Language family of Tibet and northeast India
The Digaro (Digarish), Northern Mishmi (Mishmic), or Kera'a–Tawrã[1] 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).
External relationships
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.
Blench (2014) classifies the Digaro languages as part of the Greater Siangic group of languages.
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
|
da31 raŋ53
|
tɕi31 moŋ35
|
tɑ31 rɑŋ35
|
Digaru;
Digaru Mishmi
|
| Kaman people
|
tɕɑu53
|
kɯ31 mɑn35
|
mi31 tɕu55
|
Midzu
|
| Idu people
|
dju55;
dju55 ta31 rɑŋ53;
dɑi53
|
min31 dɑu55;
hu53
|
i53 du55
|
Chulikata Mishmi
|
| Zha people 扎人
|
tɕɑ31 kʰen55
|
tɕɑ31 kreŋ35
|
—
|
—
|
| Tibetan people
|
lɑ31 mɑ55;
mei53 bom55
|
dɯ31 luŋ35;
hɑi35 hɯl55
|
ɑ31 mi53;
pu53;
mi31 si55 pu53
|
—
|
Registers
Idu, Tawra, Kman, and Meyor all share a system of multiple language registers, which are (Blench 2016):[2]
- ordinary speech
- speech of hunters: lexical substitution, the replacement of animal names and others by special lexical forms, and sometimes short poems
- speech of priests/shamans: more complex, involving much language which is difficult to understand, and also lengthy descriptions of sacrificial animals
- poetic/lyrical register (not in Idu, but appears in Kman)
- mediation register (only in Idu?)
- babytalk register
