Amri Karbi language

Amri Karbi, also known as Plains Karbi, Dumrali,^[2] is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in parts of the states of Assam and Meghalaya in Northeast India.^[3] Amri Karbi variously treated as a variety of the Karbi language or as its own language. Amri Karbi is divided into two regional varieties: Upper Amri and Lower Amri.^[2][3] It is distinct from the speech of a group also called Amri Karbi in the west of the Karbi Anglong district in Assam, who speak a Hills Karbi dialect.^[2][4]

Amri Karbi
Region	Assam major in the district Kamrup, Meghalaya in the district Ri-Bhoi
Ethnicity	Karbi people
Native speakers	125,000 (2003)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Kuki-Chin-Naga ? Mikir Amri Karbi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ajz
Glottolog	amri1238

Phonology

Consonants

Amri has 23 phonemic consonants. Allophones or alternative pronunciations are included in parentheses in the table below.

Consonants^[2]

			Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	unaspirated	p	t	c	k
		aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		kʰ
	voiced	unaspirated	b	d	ɟ	g
		aspirated	bʰ	dʰ	ɟʰ	gʰ
Fricative	voiceless		(ɸ)i	s			h
	voiced		β
Nasal			m	n		ŋ
Lateral				l
Rhotic				r
Approximant					(j)ii

^i Alternative realization of /pʰ/ amongst some members of the younger generation. ^ii Allophone of /ɟ/.

Vowels

Amri Karbi has 7 vowels, 2 of which are marginal phonemes (included in parentheses in the table below). In addition, there are the diphthongs /ai/ and /ɔi/.^[2]

Vowels^[2]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	(e)		(o)
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Tone

Three phonemic tones exist in Amri Karbi: low, mid, and high.^[2]

Phonotactics

The maximum syllable in Amri Karbi is (C)(C)V(V)(C). A limited number of onset clusters occur, the first element of which is a voiceless stop or the glottal fricative /h/, followed by /l/ or /r/. Depending on the speaker, clusters /hl/ and /hr/ can variably be produced as [h], [l] and [r], or [lh] and [rh]. All consonants but /ŋ/ can appear syllable-initially. The only consonants able to occur syllable-finally are nasals /m n ŋ/, liquids /l r/, and voiceless unaspirated /p t k/. The latter three are realized as unreleased [p̚ t̚ k̚] when syllable-final.^[2]

Orthography

Latin script is used for institutional practice, both Latin and Assamese script are used in various publications.^{[citation needed]}

Locations

Amri (Karbi) language is spoken in the following locations in India (Ethnologue).

• Kamrup district, Assam (south of the Brahmaputra River): Chandubi, Loharghat, Rani block, Jalukbari, Pandu, Basbistha, Panikhaith, Jorabat, Sonapur, Khetri, and Kahi Kusi
• Ri-Bhoi district, Meghalaya: Nongpoh area, Barni Hat, and Umling

See also

• Karbi language