Kora | |
---|---|
Aka-Kora | |
Native to | India |
Region | Andaman Islands; northeast and north central coasts of North Andaman Island, Smith Island |
Ethnicity | Kora |
Extinct | November 2009, with the death of Boro [1] |
Great Andamanese
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | ack |
ack.html | |
Glottolog | akak1251 |
ELP | Aka-Kora |
Akakhora, or Kora (Cora), is an extinct dialect of the Northern Andamanese language. It was spoken on the northeast and north central coasts of North Andaman and on Smith Island.
It has been extinct since November 2009 when its last speaker, Boro, died. [1] It is likely a variety of a Northern Great Andamanese language, as it is very similar to Aka-Jeru, without any unique features. [2]
The native name for the language was Aka-Kora, also spelled Aka-Khora or Aka-Cora (Aka- being a prefix for "tongue"); and this name is often used for the tribe itself. They were divided between shore-dwellers (aryoto) and forest-dwellers (eremtaga) subtribes. [3]
By the time of the establishment of the first permanent colonial settlement at Port Blair (1858), the estimates size of the Kora tribe was about 500 individuals, out of perhaps 3500 Great Andamanese. [4] However the tribe was discovered only much later, in the work leading to the 1901 census. [4] Like other Andamanese peoples, the Kora were decimated during colonial and post-colonial times, by diseases, alcohol, opium and loss of territory. The census of 1901 recorded 96 individuals, which decreased to 71 in 1911, 48 in 1921, and 24 in 1931. [4]
In 1949, any remaining Kora were relocated, with all other surviving Great Andamanese, to a reservation on Bluff island. [5] In 1969 they were relocated again to a reservation on Strait Island. [5]
By 1980 only one person claimed to be a Kora member, [3] and 1994 the Kora tribe no longer existed as a separate unit. [6] Although descendants of the Kora were still living in the Great Andamanese reservation of Strait Island as of 2006, they identified themselves as members of other tribes, mainly Jeru. [7] The last known speaker of the Kora language died in November 2009. [7] They were a designated Scheduled Tribe. [8]
The Great Andamanese languages are agglutinative languages, with an extensive prefix and suffix system. [9] They have a distinctive noun class system based largely on body parts, in which every noun and adjective may take a prefix according to which body part it is associated with (on the basis of shape, or functional association). Thus, for instance, the *aka- at the beginning of the language names is a prefix for objects related to the tongue. [9] An adjectival example can be given by the various forms of yop, "pliable, soft", in Aka-Bea: [9]
Similarly, beri-nga "good" yields:
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 inalienably possessed, requiring a possessive adjective prefix to complete them, so one cannot say "head" alone, but only "my, or his, or your, etc. head".
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 cardinal numbers — one and two — and their entire numerical lexicon is one, two, one more, some more, and all. [9]
The Andamanese languages are the various languages spoken by the indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. There are two known Andamanese language families, Great Andamanese and Ongan, as well as two presumed but unattested languages, Sentinelese and Jangil.
The Pucikwar language, A-Pucikwar, is an extinct language of the Andaman Islands, India, formerly spoken by the Pucikwar people on the south coast of Middle Andaman, the northeast coast of South Andaman, and on Baratang Island. It belonged to the Great Andamanese family.
The Pucikwar were one of the indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, one of the ten or so Great Andamanese tribes identified by British colonials in the 1860s. They spoke the Opucikwar dialect closely related to the Okol dialect. The tribe disappeared as a distinct group sometime after 1931.
The Andamanese are the various indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, part of India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the union territory in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. The Andamanese are a designated Scheduled Tribe in India's constitution.
The Great Andamanese are an indigenous people of the Great Andaman archipelago in the Andaman Islands. Historically, the Great Andamanese lived throughout the archipelago, and were divided into ten major tribes. Their distinct but closely related languages comprised the Great Andamanese languages, one of the two identified Andamanese language families.
The Bea language, Aka-Bea, is an extinct Great Andamanese language of the Southern group. It was spoken around the western Andaman Strait and around the northern and western coast of South Andaman.
The Bale language, Akar-Bale, is an extinct Southern Great Andamanese language once spoken in the Andaman Islands in Ritchie's Archipelago, Havelock Island, and Neill Island.
The Jarawas are an indigenous people of the Andaman Islands in India. They live in parts of South Andaman and Middle Andaman Islands, and their present numbers are estimated at between 250–400 individuals. They have largely shunned interaction with outsiders, and many particulars of their society, culture and traditions are poorly understood. Since the 1990s, contacts between Jarawa groups and outsiders grew increasingly frequent. By the 2000s, some Jarawas had become regular visitors at settlements, where they trade, interact with tourists, get medical aid, and even send their children to school.
Ongan, also called Angan, Jarawa–Onge, or ambiguously South Andamanese, is a language family which comprises two attested Andamanese languages spoken in the southern Andaman Islands.
The Great Andamanese languages are a nearly extinct language family of half a dozen languages once spoken by the Great Andamanese peoples of the northern and central Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean, and part of the Andamanese sprachbund.
The Kede language, Aka-Kede, is an extinct Great Andamanese language, of the Northern group. It was spoken in the Northern section of Middle Andaman island.
The Kol language, Aka-Kol, is an extinct Great Andamanese language, of the Central group. It was spoken in the southeast section of Middle Andaman.
The Juwoi language, Oko-Juwoi, is an extinct Great Andamanese language, of the Central group. It was spoken in the west central and southwest interior of Middle Andaman.
Akabo, or Bo is an extinct dialect of the Northern Andamanese language. It was spoken on the west central coast of North Andaman and on North Reef Island of the Andaman Islands in India. It was recorded as being mutually intelligible with Aka-Jeru, and the vocabularies are very similar.
Akachari, or Cari, is an extinct dialect of the Northern Andamanese language that was spoken by the Cari people, one of a dozen Great Andamanese peoples.
Jeru, or Akajeru, is a moribund dialect of the Northern Andamanese language, and the last surviving variety of the Great Andamanese language family. Jeru was spoken in the interior and south coast of North Andaman and on Sound Island. A koiné of the Northern Andamanese dialects, based principally on Akajeru, was once spoken on Strait Island; the last semi-fluent speaker of this, Nao Jr., died in 2009.
Järawa or Jarwa is one of the Ongan languages. It is spoken by the Jarawa people inhabiting the interior and south central Rutland Island, central interior, and south interior South Andaman Island, and the west coast of Middle Andaman Island.
Boa Sr was an Indian Great Andamanese elder. She was the last person fluent in the Aka-Bo language.
The Bo was one of the ten Indigenous tribes of the Great Andamanese people, originally living on the western coast of North Andaman Island in the Indian Ocean.
The Kora, Khora or Cora were one of the ten Indigenous tribes of the Great Andamanese people, originally living on the eastern part of North Andaman Island in the Indian Ocean. The tribe is now extinct, although some of the remaining Great Andamanese on Strait Island claim to have Kora ancestors.