Mijiic languages

Last updated
Mijiic
Ethnicity Miji people
Geographic
distribution
Arunachal Pradesh, India and Shannan Prefecture, China
Linguistic classification Sino-Tibetan?
Subdivisions
Glottolog miji1239

Mijiic is a small language family of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India, consisting of the erstwhile possible language isolate (dialect cluster) Miji and the recently discovered Bangru language. The two languages are clearly related, though "the very different consonant inventories makes seeking regular correspondences difficult." [1] The Bangru and Miji are geographically separated and are not clearly aware of their linguistic relationship, though there is some evidence for contact between East Miji and Bangru in the past. They are commonly included in the Sino-Tibetan language family, but the evidence is weak. [2] [1]

Contents

Numerals

The basic numerals correspond. [1]

NumeralWest Miji
(Sajolang)
East Miji
(Namrai)
Bangru
oneùŋakə
twoɡnìkrnkəraj
threeɡə̀tʰə́nktʰmkətajŋ
fourbə̀líplajpurwaj
fivebuŋəpŋupuŋu
sixrɛ́ʔraʔmrɛʔ
sevenmiaʔmiaʔmoj
eightsɨɡeʔʃəɡəʔsəɡaj
ninestʰə̌ŋʃətʰənsətəŋ
tenlɨ̀nlɨnrəŋ

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Roger Blench (2023) What is the evidence that the isolate languages of Arunachal Pradesh are genuinely Trans-Himalayan?
  2. Blench, Roger; Post, Mark (2011), (De)classifying Arunachal languages: Reconstructing the evidence (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-26

Further reading