Andamanese languages

The Andamanese languages form a language family spoken by the Andamanese indigenous peoples in the Andaman Islands, a union territory of India. There are two recognized subfamilies, Great Andamanese and South Andamanese. The Great Andamanese languages are further divided into Central and Northern groups. All of the Great Andamanese languages except Pucikwar became extinct in the 20th century; as the few-surviving individuals of indigenous Great Andamanese descent inter-married with Karen (Burmese) and Indian settlers, their linguistic and tribal distinctions were lost and these few dozen today are primarily speakers of Hindi. The South Andamanese languages survive mainly because of the greater isolation of the peoples who speak them, reinforced by the extreme reluctance and outright hostility they have long maintained towards outside contact (particularly true of the Sentinelese and Jarawa).

Bibliography

• Das Gupta, D., and SR Sharma. A Handbook of the Önge Language. Anthropological Survey of India:Calcutta 1982.
• E. H. Man, Dictionary of the South Andaman Language, British India Press:Bombay 1923.
• Manoharan, S. 1997. ?Pronominal Prefixes and Formative Affixes in Andamanese Language.? A. Abbi (ed.). The Languages of Tribal and Indigenous Peoples of India. The Ethnic Space. Delhi: Motilal Benarsidass
• Senkuttuvan, R. 2000. The Language of the Jarawa: Phonology. Calcutta: Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, Ministry of Culture, Youth Affairs, and Sports, Dept. of Culture.
• Richard C. Temple. A Grammar of the Andamanese Languages, being Chapter IV of Part I of the Census Report on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Superintendent's Printing Press:Port Blair 1902.
• Yogendra Yadaav. "Great Andamanese, a Preliminary Study". Pacific Linguistics A67, 1985.
• Zide, Norman Herbert & V. Pandya. ?A Bibliographical Introduction to Andamanese Linguistics? JAOS 109:639-51