Pnar language

Pnar (Ka Ktien Pnar), also known as Jaiñtia^[2] is an Austroasiatic language spoken in India and Bangladesh.

Pnar
Jaiñtia
Ka Ktien Pnar
Pronunciation	/kɑ kt̪eːn pnɑr/
Native to	India, Bangladesh
Ethnicity	Pnar people
Native speakers	395,124 (2011 census)[1]
Language family	Austroasiatic Khasi-Palaungic Khasic Khasi-Pnar-Lyngngam Pnar
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pbv
Glottolog	pnar1238
Map of the Pnar Language
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Geographic distribution

As a Khasic language, Pnar belongs to a complex dialect continuum which includes mixed varieties whose exact relations remain a matter of debate among linguists. A language map of Meghalaya designed by Anna Daladier shows two major Pnar-speaking areas separated by a thin strip of Khasi and War-speaking areas. Together, the two Pnar areas encompass most of the East Jaintia Hills, West Jaintia Hills and West Khasi Hills districts.^[3]

A more recent map designed by Hiram Ring for a Khasic languages handbook by Paul Sidwell relies on a different classification. There, only the former two districts are labeled as Pnar, whereas the varieties spoken in the West Khasi Hills belong to Maharam, a related but distinct language. Both maps also show small pockets of Pnar speakers in the neighboring state of Assam, In the former map, they are limited to the area directly adjacent to Meghalaya, whereas the latter map also shows a group of Pnar-speaking villages around Haflong.^[4]

Phonology

Pnar has 30 phonemes: 7 vowels and 23 consonants. Other sounds listed below are phonetic realizations.^[5] The sounds in brackets are phonetic realizations and the sounds in slashes are phonemes.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	/i/	[ɨ]	/u/
Near-close	[ɪ]		[ʊ]
Close-mid	/e/		/o/
Mid		[ə]
Open-mid	/ɛ/	[ʌ]	/ɔ/
Open		/ɑ/

There is also one diphthong: /ia/.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		/m/		/n/	/ɲ/	/ŋ/
Plosive	voiceless	/p/	/t̪/	/t/	/tʃ/	/k/	/ʔ/
	voiced	/b/	/d̪/	/d/	/dʒ/
	voiceless aspirated	/pʰ/	/t̪ʰ/		[tʃʰ]	/kʰ/
	voiced aspirated	[bʱ]	[d̪ʱ]		[dʒʱ]
Fricative				/s/			/h/
Trill				/r/
Approximant	central	/w/			/j/
	Lateral			/l/

Syllable structure

Syllables in Pnar can consist of a single nucleic vowel. Maximally, they can include a complex onset of two consonants, a diphthong nucleus, and a coda consonant. A second type of syllable contains a syllabic nasal/trill/lateral immediately following the onset consonant. This syllabic consonant behaves as the rhyme. (Ring, 2012: 141–2)