| Also Known As: Sentinelese
Description:
The Sentinelese language (Sentinel in ISO 639-3) is the unknown language of the Sentinelese of North Sentinel Island in the Andaman Islands, India. Nothing is known of the language, and no word lists or language samples have been collected by researchers. It is presumably a distinct Andamanese language, but how closely it may be related to other languages of that family, or whether it is even distinct, is unknown.
Since interactions with the Sentinelese have been extremely rare, brief, and generally avoided by the Sentinelese 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 the Great Andamanese...... full article at Wikipedia |
