Digaro languages

The Digaro (Digarish) or Northern Mishmi (Mishmic) languages are a small family of possibly Sino-Tibetan languages spoken by the Mishmi people of southeastern Tibet and Arunachal Pradesh.

The languages are Idu and Taraon (Digaro, Darang).

They are not related to the Southern Mishmi Midzu languages, apart from possibly being Sino-Tibetan. However, Blench and Post (2011) suggests that they may not even be Sino-Tibetan, but rather an independent language family of their own.

Names

Autonyms and exonyms for Digaro-speaking peoples, as well as Miju (Kaman), are given below (Jiang, et al. 2013:2-3).

Names of Mishmi peoples

	Taraon name	Kaman name	Idu name	Assamese name
Taraon people	da˧˩raŋ˥˧	tɕi˧˩moŋ˧˥	tɑ˧˩rɑŋ˧˥	digaru; tɕi˧˩kɑ˥lu˥mi˧˩ɕi˥mi˧˩
Kaman people	tɕɑu˥˧	kɯ˧˩mɑn˧˥	mi˧˩tɕu˥	midzu
Idu people	dju˥; dju˥ta˧˩rɑŋ˥˧; dɑi˥˧	min˧˩dɑu˥; hu˥˧	i˥˧du˥	ɕi˧˩ko˧˥tɑ˥mi˧˩ɕi˥mi˧˩
Zha people 扎人	tɕɑ˧˩kʰen˥	tɕɑ˧˩kreŋ˧˥	—	—
Tibetan people	lɑ˧˩mɑ˥; mei˥˧bom˥	dɯ˧˩luŋ˧˥; hɑi˧˥hɯl˥	ɑ˧˩mi˥˧; pu˥˧; mi˧˩si˥pu˥˧	—

Registers

Idu, Tawra, Kman, and Meyor all share a system of multiple language registers, which are (Blench 2016):

1. ordinary speech
2. speech of hunters: lexical substitution, the replacement of animal names and others by special lexical forms, and sometimes short poems
3. speech of priests/shamans: more complex, involving much language which is difficult to understand, and also lengthy descriptions of sacrificial animals
4. poetic/lyrical register (not in Idu, but appears in Kman)
5. mediation register (only in Idu?)
6. babytalk register

References

• Blench, Roger (2011) (De)classifying Arunachal languages: Reconstructing the evidence
• Jiang Huo [江获], Li Daqin [李大勤], Sun Hongkai [孙宏开] (2013). A study of Taraon [达让语研]. Beijing: Ethnic Publishing House [民族出版社]. ISBN 9787105129324
• van Driem, George (2001) Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill.