Where are the Andamanese Languages spoken?

These languages are the indigenous languages of the Andaman Islands archipelago, which is controlled by India and is found in the Bay of Bengal.

Total number of speakers (estimate)

Between 200 and 500 according to sources.

Classification

Great Andamanese

Great Andmanese: Around fifty speakers according to Anvita Abbi

Aka-Bo (extinct as of 2010)

South Andamaese

Onge (or Önge) 94 speakers according to Ethnologue

Jarawa 250 speakers according to Ethnologue

Sentinelese

Sentinelese no reliable estimate as to the number of speakers

Comments on the classification of Andamanese Languages

We use here the classification proposed by Ethnologue (16th online edition).

The Andamanese Languages are not well known, and almost completely unknown in the case of the language of the Sentinelese. This classification is therefore controversial.

Great Andamanese is thought to be a koiné language, a mixture of the 10 or so dialects which existed prior to colonisation.

The links between Onge, Jarawa and Great Andamanese have not yet been sufficiently proven. The grouping of the four languages is therefore more of a geographical grouping. The Sentinelese language is neither known nor has it been studied.

It is quite possible that this group does not constitute one single language family but several.

Are the Andamanese Languages endangered?

Yes. The Andamanese languages are on the brink of extinction (in a ‘critical state’ according to Anvita Abbi). Of the ten or so languages spoken throughout the archipelago in the 19th Century, no more than four remain today. Almost all the speakers of Great Andamanese have disappeared. In 1970, the last of the Great Andamanese were deported to Strait Island by the Indian government. They are now completely dependent on financial aid from the state and have a high rate of alcoholism. There are no more than 50 people remaining today. The last speaker of Bo died in January 2010. The other languages also risk disappearing very quickly if projects to ensure their protection are not quickly put into place.

Anvita Abbi is undertaking a programme of linguistic documentation of the last Great Andaman language on Strait Island as part of the HRELP programme.

Exchanges with the inhabitants of North Sentinel Island are too rare to be able to estimate their population: they one of the most isolated peoples on the planet. If contact with the outside world increases, there are great fears regarding the future of the Sentinelese population.

Sources and links

Abbi, Anvita (2006). Endangered Languages of the Andaman Islands. Germany: Lincom GmbH

Anvita Abbi’s site, Vanishing Voices of the Andaman

Article from The Times on the extinction of Bo

Pages dedicated to the Jarawa and other indigenous populations of the Andaman Islands, on the Survival website

Dedicated page on Ethnologue.com