Angami language

Angami (also: Gnamei, Ngami, Tsoghami, Tsugumi, Monr, Tsanglo, Tenyidie) is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the Naga Hills in the northeastern part of India, in Kohima district, Nagaland.

There are several dialects, the most prominent being Khonoma (around Khonoma village), and Tenyidie aka Kohima (in the state capital of Kohima)^{[citation needed]}. Others include Dzüna, Kehena, Chakroma (Western Angami), Mima, Nali, Mozome. Tenyidie is the prestige dialect, used for publications and taught in the schools.

Phonology

This description covers the Khonoma dialect, which is spoken by 4000 people at the western extreme of Angami territory.^{[citation needed]}

Kohima dialect is reported to have five tones. Khonoma has four register tones: /˥ ˧ ˨ ˩/ (with diacritics, /a̋ á ā à/). The lower three are approximately equally spaced in pitch, while the topmost is more distant. Low tone may be accompanied by breathy voice, especially at the end of an utterance.

Angami has six vowels, /i e̞ a̠ o u̟ ə̝/. Diphthongs occur, but are rare.^{[citation needed]}

Other dialects also contrast /tʃʰ tʃ dʒ/. [f] only occurs as an allophone of /p/. The velar fricative is in free variation with [h]. The post-alveolar approximants are truly retroflex (sub-apical) [ɻ̊ ɻ] before mid and low vowels, but laminal [ɹ̠̊ ɹ̠] before high vowels (/i u/).^{[citation needed]}

Angami voiceless nasals are unusual in that, unlike the voiceless nasals of Burmese, the have a positive rather than negative voice onset time—that is, they are aspirated rather than partially voiced. The same is true of the laterals. In both cases, the aspiration has the formants characteristic of Angami h, which is somewhat velar in pronunciation. The other voiceless approximants may not be aspirated, as the h-like formants occur during the entire hold of the consonant.^{[citation needed]}

The labial and labialized consonants have labiodental affricate allophones before /ə/ (but not in /Cɻə/ consonant clusters). In addition, about half the time the rhotic becomes syllabic (a rhotic vowel) in this environment:

Angami syllables may be of the form V, CV, or CɻV. Attested clusters are /pʰɻ/, /pɻ/, /kʰɻ/, /kɻ/.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Angami Naga
• Tibetan language

References

Bibliography

• Blankenship, Barbara; Peter Ladefoged, Peri Bhaskararao, Nichumeno Chase (June 1993). "Phonetic structures of Khonama Angami". Fieldwork Studies of Targeted Languages (UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics) 84: 127–141. 

Notes

External links

• Khonama materials at UCLA
• Angami Language Intro