Southern Nicobarese | |
---|---|
Sambelong | |
Native to | India |
Region | Little Nicobar, Great Nicobar |
Native speakers | 7,500 (2001 census) [1] |
Austroasiatic
| |
Dialects |
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | nik |
Glottolog | sout2689 |
ELP | Southern Nicobarese |
Location in the Bay of Bengal. | |
Coordinates: 6°50′N93°48′E / 6.83°N 93.80°E |
Southern Nicobarese is a Nicobarese language, spoken on the Southern Nicobar Islands of Little Nicobar (Ong), Great Nicobar (Lo'ong), and small neighboring islands, Kondul (Lamongshe) and Pulo Milo (Milo Island) each of which have own dialects.
Parmanand Lal (1977:23) [2] reported 11 Nicobarese villages with 192 people in all, located mostly along the western coast of Great Nicobar Island. Pulo-babi village was the site of Lal's extensive ethnographic study.
Lal (1977:104) also reported the presence of several Shompen villages in the interior of Great Nicobar Island.
Paul Sidwell (2017) [3] published in ICAAL 2017 conference on Nicobarese languages.
Word | Southern Nicobarese | proto-Nicobarese |
---|---|---|
hot | tait | *taɲ |
four | fôat | *foan |
child | kōˑan | *kuːn |
lip | paṅ-nōˑin | *manuːɲ |
dog | âm | *ʔam |
night | hatòm | *hatəːm |
male | (otāˑha) | *koːɲ |
ear | nâng | *naŋ |
one | heg | *hiaŋ |
belly | wīˑang | *ʔac |
sun | hēg | - |
sweet | shai(t) | - |