The Ao or Central Naga languages are a small family of
Sino-Tibetan languages
Sino-Tibetan (also referred to as Trans-Himalayan) is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. Around 1.4 billion people speak a Sino-Tibetan language. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 ...
spoken by various
Naga people
Nagas are various Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups native to northeastern India and northwestern Myanmar. The groups have similar cultures and traditions, and form the majority of population in the Indian state of Nagaland ...
s of
Nagaland
Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...
in northeast
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. Conventionally classified as "Naga", they are not clearly related to other
Naga languages
The Naga languages are a geographic and ethnic grouping of Tibeto-Burman, spoken mostly by Naga peoples.
Konyak languages, Northern Naga languages do not fall within the group, in spite of being spoken by Naga groups; instead, these form part ...
, 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.
Coupe (2012) considers the
Angami–Pochuri languages
The Angami–Pochuri languages are a small family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in southern Nagaland and Northern Manipur of northeast India. Conventionally classified as "Naga", they are not clearly related to other Naga languages, and are c ...
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
The Ao language is a Naga language spoken by the Ao Naga in Nagaland of northeast India, whose two varieties are nearly mutually unintelligible. It is written in Latin script.
Ao language cluster
''Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the ...
**
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).
[Saul, J. D. 2005. ''The Naga of Burma: Their festivals, customs and way of life''. Bangkok, Thailand: Orchid Press.]
*
Koki
Koki may refer to:
Places
*Koki (village), a medieval aul in Ingushetia
* Koki, Comoros, a village on the island of Anjouan in the Comoros
* Koki, Senegal, a town in the Louga region of Senegal
* Koki, Estonia, village in Lümanda Parish, Saare ...
*
Makury
*
Long Phuri
*
Para
Hsiu (2021) places Makury, Long Phuri, and Para into a Greater Central Naga branch, but excludes
Koki
Koki may refer to:
Places
*Koki (village), a medieval aul in Ingushetia
* Koki, Comoros, a village on the island of Anjouan in the Comoros
* Koki, Senegal, a town in the Louga region of Senegal
* Koki, Estonia, village in Lümanda Parish, Saare ...
(Kokak).
*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.
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.
#PTB *-a(ː)w, *-əw, *-ow, *-u > PCN *-u(ʔ) ‘back diphthong merger’
#PTB *-r > PCN *-n ‘*r-coda nasalization’
#PTB *-s > PCN *-t ‘*s-coda occlusivization’
#PTB *-i(ː)l, *‑al, *‑uːl > PCN *‑ə(ʔ) ‘*l-rime erosion’
See also
*
Ao Naga
The Aos are a major Naga ethnic group native to Mokokchung District of Nagaland in Northeast India. Their main territory is from Tsüla (Dikhu) Valley in the east to Tsürang (Disai) Valley in the west in Mokokchung District.
The Ao Nagas r ...
*
Lotha Naga
Lotha Nagas, also known as Kyongs, are a major Naga ethnic group native to Wokha District in the Northeast Indian state of Nagaland.
Origins
Scholars have presented several theories about the migration of the Lothas and the other Naga peo ...
*
Sangtam Naga
*
T Senka Ao
*
Yimkhiung Naga
The Yimkhiungs (formerly misspelled as Yimchunger) are a Naga ethnic group inhabiting the territories of Shamator and Kiphire District in the Northeast Indian state of Nagaland and western areas of Myanmar.
Etymology
The word Yimkhiung mean ...
References
*van Driem, George (2001). ''Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region.'' Leiden: Brill.
*Bruhn, Daniel Wayne. 2014.
A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Central Naga'. Ph.D. dissertation. University of California, Berkeley.
*Saul, J. D. 2005. ''The Naga of Burma: Their festivals, customs and way of life''. Bangkok, Thailand: Orchid Press.
*Barkman, Tiffany. 2014
''A descriptive grammar of Jejara (Para Naga)''. MA thesis, Chiang Mai: Payap University.
*Shi, Vong Tsuh. 2009.
Discourse studies of Makuri Naga narratives''. MA thesis, Chiang Mai: Payap University.
*Language and Social Development Organization (LSDO). 2006. ''A sociolinguistic survey of Makuri, Para, and Long Phuri Naga in Layshi Township, Myanmar''. Unpublished manuscript.
*Mills, J. P (1926). The Ao Nagas. London: MacMillan & Co.
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Languages of Nagaland