Ao
Central Naga
EthnicityAo Naga, Lotha Naga, Sangtam Naga, Yimkhiung Naga
Geographic
distribution		Nagaland, India
Linguistic classificationSino-Tibetan
Subdivisions
Glottologaoic1235

The Ao or Central Naga languages are a small family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken by various Naga peoples of Nagaland in northeast India. Conventionally classified as "Naga", they are not clearly related to other Naga languages, and are conservatively classified as an independent branch of Sino-Tibetan, pending further research. There are around 607,000 speakers of the languages in total.

Coupe (2012)[1] considers the Angami–Pochuri languages to be most closely related to Ao as part of a wider Angami–Ao group.

Languages

The following languages are widely accepted as Central Naga languages:

There are also various undescribed Ao varieties including Yacham and Tengsa, which may turn out to be separate languages (see Mongsen Ao).

The following "Naga" languages spoken in and around Leshi Township, Myanmar are classified as Ao languages ("Ao-Yimkhiungrü") by Saul (2005).[2]

Hsiu (2021) places Makury, Long Phuri, and Para into a Greater Central Naga branch, but excludes Koki (Kokak).[3]

Bruhn (2014:370) also surmises that Makury may be an Ao language.

Bruhn (2014) uses the term Central Naga to refer to all of the languages above, and uses the Ao to refer to only two languages, namely Chungli Ao and Mongsen Ao. The internal structure of Bruhn's Central Naga group is as follows.

Central Naga

Coupe (2023) suggests that Wui, a recently described divergent language of eastern Nagaland, is likely a divergent Aoic (i.e., Central Naga) language.[4]

Reconstruction

Proto-Central Naga (Proto-Ao) has been reconstructed by Bruhn (2014).

Bruhn (2014:363) identifies the following four sound changes from Proto-Tibeto-Burman (PTB) to Proto-Central Naga (PCN) as sound changes that are characteristic of the Central Naga branch.

  1. PTB *-a(ː)w, *-əw, *-ow, *-u > PCN *-u(ʔ) ‘back diphthong merger’
  2. PTB *-r > PCN *-n ‘*r-coda nasalization’
  3. PTB *-s > PCN *-t ‘*s-coda occlusivization’
  4. PTB *-i(ː)l, *‑al, *‑uːl > PCN *‑ə(ʔ) ‘*l-rime erosion’

See also

References

  1. ↑ Coupe, Alexander R. 2012. Overcounting numeral systems and their relevance to sub-grouping in the Tibeto-Burman languages of Nagaland. Language and Linguistics / Academica Sinica 13. 193-220.
  2. ↑ Saul, J. D. 2005. The Naga of Burma: Their festivals, customs and way of life. Bangkok, Thailand: Orchid Press.
  3. ↑ Hsiu, Andrew (2021). "Kuki-Chin-Naga". Sino-Tibetan Branches Project. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  4. ↑ Coupe, Alexander (2023). Preliminary Report on Wui: An Undocumented Language of Eastern Nagaland. 56th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, 10-12 October 2023. Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.
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