Ao languages

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.

Ao
Central Naga
Geographic distribution	Nagaland, India
Ethnicity	Ao Naga, Lotha Naga, Sangtam Naga, Yimkhiung Naga
Linguistic classification	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Central Tibeto-Burman (?) Kuki–Chin–Naga Ao
Subdivisions	Chungli Ao Mongsen Ao Sangtam ('Thukumi') Yimkhiungrü ('Yachumi') Lotha (Lhota)
Language codes
Glottolog	aoic1235

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:

• Ao language
  • Chungli Ao
  • Mongsen Ao
• Sangtam ('Thukumi')
• Yimkhiungrü ('Yachumi')
• Lotha (Lhota)

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]

• Koki
• Makury
• Long Phuri
• Para

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

• Greater Central Naga
  • Makury
  • Long Phuri
  • Para (Jejara)
  • Central Naga
    • Lotha
    • Sangtam
    • Yimchungrü
    • Ao

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

• Lotha
• Sangtam
• Yimkhiungrü
• Ao
  • Chungli Ao
  • Mongsen Ao

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

• Ao Naga
• Lotha Naga
• Sangtam Naga
• T Senka Ao
• Yimkhiung Naga