The Konyak languages, or alternatively the Konyakian or Northern Naga languages, is a branch of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken by various Naga peoples in southeastern Arunachal Pradesh and northeastern Nagaland states of northeastern India. They are not particularly closely related to other Naga languages spoken further to the south, but rather to other Sal languages such as Jingpho and the Bodo-Garo languages. There are many dialects, and villages even a few kilometers apart frequently have to rely on a separate common language.

Proto-Northern Naga, the reconstructed proto-language of the Konyak languages, has been reconstructed by Walter French (1983).

Languages

Konyak–Chang:

• Konyak
• Chang
• Wancho
• Phom
• Khiamniungic
  • Khiamniungan
  • Leinong
  • Makyam
  • Ponyo

Tangsa–Nocte

• Tangsa (Tase)
  • Muklom
  • Pangwa Naga
  • Ponthai
  • Tikhak
• Nocte
• Tutsa

Ethnologue 17 adds Makyam (Paungnyuan), while Glottolog adds a Khiamniungic branch within the Konyak-Chang branch. Makyam is most closely related to Leinong (Htangan) (Naw Sawu 2016:6).

References

• French, Walter T. 1983. Northern Naga: A Tibeto-Burman mesolanguage. Ph.D. Dissertation, The City University of New York.
• Stirn, Aglaja, and Peter van Ham. 2003. The hidden world of the Naga: living traditions in Northeast India and Burma. Munich: Prestel.
• Saul, Jamie D. 2005. The Naga of Burma: Their festivals, customs and way of life. Bangkok, Thailand: Orchid Press.
• George van Driem (2001) Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill.

External links

• Classifying Konyak and other Naga languages