The Great Andamanese languages are a nearly extinct family of about half a dozen languages historically spoken across ten tribes on Great Andaman Island and the surrounding northern and central Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. Their relationship to other language families remains debated among linguists. The population of speakers collapsed from an estimated 5,000 in the late 18th century to just 19 individuals by 1961 following disease and colonial impacts, rebounding to around 52 by 2010; as of 2020 only three heritage speakers of Akajeru remained, the last active speakers of any variety.
Facts
RegionNorthern and central Andaman Islands, India, in the Indian Ocean 1 Proto-Language StatusInternal unity is contested: Abbi 2008 treats the sole surviving Great Andamanese variety as an isolate rather than a family, and long range comparativist Joseph Greenberg doubted the validity of Andamanese as a family; resemblance to the other Andaman family, Ongan, is mainly typological rather than lexical. 1 Partially Attested
Speaker CountOnly heritage or partial speakers remain, all of one lect, Akajeru, as of 2020 reports; the broader ethnic population had rebounded to 52 by 2010 after a low of 19 in 1961, but Hindustani is now the primary language of the group and most other lects have no speakers left. Sources
1. Wikipedia: Great Andamanese Languages
Wikimedia Foundationlead section, sentence 1
The Great Andamanese languages are a nearly extinct language family of half a dozen languages once spoken by the Great Andamanese peoples of the northern and central Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean, and part of the Andamanese sprachbund.
Languages and classification section
Specialists such as Abbi (2008) consider the surviving Great Andamanese language to be an isolate, and even long-range researchers such as Joseph Greenberg have expressed doubts as to the validity of Andamanese as a family.
History section, final sentence
As of reports published in 2020, there remained three heritage speakers of Akajeru.
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