Aka-Cari language
Cari | |
---|---|
Sare | |
Aka-Cari | |
Native to | India |
Region | Andaman Islands; north coast of North Andaman Island, Landfall Island, other nearby small islands. |
Ethnicity | Cariar |
Extinct | 4 April 2020, with the death of Licho[1] |
Great Andamanese
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | aci |
aci.html | |
Glottolog | akac1240 |
The Cari (occasionally "Kari"), Chariar or Sare language, also known as Aka-Cari, is an extinct
In the 19th century the Cari lived on the north coast of
History
The Cari population at the time of first European contacts (in the 1790s) has been estimated at 100 individuals, out of perhaps 3500 Great Andamanese.[3] Like other
In 1949 any remaining Cari were relocated, together with all other surviving Great Andamanese, to a reservation on
By 1994, the tribe was reduced to only two women, aged 57 and 59, and therefore was on its way to extinction.[1] The last speaker, a woman called Licho, died from chronic tuberculosis on 4 April 2020 in Shadipur, Port Blair.[8]
They are a designated Scheduled Tribe.[9]
Grammar
The Great Andamanese languages are
- A cushion or sponge is ot-yop "round-soft", from the prefix attached to words relating to the head or heart.
- A cane is ôto-yop, "pliable", from a prefix for long things.
- A stick or pencil is aka-yop, "pointed", from the tongue prefix.
- A fallen tree is ar-yop, "rotten", from the prefix for limbs 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,
Bea | Balawa? | Bajigyâs? | Juwoi | Kol | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
head/heart | ot- | ôt- | ote- | ôto- | ôto- |
hand/foot | ong- | ong- | ong- | ôn- | ôn- |
mouth/tongue | âkà- | aka- | o- | ókô- | o- |
torso (shoulder to shins) | ab- | ab- | ab- | a- | o- |
eye/face/arm/breast | i-, ig- | id- | ir- | re- | er- |
back/leg/butt | ar- | ar- | ar- | ra- | a- |
waist | ôto- |
Body parts are
The basic pronouns are almost identical throughout the Great Andamanese languages; Aka-Bea will serve as a representative example (pronouns given in their basic prefixal forms):
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-.
Judging from the available sources, the Andamanese languages have only two
See also
- Great Andamanese language
References
- ^ a b c d A. N. Sharma (2003), Tribal Development in the Andaman Islands, page 62. Sarup & Sons, New Delhi.
- ^ "Ethnologue India". Archived from the original on 15 July 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
- ^ a b George Weber (~2009), Numbers Archived 31 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Chapter 7 of The Andamanese Archived 5 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed on 12 July 2012.
- .
- ^ Abbi, Anvita (30 April 2020). "The Pandemic Also Threatens Endangered Languages". scientificamerican.com. Scientific American. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ "Remembering Licho, the Last Speaker of the Sare Language". terralingua.org. 30 April 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ISBN 81-8324-010-0
- ^ International, Survival (1 June 2020). "The last speaker of the Sare language has died". Medium. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
- ^ "List of notified Scheduled Tribes" (PDF). Census India. p. 27. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 November 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
- ^ a b c d Temple, Richard C. (1902). A Grammar of the Andamanese Languages, being Chapter IV of Part I of the Census Report on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Superintendent's Printing Press: Port Blair.