# Akabea

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{{Short description|Extinct Great Andamanese language of India}}{{Cleanup lang|date=April 2025|iso=abj}}{{Infobox language
| name             = Bea
| nativename       = {{lang|abj|Aka-Bea}}
| states           = [India](/source/India)
| region           = [Andaman Islands](/source/Andaman_Islands); South Andaman island except northeast coast, and north and east interiors; Rutland island except south coast; small islands southeast of Rutland; Labyrinth Islands.
| extinct          = 1920s
| ref              = <ref name=":0" />
| familycolor      = Andamanese
| fam1             = [Great Andamanese](/source/Great_Andamanese_languages)
| fam2             = Southern
| iso3             = abj
| linglist         = abj.html
| glotto           = akab1249
| glottorefname    = Akabea
| altname          = Bojigyab, Bôjingîjîda
| map              = Languages_and_dialects_of_the_Andaman_Islands_at_British_contact.png
| mapcaption       = {{legend|#fea500|Aka-Bea}}
| ethnicity        = Bea
}}

The '''Bea language''', '''''Aka-Bea''''',<ref>also Beada ~ Biada or Bogijiab ~ Bojigniji ~ Bojigyab</ref> also called '''Bojigyab''',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Andamanese Languages |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095411491?p=emailAuoKDOz0i0WyA&d=/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095411491 |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=Oxford Reference |language=en |doi=10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095411491?p=emailauokdoz0i0wya&d=/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095411491| doi-broken-date=1 July 2025 }}</ref> is an extinct [Great Andamanese](/source/Great_Andamanese_languages) language of the Southern<ref name=Manoh1>Manoharan, S. (1983). "Subgrouping Andamanese group of languages." ''International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics''
XII(1): 82-95.</ref> group. It was spoken around the western [Andaman Strait](/source/Andaman_Strait) and around the northern and western coast of [South Andaman](/source/South_Andaman). It was well documented in the late 19th century, but died out in the 1920s. The term {{Lang|abj|Aka-Bea}} was used both to name the language and the people who spoke it, derived from the prefix {{Lang|abj|aka-}}, used to name objects related to the tongue, and {{Lang|abj|bea}}, meaning 'spring-water'.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Zamponi |first1=Raoul |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/41657 |title=A grammar of Akabea |last2=Comrie |first2=Bernard |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-885579-8 |location=New York}}</ref>

==History==
The Bea were one of the [indigenous peoples](/source/indigenous_peoples) of the [Andaman Islands](/source/Andaman_Islands), one of the ten or so [Great Andamanese](/source/Great_Andamanese) tribes identified by [British](/source/British_Empire) colonials in the 1860s. Their language was closely related to the other [Great Andamanese languages](/source/Great_Andamanese_languages). They were extinct as a distinct people between 1921 and 1931.<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><ref name=":0" />

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! [Labial](/source/Labial_consonant)
! [Dental](/source/Dental_consonant)
! [Alveolar](/source/Alveolar_consonant)
! [Retroflex](/source/Retroflex_consonant)
! [Palatal](/source/Palatal_consonant)
! [Velar](/source/Velar_consonant)
|-
! rowspan="3" | [Plosive](/source/Plosive)
! {{small|voiceless}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t̪|t}}
|
| {{IPA link|ʈ}}
|
| {{IPA link|k}}
|-
! {{small|aspirated}}
|
| {{IPA link|t̪ʰ|tʰ}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! {{small|voiced}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d̪|d}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɖ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |[Affricate](/source/Affricate)
!{{small|voiceless}}
|
|
|
|
|{{IPA link|tʃ}}{{Efn|{{IPA|[s]}} occurs as an optional and idiosyncratic realization of word-final {{IPA|/tʃ/}}, as well as in non-final positions.<ref name=":0" />}}
|
|-
!{{small|voiced}}
|
|
|
|
|{{IPA link|dʒ}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [Nasal](/source/Nasal_consonant)
| {{IPA link|m}}
|
| {{IPA link|n}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɲ}}
| {{IPA link|ŋ}} {{IPA link|ŋʲ}}
|-
! colspan="2" | [Fricative](/source/Fricative)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [Rhotic](/source/Rhotic_consonant)
|
|
| {{IPA link|r}}
|{{IPA link|ɽ}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [Approximant](/source/Approximant)
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
|}

==== Notes ====

{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! !! [Front](/source/Front_vowel)!![Central](/source/Central_vowel)!![Back](/source/Back_vowel)
|-
! [Close](/source/Close_vowel)
|{{IPA link|i}} {{IPA link|iː}}
|
|{{IPA link|u}} {{IPA link|uː}}
|-
![Close-mid](/source/Close-mid_vowel)
|{{IPA link|e}} {{IPA link|eː}}
|
|{{IPA link|o}} {{IPA link|oː}}
|-
![Open-mid](/source/Open-mid_vowel)
|{{IPA link|ɛ}} {{IPA link|ɛː}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɔ}} {{IPA link|ɔː}}
|-
![Open](/source/Open_vowel)
|
|{{IPA link|a}} {{IPA link|aː}}
|
|}

==Grammar==
The Great Andamanese languages, including Aka-Bea, are [agglutinative](/source/agglutinative) languages, with an extensive prefix and suffix system.<ref name="Templ">{{Cite book |last=Temple |first=Richard C. |url=https://digital.soas.ac.uk/content/AA/00/00/05/19/00001/PDF.pdf |title=A Grammar of the Andanamese Languages. Being Chapter IV of Part I of the Census Report of the Andanaman and Nicobar Islands. |date=1902 |publisher=Port Blair: Superintendent's Printing Press}}</ref> They have a distinctive [noun class](/source/noun_class) system based largely on body parts, in which every [noun](/source/noun) and [adjective](/source/adjective) may take a [prefix](/source/Prefix_(linguistics)) 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 [tongue](/source/tongue).<ref name="Templ"/> An adjectival example can be given by the various forms of ''yop'', "pliable, soft:<ref name="Templ"/>
*A [cushion](/source/cushion) or [sponge](/source/sponge) is ''ot-yop'' "round-soft", from the prefix attached to words relating to the head or heart.
*A [cane](/source/Walking_stick) is ''ôto-yop'', "pliable", from a prefix for long things.
*A stick or [pencil](/source/pencil) is {{Lang|abj|aka-yop}}, "pointed", from the tongue prefix.
*A fallen [tree](/source/tree) is {{Lang|abj|ar-yop}}, "rotten", from the prefix for [limb](/source/Limb_(anatomy))s 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 !!Bojigyab
|-
!head/heart
| ot- ||ote-
|-
!hand/foot
|ong- ||ong-
|-
!mouth/tongue
|âkà- ||o-
|-
!torso (shoulder to shins)
|ab- ||ab-
|-
!eye/face/arm/breast
|i-, ig- ||ir-
|-
!back/leg/butt
|ar- ||ar-
|-
!waist
|ôto-
|
|}

Body parts are [inalienably possessed](/source/Inalienable_possession), requiring a [possessive adjective](/source/possessive_adjective) [prefix](/source/Prefix_(linguistics)) 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; with the Aka-Bea forms given below:
{| 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-''.

=== Numerals ===
Judging from the available sources, the Andamanese languages have only two [cardinal number](/source/cardinal_number_(linguistics))s &mdash; [one](/source/1_(number)) and [two](/source/2_(number)) &mdash; and their entire numerical lexicon is one, two, one more, some more, and all.<ref name="Templ" /> Akabea has been analyzed as an anumeric language, where words analyzed as numerals actually do not refer to specific quantities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zamponi |first1=Raoul |last2=Comrie |first2=Bernard |title=Akabea (Great Andamanese) as an anumeric language, and the problem of Akabea ordinals |url=https://www.academia.edu/120181191 |journal=Italian Journal of Linguistics |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=3–28}}</ref>

==Sample texts==

The following [poem](/source/poem) in Aka-Bea was written by a [chief](/source/Tribal_chief), ''Jambu'', after he was freed from a six-month [jail](/source/Prison) term for [manslaughter](/source/manslaughter).<ref>Man, E.H. (1923). ''Dictionary of the South Andaman Language''. British India Press: Bombay</ref>

: ''ngô:do kûk l'àrtâ:lagî:ka,''
: ''mō:ro el:ma kâ igbâ:dàla''
: ''mō:ro el:mo lê aden:yarà''
:: ''pō:-tōt läh.''
: Chorus: ''aden:yarà pō:-tōt läh.''

Literally:

: thou heart-sad art,
: sky-surface to there looking while,
: sky-surface of ripple to looking while,
:: bamboo spear on lean-dost.

Translation:

: Thou art sad at heart,
: gazing there at the sky's surface,
: gazing at the ripple on the sky's surface,
:: leaning on the bamboo spear.

Note, however, that, as seems to be typical of Andamanese [poetry](/source/poetry), the words and sentence structure have been somewhat abbreviated or inverted in order to obtain the desired [rhythm](/source/rhythm)ical effect.

== See also ==
*[Andamanese languages](/source/Andamanese_languages)

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Andamanese languages}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andamanese, Aka-Bea, Language}}
Category:Agglutinative languages
Category:Great Andamanese languages
Category:Extinct languages of Asia
Category:Languages of India
Category:Languages extinct in the 1930s

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Akabea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akabea) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akabea?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.