Ao language
| Ao | |
|---|---|
| Central Naga | |
| Ethnicity | Central Naga
|
| Subdivisions | |
| ISO 639-3 | njo |
| Glottolog | aona1235 |
The Ao language is a
. It is written in Latin script.Ao language cluster
Ethnologue lists the following varieties of Ao.
- Mongsen Khari
- Changki
- Chongli (Chungli)
- Dordar (Yacham)
- Longla
Chongli and Mongsen are nearly mutually unintelligible.
Mills (1926) lists the Ao Naga tribes of Nagaland as speaking three languages: Chungli, Mongsen, and Changki.
Changki Ao is spoken only in 3 villages - Changki, Japu and Longjemdang - which is poorly documented though reportedly related to Mongsen Ao. Some Changki speakers can fluently converse in both Mongsen and Chungli, but a Mongsen Ao cannot speak Changki or understand it, whereas a Chungli can hardly understand or speak Changki. Chungli Ao and Mongsen Ao are not mutually intelligible.[1]
The speech of each Ao village has its own distinctive characteristics. Many villages contain both Chungli and Mongsen speakers.
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɯ u | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | a | ɔ |
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex
|
Dorsal | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n
|
ŋ | |||
| Plosive | plain | p | t
|
k | ʔ | |
| voiced | b | d
|
g | |||
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | |||
| Affricate | voiceless | t͡s | t͡ɕ | |||
| voiced | d͡ʑ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | ɕ | |||
| voiced | z | ɭ˔ | ||||
Tap
|
ɾ | |||||
| Approximant | w | l
|
j | |||
Tones
This language has 3 tones, mid tone ˧ rising tone ˩˥ and falling tone ˥˩.
References
- ^ Escamilla, R. M. (2012). An Updated Typology of Causative Constructions: Form-Function Mappings in Hupa (California Athabaskan), Chungli Ao (Tibeto-Burman), and Beyond. Unpublished PhD dissertation, U.C. Berkeley.
- van Driem, George (2001). Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Leiden: Brill.
- Bruhn, Daniel Wayne. 2014. A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Central Naga. Ph.D. dissertation. University of California, Berkeley.
- Saul, J. D. 2005. The Naga of Burma: Their festivals, customs and way of life. Bangkok, Thailand: Orchid Press.
- Barkman, Tiffany. 2014. A descriptive grammar of Jejara (Para Naga) Archived 2019-10-06 at the Wayback Machine. MA thesis, Chiang Mai: Payap University.
- Shi, Vong Tsuh. 2009. Discourse studies of Makuri Naga narratives Archived 2020-05-01 at the Wayback Machine. MA thesis, Chiang Mai: Payap University.
- Language and Social Development Organization (LSDO). 2006. A sociolinguistic survey of Makuri, Para, and Long Phuri Naga in Layshi Township, Myanmar. Unpublished manuscript.
- Mills, J. P (1926). The Ao Nagas. London: MacMillan & Co.
