Konyak language
| Konyak | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Nagaland, India |
| Ethnicity | Konyak |
Native speakers | 250,000 (2001 census)[1] |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nbe |
| Glottolog | kony1248 |
| ELP | Konyak Naga |
Konyak is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Konyak people of Nagaland, northeastern India.
Dialects
Ethnologue lists the following dialects of Konyak.
Tableng is the standard dialect spoken in Wanching and Wakching.
Phonology
There are three lexically contrastive contour tones in Konyak – rising (marked in writing by an acute accent – á), falling (marked by a grave accent – à) and level (unmarked).[2]
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | a |
The vowels /a/, /o/ and /u/ are lengthened before approximants. /ə/ doesn't occur finally.
Consonants
| Bilabial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p pʰ |
t̪ | c | k kʰ |
ʔ |
| Nasal | m | n̪ | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Fricative | s | h | |||
| Lateral | l | ||||
| Approximant | w | j |
The stops /p/ and /k/ contrast with the aspirated /pʰ/ and /kʰ/. /p/ and /c/ become voiced intervocalically across morpheme boundaries. The dental /t/ is realised as an alveolar if preceded by a vowel with a rising tone. The approximants /w/ and /j/ are pronounced laxer and shorter after vowels; /w/ becomes tenser initially before high vowels. If morpheme-initial or intervocalic, /j/ is pronounced with audible friction.[3] /pʰ/, /kʰ/, /c/, /ɲ/, /s/, /h/ and /l/ do not occur morpheme-finally, while /ʔ/ does not appear morpheme-initially. Except for morpheme-initial /kp/ and /kʰl/, consonant clusters occur only medially.[4]
References
- ^ Konyak at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Nagaraja 2010, p. 8
- ^ Nagaraja 2010, pp. 21–2
- ^ Nagaraja 2010, p. 23
Bibliography
- Nagaraja, K.S. (2010), Konyak Grammar, Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages, ISBN 81-7342-195-1
Further reading
- Ine Jongne Jame (1957), Primer for Adults in Konyak Language, Guwahati
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Kumar, Brij Bihari (1972), Hindi-Konyak Dictionary, Kohima: Nagaland Bhasha Parishad
- Kumar, Brij Bihari (1972), Konyak Vyakaran ki Ruprekha, Kohima: Nagaland Bhasha Parishad
- Nagaraja, K.S. (1996), Kinship terms in Konyak Naga (PDF)
- Nagaraja, K.S., Konyak–Hindi–English Dictionary, Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages
- Nagaraja, K.S., "Relativization in Konyak", Indian Linguistics, 45: 41–8