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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.
Territories of the Great Andamanese tribes, languages, and dialects and other Andamanese peoples at the time of British contact. In 1789, when the British established a colonial presence on Great Andaman, the Great Andamanese were divided into 10 main tribes with each having a distinct language, each counting between 200 and 700 individuals. [8]
The languages spoken in the Andaman islands fall into two clear families, Great Andamanese and Ongan, plus one unattested language, Sentinelese.The similarities between Great Andamanese and Ongan are mainly of a typological-morphological nature, with little demonstrated common vocabulary.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India comprising 572 islands, of which only 38 are inhabited. The islands are grouped into two main clusters: the northern Andaman Islands and the southern Nicobar Islands, separated by a 150 km (93 mi) wide channel.
Northern Andamanese is the critically endangered native language of North Andaman Island. It is closely related to Akakede and seems to have consisted of four mutually intelligible dialects: Akachari (Cari), Akakhora (Kora), Akabo (Bo), and Akajeru (Jeru). Jeru is the only one with speakers remaining. [3] [4]
Jarawa is a language used mainly by hunter-gatherer communities who live along the western coast of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. [2]Other than having a history as traditional hunter-forager-fishermen, they also had reputations as warriors and uncompromising defenders of their territory.
The distributions of different Andamanese peoples, languages, and dialects at the time of British contact compared to the present-day. In the 18th century the Onge were distributed across Little Andaman Island and the nearby islands, with some territory and camps established on Rutland Island and the southern tip of South Andaman Island.
The Ongan languages are agglutinative, with an extensive prefix and suffix system. [8] [9] They have a 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). [10]