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Article published In: Asia-Pacific Language Variation
Vol. 2:2 (2016) ► pp.188–214

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Clans and clanlectal contact

Variation and change in Angami

 | University of Delhi
Published online: 6 April 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aplv.2.2.04suo
Abstract
This is the first variationist study of clan intermarriage and intergenerational change in Nagaland (India). The study investigates clan as a sociolinguistic variable by drawing data from the Angami (belonging to the Kuki-Chin-Naga sub-group of Tibeto-Burman languages) community of Kohima village in Nagaland. The linguistic variables examined include two alveolar fricatives and three affricates showing variable palatalization. Like many other clan-based communities (cf. Stanford, James N. (2007). Dialect contact and identity: A case study of exogamous Sui clans. Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University. Available from [URL], (2008). Child dialect acquisition: New perspectives on parent/peer influence. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 12(5), 567–596., (2009). Clan as a sociolinguistic variable: Three approaches to Sui Clans. In James N. Stanford & Dennis R. Preston (Eds.), Variation in indigenous minority languages (pp. 463–484). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), Angamis practice exogamy. Women settle down in their husband’s clans in the same village after marriage, but continue to maintain their original clanlects despite being in contact with their husband’s clanlects for many years. Exogamy practices are however weakening in Kohima, resulting in intra-clan marriages. The study examines the linguistic implications of the inter-clan and intra-clan marriages, illustrating the patterns that young learners acquire under such circumstances and the way they respond to the new changes. Labov finds evidence for an “outward orientation of the language learning faculty” (2012, 2014). The Nagaland results build on this notion but provide a new perspective: In Nagaland, children’s language learning is inwardly oriented with respect to stable variation and outwardly oriented in the case of change in progress.
Abstract (Angami)
Kephrü hau Nalagland (India) nu variationist kephrüdze tsatie nu thinuo kekreikecü donu kishükiyakechü mu kelhouzha kekreikecüko donu die rüdikezhü kephrü kerietho puo. Kephrü hau thinuo üse rüna die kreikeba thashüyakezha puo chü di Angami (Tibeto-Burman die khro keba Kuki-Chin-Naga die puo) Kewhira phenu, Nagaland, dieu pemvü di phrü . Chienuo medzi di rüna chüyakezha (cf. Stanford, James N. (2007). Dialect contact and identity: A case study of exogamous Sui clans. Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University. Available from [URL], (2008). Child dialect acquisition: New perspectives on parent/peer influence. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 12(5), 567–596., (2009). Clan as a sociolinguistic variable: Three approaches to Sui Clans. In James N. Stanford & Dennis R. Preston (Eds.), Variation in indigenous minority languages (pp. 463–484). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) kekreiko kemhie di Angamimia rei chienuo kekreikecüko kesekerei ya. Thenumia kiyaketasie u nupfunyo thinuo, chienuo mu rüna donu lhoutaya derei teicie kekra u nupfunuo thinuo dieu donu lhoutuota zori uthuo u thinuo dieu putuoya zo. Kewhira thinuoko donu kesekeriekecü zhoko se petsü sekecüu thachü lerte mu thinuo puo donunu kesekereikecü penyite. Kephrü hau nu thinuo puo nunu kereikecü mu thinuo kekreikecüko kesekereikecü-ko donu die kitsatie kekreikecü dze phrü di süu nunu nuolhou kemedzükro-ue die pukelie [acquire] mu uko kedipuomhie di die kesa rüdikezhüko pielie ba si-kecüu thashü. Pfhükelieko thakeshü puo liro die sikelie (learning) ro stable variation liro kinu medzi (inwardly oriented) mu die pfhephra rüdikezhüko ro chazou medzi (outwardly oriented) iba. Hau Labov ( (2012). What is to be learned: The community as the focus of social cognition. Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 10(2), 265–293., (2014). The sociophonetic orientation of the language learner. In Chiara Celata & Silvia Calamai (Eds.), Advances in sociophonetics, volume 15 (pp. 17–29). Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) nu die sikeliewe chazou medzitayakezha pukebau kemiekesalashü. Die donu kekreikeba phrükecüko liro alveolar fricatives kenie mu affricates se. Hako pete rei palatalization nu kekreikeba ngulie.
Article outline
  • 1.Acquiring the local dialect: Challenges of a clan-based society
  • 2.Clan, clanlects and identity in Kohima village
  • 3.The variables: Palatalization in Angami
  • 4.Data and the sample
  • 5.Linguistic outcomes
    • 5.1The case studies
    • 5.2Multivariate statistical analysis
      • 5.2.1Internal constraints
      • 5.2.2Social differentiation
        • The role of parents on palatalization
        • Palatalization across generations
      • 5.2.3Discussion
  • 6.Summary and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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