Page Type: languageNagamese | Ethnologue

NAG ISO 639-3

Nagamese

Nagamiz Autonym

A language of India

ISO 639
nag
Alternate Names
Bodo, Kachari Bengali, Naga Creole Assamese, Naga Pidgin, Naga-Assamese, Nagamese Creole
Autonym
Nagamiz
Population
410,000, all users. L1 users: 30,000 (Holm 1989). L2 users: 380,000 (2011).
Location:
Nagaland state: Kohima district, Dimapur sub-district; Arunachal Pradesh state border area.
Language Status
3 (Wider communication). Naga tribes came from China through Burma by late 14th century. Developed by mid 16th century. In 1826, lingua franca of Naga Hills, widely used in almost all domains by majority of population.
Classification
Creole, Assamese based
Dialects
None known. A variety least similar to Assamese [asm] is spoken by the Yimchenger Naga, and varieties most similar to Assamese by the Angami Naga, and around Dimapur and Kohima.
Typology
SOV; no gender; case marking (7 cases); 2 tenses, 3 aspects; 21 consonants and 6 vowels; non-tonal.
Language Use
L1 for the Kachari in Dimapur area, a small community, and among children of interethnic marriages. Mixed attitudes, viewed by some as a threat to the indigenous languages (Longkumer 2016). Used as L2 by Angami Naga [njm], Chang Naga [nbc], Dimasa [dis], Konyak Naga [nbe], Lotha Naga [njh], Monsang Naga [nmh], Phom Naga [nph], Pochuri Naga [npo], Sakachep [sch], Sangtam Naga [nsa], Southern Rengma Naga [nre], Sumi Naga [nsm], Yimchungru Naga [yim].
Language Development
Newspapers. Radio. Videos. Grammar. NT: 2018.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Nagamese
Writing
Latin script [Latn].

Also Spoken in

Map

Location: Nagaland state: Kohima district, Dimapur sub-district; Arunachal Pradesh state border area.