- Sentinelese language
language
name=Sentinel
states=India
region=North Sentinel Island
speakers=approx. 250 (median estimate)
familycolor=Andamanese
fam1=Unclassified, possibly Andamanese
fam2=possibly Ongan
iso2=mis|iso3=stdThe Sentinelese language ("Sentinel" in ISO 639-3) is the language of the
Sentinelese ofNorth Sentinel Island in theAndaman Islands ,India . Nothing is known of the language, and no word lists or language samples have been collected by researchers. It is presumably an Andamanese language, but how closely it may be related to other languages of that family is unknown.Since interactions with the Sentinelese have been extremely rare, brief, and generally shunned by the people themselves, there has been no material or even word lists published on their language; hence, there can be no classification. On the two documented occasions when Onge and Aka-Bea individuals were taken to
North Sentinel Island in order to attempt communication, in neither case were they able to recognise any of the language spoken by the inhabitants, though the exchanges were admittedly brief and hostile. However, based on what little is known about similarities in culture and technology and their geographical proximity, it is supposed that their history and language is more closely related to the Ongan branch than that of theGreat Andamanese .ee also
*
Andamanese languages External links
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=std Ethnologue report for Sentinel]
References
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