silesr2015 016.

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A Brief Survey among the Adi

of Arunachal Pradesh

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A Brief Survey among the Adi of Arunachal Pradesh

Tutum Padung and Kara Sako

SIL International

®

2015

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Abstract

The Adi language consists of fourteen or fifteen sub-groups. Currently language development and translation work have been conducted in one of these varieties, called Padam. The purpose of this sociolinguistic survey was to determine whether further language development work should be carried out in any of the other varieties. For this purpose, wordlist comparisons were used as well recorded text questions, questionnaires and interviews. The results showed that the Adi have a positive attitude towards their mother tongue and are actively using it especially in the home. The survey showed that there are largely two groupings of Adi and that the more geographically and linguistically divergent language varieties would benefit from a separate translation and literacy project.

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1 Introduction

1.1 Overview

A brief survey among the Adi, a scheduled tribe distributed in Arunachal Pradesh of India, was carried out in order to determine whether besides the Padam any other Adi groups would benefit from

translation work into their mother tongue. A team of two members conducted the research from July 10 to 17, 2004, and covered the following districts: East Siang, West Siang and Upper Siang.

Sociolinguistic survey helps to assess whether language development and translation should be carried out for a particular people group. It looks at issues such as the relatedness of the language to other language varieties, whether the people are continuing to speak their language, how well the community understands a more widely spoken language, and the attitudes that the group has about their language.

Thus the goals of this particular survey were the following:

• To investigate language relationships in Adi, particularly the relationship between the Padam variety and more distinct Adi varieties (such as Milang).

• To find out the geographical areas where some of the smaller and lesser-known groups are living (such as Tangam, Pailibo and Ramo).

• Among Adi sub-groups for which there is doubt, find out patterns of language use, vitality and attitudes towards their own variety and other Adi varieties.

• To investigate issues related to the impact of the Scriptures in Adi.

During the course of the trip, a number of people were asked for their assistance in giving

information, including college students as well as villagers. In addition, pastors and church leaders were contacted for their insights and assistance. Other people contributed to help complete the study. The researchers want to thank all those who assisted in various ways.

1.2 People and language

The Adi people are distributed in East Siang, West Siang, Upper Siang, Dibang Valley and some parts of Upper Subansiri districts of Arunachal Pradesh. According to the 1981 census, the total population of Adi, including all sub-groups, was 121,052. According to the 1991 census, the population rose to 158,409.

The Adi community is predominantly rural with more than 98 percent of the population living in rural areas. The Adi live in the rugged mountainous and hilly terrain, which is covered by streams and tropical, dense evergreen, and semi-deciduous forests. The area abounds with bears, deer, wolves, hornbills, elephants, tigers and snow-bears. It enjoys a moderate climate with cool temperatures and heavy rainfall.

Adi is a generic term, meaning ‘hill men’. Formerly the Adi were called Abor (Roy 1967). They disliked the term because it meant ‘unruly’ or ‘savage’. According to Adi legend, Abo Tani was the first man from whom the community descended. The people originally came from the northern region and settled in the present area (Singh 1995).

The Adi are divided into fifteen major sub-groups, namely Ashing, Bokar, Bori, Gallong (Galo, Gallo), Karko, Komkar, Milang, Minyong, Padam, Pailibo, Pangi, Pasi, Ramo, Shimong and Tangam (Singh 1995:53).1

1_{The Galo have separated themselves from the Adi community, and do not consider themselves as Adi. (The}

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Among the Adi sub-groups, Ashing, Karko, Komkar, Milang, Minyong, Padam, Pailibo, Pangi, Pasi and Shimong are concentrated in the East Siang district.2_{Padam is concentrated in Dibang Valley district}

also. Bokar, Bori, Gallong, Ramo and Tangam are concentrated in West Siang district. Gallongs are found in some parts of Upper Subansiri as well.

A council called kebang is common among Adi for resolving various disputes. There are three types of councils: bane-kebang (village council), banggo-kebang (comprising more than two villages), and bogum-bokang (comprising the whole community of the state). A dispute is first taken before the village council, the bane-kebang. If the dispute is not resolved, it then moves to the higher councils.

The Adi speak a language which is classified as Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, North Assam, Tani (Lewis et al. 2015). According to the Ethnologue, alternative names of Adi are Abor, Arbor, Lhoba, Luoba and Bogaer. For writing in Adi, Roman script is mostly used, with some Devanagri. For speaking with non-Adi people of the state, Hindi, Assamese and Nepali are used.

2 Results

2.1 Dialects

2.1.1 Wordlists

Comparing wordlists is a common method of determining the relationship among speech varieties. The degree of similarity in wordlist vocabularies is referred to as lexical similarity. Speech communities that have more terms in common (thus a higher percentage of lexical similarity) are more likely to

understand one another than speech communities that have fewer terms in common—assuming there is no contact between speakers of the communities. Lexical similarity findings through wordlists give a broad overview of the relationships among speech varieties, and when percentages are low, signify distinct languages.

In this survey, a wordlist consisting of 307 items was collected among nine Adi language groups. Because of limitations of travel and access to the rural areas, many wordlists were elicited in the town where speakers of the varieties live. Wordlists were transcribed using the International Phonetic

Alphabet (IPA). The following wordlist information is found in the appendices: IPA charts (appendix A), the nine wordlists, information about each wordlist and lexical similarity counting procedures (appendix B).

Figure 1 is a matrix of the wordlist comparisons, expressed as a percentage of lexical similarity.

Padam

83 Shimong 76 80 Minyong

74 76 72 Ashing (Bogum-Bokang) 63 68 70 72 Bori

55 57 58 61 65 Pailibo 51 53 51 53 57 69 Bokar 49 50 49 51 54 65 72 Ramo 34 33 28 32 27 24 23 22 Milang

Figure 1. Lexical similarity percentages of all speech varieties compared in this study.

2_{During interviews with some Ashing people, they said Ashing are found somewhere in China, and they do not use}

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The overall lexical similarity percentages among all Adi wordlists ranges from 22 to 83 percent. The wordlist from Milang is the most divergent of all, with low percentages of 22–34 percent between it and the other wordlists.

Two main clusters emerge in the matrix. One cluster is comprised of wordlists from Padam, Shimong, Minyong, Ashing and Bori, with lexical similarity percentages ranging from 63 to 83 percent. The Ashing wordlist has a higher similarity than expected, since the language is reported to be difficult for some people to understand. In general, the wordlists in this cluster represent language groups that are geographically closer to one another than they are to the language groups from other locations.

The other cluster is comprised of the Pailibo, Bokar and Ramo wordlists, with lexical similarity percentages ranging from 65 to 72 percent. As with the other cluster, these language groups are

generally close to one another geographically. The similarity between these two clusters is relatively low, ranging from 49 to 65 percent. (It should be noted that the threshold for deciding whether intelligibility is possible is 60 percent.)3

2.1.2 Recorded text questions

An additional method, termed recorded text questions, was used to gather further information about Adi dialects. Passages of Scripture in the Padam variety of Adi were recorded and played for six people from five other Adi groups.4_{Questions were asked regarding the subjects’ understanding of the Padam speech}

variety and attitudes toward it.

Two of the six subjects correctly identified the language in the passages as Padam. The other four subjects said Minyong. Half of the subjects said that they were able to recognise the place where the storyteller was from because of the language/dialect he used. Some subjects gave other reasons, such as his pronunciation or style.

Five out of the six subjects said that the speech on the recording was good, and one said it was average. Four subjects said that the speech was pure. The two subjects who felt that the language was not pure said it was mixed, one saying with Minyong and Padam.

In response to the question “Is the storyteller’s speech a little or very different from your speech?” two subjects said it was a little different, and the remaining four said that it was very different. Subjects felt that the speech was different from their own because of pronunciation, words and style.

Five of the six subjects said that they understood half or more of the Adi-Padam passage. The Ramo person said she could understand only 30 percent of the text.

2.1.3 Questionnaires

A questionnaire was used to gather general information about dialect perceptions (as well as language use, language attitudes and vitality, and bilingualism, discussed below). Subjects were asked questions regarding the speech of different Adi groups, such as how well they understood the people and how different it was from their own speech.

A total of eight subjects representing eight different Adi groups were administered the

questionnaires; one questionnaire was administered in each group. The questionnaire subjects were the same as the wordlist subjects, except that no questionnaire was administered to the Padam subject. Almost all the subjects were young and educated. Figure 2 gives the locations where the questionnaires (and wordlists) were administered.

3_{According to Blair (1990:23), any speech varieties above 60 percent lexical similarity indicate the possibility of}

adequate comprehension, but intelligibility testing would be necessary to confirm this. Speech varieties that have less than 60 percent lexical similarity are typically considered to represent different languages.

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Dialect District Adi-Minyong East Siang

Adi-Ramo East Siang

Adi-Ashing Upper Siang Adi-Pailibo West Siang Adi-Shimong Upper Siang

Adi-Bokar West Siang

Adi-Bogum Bokang Upper Siang Adi-Milang East Siang

Figure 2. Sites where wordlists and questionnaires were administered.

In response to the question of whether there are areas where Adi is spoken very differently from the way subjects speak, all subjects except one said yes. Five subjects mentioned that it is Milang people who live in these areas.

Subjects were asked if they had met Adi people from different areas and how much they can understand of their language. In response, subjects mentioned Milang as being different, with such comments as, “I will not understand Milang.”

Subjects were asked whether they had met people from groups that are relatively unknown such as Tangam, Pailibo and Ramo. Whatever group people mentioned, half said the group’s language is very different. Subjects were also asked how much those people understand of their language. The responses were mixed, but there was a general acknowledgement that other groups have difficulty understanding them. The Shimong subject said that Milang can understand all.

Two questions were asked about where the purest/sweetest Adi is spoken.5 _{Subjects were not able to}

say unanimously a particular place. Padam is the dialect in which most Adi literature is found, which might be a reason that two subjects, who are not mother tongue speakers of Padam, mentioned that as the purest variety. Another person mentioned Padam as the second purest variety. The most common reasons given for people’s selection was that they understand the variety and therefore consider it to be pure.

2.1.4 Interviews

Interviews with members of the Adi community also helped to understand more about the Adi people and the relationship among various Adi sub-groups.

A church official from Shimong area said that the people who live in the Tangam area (in Tuting Circle in Upper Siang) speak in Shimong dialect. He further said that Milang and Bokar speak very differently from the other Adi groups. A literacy program or any other language development program would be very helpful for these groups, he added.

Another speaker, who is Bokar, said that if we provided the Bible, Bible portions, song books, books, and other materials in their mother tongue, we would be most welcome and they would help us in whatever way they could. He said that, though the church uses the Adi Bible (which is in the Padam variety), people are not able to understand it. He himself uses the Bible in English and Hindi. Though this person has been living for 19 years among Padam speakers, he is unable to understand their language fully.

Another speaker, who is Ramo, said that they rarely read the Adi Bible because they can’t understand it. Even in worship services they use Hindi songs, and some Bokar and English.

5_{The two questions were, “In which area do you think the purest/sweetest Adi is spoken?” and, “Where is the second}

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According to another church official, Milang can easily understand the Padam dialect, but Padam people cannot understand Milang. Milang are concentrated in East Siang, Upper Siang and Dibang Valley districts, and number approximately 11,000.

2.2 Language use

A study of language use patterns attempts to describe which languages the members of a community use in different social situations, called domains. Speakers were asked a number of questions about the various languages they choose to speak in selected domains.

The mother tongue was reported by all subjects to be the language used at home with family members, with children, and with neighbouring villagers (who are mother tongue speakers of the same language). For puja (worship), the mother tongue was reported to be used by six out of the eight subjects. Hindi shows a higher level of reported use with friends who are from a different group, with neighbouring villagers (if they speak a different language) and in the market.

2.3 Language attitudes and vitality

A study of language attitudes attempts to describe people’s feelings and preferences towards their own language and other speech varieties around them. Language vitality looks at indications of whether people’s mother tongue will continue to be spoken in future generations. A few questions were asked about these concepts.

Responses to the language attitudes questions were overall positive towards Adi. For the question, “What language do you want your children to learn first?” everyone said Adi, except for one person who would prefer his children to learn English first. All subjects were favourable towards reading and writing in the mother tongue—both for themselves and for their children.

There were corresponding positive attitudes towards Hindi. When it was asked whether it is good for a person to speak only Adi, everyone said no, it is not good. This is likely because people recognise the importance of knowing Hindi. In fact, seven out of eight people said that they need to speak Hindi (along with English) in order to get a job.6_{However, speaking only Hindi appears not to be acceptable.}

All subjects said no to the question of whether they would be happy if their child spoke only Hindi. In terms of language vitality, it was asked, “After 50 years, do you think Adi will be spoken?” All eight subjects said yes, definitely. And how would subjects feel if the younger generation stopped speaking Adi? Everyone said they would feel bad if this were to happen.

2.4 Bilingualism

Bilingualism is the ability to speak and understand a language other than one’s mother tongue. A few questions were included in the questionnaire to gain an overall understanding of Adi people’s

bilingualism levels. As mentioned earlier, eight subjects representing eight Adi groups were administered the questionnaire.

Six out of the eight subjects said there are people in their village who do not speak Hindi. These kinds of people are uneducated and older men and women. Four people claimed they could speak Hindi as well as they speak Adi, three felt they could not speak Hindi as well as Adi, and one person said she could speak Hindi half as well as she speaks Adi. Subjects were asked how well they understand the Hindi or Assamese programmes broadcast on radio and TV. Six said they could understand half. One person said 80 percent. Another said she could understand Hindi fully but Assamese not at all. Subjects said they use Hindi at the market, in offices and schools, and with outsiders.

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3 Conclusions and recommendations

Based on wordlists, recorded text questions, questionnaires and interviews, there is sufficient information to conclude that the language of some Adi groups, particularly Milang, is considerably divergent from other Adi varieties. Bokar, Pailibo and Ramo also appear to be quite different from other Adi varieties looked at in this research.

Based on questionnaire responses in the areas of language use, language attitudes and vitality, and bilingualism, it is evident that Adi is well used in many situations, particularly the home and village domains. It is apparent that Adi people believe their language will continue to be spoken in generations to come. Attitudes of Adi people are overall positive towards their mother tongue, as well as towards Hindi. Though the usage of Hindi is fairly extensive throughout the Adi region, there are people, particularly the uneducated and elderly, who have difficulties in understanding and speaking Hindi adequately.

The Adi New Testament is based on the Padam dialect. During the course of this research, a number of people commented that they and others cannot fully understand the Scriptures in Adi. In some cases the Bible in Hindi and English are used. Groups such as Ashing (Bogum Bokang), Bokar, Bori, Milang, Pailibo and Ramo may need separate translation work into their own mother tongue. Literacy work, which various people expressed an interest in assisting with, should be considered as an important complement to any language development efforts.

Largely because of difficulties in understanding the existing Adi Scriptures, people from different groups such as Bokar, Milang, Pailibo and Ramo expressed an interest and desire to have the Scriptures in their own mother tongue. In Rayang village in East Siang district, one person said his group, Milang, do not fully understand the Adi Bible. He said almost all the Milangs are Christians, and that it would be very helpful if they could have the Bible in their own mother tongue—and if not the whole Bible, at least some books or portions.

For certain Adi groups such as Minyong, Pasi and Shimong, it is believed that the current New Testament in the Padam variety may effectively be used. Understanding of Padam seems to be adequate among these groups. These groups also do not appear to have negative attitudes toward the Adi-Padam variety. There are other Adi subgroups where research was not done who also may be able to understand the Padam Scriptures. Further study would be helpful to clarify these uncertainties.

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Appendix A

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

Consonants

Bila-bial Labio-dental

Dental Alveo-lar

Post alveo-lar

Alveo-palatal

Retro-flex

Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn- geal

Glottal

Plosive p b t̪ d̪ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k g q ɢ ʔ

Nasal m ɱ n̪ n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ

Fricative ɸ β f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ɕ ʑ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ h ɦ

Affricate p_ɸ _bβ _t̪s _d̪z ts dz t_ʃ d_ʒ t_ɕ d_ʑ

Lateral l _ɭ _ʎ _ʟ

Lateral

fricative ɬ ɮ

Flap ɾ ɽ

Trill ʙ r ʀ

Approxi-mant

w ʋ ɹ ɻ j ɰ

Consonant Diacritics

Aspirated h t_ʃh

Velar/Pharyn-

gealised ̴ l̴

Labialised w bw

Palatalised j nj

Ejective ' p'

Unreleased ̚ ʈ̚

Voiced _̬ _k̬

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Vowels7

Front Central Back

Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded

Close i y ɨ ʉ ɯ u

Near-close ɪ ʏ ʊ

Close-mid e ø _ɤ o

Mid _ə _ɵ

Open-mid _ɛ œ _ɜ _ʌ _ɔ

Near-open æ ɐ

Open a ɶ ɑ ɒ

Vowel Diacritics

Nasalisation _̃ _ẽ

Long _ː _iː

Centralised ̈ ö

7_{Wordlists and recorded text tests were transcribed using different phonetic systems, particularly in regard to}

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Appendix B

Wordlists

Lexical Similarity Counting Procedures8

A standardised list of 307 vocabulary items was collected from speakers at key locations for each of the speech varieties studied in this survey. In standard procedure, the 307 words are elicited from a person who has grown up in the target locality. Ideally, the list is then collected a second time from another speaker at the same site. Any differences in responses are examined in order to identify (1) inaccurate responses due to misunderstanding of the elicitation cue, (2) loan words offered in response to the language of elicitation when indigenous terms are actually still in use, and (3) terms which are at different places along the generic-specific lexical scale. Normally, a single term is recorded for each item of the wordlist. However, more than one term is recorded for a single item when more than one specific term occupies the semantic area of a more generic item on the wordlist.

The wordlists are compared to determine the extent to which the vocabulary of each pair of speech forms is similar. No attempt is made to identify genuine cognates based on a network of sound

correspondences. Rather, two items are judged to be phonetically similar if at least half of the segments compared are the same (category 1), and of the remaining segments at least half are rather similar (category 2). For example, if two items of eight segments in length are compared, these words are judged to be similar if at least four segments are virtually the same and at least two more are rather similar. The criteria applied are as follows:

Category 1

• Contoid (consonant-like) segments which match exactly

• Vocoid (vowel-like) segments which match exactly or differ by only one articulatory feature • Phonetically similar segments (of the sort which frequently are found as allophones) which are

seen to correspond in at least three pairs of words Category 2

• All other phonetically similar non-vocalic pairs of segments which are not supported by at least three pairs of words

• Vowels which differ by two or more articulatory features Category 3

• Pairs of segments which are not phonetically similar

• A segment which is matched by no segment in the corresponding item and position

Blair (1990:32) writes, “In contextualizing these rules to specific surveys in South Asia, the following differences between two items are ignored: (a) interconsonantal [ə], (b) word initial, word final, or intervocalic [h, ɦ], (c) any deletion which is shown to be the result of a regularly occurring process in a specific environment.”

The following table summarises lower threshold limits for considering words as phonetically similar with a specified length (number of segments or phones):

8_{This description of lexical similarity counting procedures is partially adapted from that found in appendix A of}

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Word Length

Category One

Category Two

Category Three

2 2 0 0

3 2 1 0

4 2 1 1

5 3 1 1

6 3 2 1

7 4 2 1

8 4 2 2

9 5 2 2

10 5 3 2

11 6 3 2

12 6 3 3

Some modifications to the lexical similarity grouping procedures summarised in Blair were also applied to the wordlists compared in this study. The need for this came about for several reasons. First, the wordlists were often not checked with a second mother tongue speaker of each speech variety. Second, the wordlists could not always be consistently elicited. In addition, the field workers’ phonetic transcription ability varied with skill, experience and their own language background.

Modifications to lexical similarity procedures

1. Root-based groupings: Wordlists were not always consistently elicited. In some cases, generic terms appear to have been given, while in other cases, more specific terms have been given. Also, verb forms were not elicited consistently with regard to person or tense. Because of these factors, it was often necessary to group words based on what appears to be a common root morpheme, rather than based on words as a whole. This applied to the following glosses:

2. Loose consonantal groupings: The field workers eliciting the words may hear and transcribe the sounds slightly differently and probably with increasing ability to distinguish similar sounds as they gain experience. Thus, some consonant correspondences have been liberally grouped as similar. Those considered category 1 include:

3. Metathesis: In the case of metathesis words were grouped as similar. 4. Other exceptional rules:

• Aspirated and unaspirated sounds are considered as category one. • Nasalised and unnasalised vowels are considered as category one. • Lengthened and non-lengthened vowels are considered as category one • Doubling of consonants is ignored in counting.

• Inter vocalic [ h ] is not considered.

• [ h ] in the end of the word didn’t consider in some cases.

After pairs of items on two wordlists had been determined to be phonetically similar or dissimilar according to the criteria stated above, the percentage of items judged similar was calculated. This procedure was repeated for all linguistic varieties under consideration in the survey. The pair by pair counting procedure was greatly facilitated by use of the Wordsurv computer program. It should noted that the wordlist data as well as transcribed texts included in subsequent appendices are field

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Wordlist Information and Informant Biodata

Adi-Milang

Symbol in Wordsurv database: A Date: 24/07/04

Village: Rayang District: East Siang Sex: F

Age: 40 Education: 3rd

Occupation: House Wife Mother Tongue: Minyong Father’s MT: Minyong Mother’s MT: Minyong

Adi-Bori

Symbol in Wordsurv database: B Date: 15/07/04

Village: Bogu/Payum Circle District: West Siang

Sex: M Age: 20 Education: B.A Occupation: Student Mother Tongue: Bori Father’s MT: Bori Mother’s MT: Bori

Adi-Ramo

Symbol in wordsurv database: C Date: 11/07/04

Village: Ngorlung District: East Siang Sex: F

Age: 18 Education: 6th

Occupation: House Wife Mother Tongue: Ramo Father’s MT: Ramo Mother’s MT: Ramo

Adi-Milang

Symbol in wordsurv database: D Date: 14/07/04

Village: Milang District: Upper Siang Sex: M

Age: 25 Education: B.A Occupation: Student Mother Tongue: Milang Father’s MT: Milang Mother’s MT: Milang

Adi-Pailibo

Symbol in wordsurv database: E Date: 15/07/04

Village: Irgo District: West Siang Sex: F

Age: 26

Education: M.A

Occupation: Govt. Service (Teacher) Mother Tongue: Pailibo

Father’s MT: Pailibo Mother’s MT: Pailibo

Adi-Ashing

Symbol in wordsurv database: F Date: 17/07/04

Village: Ningging District: Upper Siang Sex: M

Age: 48 Education: 7th

Occupation: Govt.Service

Mother Tongue: Bogum Bokang (Ashing) Father’s MT: Bogum Bokang (Ashing) Mother’s MT: Bogum Bokang (Ashing)

Adi-Padam

Symbol in wordsurv database: G Date: 16/07/04

Village: Siluk District: East Siang Sex: M

Age: 30

Education: 10th Occupation: Farmer Mother Tongue: Padam Father’s MT: Padam Mother’s MT: Padam

Adi-Shimong

Symbol in wordsurv database: H Date: 17/07/04

Village: Mobuk District: Upper Siang Sex: M

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Adi-Bokar

Symbol in wordsurv database: I Date: 16/07/04

Village: Manigong District: West Siang Sex: M

Age: 42

Education: 10th

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Wordlist Transcriptions

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BK 4 _ɲiŋ

34. uncooked rice MN 1 d̪obɪn

35. cooked rice

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42. peanut

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MN 1 _t̪abat̪

58. lime (for betelnut) MN 1 t̪aɲio

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71. monkey

75. house lizard (gecko) MN 1 _əkumu_ɲiŋ

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115. fingernail

124. heart (organ)

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RM 1 _ɲẽmə

136. elder brother (gen)

MN 2 baabi

137. elder sister (gen)

MN 3 mame

138. younger brother (gen) MN 2 b_ɯɾo

139. younger sister (gen) MN 1 bɯɾmə

140. friend (male)

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143. house

150. ring (on finger)

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BK 2 _ʃamp_ək

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RM 1 ponumonam

213. to cut something

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RM 3 ja_ɾo

247. short (length) MN 1 and̪əna

249. light (not heavy) MN 1 ət̪saŋ

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BR 2 kut_ʃuk

265. rotten (fruit)

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PD 1 jage

SM 1 jage

BK 1 jage

290. when (near future) MN 1 əd̪ɯlola

295. this thing MN 1 hɯːat̪ɯ

296. that thing MN 1 əat̪ɯ

297. these things MN 1 hɯat̪ɯ

298. those things MN 1 _d̪əat̪ɯ

300. 2nd sg.(familiar)

MN 1 no

301. 2nd sg.(honorific)

MN 1 no

302. 3rd sg.(generic/male)

MN 1 bɯ

303. 3rd sg.(female)

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PL 1 _ŋonu

AS 1 _ŋolu

PD 1 _ŋolu

SM 1 _ŋolu

BK 1 _ũlu

305. 2nd pl.(familiar)

MN 1 nolu

BR 1 nolu

RM 2 mennokəbaŋ

ML 3 ŋadʒi

PL 1 nonũ

AS 1 nolu

PD 1 nolu

SM 1 nolu

BK 1 nolu

306. 2nd pl.(honorific)

MN 1 nolu

BR 1 nolu

RM 2 mənnogɯgɯŋ ML 3 ɲija

PL 1 nonũ

AS 1 nolu

PD 1 nolu

SM 1 nolu

BK 2 m_ənnog_ɯg_ɯŋ

307. 3rd pl.

MN 1 bulu

BR 1 bulu

RM 2 mənu ML 3 dʒadʒi

PL 2 manu

AS 1 bulu

PD 1 bulu

SM 1 bulu

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Appendix C

Language use, attitudes, vitality and bilingualism questionnaires

Interview Information

1. Date: 2. Name: 3. Age: 4. Gender: 5. Education: 6. a. Birthplace: b. Brought up: c. Current residence:

d. (If moved from a distance) How long in current place: 7. a. Mother tongue:

b. Language in home: 8. Spouse’s MT:

9. Mother’s MT: 10. Father’s MT:

11. Lived or stayed in another place: 12. Travel outside area; how often: 13. Researchers observation:

Language use, attitudes, vitality and bilingualism questionnaires

Adi varieties

1. a. Are there areas where Adi is spoken very different from the way you speak? b. If yes, where? What Adi group lives there?

c. How different is it (Very different/some difference/no difference)?

2. a. When you meet [Milang, Pailibo, Ramo…______] people, how much do you understand of their language (Everything/half of it/not at all)?

b. How much do you they understand of your language?

3. a. In which area do you think the purest/sweetest Adi is spoken? b. Where is the second purest/sweetest Adi is spoken?

c. Why do you say this is the purest variety?

4. a. Have you heard of [Tangam, Pailibo, Ramo… ____] before? b. If yes, where do they live?

c. How different is their language (Very different/some difference/no difference)?

Language use

5. What language do you use? a. At home with family members?

b. With your children (if no children, then ask: with children in the village)? c. With your friends? (Who are from a different group)?

d. With neighboring villagers

1. If they are mother tongue speakers of you language? 2. If they speaks a language different from yours? e. In the market?

(40)

Bilingualism

6. a. Is there anyone in your village who does not speak Hindi?

b. (If yes) what kind of people (Male/female, old/young, educated/uneducated)? 7. a. Can you speak Hindi as well as you speak Adi?

b. On what occasions do you use Hindi?

8. How well do you understand the Hindi / Assamese programmes broadcasted on radio and TV (Everything/half of it/not at all)?

Language attitude and vitality

9. a. How would you feel if the younger generation stopped speaking Adi? b. (Only asked if answer to 9a is “happy/good”) Why?

10. What language do you want your children to learn first (If no children, if ever you had children)? 11. Is it good for your children to learn how to read and write in your language?

12. Would you like to read and write in your mother tongue? 13. Which language do you need to speak in order to get a job? 14. Is it good for a person to speak only Adi?

15. a. Would you be happy if your child speaks only Hindi? b. (Only asked if answer to 11 is “yes”) Why?

(41)

Appendix D: Questionnaire Responses

Subject Biodata

District Variety Date Place Age Y-M-O Sex

1 East Siang Adi-Milang 14/07/04 Maryang 25 Y M

2 West Siang Adi-Pailibo 15/07/04 Tato Village 26 y F

3 West Siang Adi-Bokar 16/07/04 Manigong 42 O M

4 Upper Siang Adi-Ashing 16/07/04 Ningging 48 O M

5 Upper Siang Adi-Shimong 17/07/04 Mobuk village 21 Y M

6 West Siang Adi-Ramo 11/07/04 Ngorlung village 18 Y F

7 East Siang Adi-Milang 23/07/04 Rayang village 30 Y M

8 Upper Siang Adi- BogumBokang 14/07/04 Miging 20 Y M

Subject Biodata continued…

MT F MT M MT Sp MT Birthplace Residence How long Edu U-E

Milang Milang Milang NA Milang Maryang 14 Years BA-I year E

Pailibo Pailibo Pailibo Padam Tato,W/Siang Pasighat 1 Year M.A. E

Bokar Bokar Bokar Bokar Manigong Pasighat 19 Years 10 E

Ashing(Bogum-Bokang)

Ashing Ashing Ningging Pasighat 2 Years 8 E

Shimong Shimong Shimong NA Mobuk Pasighat 1 Years BA-II year E

Ramo Ramo Ramo Pangge Regong Ngorlung 8 months 6 E

Milang Milang Milang Milang Rayang Rayang Since birth BA E

Bogum-Bokang Bogum-Bokang Bogum-Bokang NA Miging Miging Since birth BA-I year E

Questionnaire responses

Q 1a Q 1b Q 1c Q 2a

Yes Padam, Minyong, Karko, Shimong, Pasi and Milang Very different Ashing

Yes Minyong, Padam, Milang(Yingkiong) Very different Milang, Not at all

Mix language Ramo, Milang, Upper Siang Very different Milang, few

(42)

Q 1a Q 1b Q 1c Q 2a

Yes Tuting, Miging, Mosing(Ashing) Same Not at all

Yes Milang Very different Milang area

Yes Padam, Minyong Very different Ashing, half of it

Yes Kuging, Mayung Very different I will not understand Milang

Questionnaire responses continued

Q 3c Q 4a Q 4b Q 4c Q 5a Q 5b Q 5c

Way of speech No NA NA Milang Milang Hindi/Adi

NA Yes Mechuka, Kaying(Payum Circle) Some difference MT MT Hindi/MT

It is pure Yes Payum to Tato Some difference Mt MT Hindi

They speak without mixing Yes Kuging village Very different MT MT MT

Because we understand them all Yes, Bokar Mechuka area Very different MT MT MT

I can fully understand minyong Pasighat, Along, Ngorlung Very different MT MT Hindi

I understand their language Bori, Bokar-Yes

Kaying circle Some difference MT, mixed Adi Usually, Padam

Adi Language

I don’t know Yes Mishmi area Very different MT MT Hindi/MT

Q 2b Q 3a Q 3b

Not at all Padam area Shimong

Not at all NA NA

I can’t say I can’t say Bokar

They also don’t understand Padam Minyong

They can understand all Maryang Shimong

Little bit Pailibo Galong

Not at all East siang district of AP Padam area, especially Mebo

(43)

Q 5d1 Q 5d2 Q 5e Q 5f Q 6a Q 6b

MT Adi Milang/Adi Padam Yes Uneducated, old, men and women

Mt Hindi MT/Hindi MT/Hindi Yes Uneducated, old, men and women

MT Hindi Hindi Hindi and English No NA

MT Hindi Adi/Hindi MT Yes Uneducated, old, men and women

MT Hindi Hindi MT Yes Uneducated, old, men and women

MT Hindi Hindi Ramo No NA

MT Adi language Assamese/Hindi Adi Yes Uneducated, old, men and women

MT Hindi Hindi Bogum-Bokang Yes Uneducated, old, men and women

Q 7a Q 7b Q 8 Q 9a Q 9b Q 10

No Market Hindi, half of it MT

Yes With outsiders Half of it MT

Yes Group discuss or worship Half of it English

Yes Office and bazaar Half of it MT

No Market Half of it Adi/MT

50% With outsiders Hindi full but Assamese not at all MT

No Schools and market 40% Adi/MT

Yes With outsiders 80%

Feel bad NA Feel bad NA

Feel bad MT should be learn_ed

Feel bad We should not forget our own MT Feel bad Our MT should be kept

Feel bad NA

Feel bad I’ll los_e my identity

Feel bad Because it is our MT _MT

Q 11 Q 12 Q 13 Q 14 Q 15a Q 15b Q 16 Remarks

Yes Yes English and Hindi

No No We must use MT Yes Positive attitudes towards own

MT Yes Yes English and

Hindi

No No NA Yes, definitely Good

Of course

Yes English and Hindi

(44)

Q 11 Q 12 Q 13 Q 14 Q 15a Q 15b Q 16 Remarks

Yes Yes Hindi and Adi No Feel bad Must know many language Yes Positive attitudes towards own MT

No No MT must be known Yes Good

Not at all

Feel bad Because they will forget own MT Yes Positive attitudes towards own MT

No No Because English is also very important Yes, definitely Good Questionnaires

Good Yes English and Hindi

Not good

No Must know MT also Yes Good

Recorded Text Questionnaire responses

Number Variety 1a 1b 1c 2a 2b 3a 3b

1 Ashing Minyong Pesing By the language Average NA Mixer of Minyong and Padam

Pronunciation

2 Bori Minyong Pasighat By his voice Good NA Yes NA

3 Pailibo Padam Motum and Mebo

Pronunciation Good NA Yes NA

4 Bokar Minyong Pasighat Common gathering Yes NA Yes NA

5 Ramo Minyong Ngorlung Tune, words Good NA Yes NA

6 Milang Padam Pasighat Words and sentences Good NA Mixed Pronunciation, words, sentences

Recorded Text Questionnaire responses continued

4a 4b 5 6 7 Remarks

Not much different NA Half No May not be Little different

Very different Pronunciation More than 50% Daily No Very different

Very different Pronunciation, words 50% Two times No Very different

Few different In words 50% Daily Exactly I don’t remember Little different

Very different Pronunciation, words, style 60% Daily I am here for 8 months Very different

(45)

References

Blair, Frank. 1990. Survey on a shoestring: A manual for small-scale language surveys. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

Lewis, M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig, eds. 2015. Ethnologue: Languages of the world.

Eighteenth edition. Dallas: SIL International.

Roy, Sachin. 1967. Anthropometrics of the Adis of East Siang District. Shillong: North-East Frontier Agency. Singh, K. S. 1994. Arunachal Pradesh. People of India. Volume XIV. Delhi: Oxford University Press.