| Kho-Bwa | |
| Also Known As: | Kamengic Bugunish |
| Region: | Arunachal Pradesh |
| Familycolor: | Sino-Tibetan |
| Fam1: | Sino-Tibetan? |
| Child1: | Sherdukpen |
| Child2: | Sartang |
| Child3: | Chug (Duhumbi) |
| Child4: | Lish (Khispi) |
| Child5: | ? Puroik |
| Child6: | ? Bugun |
| Glotto: | khob1235 |
| Glottorefname: | Kho-Bwa |
The Kho-Bwa languages, also known as Kamengic, are a small family of languages, or pair of families, spoken in Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India. The name Kho-Bwa was originally proposed by George van Driem (2001). It is based on the reconstructed words *kho ("water") and *bwa ("fire"). Blench (2011) suggests the name Kamengic, from the Kameng area of Arunachal Pradesh. Alternatively, Anderson (2014)[1] refers to Kho-Bwa as Northeast Kamengic.
Both Van Driem and Blench group the Sherdukpen (or Mey), Lishpa (or Khispi), Chug (Duhumbi) and Sartang languages together. These form a language cluster and are clearly related.The pair of Sulung (or Puroik) and Khowa (or Bugun) languages are included in the family by Van Driem (2001) but provisionally treated as a second family by Blench (2024).
These languages have traditionally been placed in the Tibeto-Burman group by the Linguistic Survey of India, but the justification of this is open to question.The languages have certainly been strongly influenced by the neighboring Sino-Tibetan languages, but this does not necessarily imply genetic unity and may possibly be a purely areal effect.[2]
The entire language family has about 15,000 speakers (including Puroik) or about 10,000 speakers (excluding Puroik), according to estimates made during the 2000s.
Word lists and sociolinguistic surveys of Kho-Bwa languages have also been conducted by Abraham, et al. (2018).
The internal structure of the Kho-Bwa group of languages is as follows.[3] The similarities between Puroik–Bugun and Sherdukpen/Mey are sporadic and may be due to contact. Lieberherr (2015) considers Puroik to be a Tibeto-Burman language, which would imply that at least Bugun is as well.
Lieberherr & Bodt (2017)[4] consider Puroik to be a Kho-Bwa language, and classify the Kho-Bwa languages as follows.
Based on computational phylogenetic analyses from Tresoldi et al. (2022), the phylogenetic tree of Kho-Bwa is roughly as follows:[5]
The following table of Kho-Bwa basic vocabulary items is from Blench (2015).[6]
| Gloss | Mey (Shergaon) | Mey (Rupa) | Sartang (Jergaon) | Sartang (Rahung) | Lish (Khispi) | Chug (Duhumbi) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| one | hǎn | han | hèn | hân | hin | hin | |
| two | ɲǐt | ɲik | nìk | ně | ɲes | niʃ | |
| three | ùŋ | uŋ | ùŋ | ùún | ʔum | om | |
| four | pʰʃì | bsi | sì | psì | pʰəhi | psi | |
| five | kʰù | kʰu | kʰù | kʰu | kʰa | kʰa | |
| six | ʧùk | kit | ʧìk | ʨěy | ʧʰuʔ | ʧyk | |
| seven | ʃìt | sit | sìk | sǐ, sě | ʃis | his | |
| eight | sàʤát | sarʤat | sàrgè | sàrʤɛ́ | saɾgeʔ | saɾgeʔ | |
| nine | tʰkʰí | dʰikʰi | tʰkʰì | tɛ̀kʰɯ́ | ṱʰikʰu | ṱʰikʰu | |
| ten | sɔ̀ ̃ | sõ | sã̀ | sɔ | ʃan | ʃan | |
| head | kʰruk | kʰruk | kʰrǔk | kʰruʔ | kʰoloʔ | kʰloʔ | |
| nose | nupʰuŋ | nəfuŋ | nfùŋ | apʰuŋ | hempoŋ | heŋpʰoŋ | |
| eye | khibi | kivi | kábì | kʰaʔby | kʰumu | kʰum | |
| ear | kʰtùŋ | gtʰiŋ | gtʰìŋ | ktèíŋ | kʰutʰuŋ | kʰutʰuŋ | |
| tongue | laphõ | lapon | ? | le | loi | loi | |
| tooth | nuthuŋ | tokʧe | mísìŋ | nitʰiŋ | ʃiŋtuŋ | hintuŋ | |
| arm | ik | ik | ìk | ik | hu | hut | |
| leg | là | lapon | lɛ̌ | lɛ̌ | lei | lai | |
| belly | ʃrìŋ | sliŋ | srìŋ | sriŋ | hiɲiŋ | hiliŋ | |
| bone | skìk | skik | àhík | skik | ʃukuʃ | ʃukuʃ | |
| blood | hà | ha(a) | hɛ̀ | ha | hoi | hoi | |
| face | dòŋpù | bo | mi | zə̀í | doʔ | doŋpa | |
| tooth | ntùŋ | tokʧe | mísìŋ | ptə̀íŋ | ʃiŋtuŋ | hintuŋ | |
| stomach | àlà | karbu | ʧàk | phriŋ | hiɲiŋ | hiliŋ | |
| mouth | ʧàw | nəʧaw | so | ʨʨǒ | hoʧok | kʰoʧu | |
| rain | ʧuuma | nimi | nʧʰù | ʧuʧuba | namu | namu |