Nankôre
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| Nankôre | |
|---|---|
| Nankôre | |
| Pronunciation | [/nan.ko:re/] |
| Created by | – |
| Native to | Nanhoshka Kôya |
| Native speakers | 3,232,430 (2014) |
Language Isolate
| |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Koya Island |
| Regulated by | Nankore |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | nk |
| ISO 639-2 | nnk |
| ISO 639-3 | nnk |
Background
Nankôre, from the words nan ("man, human") and kôre ("speech"), is spoken by the Nanhoshka people of Kôya Island. There are two main dialects, the Konishmak, located in the Northeastern Coastal Mountains, and the Sapshira, encompassing the western and southern parts of the country. The dialects differ chiefly in pronunciation and differences in certain lexical items, but are otherwise mutually intelligible.
The origins of the language and its people remain clouded in mystery. Physically, the Nanhoshka people look distinctively different from the Northwest Pacific Native Americans just 862 kilometers from the eastern shore, but their physical features bear a strikingly close resemblance to the Minhast people of the Republic of Minhay, who live much further away on the other side of the Pacific Ocean close to Japan and Ainushir. Because of these physical resemblences, both anthropologists and linguists have been exploring a possible relationship between the two peoples. Although recent genetic research has uncovered that both the Nanhoshka and Minhast belong to the haplogroup C-M212, suggesting a common ancestry, linguists have been much less successful in establishing a relationship. Some linguists have compiled Swadesh lists that suggest some lexical items may have a common origin, but so far researchers have failed to demonstrate reliable sound correspondences between the two languages. Therefore, both Nankôre and Minhast remain classified as language isolates.
I'll get back to Nankore later to make it conform to the language format policy. For now, here's a sample text:
Atemana uyasi, mahun teyaroa teh hekaci u tempa wasin te taa'. Okaaka ta techam aci tah sinehne ka ante ta anene yoopani ta asin te taa. Ta hekaci taa. Cis ani taa'. Un kayo taa pahke te oman kusuan.
Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||||
| Stop | p | t | k | ||||
| Fricative | s | ʃ | h | ||||
| Approximant | w | j | |||||
| Flap | r |
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | ɪ | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | ɑ |