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{{Short description| | {{Short description|Language of the Sentinelese}} | ||
{{Infobox language | {{Infobox language | ||
| name = Sentinelese | | name = Sentinelese | ||
| altname = | |||
| states = [[India]] | | states = [[India]] | ||
| region = [[North Sentinel Island]], | | region = [[North Sentinel Island]], southwest of the [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]] | ||
| ethnicity = | | ethnicity = [[Sentinelese]] | ||
| speakers = | | speakers = ~39–400 | ||
| date = | | date = 2018 | ||
| ref = | | ref = e25 | ||
| familycolor = Andamanese | | familycolor = Andamanese | ||
| family = [[Unclassified language| | | family = [[Unclassified language|unclassified]] ([[Ongan languages|Ongan]]?) | ||
| iso3 = std | | iso3 = std | ||
| pushpin_map = Bay of Bengal | | pushpin_map = Bay of Bengal | ||
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in the [[Bay of Bengal]] | | pushpin_map_caption = Location in the [[Bay of Bengal]] | ||
| Line 19: | Line 18: | ||
| glotto = sent1241 | | glotto = sent1241 | ||
| glottorefname = Sentinel | | glottorefname = Sentinel | ||
{{Tmbox|name=No information|text=We don't have much info on this language, and we might never have. The tribe who speaks this language is isolated.}} | |||
| map = Languages and dialects of the Andaman Islands at British contact.png | |||
| mapcaption = North Sentinel Island, the small grey island to the southwest, shown in the context of the other [[Andamanese languages]] | |||
| acceptance = unattested | |||
}} | }} | ||
'''Sentinelese''' is the undescribed language of the [[Sentinelese]] people of [[North Sentinel Island]] in the [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]], [[India]]. Due to the lack of contact between the Sentinelese people and the rest of the world, essentially nothing is known of their language | '''Sentinelese''' is the undescribed language of the [[Sentinelese]] people of [[North Sentinel Island]] in the [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]], [[India]]. Due to the lack of contact between the Sentinelese people and the rest of the world, essentially nothing is known of their language.<ref>{{cite book|last=Van Driem|first=G.|year=2007|chapter=Endangered Languages of South Asia|title=Handbook of Endangered Languages|pages=303–341|location=Berlin|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter}}</ref> | ||
==Classification== | ==Classification== | ||
It is presumed that the islanders speak a single language and that it is a member of one of the [[Andamanese languages|Andamanese language families]].<ref name="survival"> | It is presumed that the islanders speak a single language and that it is a member of one of the [[Andamanese languages|Andamanese language families]].<ref name="survival">{{cite web|title=The most isolated tribe in the world?|url=http://www.survivalinternational.org/campaigns/mostisolated|work=Survival International|access-date=2009-10-07|archive-date=2019-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026045615/https://www.survivalinternational.org/campaigns/mostisolated|url-status=dead}}</ref> Based on what little is known about similarities in culture and technology and their geographical proximity, it is supposed that their language is related to the [[Ongan languages]], such as [[Jarawa language (Andaman Islands)|Jarawa]], rather than to [[Great Andamanese languages|Great Andamanese]].<ref name=e25/> On the documented occasions when [[Onge language|Onge]]-speaking individuals were taken to [[North Sentinel Island]] to attempt communication, they were unable to recognise any of the language spoken by the inhabitants.<ref>{{cite book|author=Pandya, Vishvajit|year=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ocgNvcvYc9gC&pg=PA361|title=In the Forest: Visual and Material Worlds of Andamanese History (1858–2006)|publisher=University Press of America|page=362|isbn=978-0-7618-4153-1}}</ref> It has been recorded that the Jarawa and Sentinelese languages are mutually unintelligible.<ref name="enumeration2">{{cite report|url=http://censusindia.gov.in/Ad_Campaign/drop_in_articles/06-Enumeration_of_Primitive_Tribes_in_A&N_Islands.pdf|title=Enumeration of Primitive Tribes in A&N Islands: A Challenge|quote=The first batch could identify 31 Sentinelese. The second batch could count altogether 39 Sentinelese, consisting of male and female adults, children, and infants. During both the contacts, the enumeration team tried to communicate with them through some Jarawa words and gestures, but, Sentinelese could not understand those verbal words.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211011020/http://censusindia.gov.in/Ad_Campaign/drop_in_articles/06-Enumeration_of_Primitive_Tribes_in_A%26N_Islands.pdf|archive-date=11 December 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> | ||
==Status== | ==Status== | ||
Sentinelese is classified as an [[endangered language]] due to a highly likely small number of speakers, matching the unknown population of the island, which has been estimated at anywhere from 100 to 250; an estimate by the Indian government is 100.<ref name="Moseley">{{cite book|last=Moseley|first=Christopher|year=2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQt6XWloU10C&pg=PA289|title=Encyclopedia of the world's endangered languages|publisher=Routledge|pages=289, 342|isbn=978-0-7007-1197-0}}</ref><ref name=abbi>{{cite journal|last=Abbi|first=Anvita|year=2006|title=Endangered Languages of the Andaman Islands|journal=LINCOM Studies in Asian Linguistics|volume=64|location=München|publisher=Lincom}}</ref><ref name="Brenzinger">{{cite book|last=Brenzinger|first=Matthias|year=2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qtcmm6N6LPYC&pg=PA40|title=Language diversity endangered|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|page=40|isbn=978-3-11-017049-8|doi=10.1515/9783110197129}}</ref> | |||
Sentinelese is | == Lexicon == | ||
No words of the Sentinelese language are known with certainty. However, one [[personal name]] is tentatively attested: {{lang|std|Dāūwacho-chégálé-bāī}}, recorded by [[Maurice Vidal Portman|Maurice Portman]] as belonging to a Sentinelese man who "had, some years before, left the North Sentinel in a canoe and come across, via Rutland Island, to the Cinque Islands and the Little Andaman."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Portman |first=M. V. |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.24181/page/n265/mode/2up?q=sentinelese |title=A History Of Our Relations With The Andamanese Vol.2 |date=1899 |pages=758, 764}}</ref> If the man was indeed from the island, and the attestation reflects his original Sentinelese name, it may represent an attestation of Sentinelese. | |||
Further possible lexical information was provided in 2020 by Indian anthropologist Dr. M. Sreenathan, a member of the party who made [[Sentinelese#1991 expedition|brief contact on the island in the 1990s]]. He describes the Sentinelese shouting {{lang|std|liya}} and {{lang|std|luwa}} while gathering coconuts from the contact party, which he postulates means 'near' and 'far' respectively, on the basis of comparable words in [[Jarawa language (Andaman Islands)|Jarawa]]. Other words transcribed by Sreenathan include {{lang|std|məəŋə məəŋɖa}}, {{lang|std|əc ale}}, {{lang|std|ʈ/ɖaŋ}}, {{lang|std|ɖaik}}, {{lang|std|kayə}}, {{lang|std|tu aɖe}}, {{lang|std|pila}} and {{lang|std|iŋ}}.'<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sreenathan |first=M |title=The Languages of Andaman and Nicobar Islands |last2=Devy |first2=G N |year=2020 |isbn=978-9390122301 |pages=33–34}}</ref> | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{Reflist}} | {{Reflist}}{{Andamanese languages}} | ||
{{Andamanese languages}} | |||
<!-- ==Further reading== | <!-- ==Further reading== | ||
Abbi, A. (2013). A Grammar of the Great Andamanese Language: An Ethnolinguistic Study. Brill.<br> | Abbi, A. (2013). A Grammar of the Great Andamanese Language: An Ethnolinguistic Study. Brill.<br> | ||
| Line 47: | Line 53: | ||
van Driem, G. (2007). Endangered Languages of South Asia. Language Diversity Endangered, B. Matthias, ed. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 303–341.<br> | van Driem, G. (2007). Endangered Languages of South Asia. Language Diversity Endangered, B. Matthias, ed. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 303–341.<br> | ||
(2005, January 6). Indian Express:; Govt will not ‘get to know' Sentinelese. Indian Express (India).<br> --> | (2005, January 6). Indian Express:; Govt will not ‘get to know' Sentinelese. Indian Express (India).<br> --> | ||
{{Authority control}} | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sentinelese Language}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Sentinelese Language}} | ||
[[Category:Andamanese languages]] | [[Category:Andamanese languages]] | ||
[[Category:Unattested languages of Asia]] | [[Category:Unattested languages of Asia]] | ||
[[Category:Languages of India]] | |||
[[Category:Endangered unclassified languages]] | [[Category:Endangered unclassified languages]] | ||
[[Category:Sentinelese]] | |||
Latest revision as of 10:25, 22 March 2026
| Sentinelese | |
|---|---|
| (unattested) | |
| Native to | India |
| Region | North Sentinel Island, southwest of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands |
| Ethnicity | Sentinelese |
Native speakers | ~39–400 (2018)e25 |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | std |
| Glottolog | sent1241 |
 North Sentinel Island, the small grey island to the southwest, shown in the context of the other Andamanese languages | |
  Sentinelese Location in the Bay of Bengal | |
| Coordinates: 11°33′N 92°15′E / 11.55°N 92.25°E | |
Sentinelese is the undescribed language of the Sentinelese people of North Sentinel Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. Due to the lack of contact between the Sentinelese people and the rest of the world, essentially nothing is known of their language.[1]
Classification[edit | edit source]
It is presumed that the islanders speak a single language and that it is a member of one of the Andamanese language families.[2] Based on what little is known about similarities in culture and technology and their geographical proximity, it is supposed that their language is related to the Ongan languages, such as Jarawa, rather than to Great Andamanese.[3] On the documented occasions when Onge-speaking individuals were taken to North Sentinel Island to attempt communication, they were unable to recognise any of the language spoken by the inhabitants.[4] It has been recorded that the Jarawa and Sentinelese languages are mutually unintelligible.[5]
Status[edit | edit source]
Sentinelese is classified as an endangered language due to a highly likely small number of speakers, matching the unknown population of the island, which has been estimated at anywhere from 100 to 250; an estimate by the Indian government is 100.[6][7][8]
Lexicon[edit | edit source]
No words of the Sentinelese language are known with certainty. However, one personal name is tentatively attested: Dāūwacho-chégálé-bāī, recorded by Maurice Portman as belonging to a Sentinelese man who "had, some years before, left the North Sentinel in a canoe and come across, via Rutland Island, to the Cinque Islands and the Little Andaman."[9] If the man was indeed from the island, and the attestation reflects his original Sentinelese name, it may represent an attestation of Sentinelese.
Further possible lexical information was provided in 2020 by Indian anthropologist Dr. M. Sreenathan, a member of the party who made brief contact on the island in the 1990s. He describes the Sentinelese shouting liya and luwa while gathering coconuts from the contact party, which he postulates means 'near' and 'far' respectively, on the basis of comparable words in Jarawa. Other words transcribed by Sreenathan include məəŋə məəŋɖa, əc ale, ʈ/ɖaŋ, ɖaik, kayə, tu aɖe, pila and iŋ.'[10]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Van Driem, G. (2007). "Endangered Languages of South Asia". Handbook of Endangered Languages. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 303–341.
- ↑ "The most isolated tribe in the world?". Survival International. Archived from the original on 2019-10-26. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namede25 - ↑ Pandya, Vishvajit (2008). In the Forest: Visual and Material Worlds of Andamanese History (1858–2006). University Press of America. p. 362. ISBN 978-0-7618-4153-1.
- ↑ Enumeration of Primitive Tribes in A&N Islands: A Challenge (PDF) (Report). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 December 2014.
The first batch could identify 31 Sentinelese. The second batch could count altogether 39 Sentinelese, consisting of male and female adults, children, and infants. During both the contacts, the enumeration team tried to communicate with them through some Jarawa words and gestures, but, Sentinelese could not understand those verbal words.
- ↑ Moseley, Christopher (2007). Encyclopedia of the world's endangered languages. Routledge. pp. 289, 342. ISBN 978-0-7007-1197-0.
- ↑ Abbi, Anvita (2006). "Endangered Languages of the Andaman Islands". LINCOM Studies in Asian Linguistics. 64. München: Lincom.
- ↑ Brenzinger, Matthias (2007). Language diversity endangered. Walter de Gruyter. p. 40. doi:10.1515/9783110197129. ISBN 978-3-11-017049-8.
- ↑ Portman, M. V. (1899). A History Of Our Relations With The Andamanese Vol.2. pp. 758, 764.
- ↑ Sreenathan, M; Devy, G N (2020). The Languages of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. pp. 33–34. ISBN 978-9390122301.