Lyngngam | |
Also Known As: | Lyngam |
Region: | Meghalaya, Assam |
States: | India |
Speakers: | 11,586 |
Date: | 2011 census |
Ref: | [1] |
Familycolor: | Austroasiatic |
Fam2: | Khasi-Palaungic |
Fam3: | Khasic |
Fam4: | Khasi-Pnar-Lyngngam |
Iso3: | lyg |
Glotto: | lyng1241 |
Glottorefname: | India Lyngam |
Lyngngam is an Austroasiatic language of Northeast India closely related to Khasi language. Once listed as a dialect of Khasi, Lyngngam has in recent literature been classified as a distinct language. Lyngngam speakers have food and dress similar to the neighboring Garo people.
The following table lists the consonants attested in Lyngngam.
Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | pronounced as //m// | pronounced as //n// | pronounced as //ɲ// | pronounced as //ŋ// | |||
Stop | voiceless | pronounced as //p// | pronounced as //t// | pronounced as //c// | pronounced as //k// | pronounced as //ʔ// | |
aspirated | pronounced as //pʰ// | pronounced as //tʰ// | pronounced as //cʰ// | pronounced as //kʰ// | |||
voiced | pronounced as //b// | pronounced as //d// | pronounced as //ɟ// | pronounced as //ɡ// | |||
Voiceless fricative | pronounced as //s// | pronounced as //h// | |||||
Liquid | pronounced as //l, r// | ||||||
Glide | pronounced as //w// | pronounced as //j// |
Lyngngam | Khasi | meaning | |
---|---|---|---|
pronounced as /cʔeŋ/ | pronounced as /çʔeŋ/ | bone | |
pronounced as /cɨppʰeu/ | pronounced as /çipʰeu/ | 10 | |
pronounced as /sɲjək/ | pronounced as /çɲiuʔ/ | hair | |
pronounced as /snaːr/ | pronounced as /çnjaʔ/ | chisel |
The following table lists the vowel inventory of the language. The only vowels showing a length distinction are pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //a//, in contradistinction to Khasi, where length is distinctive for all vowels.
Front unrounded | Central unrounded | Back rounded | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
High | pronounced as //i, iː// | pronounced as //ɨ// | pronounced as //u// | |
Mid | pronounced as //e// | pronounced as //ə// | pronounced as //o// | |
Low | pronounced as //a, aː// |
Words with diphthongs in Khasi have monophthongs in Lyngngam, as in the following pairs of cognates:
Lyngngam | Khasi | meaning | |
---|---|---|---|
pronounced as /bni/ | pronounced as /bnaːi/ | month | |
pronounced as /ksu/ | pronounced as /ksəu/ | dog | |
pronounced as /mot/ | pronounced as /miet/ | night |