Digaro languages

Digaro
Northern Mishmi
Geographic
distribution:		 Arunachal Pradesh
Linguistic classification: possibly Sino-Tibetan or an independent family
Subdivisions:
Glottolog: mish1241[1]

The Digaro (Digarish) or Northern Mishmi (Mishmic) languages are a small family of possibly Sino-Tibetan languages spoken by the Mishmi people of southeastern Tibet and Arunachal Pradesh.

The languages are Idu and Taraon (Digaro, Darang).

They are not related to the Southern Mishmi Midzu languages, apart from possibly being Sino-Tibetan. However, Blench and Post (2011) suggests that they may not even be Sino-Tibetan, but rather an independent language family of their own.

Names

Autonyms and exonyms for Digaro-speaking peoples, as well as Miju (Kaman), are given below (Jiang, et al. 2013:2-3).

Names of Mishmi peoples
Taraon name Kaman name Idu name Assamese name
Taraon people da˧˩raŋ˥˧ tɕi˧˩moŋ˧˥ tɑ˧˩rɑŋ˧˥ digaru;
tɕi˧˩kɑ˥lu˥mi˧˩ɕi˥mi˧˩
Kaman people tɕɑu˥˧ kɯ˧˩mɑn˧˥ mi˧˩tɕu˥ midzu
Idu people dju˥;
dju˥ta˧˩rɑŋ˥˧;
dɑi˥˧		 min˧˩dɑu˥;
hu˥˧		 i˥˧du˥ ɕi˧˩ko˧˥tɑ˥mi˧˩ɕi˥mi˧˩
Zha people 扎人 tɕɑ˧˩kʰen˥ tɕɑ˧˩kreŋ˧˥ — —
Tibetan people lɑ˧˩mɑ˥;
mei˥˧bom˥		 dɯ˧˩luŋ˧˥;
hɑi˧˥hɯl˥		 ɑ˧˩mi˥˧;
pu˥˧;
mi˧˩si˥pu˥˧		 —

Registers

Idu, Tawra, Kman, and Meyor all share a system of multiple language registers, which are (Blench 2016):[2]

  1. ordinary speech
  2. speech of hunters: lexical substitution, the replacement of animal names and others by special lexical forms, and sometimes short poems
  3. speech of priests/shamans: more complex, involving much language which is difficult to understand, and also lengthy descriptions of sacrificial animals
  4. poetic/lyrical register (not in Idu, but appears in Kman)
  5. mediation register (only in Idu?)
  6. babytalk register

References

  1. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Mishmic". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  2. ↑ https://www.academia.edu/20110685/Mishmi_language_development
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