Katchal language explained

Katchal
Nativename:Tehnu
States:Nicobar Islands, India
Region:Katchal & formerly Trinket Islands
Date:2001 census
Familycolor:Austro-Asiatic
Fam2:Nicobarese
Fam3:Central
Isoexception:dialect
Glotto:katc1248
Glottoname:Katchal
Glotto2:trin1269
Glottoname2:Trinkut

Katchal (Katchall, Katchál, Kachel), or Tehnu (Tēhnyu),[1] is a Nicobarese language spoken in the central Nicobar Islands. Apart from the dialect of Trinket[2] (Trinkat, Trinkut, or Lâfūl),[1] it is not mutually intelligible with the other Central Nicobarese languages. The population of Trinket was evacuated to Nancowry and Camorta after the 2004 tsunami, and can be expected to disappear as speakers assimilate.

Notes and References

  1. Edward Horace Man, 1889, A dictionary of the central Nicobarese language
  2. Robert Parkin, 1991, A guide to austroasiatic speakers and their languages, pp 37–38