Changki Ao language

Last updated
Changki Ao
Native to India
Region Nagaland
Ethnicity Ao Naga
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None (mis)
Glottolog chan1311

Changki Ao is one of the dialects of the Ao language. The term "Changki" refers to the name of a village where it is spoken, which is located in the Jangpetkong range, one of the six mountain ranges in the Ao region. [1] It is the smallest of the three Ao languages, the other two being Chungli Ao, the prestige dialect, and Mongsen Ao. [2] Changki has historically been considered a subgroup of Mongsen, but there are notable differences between the two; intelligibility between Changki and Mongsen may only be a recent phenomenon. [1]

Contents

Location and prevalence

Using information from the 2011 Indian census, it was estimated that there could be around 10,000 speakers of Changki (and its varieties). This estimation derived from combining the populations of 8 villages and hamlets, in which researchers found Changki speakers (around 3,200 people), and an estimated 6,000-7,000 people from those villages that live in surrounding towns and cities. [1]

Phonology

The following phonology is derived from Temsunungsang & Changkija (2025). [1]

Vowels

Changki Ao has 4 vowels:

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid ə
Open a

[e] is an allophone of /i/ and /a/, and [o] is an allophone of /u/.

Consonants

Changki Ao has 21 consonants:

Bilabial Dental Post-
alveolar
Palatal/
Pal-alv.
Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive voiceless p t k ʔ
aspirated
Affricate voiceless t͡s t͡ʃ
aspirated t͡sʰ t͡ʃʰ
Fricative voiced z
voiceless s h
Approximant voiced ɹ j
voiceless ɹ̥
lateral l

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Temsunungsang, T; Changkija, Amenla, I (2025-10-13). "A description of Changki-Ao phonology with a note on orthography". Himalayan Linguistics. 24 (2). doi: 10.5070/H9.35216 . ISSN   1544-7502.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Tzudir, Moakala; Sarmah, Priyankoo; Mahadeva Prasanna, S R (2021), "Analysis and modeling of dialect information in Ao, a low resource language", Journal of the Acoustical Society of America , 149: 2976–2987, doi:10.1121/10.0004822, PMID   34241137