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Ao is a Kuki-Chin-Naga language (of the Tibeto-Burman family) spoken by the Ao of Nagaland in northeast India. Gordon (2005) estimates that there are 141,000 speakers.

Missionary grammars from the late 19th century exist. A grammatical description is Gowda (1975). Coupe (2003) is one of the few acoustic studies published on a Kuki-Chin-Naga language (only three exist). Coupe also has a reference grammar in progress.

Regional variation

Location of Nagaland

There are 2 main varieties of Ao with various sub-lects:

1. Chungli
   • Chungli
   • trans-Dikhu "dialects"
2. Mongsen
   • Mongsen
   • Changki

Chungli is spoken in Molungyimchen and Molungyimsen and other villages throughout Ao territory by roughly 60% of the Ao-speaking population. The speech of Molungyimsen is the prestige dialect due to Baptist missionaries' influence. Most Ao can speak Chungli even if they are from Mongsen-speaking regions. Chungli is taught in schools. The trans-Dikhu lects are spoken east of the Dikhu River in Yacham, Tengsa, and Longla.

Mongsen is spoken primarily in the western part of Ao territory. Changki is spoken in the Changkikong and Japukong mountains and is reportedly close to the Mongsen variety.

The speech of each Ao village has its own distinctive characteristics. Many villages contain both Chungli and Mongsen speakers.

Sounds

This section describes the sound system of Mongsen Ao as spoken in Waromung village and is based on Coupe (2003).

Consonants

Mongsen Ao has 20 (or 21) consonants:

• Dental consonants /t, tʰ, ʦ, ʦʰ, s, z, n, l/ are laminal denti-alveolar.
• The post-alveolar approximant /ɹ/ varies from an apical post-alveolar to a subapical retroflex articulation: [ɹ̱~ɻ].
• The glottal stop /ʔ/ occurs only at the end of words. However, in this position it contrasts with words ending in vowels: /āmī/ 'spear' vs. /āmīʔ/ 'person'. When a suffix is added to such words, the /ʔ/ is deleted: /tʃàʔ/ 'to eat' + /-ʉ̄ʔ/ CAUS → /tʃàʉʔ/ 'to cause to eat'. Thus, the glottal stop has a somewhat marginal phonemic status.

Vowels

Mongsen Ao has 6 vowels:

• The high central /ʉ/ is rounded.
• The two low vowels /a, a̰/ differ in terms of phonation type. /a/ has modal voice (i.e. normal phonation); /a̰/ has creaky voice (also known as vocal fry, laryngealization). Coupe (2003) argues that this is a separate vowel phoneme and not a tone, a glottal stop, or resulting from prosodic effects.

Tone

Ao is a tonal language with 3 contrasting lexical tones:

• high
• mid
• low

All are register tones.

Syllable and phonotactics

The generalized syllable structure of Ao is abbreviated as the following:

(C₁)V(G)(C₂)+T

(C₁)

• Any of the 20 consonants may appear as an optional syllable onset (excluding the word-final /ʔ/).

V

• All 6 vowels may occur as the syllable nucleus.

(G)

• The optional glide elements following the head vowel are essentially non-syllabic offglide realizations of the 4 vowels /i, ʉ, u, a/. For example, /jàuŋ/ → [jàu̯ŋ] 'species of centipede'.
• The following are the possible tautsyllabic combinations: [iu̯, ia̯, əʉ̯, əu̯, ai̯, aʉ̯, au̯].

(C₂)

• The following consonants may occur in the optional syllable coda: unaspirated stops, nasals, and the rhotic /p, t, k, m, n, ŋ, ɹ/. The glottal stop with its restricted distribution also occurs but only word-finally.

T

All syllables occur with one of the three tones. In a VG sequence, tone only occurs the vowel head.

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (May 2008)

Syntax

Ao is an SOV language with postpositions. Adjectives, numerals and demonstratives follow the nouns they modify, whilst relative clauses may be either externally or internally headed. Adverbial subordinators are suffixes attached to the verb and the end of the subordinate clause.

Orthography

Ao orthography is based on the Roman alphabet and was developed in the 1880s by the Christian missionary Edward W. Clark for Chungli Ao. The system is not based on phonemic principles and does not represent tone. A Christian bible was published using the orthography in 1964. Coupe (2003) suggests a more consistent orthography for Mongsen Ao.

See also

• Ao (people)
• Tibeto-Burman languages

External links

• Ao Naga Tribe
• Ao
• Entry for Ao Naga at Rosetta Project
• Bible Translation in Ao Naga (Language in India)
• Narrating an Ao Naga Folktale (Language in India)

Bibliography

• Clark, E. W. (1981). The Ao-Naga grammar with illustrations, phrases, and vocabulary. Delhi: Gian Publications, Mittal Publishers Distributors. (Original work published 1893).
• Coupe, A. R. (2003). A phonetic and phonological description of Ao: A Tibeto-Burman language of Nagaland, north-east India. Pacific linguistics (No. 543). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University. ISBN 0-85883-519-3.
• Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.). (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the world (15th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-159-X. (Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com).
• Gowda, K. S. Gurubasave. (1972). Ao-Naga phonetic reader. CIIL phonetic reader series (No. 7). Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages.
• Gowda, K. S. Gurubasave. (1975). Ao grammar. Grammar series (No. 1). Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages.