Nicobarese languages

The Nicobarese languages or Nicobaric languages, form an isolated group of about half a dozen closely related Austroasiatic languages, spoken by most of the inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands of India. They have a total of about 30,000 speakers (22,100 native). Most Nicobarese speakers speak the Car language. Paul Sidwell (2015:179) considers the Nicobarese languages to subgroup with Aslian. The Nicobarese languages appear to be related to the Shompen language of the indigenous inhabitants of the interior of Great Nicobar Island (Blench & Sidwell 2011), which is usually considered a separate branch of Austroasiatic. However, Paul Sidwell (2017) classifies Shompen as a Southern Nicobaric language rather than as a separate branch of Austroasiatic. The morphological similarities between Nicobarese and Austronesian languages have been used as evidence for the Austric hypothesis (Reid 1994). From north to south, the Nicobaric languages are: Car: Car (Pū) Chaura–Teressa: Chaura (Tutet/Sanënyö), Teressa (Taih-Long/Lurö) Central: Nancowry (Nang-kauri/Mūöt), Camorta, Katchal (Tehnu) Southern: Southern Nicobarese (Sambelong), Shompen (Shom Peng) Paul Sidwell (2017) classifies the Nicobaric languages as follows.