Nancowry language

Nancowry
Nancowry
Nang-kauri
Mūöt
Pronunciation	[mɯːət]
Native to	Nicobar Islands, India
Region	Nancowry Island (Mūöt)
Native speakers	930 (2001 census)
Language family	Austroasiatic Nicobarese Central Nancowry; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	nanc1247

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Nancowry (Nancoury, Nankwari, Mūöt) is a Nicobarese language spoken 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[edit]

Consonants[edit]

	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[edit]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɯ	u
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ	ə	ɔ
Open	æ	a

Vocabulary[edit]

Paul Sidwell (2017)^[3] 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[edit]

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'

Pronouns
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[edit]

↑ Edward Horace Man, 1889, A dictionary of the central Nicobarese language
↑ Template:E18
↑ Sidwell, Paul. 2017. "Proto-Nicobarese Phonology, Morphology, Syntax: work in progress". International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics 7, Kiel, Sept 29-Oct 1, 2017.

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[1] Edward Horace Man, 1889, A dictionary of the central Nicobarese language

[2] Template:E18

[Sidwell2017-3] Sidwell, Paul. 2017. "Proto-Nicobarese Phonology, Morphology, Syntax: work in progress". International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics 7, Kiel, Sept 29-Oct 1, 2017.

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