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Konyak is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Konyak people of Nagaland, northeastern India.

Konyak
Native to	Nagaland, India
Ethnicity	Konyak
Native speakers	244,477 (2011 census)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Brahmaputran Konyak Konyak–Chang Konyak
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nbe
Glottolog	kony1248
ELP	Konyak Naga
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Dialects

Ethnologue lists the following dialects of Konyak.

Tableng is the standard dialect spoken in Wanching and Wakching.

Phonology

There are three lexically contrastive contour tones in Konyak – rising (marked in writing by an acute accent – á), falling (marked by a grave accent – à) and level (unmarked).[2]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open		a

The vowels /a/, /o/ and /u/ are lengthened before approximants. /ə/ doesn't occur finally.

Consonants

	Bilabial	Dental/ Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p pʰ	t̪	c	k kʰ	ʔ
Nasal	m	n̪	ɲ	ŋ
Fricative			s		h
Lateral		l
Approximant	w		j

The stops /p/ and /k/ contrast with the aspirated /pʰ/ and /kʰ/. /p/ and /c/ become voiced intervocalically across morpheme boundaries. The dental /t/ is realised as an alveolar if preceded by a vowel with a rising tone. The approximants /w/ and /j/ are pronounced laxer and shorter after vowels; /w/ becomes tenser initially before high vowels. If morpheme-initial or intervocalic, /j/ is pronounced with audible friction.[3] /pʰ/, /kʰ/, /c/, /ɲ/, /s/, /h/ and /l/ do not occur morpheme-finally, while /ʔ/ does not appear morpheme-initially. Except for morpheme-initial /kp/ and /kʰl/, consonant clusters occur only medially.[4]

References

Bibliography

• Nagaraja, K.S. (2010), Konyak Grammar, Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages, ISBN 978-81-7342-195-2

Further reading

• Ine Jongne Jame (1957), Primer for Adults in Konyak Language, Guwahati
• Kumar, Brij Bihari (1972), Hindi-Konyak Dictionary, Kohima: Nagaland Bhasha Parishad
• Kumar, Brij Bihari (1972), Konyak Vyakaran ki Ruprekha, Kohima: Nagaland Bhasha Parishad
• Nagaraja, K.S. (1996), Kinship terms in Konyak Naga (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2012, retrieved 18 July 2011
• Nagaraja, K.S., Konyak–Hindi–English Dictionary, Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages
• Nagaraja, K.S., "Relativization in Konyak", Indian Linguistics, 45: 41–8

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