Pnar language

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Pnar
Jaiñtia
'
Pronunciation/kɑ kt̪eːn pnɑr/
Native toIndia, Bangladesh
EthnicityPnar people
Native speakers
319,324 (2011 census)[1]
Austroasiatic
Language codes
ISO 639-3pbv
Glottologpnar1238
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Pnar (), also known as Jaiñtia, part of the Khasi language[2] is an Austroasiatic language spoken in India and Bangladesh.

Phonology[edit | edit source]

Pnar has 30 phonemes: 7 vowels and 23 consonants. Other sounds listed below are phonetic realizations.[3]

Vowels[edit | edit source]

Front Central Back
Close /i/ [ɨ] /u/
Near-close [ɪ] [ʊ]
Close-mid /e/ /o/
Mid [ə]
Open-mid /ɛ/ [ʌ] /ɔ/
Open /ɑ/

Consonants[edit | edit source]

Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal /m/ /n/ /ɲ/ /ŋ/
Plosive voiceless /p/ /t̪/ /t/ /tʃ/ /k/ /ʔ/
voiced /b/ /d̪/ /d/ /dʒ/
voiceless aspirated /pʰ/ /t̪ʰ/ [tʃʰ] /kʰ/
voiced aspirated [bʱ] [d̪ʱ] [dʒʱ]
Fricative /s/ /h/
Trill /r/
Approximant central /w/ /j/
Lateral /l/

Syllable structure[edit | edit source]

Syllables in Pnar can consist of a single nucleic vowel. Maximally, they can include a complex onset of two consonants, a diphthong nucleus, and a coda consonant. A second type of syllable contains a syllabic nasal/trill/lateral immediately following the onset consonant. This syllabic consonant behaves as the rhyme. (Ring, 2012: 141–2)

References[edit | edit source]

  1. "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011". www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  2. Sidwell, Paul (2005). The Katuic languages: classification, reconstruction and comparative lexicon. LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics, 58. Muenchen: Lincom Europa. ISBN 3-89586-802-7.
  3. Ring, Hiram (2012). "A phonetic description and phonemic analysis of Jowai-Pnar". Mon-Khmer Studies. 40: 133–175.
  • Choudhary, Narayam Kumar (2004). Word Order in Pnar (PDF) (Masters thesis). Jawaharlal Nehru University. p. 87. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
  • Ring, Hiram (2015). A Grammar of Pnar (PhD thesis). Nanyang Technological University.

External links[edit | edit source]