Sherdukpen language explained

Sherdukpen
Also Known As:	Mey
Nativename:	Ngnok
Region:	Assam, Arunachal Pradesh
Ethnicity:	Sherdukpen people
Speakers:	5,000
Date:	2019
Ref:	e25
Familycolor:	Sino-Tibetan
Fam1:	Possibly Sino-Tibetan
Fam2:	Kho-Bwa
Fam3:	Mey–Sartang
Iso3:	sdp
Glotto:	sher1257
Glottorefname:	Sherdukpen
Dia1:	Shergaon
Dia2:	Tukpen (Rupa)

Sherdukpen (autonym: Mey) is a small language of India. It is one of the Kho-Bwa languages.^[1] There are two distinct varieties, Mey of Shergaon and Mey of Rupa. The name Sherdukpen comes from the words Shergaon and Tukpen (the Monpa name for Rupa) (Blench & Post 2011:3). The language is known to speakers as Mey nyuk.

Dialects

Lieberherr & Bodt (2017)^[2] list the following dialects of Sherdukpen.

• Rupa: spoken in Rupa village and two other main villages, as well as nearby hamlets. Likely around 3,000 speakers.
• Shergaon: spoken in Shergaon village. Likely around 1,500 speakers.

Locations

Sherdukpen is spoken in Shergaon, southern West Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh (Dondrup 1988), located in the Tengapani river valley south of Bomdila.

Ethnologue lists Rupa (Kupa), Sheinthuk (Shergaon), Jigang (Jigaon), and Thungree villages, located south of Bomdi La Range and Tengapani river valleys in West Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh.

References

• Dondrup, Rinchin. 1988. A handbook on Sherdukpen language. Itanagar: Directorate of Research, Arunachal Pradesh Government.

Notes and References

1. Post, Mark W. and Roger Blench (2011). "Siangic: A new language phylum in North East India", 6th International Conference of the North East India Linguistics Society, Tezpur University, Assam, India, Jan 31 – Feb 2
2. Lieberherr, Ismael; Bodt, Timotheus Adrianus. 2017. Sub-grouping Kho-Bwa based on shared core vocabulary. In Himalayan Linguistics, 16(2).