Aka-Kol language explained

Kol
Nativename:Aka-Kol
States:India
Region:Andaman Islands
southeast Middle Andaman island.
Extinct:By 1921
Ref:e25
Familycolor:Andamanese
Fam1:Great Andamanese
Fam2:Central †
Iso3:aky
Linglist:aky.html
Glotto:akak1253
Glottorefname:Akakol
Map:Schematic Map of Andamanese Languages & Tribes.png
Ethnicity:Kol

The Kol language, Aka-Kol, is an extinct Great Andamanese language, of the Central group. It was spoken in the southeast section of Middle Andaman.

History

The Kol were one of the indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, one of the ten or so Great Andamanese tribes identified by British colonials in the 1860s. Their language was closely related to the other Great Andamanese languages. They were extinct as a distinct people by 1921.

Grammar

The Great Andamanese languages are agglutinative languages, with an extensive prefix and suffix system.[1] They have a distinctive noun class system based largely on body parts, in which every noun and adjective may take a prefix according to which body part it is associated with (on the basis of shape, or functional association). Thus, for instance, the *aka- at the beginning of the language names is a prefix for objects related to the tongue.[1] An adjectival example can be given by the various forms of yop, "pliable, soft", in Aka-Bea:[1]

Similarly, beri-nga "good" yields:

The prefixes are,

Bea Balawa? Bajigyâs? Juwoi Kol
head/heartot- ôt- ote- ôto- ôto-
hand/foot ong- ong- ong- ôn- ôn-
mouth/tongue âkà- aka- o- ókô- o-
torso (shoulder to shins) ab- ab- ab- a- o-
eye/face/arm/breast i-, ig- id- ir- re- er-
back/leg/butt ar- ar- ar- ra- a-
waist ôto-

Body parts are inalienably possessed, requiring a possessive adjective prefix to complete them, so one cannot say "head" alone, but only "my, or his, or your, etc. head".

The basic pronouns are almost identical throughout the Great Andamanese languages; Aka-Bea will serve as a representative example (pronouns given in their basic prefixal forms):

I, myd-we, ourm-
thou, thyŋ-you, yourŋ-
he, his, she, her, it, itsathey, theirl-

'This' and 'that' are distinguished as k- and t-.

Judging from the available sources, the Andamanese languages have only two cardinal numbers - one and two - and their entire numerical lexicon is one, two, one more, some more, and all.[1]

References

Notes and References

  1. Temple, Richard C. (1902). A Grammar of the Andamanese Languages, being Chapter IV of Part I of the Census Report on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Superintendent's Printing Press: Port Blair.