Mongsen Ao language

The Ao alphabet is based on the Latin script 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 alphabet for Mongsen Ao.

A, B, C, E, I, J, K, L, M, N, Ng, O, P, R, S, T, U, Y, Z, Ü

This section describes the sound system of Mongsen Ao as spoken in Mangmetong village and is based on Coupe (2007).

Mongsen Ao has 6 vowels:

• The high central {{IPA|/ʉ/}} is rounded.
• The two low vowels {{IPA|/a, a̰/}} differ in terms of phonation type. {{IPA|/a/}} has modal voice (i.e. normal phonation); {{IPA|/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.

Mongsen Ao has 27 consonants:

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

Ao is a tonal language with 3 contrasting lexical tones:

• high
• mid
• low

All are register tones.

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 {{IPA|/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 {{IPA|/i, ʉ, u, a/}}. For example, {{IPA|/jàuŋ/}} → {{IPA|[jàu̯ŋ]}} 'species of centipede'.
• The following are the possible tautsyllabic combinations: {{IPA|[iu̯, ia̯, əʉ̯, əu̯, ai̯, aʉ̯, au̯]}}.

(C₂)

• The following consonants may occur in the optional syllable coda: unaspirated stops, nasals, and the rhotic {{IPA|/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.

{{Expand section|date=May 2008}}

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.

• Ao Naga

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Clark |first=E. W. |year=1981 |title=The Ao-Naga Grammar with Illustrations, Phrases, and Vocabulary |location=Delhi |publisher=Gian Publications, Mittal Publishers Distributors |orig-date=1893}}
• {{cite book |last=Coupe |first=Alexander R. |year=2003 |title=A Phonetic and Phonological Description of Ao: A Tibeto-Burman Language of Nagaland, North-east India |series=Pacific Linguistics |volume=543 |location=Canberra |publisher=The Australian National University |isbn=0-85883-519-3 |doi=10.15144/PL-543 |doi-access=free}}
• {{cite thesis |last=Coupe |first=Alexander R. |year=2004 |title=The Mongsen Dialect of Ao: a language of Nagaland |type=PhD dissertation |publisher=La Trobe University}}
• {{cite book |last=Coupe |first=Alexander R. |year=2007 |title=A grammar of Mongsen Ao |series=Mouton Grammar Library |volume=39 |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-019088-5 |doi=10.1515/9783110198522|s2cid=142215440 }}
• {{cite thesis |last=Escamilla |first=Ramón Matthew Jr. |year=2012 |title=An Updated Typology of Causative Constructions: Form-Function Mappings in Hupa (California Athabaskan), Chungli Ao (Tibeto-Burman), and Beyond |type=PhD dissertation |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4556v4g6 }}
• {{cite book |last=Gowda |first=K. S. Gurubasave |year=1972 |title=Ao-Naga Phonetic Reader |series=CIIL Phonetic Reader Series |volume=7 |location=Mysore |publisher=Central Institute of Indian Languages}}
• {{cite book |last=Gowda |first=K. S. Gurubasave |year=1975 |title=Ao Grammar |series=Grammar series |volume=1 |location=Mysore |publisher=Central Institute of Indian Languages}}
• {{cite book |last=Mills |first=J. P. |year=1926 |title=The Ao Nagas |location=London |publisher=MacMillan & Co. |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.143112/ |others=Foreword by Henry Balfour, supplementary notes and bibliography by J. H. Hutton}}

{{Incubator|njo}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080309011200/http://aonaga.com/ Ao Naga Tribe]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050914012710/http://www.iitg.ernet.in/rcilts/ao.htm Ao]
• [http://www.languageinindia.com/sep2001/bibleaonaga.html Bible Translation in Ao Naga] (Language in India)
• [http://www.languageinindia.com/nov2001/aofolktale.html Narrating an Ao Naga Folktale] (Language in India)

{{Sino-Tibetan languages}}

{{Kuki-Chin–Naga languages}}

{{Languages of Northeast India}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mongsen Ao Language}}

Category:Ao languages

Category:Languages of Nagaland