Lyngngam language

Last updated
Lyngngam
Lyngam
Native to India
Region Meghalaya, Assam
Native speakers
11,586 (2011 census) [1]
Austroasiatic
Language codes
ISO 639-3 lyg
Glottolog lyng1241 [2]

Lyngngam is an Austroasiatic language of Northeast India closely related to Khasi. Once listed as a dialect of Khasi, Lyngam has in recent literature been classified as a distinct language. Lyngam speakers have food and dress similar to the neighboring Garo people.

Contents

Phonology

Consonant inventory

The following table lists the consonants attested in Lyngam. [3]

  Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal /m//n//ɲ//ŋ/ 
Stop voiceless /p//t//c//k//ʔ/
aspirated /pʰ//tʰ//cʰ//kʰ/ 
voiced/b//d//ɟ//ɡ/ 
Voiceless fricative  /s/  /h/
Liquid  /l, r/   
Glide /w/ /j/  

The main difference with the Khasi language is that Lyngngam does not possess the voiced aspirated series. Furthermore, Lyngngam does not have the phoneme /ç/. Words which have /ç/ in Khasi typically have /c/ or /s/ in Lyngngam, [4] as in the following pairs of cognates:

LyngngamKhasimeaning
cʔeŋçʔeŋbone
cɨppʰeuçipʰeu10
sɲjəkçɲiuʔhair
snaːrçnjaʔchisel

Vowel inventory

The following table lists the vowel inventory of the language. [3] The only vowels showing a length distinction are /i/ and /a/, in contradistinction to Khasi, where length is distinctive for all vowels.

  Front
unrounded
Central
unrounded
Back
rounded
High /i, iː//ɨ//u/
Mid /e//ə//o/
Low /a, aː/

Words with diphthongs in Khasi have monophthongs in Lyngam, [4] as in the following pairs of cognates:

LyngamKhasimeaning
bnibnaːimonth
ksuksəudog
motmietnight

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References

  1. "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011". www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "India Lyngam". Glottolog 3.0 . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. 1 2 Nagaraja 1996 , sect. 1
  4. 1 2 Nagaraja 1996 , sect. 2