Anāl language explained

Anāl
States:India and Myanmar
Region:Southeast Manipur
Ethnicity:Anāl Naga
Imagescale:0.4
Date:2001 census
Ref:e18
Familycolor:Sino-Tibetan
Fam2:Tibeto-Burman
Fam3:Central Tibeto-Burman (?)
Fam4:Kuki-Chin–Naga
Fam5:Kuki-Chin
Dia1:Langet
Script:
Iso3:anm
Glotto:anal1239
Glottorefname:Anal
Linglist:qfs
Lingname:Langet

Anāl, also known as Namfau after the two principal villages it is spoken in, is a Northern Kukish language, part of the Sino-Tibetan language family, spoken by the Anal people in India and a dwindling number in Burma. It had 13,900 speakers in India according to the 2001 census, and 50 in Burma in 2010. The speakers of this language use Meitei language as their second language (L2) according to the Ethnologue.[1]

The Department of Language Planning and Implementation of the Government of Manipur offers a sum of, to every individual who learns Anal language, under certain terms and conditions.[2] Anal is also written in the Latin script, with a literacy rate of about 74%.

Langet may be a dialect, though its position within Kukish is uncertain (Shafer 1955:106).

Geographical distribution

Anal is spoken in southeastern Manipur, in the Chandel district, on the banks of the Chakpi River in towns such as Chandel and Chakpikarong, and also in the Tengnoupal district (Ethnologue).

Phonology

Consonants

LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Nasalvoicelessŋ̊
voicedmnŋ
Plosive/
Affricate
voicelessptk
aspirated
voicedbd
Fricativesh
Approximantvoicedʋl
voiceless
Rhoticvoicedr
voiceless
/dʒ/ can also be heard as a glide [j] in free variation.

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Closeiu
Mideəo
Opena
[3]

Vocabulary

The following vocabulary exemplifies words in the language.

AnalglossAnalgloss
khol 'deep hole'; 'social division' ahno 'kind of short skirt'
lunguin 'kind of long shawl' zupar 'rice beer'
piruili 'elopement' Jol min 'bride price'
ithin 'divorce' sinnuperu 'adultery'
pakum 'hearth' mote 'first-born'
kopu 'second-born' cakhow 'brown rice'
khon 'fifty rupees' thunlon 'grave'
dao 'kind of iron blade' shingkho 'plate'
vopum'basket' athiru 'kind of bead necklace'
akarfo 'kind of China necklace' sanamba 'kind of fiddle'
tilli 'kind of flageolet' tuklee 'kind of loom'

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Meitei Ethnologue . . https://web.archive.org/web/20190724203234/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/mni/ . 24 July 2019 . en.
  2. Web site: Applications invited for local language training programme . . en.
  3. Book: Devi, Thounaojam Thajamanbi . A Descriptive Grammar of Anal . Silchar: Assam University . 2015.