Toto language

Toto
Region West Bengal
Ethnicity Toto
Native speakers
 1,411 (2014)[1]
Eastern Nagari script, Devanagari
Language codes
ISO 639-3 txo
Glottolog toto1302[2]

Toto is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken on the border of India and Bhutan, by the tribal Toto people in Totopara, West Bengal along the border with Bhutan. It is also spoken in Subhapara, Dhunchipara, and Panchayatpara hillocks on India-Bhutan border in Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal (Ethnologue).

Status

Toto is listed as a critically endangered language by UNESCO, with perhaps 1,000 speakers.[3] However, most families in the community speak Toto at home. Most children learn Toto at home, although they use Bengali in school.

Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) set out to conduct a study on language of the primitive Toto tribe, whose population has dwindled to 1,536, they did not realize that the language is more endangered than the tribe itself. Researchers and even the members of Toto community admit that the language is under threat and influence of other languages, particularly Nepali and Bengali, is increasing day by day. Despite the language lacking a script, members of the community, whose literacy rate as per sample survey carried out in 2003 was just 33.64 per cent, have penned books and poems in their language albeit in the Bengali script.[4]

The Himalayan Languages Project is working on the first grammatical sketch of Toto. Himalayan Languages Project have arguably contributed more to advancing Tibeto-Burman linguistics than all other working scholars combined. George van Driem outlines the contributions of linguistics, archaeology and genetics to the population history of the greater Himalayan region. He emphasizes the role of genetics in the study of Tibeto-Burman linguistics.[5]

Phonology

Vowels

Toto Language consists of 25 segmental Phonemes of which 19 are consonants and 6 are vowels. The phonemes of this language are as follows: Vowels: These are 6 vowel phonemes in Toto language. They can be classified horizontally into three as front unrounded, central unrounded and back rounded vowels and vertically as close, close-mid, open-mid and open.

The following minimal pairs establish the phonetics status of the vowel

/i/~/u/

/Jiya/ ‘rat’

/Juya/ ‘bird’

/i/~/e/

/iŋ/ ‘brother in-law’

/eŋ/ ‘ginger’

/ciwa/ ‘tear’

/cewa/ ‘cut’ (cloth)

/i/~/a/

/guJi/ ‘owl’

/guJa/ ‘pocket’

/nico/ ‘fire’

/naco/ ‘two’

/e/~/o/

/je/ ‘grass’

/jo/ ‘breast’

/e/~/a/

/lepa/ ‘brain’

/lapa/ ‘jungle betel leaf’

/kewa/ ‘birth’

/kawa/ ‘sound’

There are eight diphthongs realized in Toto language. These are /ei/, /ai/, /oi/, /ui/, /əi/, /eu/, /au/ and /ou/. Diphthong /ui/ occurs in all positions, /eu/ occurs initial and medial positions, /ai/, /oi/, /əi/, and /ei/ occur medial and final positions. While /ou/ and /au/ occur only in the medial positions.[1] Furthermore, with regard to consonants, Toto has an inventory of ten obstruents, eight of which are contrastive in voicing. Toto also distinguishes the voiceless obstruents /t/ and /p/ with its aspirated equivalents /tʰ/ and /pʰ/, respectively. [1]

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
plain aspirated plain aspirated
Stop voiceless p pʰ t tʰ c k
voiced b d ɟ g
Fricative s h
Nasal m n ŋ
Approximant l j w
Trill r

Vocabulary

Below are some Toto words from van Driem (1995), who uses these words to suggest that Toto may be a Sal language.[6]

  • aŋ- ‘to drink’
  • bɔcɔŋ ‘shoulder’
  • yoti ‘cooking pot’ (second syllable), cf. Dzongkha dî ‘jug’
  • uŋtí ‘seed’
  • haní ‘today’
  • tarí ‘moon’
  • lip- ‘fall’ (cf. Benedict’s PTB *lip ‘dive, sink, drown’)
  • tɛ́bo ‘big’ (first syllable)
  • así ‘shit’
  • daŋkre ‘right’ (vs. ‘left’)
  • buibé ‘stomach’ (first syllable); the second syllable <-be> is cognate with Toto biyá ‘meat’
  • biyá ‘meat’
  • wɔteŋ ‘bamboo species’ (first syllable), Nepali ḍhuṅgre ko ghās
  • maʔoŋ ‘paddy’
  • bagreŋ ‘wing’
  • saní ‘sun’
  • jâr- ‘stand’
  • anji ‘yesterday’
  • böidi ‘navel’
  • lâru- ‘bring’
  • em- ‘to shit’
  • jiŋ- ‘sleep’
  • cici ‘urine’
  • kiya ‘dog’
  • miŋ ‘name’
  • daŋ ‘horn’
  • maibe ‘flower’
  • pǘyɔ ‘snake’
  • luŋtü ‘stone’
  • lɛbɛ́ ‘tongue’
  • maŋbü- ‘to dream’
  • nanuŋ ‘ear’
  • mico ‘eye’
  • ŋaya ‘fish’
  • musa ‘body hair’
  • ka ‘I’
  • taŋpa ‘sole of the foot’
  • paká ‘pig’
  • nati ‘thou’
  • satáŋ ‘tooth’
  • si- ‘die’
  • ca- ‘eat’
  • the- ‘be sweet, taste sweet’
  • toise ‘mango’ (suffix: <-se>)
  • daŋse ‘jackfruit’ (suffix: <-se>)
  • sâ- ‘kill’
  • dai- ‘dig’
  • köitü ‘egg’
  • yuŋ- ‘sit, stay’
  • ti ‘water’
  • mití ‘tear’
  • totí ‘spit’
  • wɛtí ‘rain’
  • yutí ‘blood’
  • yutí ‘milk’
  • dikɔ́ ‘buffalo’
  • ü- ‘come down, descend’
  • ŋɛtɔ́ŋ ‘neck’
  • to pa- ‘weave’
  • kai- ‘cry’
  • ŋɔká ‘monkey’
  • jüwɔ́ ‘mouse, rat’

Pronouns

The Toto personal pronouns are (van Driem 1995):[6]

singularplural
first person kakibi
second person natinatibi
third person akuabi

Numerals

The Toto numerals are (van Driem 1995):[6]

English numeralbare stem for countingcounting humanscounting animalsinanimate objects
one iiccɔippuicce
two ninisonipunise
three suŋsumcɔsuŋpusuŋse
four didicɔdipudise
five ŋaŋacɔŋapuŋase
six tutukcɔtukputuse
seven ninícɔnípuníse
eight yâyấcɔyấpuyấse
nine kukucɔkupukuse
ten tâtâcɔtâputâse
eleven eghâraeghârcɔeghârpueghârse
twelve bârabârcɔbârpubârse
twenty ikaiikai cɔikai puikai se
twenty-one ikai-so iikai-so iccɔikai-so ippuikai-so icce
thirty ikai-so tâikai-so tâcɔikai-so tâpuikai-so tâse
forty nikainikai cɔnikai punikai se
fifty nikai-so tânikai-so tâcɔnikai-so tâpunikai-so tâse
sixty suŋkaisuŋkai cɔsuŋkai pusuŋkai se

    See also

    Notes

    1. 1 2 3 "Languages of India" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-02-08. |
    2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Toto". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
    3. ↑ Ben Doherty (April 29, 2012). "India's tribal people fast becoming lost for words". The Age. Retrieved 2015-02-08.
    4. ↑ "Toto Language More Endangered than Tribe". Retrieved 2015-02-08.
    5. ↑ Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region Containing an Introduction to the Symbiotic Theory of Language
    6. 1 2 3 van Driem, George. 1995. The Ṭoṭo language of the Bhutanese duars. Paper presented at ICSTLL 28.

    References

    • Amitabha, S. (1993). Toto, Society and Change: A Sub-Himalayan Tribe of West Bengal. Firma KLM.
    • Basumatary, C. (2014). The Phonological Study of Toto Language. Language in India, 14:6, 59-84. Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://languageinindia.com/june2014/chibiramtotophonology1.pdf
    • Chaudhuri, B. (1992). Tribal Transformation in India. New Delhi, India: Inter-India Publications.
    • Doherty, B. (2012, April 29). India's Tribal People Fast Becoming Lost for Words. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://www.smh.com.au/world/indias-tribal-people-fast-becoming-lost-for-words-20120429-1xted.html
    • Grierson, George A. (1909). Linguistic Survey of India. Volume III, Part 1, Tibeto-Burman family. General introduction. Specimens of the Tibetan dialects, the Himalayan dialects and the North Assam group. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India.
    • Mehrotra, R. (1974). Endangered Languages in India. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 105-114. Retrieved February 9, 2015, from https://web.archive.org/web/20111016074549/http://www.degruyter.de/journals/ijsl/detailEn.cfm
    • Perumalsamy P (2016) Toto Language LSI West Bengal Vol.I in the website of Office of the Registrar General India, New Delhi http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-documents/lsi/lsi_wb/5TOTO.pdf
    • Singh, S. (2014, August 1). Toto Language More Endangered Than Tribe. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/toto-language-more-endangered-than-tribe/article6270931.ece
    • van Driem, G., & Bronkhorst, J. (2001). Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region Containing an Introduction to the Symbiotic Theory of Language (pp. 559–760). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Academic Pub.
    • van Driem, G. (2007). South Asia and Middle East. In C. Moseley (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages (pp. 289–348). London and New York: Routledge.
    • van Driem, George. 1995. The Ṭoṭo language of the Bhutanese duars. Paper presented at ICSTLL 28.
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