Andamanese languages

For thoughtful child sponsors

The Andamanese languages are a language family spoken in the Andaman Islands, a union territory of India. There are two recognized subfamilies, Great Andamanese and South Andamanese. The Great Andamanese languages are divided into Central and Northern groups. All of the Great Andamanese languages but Pucikwar became extinct in the 20th century, as the Andamanese have become primarily speakers of Hindi. The languages in the family include:

Great Andamanese
- Central
  - Aka-Bea or Bea (extinct)
  - Akar-Bale or Bale (extinct)
  - Aka-Kede or Kede (extinct)
  - Aka-Kol or Kol (extinct)
  - Oko-Juwoi or Juwoi (extinct)
  - A-Pucikwar or Pucikwar; 36 speakers in 1997, bilingual in Hindi
- Northern
  - Aka-Cari or Chari (extinct)
  - Aka-Kora or Kora (extinct)
  - Aka-Jeru or Jeru (extinct)
  - Aka-Bo or Bo (extinct)
South Andamanese
- ÃÂnge; 96 speakers in 1997, mostly monolingual
- JÃÂ¤rawa; 200 speakers in 1997, mostly monolingual
- Sentinelese; possibly 50 speakers

"Long-ranger" linguists such as Joseph H. Greenberg have seen these languages as distant members of a phylum called Indo-Pacific, together with Papuan languages.

External links

http://www.southasiabibliography.de/Bibliography/Andamanese/andamanese.html

http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?name=Andamanese&subid=1588

Andaman Association