Nicobarese languages

The Nicobarese languages or Nicobaric languages, form an isolated group of about half a dozen closely related Austroasiatic languages, spoken by most of the inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands of India. They have a total of about 30,000 speakers (22,100 native). Most Nicobarese speakers speak the Car language. Paul Sidwell (2015:179)^[1] considers the Nicobarese languages to subgroup with Aslian.

Nicobarese
Nicobaric
Geographic distribution	Nicobar Islands, India
Ethnicity	Nicobarese people
Linguistic classification	Austroasiatic Nicobarese
Proto-language	Proto-Nicobarese
Subdivisions	Car Chaura–Teressa Central-Southern
Language codes
Glottolog	nico1262
The Nicobar Islands. Car is at top.
Nicobarese

The Nicobarese languages appear to be related to the Shompen language of the indigenous inhabitants of the interior of Great Nicobar Island (Blench & Sidwell 2011), which is usually considered a separate branch of Austroasiatic.^[2] However, Paul Sidwell (2017)^[3] classifies Shompen as a Southern Nicobaric language rather than as a separate branch of Austroasiatic.

The morphological similarities between Nicobarese and Austronesian languages have been used as evidence for the Austric hypothesis (Reid 1994).^[4]

Languages

From north to south, the Nicobaric languages are:

• Car: Car (Pū)
• Chaura–Teressa: Chaura (Tutet/Sanënyö), Teressa (Taih-Long/Lurö)
• Central: Nancowry (Nang-kauri/Mūöt), Camorta, Katchal (Tehnu)
• Southern: Southern Nicobarese (Sambelong), Shompen (Shom Peng)

Classification

Paul Sidwell (2017) classifies the Nicobaric languages as follows.^[3]

• Nicobaric
  • Car
  • Chaura–Teressa
    • Teressa, Chaura
  • Central-Southern
    • Central: Nancowry, Camorta, Katchall
    • Southern: Southern Nicobarese, Shompen

See also

• Shompen language
• List of Proto-Nicobarese reconstructions (Wiktionary)