sun, Tianshin Jackson, 1993. [http://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/eip/FILES/publish/2008.9.30.77798097.5477484.pdf ''A Historical–Comparative Study of the Tani (Mirish) Branch in Tibeto-Burman.''] Berkeley, University of California PhD Dissertation.

{{Sino-Tibetan languages}}
{{Tani languages}}
{{Arunachal languages}}
{{Languages of Northeast India}}

[[Category:Tani languages| ]]
[[Category:Languages of Assam]]

Tani languages - Revision history

JerrodOverstreet at 12:35, 28 March 2026

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article