Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL) A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.5.Issue 2. 2017 http://www.rjelal.com; (April-June) Email:[email protected] ISSN:2395-2636 (P); 2321-3108(O) BOOK REVIEW A GRAMMAR OF GREAT ANDAMANESE: AN ETHNOLINGUISTIC STUDY BY ANVITA ABBI -A BOOK REVIEW SHEELPA SWEETY PhD Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi [email protected] ABSTRACT This paper carries a descriptive review of the book The grammar of the great Andaman language: an ethnolinguistic study” by Dr. Anvita Abbi. It carries an in depth analysis of each chapter. The analysis are from the linguistic point of view. The ten chapters of book, extensively covering the phonology, morphology syntax and semantics of the language, are analyzed for their style and validity. It carries a note on the overall design and presentation of the book with references to the author’s prior work in the field. Key words: Grammar, Great andamanese, Anvita Abbi, Ethnolinguistic study The book “The grammar of the great the tribe, there were nine speakers. By the time the Andaman language: an ethnolinguistic study” by Dr. team left the Andamans for the last time in 2009 Anvita Abbi is a first ever descriptive account of the there were only six left. The last speaker of Bo, a language. As the tittle suggests the book is an variety of Great Andamanese, also died in January account not only of the grammar of the language 2010. At present there are only five speakers with but it also studies the way the language reflects the varying degrees of competence in the perception, cognition and world view of the language……….All the languages spoken by these community. The book is a product of Dr. Abbi’s peoples are endangered as their population bases forty months of research and toil in the face of dwindle and Hindi extends its reach ever further in indifferent officials and difficult living conditions of the islands. Great Andamanese is the closest to the island. As she mentions in the preface, her extinction, however; today only two of the four endeavor was funded and backed by a major northern varieties of the language survive. The language documentation project Vanishing Voices other two, Khora and Bo, became extinct with the of the Great Andamanese (VOGA), under the passing of their last speakers Boro Sr. and Boa Sr. patronage of the Hans Rausing Endangered respectively”. Languages Project, I, which was undertaken from The book is neatly divided into ten chapters 2005 to 2009 in the Andaman Islands Islands. extensively covering the phonology, morphology As the name of the project suggests, the aim syntax and semantics of the language. The of the author was to preserve and document the appendices in the book neatly provide extra reminiscence of the language in the face of its fast information for aiding the comprehensive account endangerment. The author recounts in the preface of the chapters. The author provides a genealogical of the book- “Present-day Great Andamanese (PGA) sketch of the informants in the first appendix in is a highly endangered language; when the VOGA order to outline the influence and interference of team first visited Strait Island, the current home of other languages (if any) in their speech. The book 1 SHEELPA SWEETY Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL) A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.5.Issue 2. 2017 http://www.rjelal.com; (April-June) Email:[email protected] ISSN:2395-2636 (P); 2321-3108(O) also contains a narrative of a folk tale of the Hence, Aka-Cari a North Great Andamanese community “The Great Narrative of Phertajido” language, was mutually unintelligible with Âkà- Bêa, which not only gives us the structure of language in the southern variety. The present-day Great continuation but also provides us perpectives into Andamanese language is a mixture of four northern the culture and community life of the tribe. The varieties4 with several linguistic inputs levelled to author carefully lays out the list of all abbreviations generate the current speech: a koiné (Manoharan and symbols used in the book. 1989). Present day Great Andamanese(PGA) draws Linguists in post-independent era classified its lexicon from Jeru, Sare, Khora and Bo, but is all the languages spoken in the islands as primarily based on the grammar of Jeru. Constituting one family (Basu 1952, 1955, In the introductory chapter, the author Manoharan 1980, 1983). It was on the basis of the begins the descriptive view of the language with a author’s pilot survey of the Andamanese languages, view on the ecology of the language as well. i.e., Onge, Jarawa and PGA (Abbi 2003, that it was Starting from the geographical topography to indicated that it may be possible to establish the population, historical evolution between Present- Great Andamanese language(s) as forming one Day Great Andaman and the Great Andamanese, family that is distinct from the language family to The Strait Island, the readers are given an which Jarawa and Onge belong. overwhelming overview of the socio-cultural Subsequent studies of a comparative, geographical milieu of the language. “Language historical and typological nature of the three Ecology” a term used by Einar Haugan in his languages based on extensive field work (Abbi 2005, book The Ecology of Language (Stanford University 2006a, 2006b) and fresh data from Jarawa (Kumar Press, 1972).who used the metaphor of an 2005), as well as citation of non-linguistic proofs ecosystem to describe the relationships among the (e.g., cultural, anthropological, archaeological and diverse forms of language found in the world, and genetic) substantiated the thesis (Abbi 2009) that the groups of people who speak them. The author the languages of the Andaman belonged to two in this book reflects upon the aspects of the distinct families, i.e. Great Andamanese and Angan. language in this settings(sociological) in which the Great Andamanese is a cover term that has language thrives. been used for 10 disparate groups of the tribes The chapter also makes a comprehensive living in the Great Andaman, each speaking a reading for anyone who wishes to have brief and different language but mutually intelligible to its quick overview on the ecology of the language. The neighbouring tribe. It constitutes the sixth language author establishes the typological differences family of India (Abbi 2006b, 2009, Blevins 2007). between the Andamanese and Angan languages There are ten languages, which can be grouped into thus proving the existence of PGA as an three varieties: southern, central and northern. independent language family. There are two distinct language families in the The readers are presented a sociolinguistic Andaman Islands, i.e. Great Andamanese and sketch of the language. The author reports a bleak Angan, the latter being associated to the picture of the competence of the speakers of the Austronesian language family (Blevins 2007). language. On a scale of five, the limited speakers The Great Andamanese family is constituted when judged for competence, it was found that the of ten languages, which can be grouped into three most competent speakers were all above the age of varieties: southern, central and northern. Except for forty. The mean age of the semi-speakers was Jeru and Sare all of the Great Andamanese thirty-five. It is clear that the level of competence languages are now extinct. The Great Andamanese goes down with age, the oldest having the best and languages formed a ‘linguistic continuum’, so that the younger generation having the least knowledge, each language was closely related to its neighbour which shows the gradual process of language on each side but those at the extreme ends of the erosion which is a indication of the fact that the geographic continuum were mutually unintelligible. 2 SHEELPA SWEETY Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL) A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.5.Issue 2. 2017 http://www.rjelal.com; (April-June) Email:[email protected] ISSN:2395-2636 (P); 2321-3108(O) language is not transmitted from the older part terms based on the area of the body they refer generation to the younger generation effectively. to. These classes also classify other inalienables, The second chapter of the book is on the with some semantic connection to the body part Phonetics and Phonology of the language. In this system. Furthermore, body part semantics pervade section the author presents the distribution and the lexical and grammatical system of the language phonotactics of vowels and consonants as this dual system is extended to other form respectively. The author mentions that “A high classes, viz. verbs, adjectives and adverbs. The body variation among the speakers in the inventory of division class markers occur as proclitics attached to vowels and consonants was noted, most likely all classes of content words. Thus, all content words because of the ‘koiné’ and ‘mixed’ nature of the in PGA can easily be divided into bound and free, language. Another factor leading to such variation the former necessarily imbued with the semantics could be that as the language is on the verge of of ‘inherency’ and ‘dependency’. This is a unique extinction, community members do not remember and important feature of the language: that all parts many words and their exact pronunciation, and of speech occur as dependent and non dependent therefore offer varied sounds for the same word”. pairs, the former being obligatorily marked. The vowel chart and the phonemic contrasts and The fourth chapter in the book is on the sequencing are well discussed by the author. PGA Word Formation Processes in the language. The has a seven ‐ vowel system and offers a large author introduces the reader to the four types of possibility of combinations in the area of vowel word formation process in the language which are sequences or clusters.