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.[1] The speakers of this language use Meitei language as their second language (L2) according to the Ethnologue.[2]

Anāl
Anāl written in Meitei script
Native toIndia and Myanmar
RegionSoutheast Manipur
EthnicityAnāl Naga
Native speakers
14,000 (2001 census)[1]
Dialects
  • Langet
Language codes
ISO 639-3anm
qfs Langet
Glottologanal1239
ELPAnal

The Department of Language Planning and Implementation of the Government of Manipur offers a sum of 5,000 (equivalent to 8,500 or US$100 in 2023), to every individual who learns Anal language, under certain terms and conditions.[3]

Anal is also written in the Latin script,[4] with a literacy rate of about 74%.[1]

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

Geographical distribution

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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

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Consonants

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Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal voiceless ŋ̊
voiced m n ŋ
Plosive/
Affricate
voiceless p t k
aspirated
voiced b d
Fricative s h
Approximant voiced ʋ l
voiceless
Rhotic voiced r
voiceless

/dʒ/ can also be heard as a glide [j] in free variation.

Vowels

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Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e ə o
Open a

[5]

Vocabulary

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The following vocabulary exemplifies words in the language.[6]

Anal gloss Anal gloss
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'

References

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  1. ^ a b c Anāl at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "Meitei | Ethnologue". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019.
  3. ^ "Applications invited for local language training programme". Imphal Free Press.
  4. ^ Bareh 2007, p. 120
  5. ^ Devi, Thounaojam Thajamanbi (2015). A Descriptive Grammar of Anal. Silchar: Assam University.
  6. ^ Bareh 2007, pp. 119–128

Bibliography

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