Apatani Language
Apatani language is spoken by the people of Ziro valley located in Lower Subansiri District of Arunachal Pradesh, India. This page is dedicated to the people of Ziro valley, we are constantly revising this page with latest developments in the Tanii language. We follow the mandated writing system approved and updated by TSD, Apatani Apex Council.
Also refer to Apatani Grammar page
Note on Tanii Script
As per notification by TSD, the script has been reverted to Tanii Script that was originally developed by Apatani Culture and Lliterary Society (ACLS). There are 2 books published by SCERT using the script.
Tanii Script
Tanii Kennanii (Tanii Alphabets, vowels and Consonants).
Tanii Alphabets Capital Letter:
Glottal Stop
What is glottal stop? Does Tanii language have it?
The glottal stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨'⟩. Tanii language specifically falls under category of languages that has this feature and for proper pronunciation, it needs to be properly marked. The apostrophe is used by languages such as Arabic to mark glottal stop.
- Example: Pyapu (Daru gubuho, yasi pya’pu siiko hempyodo.).
- Example: Lako (Niika Tarii La’ko pere mi nona giipa siitehenii?) Lako [La’ko].
Riding or Long Vowel
A riding or long vowel sound is the same as its name. The diacritical mark for a long vowel is called a macron (¯), which is in the shape of a line above the vowel. When a single vowel letter is in the end of a word (or syllable), it usually says its long sound (or its name), as in go and be. When two vowels go hand in hand in the same word (or syllable), the first vowel is usually long, and the second vowel is usually silent. e.g., bake makes the /ay/ sound (long a) and the e is silent; goal makes the /oh/ sound (long o) and the a is silent. However, there are many exceptions to this rule, such as with irregular vowels. When there are two adjacent vowels in a word, the first one is long and the second one is silent. The first vowel is marked with a long line and second one is crossed out. Examples of this rule are in coat, ride, and read. There is both a long and short sound to “oo”. The long sound appears as in the words boo, food, smooth, and moose. The following is a list of long vowel sounds, shown along with their diacritical marks: Long a (ā) sound as in āniiñ, lāñchāñ, lābo, lātu, etc. Long e (ē) sound as in Miinē, Tēñka, nēñka, etc. Long i (ī) sound as in īñdiñ, īñpyo, līñpyo, etc. Long o (ō) sound as in ō, Bōniiñ, chōniiñ, etc. Long u (ū) sound as in Chūdiñ, Chūnyi, etc. We will use the a macron (¯) in phonetic translation of Tanii words. Note: Glottal Stop and riding vowel are to be reviewed by our linguist.
Dicritics in Apatani Writing system
Introducing the following diacritic symbols to create and preserve original Tanii sounds and to distinguish words that might otherwise sound the same but have different meanings.
Usage of diacritics symbols:
´ (raising) = Miigό = Hearth
Milό = Male
՝ (falling) = Miigὸ= work to be done.
Milὸ = Husband
Introducing Diacritics is a welcome move. In fact, it is next logical step towards preserving our original Tanii sounds.
However, I suggest introducing diacritics in our next major revision of all the books.
Word formation problem
As already identified, there are only few modifications that are required to be done for writing Tanii properly and more importantly, making the reading experience simple. It is known fact that people learn languages faster by speaking it than reading texts from it. We would like to develop simple learning tools for Tanii language which may be used by our own people as well as those who are interested in learning Tanii.
Problem: Word formation Since there are no set rules in writing Tanw, we tend to write words by breaking them down; we may read it correctly, but when it goes to the next reader some words would not make sense. Examples:
- Searched – Mene, Meniing [sometimes it is written as ‘me’ ‘ne’ or ‘me’ niing’]. These words ‘me’ ‘ne’ or ‘me’ niing’ does not make any sense when written separately.
- Laughable – Ngarnañ ke [mostly it is written as ‘ngarna’ ‘ke’].
- Consider – Henkako [mostly it is written as as ‘henka’ ‘ko’]
There are hundreds of words similar to the words cited above, which we people write in various different ways. Let us frame a rule for writing such words. As you might have already noticed these words are mostly verbs and to be honest when we write these verbs we get confused how to end it. So, “Miikako” becomes “miika” “ko” and so on.
Rule: Not to leave an orphan word.
example: (a). Miikako – Hiimi ichu che miikako no? (b). Diikako – Aye, Siika pila sikoda diikakele diipyo jijedo.
Tonal Language
Tone in language is nothing but the use of sound in various pitches and by doing so the speaker and listener distinguishes the meaning of the word spoken. Emotions may influence the tone in any language, but that is different from the tones that actually changes the meaning of the spoken word itself. Not all languages have such properties, but many do and with the change in the tone, meaning of the word changes. Tanii language is a tonal language. Any variation in the tone changes the meaning of the word. Of course, Tanii is not the only tonal language in the world. Please refer to the article Tonal language for details on tonal languages.
References
1. Henkako Dictionary: https://henkakoblog.wordpress.com/dictionary-2/tanw-keju-2/
