View source for Social:Oko-Juwoi language

{{Short description|Extinct Great Andamanese language of India}}
{{Infobox language
| name       = Juwoi
| nativename    = ''Oko-Juwoi''
| states      = {{wipe|India}}
| region      = [[Earth:Andaman Islands|Andaman Islands]]; west central and southwest interior Middle Andaman Island.
| extinct     = by 1931
| ref       = <ref name="vanDriem2001">{{Citation | title=Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region : Containing an Introduction to the Symbiotic Theory of Language | author=George van Driem | date=2001 | publisher=BRILL | isbn=90-04-12062-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fiavPYCz4dYC | quote=''The Oko-Juwoi of Middle Andaman and the Aka-Bea of South Andaman and Rutland Island were extinct by 1931.''}}</ref>
| familycolor   = Andamanese
| fam1       = [[Social:Great Andamanese languages|Great Andamanese]]
| fam2       = Central †
| iso3       = okj
| glotto      = okoj1239
| glottorefname  = Okojuwoi
| map       = Schematic Map of Andamanese Languages & Tribes.png
}}

The '''Juwoi language''', '''''Oko-Juwoi''''' (also ''Junoi''), is an extinct [[Social:Great Andamanese languages|Great Andamanese]] language, of the Central group. It was spoken in the west central and southwest interior of Middle Andaman.

==History==
The Juwoi were one of the indigenous peoples of the [[Earth:Andaman Islands|Andaman Islands]], one of the ten or so Great Andamanese tribes identified by [[Place:British Empire|British]] colonials in the 1860s. Their language was closely related to the other [[Social:Great Andamanese languages|Great Andamanese languages]]. They were extinct as a distinct people by 1931.<ref name="vanDriem2001"/>

==Grammar==
The Great Andamanese languages are agglutinative languages, with an extensive prefix and suffix system.<ref name=Templ>Temple, Richard C. (1902). ''A Grammar of the Andamanese Languages, being Chapter IV of Part I of the Census Report on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands''. Superintendent's Printing Press: Port Blair.</ref> They have a distinctive noun class system based largely on body parts, in which every noun and adjective may take a prefix according to which body part it is associated with (on the basis of shape, or functional association). Thus, for instance, the *aka- at the beginning of the language names is a prefix for objects related to the [[Biology:Tongue|tongue]].<ref name="Templ"/> An adjectival example can be given by the various forms of ''yop'', "pliable, soft", in Aka-Bea:<ref name="Templ"/> 
*A cushion or [[Biology:Sponge|sponge]] is ''ot-yop'' "round-soft", from the prefix attached to words relating to the head or heart.
*A [[Engineering:Walking stick|cane]] is ''ôto-yop'', "pliable", from a prefix for long things.
*A stick or [[Engineering:Pencil|pencil]] is ''aka-yop'', "pointed", from the tongue prefix.
*A fallen [[Earth:Tree|tree]] is ''ar-yop'', "rotten", from the prefix for limbs or upright things.
Similarly, ''beri-nga'' "good" yields:
*''un-bēri-ŋa'' "clever" (hand-good).
*''ig-bēri-ŋa'' "sharp-sighted" (eye-good).
*''aka-bēri-ŋa'' "good at languages" (tongue-good.)
*''ot-bēri-ŋa'' "virtuous" (head/heart-good)

The prefixes are,

{| class=wikitable
! !!Bea !!Balawa? !!Bajigyâs? !!Juwoi !!Kol
|-
!head/heart
| ot- ||ôt- ||ote- ||ôto- ||ôto-
|-
!hand/foot 
|ong- ||ong- ||ong- ||ôn- ||ôn-
|-
!mouth/tongue 
|âkà- ||aka- ||o- ||ókô- ||o-
|-
!torso (shoulder to shins) 
|ab- ||ab- ||ab- ||a- ||o-
|-
!eye/face/arm/breast 
|i-, ig- ||id- ||ir- ||re- ||er-
|-
!back/leg/butt 
|ar- ||ar- ||ar- ||ra- ||a-
|-
!waist 
|ôto-
|}

Body parts are inalienably possessed, requiring a possessive adjective prefix to complete them, so one cannot say "head" alone, but only "my, or his, or your, etc. head".

The basic pronouns are almost identical throughout the Great Andamanese languages; Aka-Bea will serve as a representative example (pronouns given in their basic prefixal forms):
{| class=wikitable
| I, my
| ''d-''
| we, our
| ''m-''
|-
| thou, thy
| ''ŋ-''
| you, your
| ''ŋ-''
|-
| he, his, she, her, it, its
| ''a''
| they, their
| ''l-''
|}

'This' and 'that' are distinguished as ''k-'' and ''t-''.

Judging from the available sources, the Andamanese languages have only two [[Philosophy:Cardinal number (linguistics)|cardinal number]]s &mdash; one and two &mdash; and their entire numerical lexicon is one, two, one more, some more, and all.<ref name="Templ"/>

== Sample ==
As an example, we give part of a [[Astronomy:Creation myth|creation myth]] in Oko-Juwoi, reminiscent of [[Religion:Prometheus|Prometheus]]:

{{interlinear|indent=2
|Kuro-t'on-mik-a Mom Mirit-la, Bilik l'ôkô-ema-t, peakar at-lo top-chike at laiche Lech-lin a, kotik a ôko-kodak-chine at-lo Karat-tatak-emi-in.
|Kuro-t'on-mik-in Mr. Pigeon, God ?-slep-t, wood fire-with stealing-was fire the.late Lech-to he, then he ?-fire-make-did fire-with Karat-tatak-emi-at.
|Mr. Pigeon stole a firebrand at Kuro-t'on-mika, while [[Religion:God|God]] was sleeping. He gave the brand to the late Lech, who then made fires at Karat-tatak-emi. (Translated by Portman)}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Andamanese languages}}


[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]



{{Sourceattribution|Oko-Juwoi language}}