Introduction to Tangam Language and Culture

CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Tangam Language and Culture

A Who and Where are the Tangam?

The Tangam language [taŋam] is spoken by around 150 Tani hill-tribespeople in the Upper Siang District of the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh, in the central Eastern Himalaya. The primary Tangam-speaking village is Kuging [kugɨŋ], a village which had twenty-six households in 2013. Nyereng [ɲereŋ] and Mayung [mayuŋ] are smaller villages in the same area in which much smaller numbers of Tangam speakers can be found. Several Tangam speakers have established households in the nearby town of Tuting [tutɨŋ], a melting pot of speakers of Bodic languages, speakers of Upper Adi varieties, and Hindi-speaking shop- keepers and Indian military personnel. However, the roots of Tangam speakers remain firmly in the village of Kuging, which is where research for this book was primarily conducted. The word “Tangam” is itself of uncertain origin, and may not have been used as an autonym for the Tangam-speaking group, or for their language, until recent times (in general in the Tani-speaking area, indi- viduals primarily identify themselves in terms of clan and village affiliations, and only secondarily – if at all – adhere to broader ethnolinguistic labels such as “Tangam” or “Adi”). Nevertheless, the label “Tangam” does not seem to be at all objectionable to Tangam speakers, and will be used in this book to refer both to the Tangam language, and to the group of people who speak it.

B Linguistic and Cultural Context

Tangam is a member of the Tani subgroup of Trans-Himalayan [= Sino-Tibetan or Tibeto-Burman] languages – one of the largest and most diverse language families in the world. As a Trans-Himalayan language, Tangam is distantly related to Tibetan, Burmese, and Chinese, as well as many of its Eastern Himalayan neighbour languages such as Kera’a (Idu), Koro, Bugun, and so on. However, the closest linguistic relatives of Tangam are other languages of the Tani subgroup, such as Apatani, Galo and Lower Adi. Within their immediate vicinity, Tangam speakers are traditionally bor- dered on the east, west and south by speakers of closely related Tani languages. To the south and west are found speakers of Aashing, an Eastern Tani lect with a relatively small population and distribution, in addition to speakers of other

Figure 1 North-eastern India, showing the approximate location of Upper Siang District, Arunachal Pradesh in rectangular outline (see Figure 2).