Let us save Tanii

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF DECADE IN INDIA

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:11:00 +0000

On the very day of 22nd July 2009, the moon will eclipse the sun as seen from India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, Japan and the Marshall Islands. It is going to be the longest solar eclipse for over a century (predicted to last for 6 minute and 39 second) and this time the path of totality passes through India. This eclipse pass over India comes after almost a decade. The last two eclipses happened in 1999 and 1995.

The eclipse begins on the 22nd of July 2009 at around 5:30 am IST in India and spends almost two hours passing the subcontinent. The path of totality will pass through central India passing over Surat, Ujjain, Baroda, Bhopal, Patna, Darjeeling, and Dibrugarh in the far east.

( Source:Internet)

Tanii mythology about SOLAR ECLIPSE (Danyi tatih aniih nii)

In Tanii (Apatani) mythology, it is believed that the occurrence of SOLAR ECLIPSE is due to Ejang Tatih (Solar Frog) swallowing AYO-DANYI (The sun). In Tanii culture Ayo-Danyi is the mother of every one and she serves tirelessly everyone throughout. Due to her busy service to everyone, sometime she falls into the mouth of Ejang Tatih (Solar Frog) and solar frog tries to swallow up with its great force which causes solar eclipse.

It is old belief that Solar frog is allergic to loud sound and noise of any kind. So, when solar eclipse occurred, noises were made by ringing bells, plates and shouting by every members of family as to release the sun from EJANG TATIH (solar frog).

(Though this mythological belief has faded up with better understanding about the scientific facts behind the occurrence of Solar eclipse. We the present generation of Tanii has not seen any such scene happening during any of the earlier solar eclipse or neither expect to see on 22^nd July’09. But, my mother told me that it used to happened in their childhood.)

Similar mythology of the ancient China

The ancient Chinese believed that solar eclipses occur when a legendary celestial dragon devours the Sun. They also believed that this dragon attacks the Moon during lunar eclipses. In the Chinese language, the term for eclipse was "chih" which also means "to eat". One ancient Chinese solar eclipse record describes a solar eclipse as "the Sun has been eaten".

It was a tradition in ancient China to bang drums and pots and make loud noise during eclipses to frighten that dragon away. Even more recently, in the nineteenth century, the Chinese navy fired its cannons during a lunar eclipse to scare the dragon that was eating the Moon.

Source: http://www.bibalex.org/eclipse2006/HistoricalObservationsofSolarEclipses.htm

FACTS ABOUT SOLAR ECLIPSE

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is fully or partially covered. This can only happen during a

new moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth. At least two and up to five solar eclipses can occur each year on Earth, with between zero and two of them being total eclipses. Total solar eclipses are nevertheless rare at any location because during each eclipse totality exists only along a narrow corridor in the relatively tiny area of the Moon's umbra.

A Total eclipse in the umbra.
B Annular eclipse in the antumbra.
C Partial eclipse in the penumbra

(source: Wikipedia)

Picture:TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE

Don’ts During Solar Eclipse
Never watch the eclipse with a naked eye.
Don’t use Binoculars to view the eclipse.
Don’t use Telescope to view the eclipse.
Don’t use any cheap or easily available filters in Telescope or Binoculars to view the sun. Only specifically designed filters should be used with Telescope and Binoculars.
Don’t watch the eclipse using color film.
Don’t watch the eclipse with non-silver black and white film.
Don’t watch the eclipse with medical x-ray films with images on them.
Don’t use smoked glass to view the sun.
All developed films lack a silver emulsion and therefore it should not be used to view the eclipse.

Do’s During Solar Eclipse
You should take the advice of an experienced person or a scientist before planning to view a Total Solar Eclipse
Only use specifically designed spectacles designed with filters to view the eclipse.
The safest method of viewing a Total Solar Eclipse is by projection, in which a small opening is used to cast the image of the Sun on a screen beyond the opening.
It is safe to view the total phase of an eclipse (when the moon completely coves the sun) with naked eye. But one needs to know when to stop and start viewing the total phase. So this is bit risky.
(Source: Hindu blog)

Do you know the Tanii name for... ?

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:33:00 +0000

Do you know the Tanii name for this animal ? I asked a few people in Ziro, but couldn't get a conclusive answer. It's the Yellow-bellied Weasel (Mustela kathiah), a high dwelling mammal species found throughout the Himalayas, usually at an elevation of 1800 m and above, though in winter it may occasionally come down to lower than 1000 m. It is a carnivorous species, capturing mostly mice and rats, but also occasionally eating birds and small mammals. In some areas of Nepal Yellow-bellied weasels are kept as pets to chase and catch rodents inside houses.

The picture below was taken at a market in Ziro. A specimen of Yellow-bellied Weasel, probably caught in a trap, was offered for sale, along with byako (Solanum torvum) and a variety of orange fruit.

Source: Rita Willaert's collection on Flickr.

Maybe a clue: I was told that this animal is called KEKKA in Adi (Padam dialect).

Tanii "vegetables" (haman)

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Sun, 10 May 2009 02:16:00 +0000

"Haman" (or Hamang) is a generic word most often translated as "vegetable". Such a translation is rough however, as under this designation one finds both cultivated and wild species. Also, not all cultivated plants fall into the category "haman". In fact, under the label "haman" the Taniis include a wide range of species whose leaves can be eaten, either raw or more often boiled. Other plants whose tubers, seeds, stems, shoots or fruits are eaten by humans belong to other plant categories.

How many are there ? While at Ziro I made a quick list with a couple of Tanii friends, and tried my best to identify them later. But no doubt that it is uncomplete and needs some correction. Your comments are welcome regarding their taste, culinary use, medicinal properties, etc. I sorted them simply by alphabetical order here:

1. aji padii haman : Cardamine hirsuta.

aji padii haman

2. genda haman : Redflower Ragleaf; fireweed (Crassocephalum crepidioides). Also called halyan haman.

genda haman

3. giyan haman: Cabbage Leaf Mustard (Brassica juncea var. rugosa), Lai Pata in Assamese.

giyan haman

4. hiigu haman: Japanese parsley (Oenanthe javanica).

hiigu haman

5. hiika haman: surely not a "vegetable" in the strict sense, but a wild edible fern, of the Pteris genus.

hiika haman

6. hiipe haman : Elatostema platyphyllum, a green leafy vegetable collected from the forests. This one seems a bit doubtful. Are the leaves shown below really eaten by Taniis ?

hiipe haman

7. hiiro haman : I know almost nothing about this species.

8. khuyi haman : Creeping Woodsorrel (Oxalis corniculata, literally "sour vegetable"). Alternate names for this species : o haman; akho haman. The leaves which are eaten have a tangy taste.

khuyi haman (o haman; akho haman)

9. kochi haman : Dandelion (Taraxacum sp.). Literally 'bitter vegetable". The leaves are eaten and, as the name indicates, have a bitter taste.

kochi haman

10. kukulyu haman (in Hija) or kuku lyolye haman (in Bulla): a yet unidentified species that is not only eaten, but also used as a natural pesticide. Especially it is put into paro piiha (basket for carrying chickens) as a prevention against pests affecting poultry.

kukulyu haman/ kuku lyolye haman

11. luli haman: Nepalese smartweed (Persicaria nepalensis).

luli haman

12. mepi haman: Greater plantain (Plantago major), a common weed.

mepi haman

13. ngiilyan khiiko haman: Indian Pennywort (Centella asiatica). The leaves are either boiled or eaten raw with pila. This plant is said to be a good remedy for stomach disorders.

ngiilyan khiiko haman

14. pachu koyu haman. I know nothing about this species.

15. pakhu harbu haman. I know nothing about this species.

16. pato haman. The leaf has a bitter taste and can be used to garnish pike (a typical dish using ash filtered water). I know nothing else about this species.

17. nyihi tami haman. I know nothing about this species.

18. raru haman, commonly known in India as pahari peepal, its botanical name is Piper mellusae or P. brachystachyum.

raru haman

19. riri haman (or riri tami ?): Mile-a-minute or Chinese creeper (Mikania micrantha), a perennial creeping climber, also a very invasive weed. I'm not sure this plant falls into the category "haman", though that name "riri haman" was given to me at Ziro. It may be simply a weed, "tami", as suggested by tdtara. Are the leaves eaten by humans ?

riri haman

20. siya haman: Chameleon Pant (Hottuniya cordata). It has a strong acid taste when eaten.

siya haman

21. tabu choka haman: The name would literally mean 'snake spit vegetable'. I have no further information regarding this species.

22. tape haman is the name for the tropical pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata), the leaves of which are also eaten. Tape is in usage in Hari, Bulla and Hong. It is called epe in Hija, whereas in Bamin-Michi the preferred designation seems to be ayo tape.

tape haman (ayo tape, epe)

23. tayi haman is a generic name for several Amaranth species (Amaranthus spp.).

24. lanchan tayi haman: Joseph's coat (Amaranthus tricolor). It is named "red" (lanchan) variety because of the red color which is especially apparent on young leaves.

lanchan tayi haman

25. pulu tayi haman: Spiny Amaranth (Amaranthus spinosus). It is accurately named "white" (pulu) variety, as it bears tiny white flowers in bunches.

26. yorkhun haman: toothache plant; paracress (Acmella oleracea), a flowering herb whose small leaves are eaten.

yorkhun haman

Other cultivated species, which are usually considered as "vegetables" in other languages, are not listed here, as Tanii do not regard them as "haman".

The very basics of Tanii syntax : word order (1)

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:37:00 +0000

The words in a Tanii sentence have a certain order which is quite different from the word order in English or Hindi. See how puzzling it can be for a non-Tanii speaker:

Mo ngiimi, ngiika lemba hokii tolyiku ho gari pa bagiiku*.
He--me- my village from went down car by carried/brought

In this sentence, the only construction that follows the word order in English is ..... 'my village'...

What does it mean ? Well, simply this :

"He gave me a lift when I was returning from my village."

To explain the rules for this sentence construction alone would require several posts. So let's start here from the very begining, i.e. by outlining the basics of Tanii morphosyntax (word order and sentence construction) in the most simple way:

1. The basic order is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV), that is, Tanii is a verb-final language as are most Tibeto-Burman languages.

Molu yasan mi babindo
S-- -- -O------------ V
They are carrying wood together.

Note 1: Unlike English and many Western languages, it is not always necessary to include a verb.

Insi subu pe ha ?

Is that a mithun (literally. "that mithun + interr. ?")

Siika tarii si hu kii ?
Whose shirt is this ? (lit. 'this shirt whose ?')

Note 2: It is also not necessary to include a pronoun at the begining of every sentence. As a rule, things which are already understood/known or can be deduced from context are often not said. Quite often a simple Object-Verb structure is a complete sentence, ie. the subject is omitted. This is especially true when the subject is a personal pronoun.

Apin diitiiku ha ?
Have you had your lunch/dinner ? (lit. "have already eaten rice ?")

No hokii ?

Where are you coming from (lit. 'where from' ?)

2. Adverbs always occur pre-verbally, although they do not always immediately precede the verb.

Aki hii goropa pido
The dog is barking loudly

Ngo so kiiran adu.
I often come here

3. Adjectives can precede or follow the head noun they qualify.

labi ala : right hand
tado tasan: yellow bead or necklace
ato abi-tarii: own/personal cloth
kochi haman: bitter vegetable (usual name for the Spiny Sowthisle, Sonchus Asper).

But,

yasan sensii: dried wood
subu pulu: white mithun
hime dema: bad/naughty boy
biidan dara: stiff cliff

Note: a small number of adjectives can occur both before and after a head noun, depending on their use.

anyan niti : new year
niti diiro-yasi : new/modern medicine

Note regarding double adjective (adjective that qualifies another adjective): where English systematically puts it in first position, Tanii rather puts it in second position.

lanchan koman: dark red

pilan ranban: brownish yellow

4. As a rule determiners follow the head noun.

Subu si ano dorrodo

This mithun is very big

But Tanii also has "split determiners". Here, one part precedes the noun while the other part follows it.

hiika hime si

that kid

5. Numerals follow the head noun.

Miyu ako
One person

Subu dornye
Two mithuns

6. When numerals are combined with adjectives, the order is:

Noun-adjective(s)-numeral

Subu atu dore

N---- A --Num.

One mithun calf

alyi anii dorngohe

N----A -----Num.

Five sows/female pigs

alyi-lyinii atu kone

N----A -----A ---Num.

one small female pig.

7. Questions particles occur pre- and post-verbally.

- a) The question particles or wh- constituents (who, what, when, why, etc.) precede the verb.

Molu niida akindo ?
When will they come ?

Mo niido kii Ziro ho dudu ?
How long has he been living in Ziro for ? (lit. since when ?)

- b) The "yes/no question"particles follow the verb.

No aya siido ha ?
Are you alright ?

*Retrieved from "Tanii agun lu'sa" blog.

Grammar

Sentence structure

DA, DO, DU

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:18:00 +0000

'DA', 'DO', 'DU' are among the sounds most often heard in Tanii conversation. The reason is, those ‘words’ or particles have two very important grammatical functions which, however should not be confused.

1. Da, du, do as copular verbs or existential verbs

Linguists prefer to call them as copulas, and have noted their presence in many languages. The Tanii copulas “do”, “du”, “da”, in this regard, behave very much like the copula “da” of Japanese language, and occur similarly at the end of the clause or sentence.

San ude ho do.

There is a table in the house (lit. ‘a table lies in the house’)

In the above sentence the copular verb do stands as a single grammatical word, roughly equivalent to the verb "to be". It cannot be seen as a suffixation of the preceding word. The three copulas da, do and du inform about the position, or posture, of the subject.

- da => standing position/posture. Si subu da : Here is a mithun.

- do => lying position/posture. Si tabu sohe do. Here is a snake.

- du => sitting position/posture : Aki hii intosi du. A dog is sitting there.

Note: elements of landscape (forest, mountain, river, ….), houses, buildings, furniture and objects in general are conceptualised as being in a lying posture, whereas plants, esp. those having a straight stem or trunk (bamboos, canes, maize, etc.) are regarded as being in a sitting posture.

Intosi putu puro puye do. There is/lies one big mountain.

Bachin more ho ahi du. Bachin is a fruit that grows in the wild.

The common negative form of the three copular verbs is nyima.

Mo kii aki nyima. He has no dog.

As others verbs, the copular verbs da, do, and du combine with various suffixes inflecting them. Among those are:

Alyin apin diidu doku (do+ku). It's dinner time.

Yo nyima pa apin adin doye (do+ye). there was no meat, only rice was available.

Sii inso dane (da+ne). The cow was here/ There was a cow here.

Sipun ngo ano renge la dato (da+to). These days I have been feeling very tired.

No no ho date he ? (da+te). Where have you been ?

Yani kapyo lala la denki dota (do+ta). Yani is beautiful and sincere too.

Liihi do nii, subu so datii do (da+tii). There are footprints, so (I guess) there was a mithun here.

The past tense of the negative form is nyimane or nyimatii.

Bilo anyan ho siisi ka niti diiro-yasi si, Tanii lemba ho nyimatii.

In olden days there were no modern medicines in Tanii villages.

Other derivations are possible:

Sanii-sanko nyima koda miyu sanko nyikinma.

Without trees there could not be a place for humans to live.

In all cases, these derivated forms of da, do, du should be separated from the nouns, adverbs, prepositions or particles that precede.

2. DO, du as verbal suffixes

The existential verbs da, do, du, must be distinguished from their homophons appearing as verbal suffixations. For, among the many verbal suffixes used in Tanii language to inflect the verb, -do and -du are also found. As they too almost always occur in the last position, the possibility that these suffixes derive historically from the corresponding existential verbs cannot be ruled out. However, today they do not constitute grammatical words, in that they cannot stand alone but are dependent of a root verb that precedes. They are, in fact, part of the “conjugated” (or inflected) form of the verb, often occuring in combination with other suffixes.

Aba yayi lyodo. Daddy is tearing the outer skin of the bamboo.

That -do and -du are verbal suffixes here - and not copular verbs, is demonstrated by the fact that they also inflect the copular verbs themselves:

Subu hii more sansu ho dadu. Mithuns live in forests (in general).

Mo niido kii Ziro ho dudu ? How long has she been living in Ziro for ?

Anyan yanhe ho piilo barne dodu ? How many months are there in a year ? (general statement)

There are also semantic differences : -do and -du as verbal suffixes do not inform about the position of the subject (standing, sitting, lying), but specify the tense, mood or aspect of the verb.

- do :

o marker of the present tense or the present continuous.

No ludo. You are talking/speaking.

o Marker of the proximal past.

Obin ludo mo ami riibitalyi la. Obin said that he would buy a cat.

- du :

o marker of present tense, esp. the present continuous, first pers. sing.

Ngo adu. I'm coming.

o habitual present (used as a general statement to suggest things that occur in the present but not necessarily happening right now).

Dula lo aki randu. One ties dogs with ropes.

To summarize, when writing Tanii it is important that we do not confuse these two sets of words:

- Copular verbs da, do and du should stand alone, separated from the word that precedes:

Nehe baji do ? What time is it ?

Mokii oho hinhe du. She has three children.

- On the contrary, verbal suffixes -do and -du, because of their dependent nature, should be written attached to the verb root or to the adjective root. Here, only the root altogether with its suffix has the status of a grammatical word:

No ludo. You are talking/speaking.

Customary measures (1) Lengths

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:29:00 +0000

In Tanii, as in all traditional measuring systems, short distance units of length are based on the dimensions of the human body: the finger, hand, arm, span, foot and pace. As metrication proceeds in education, trade, administration and science, they are less and less in use. They should not be forgotten however, as they are unlikely to disappear completely from the language. In other places adoption of the metric system took several centuries, and even in countries where it is largely complete nowadays such as for eg. the USA, many people in their daily lives still use the "foot", the "mile", the "pint", the "ounce" or the "gallon"...

The Tanii basic unit of linear measure is the width of one finger. Interestingly, as pointed out by Dani sulu, this unit has got two distinct names in Tanii, the use of which varies according to what is actually measured:

ha is used for measuring heights of small size.

Arii hane podoku ?
How high has the horn grown ? (in finger widths)

Behe (or byapu) hanye paye chadoku.
The bamboo shoot has grown to about two fingers widths high.

Byago siiran hii hanye paye riibii mi pole chado.
The post of the front verandah rises two finger widths above the railings (?)

tiŋ is used for measuring breadths of small size.

Ngo lachi tiŋnge tere ngiika kidi dalyi ho sulu milley boki ninte mah (spelling yet to be checked).
I won't allow even a width of finger from my land for the fencing.

Thus, the smallest series of lengths can be counted this way:

hahe/haye, or tiŋnge: the width of a finger.

hanye or tiŋnye => 2 fingers: the width of 2 fingers kept together.
hahiŋhe or tihiŋhe => 3 fingers: the width of 3 fingers kept together.

haphe or tiŋphe (tiŋpye in Hija) => 4 fingers: the width of 4 fingers kept together.
The other units are:

naŋnge => palm : a hand-breadth, or the five fingers kept together.

This unit can be used in combination with finger widths. For example:

Yo aso hii naŋnge la tiŋnye do
The breadth of that piece of bacon is one hand palm and two fingers.
hiŋkhehe => shaftment: the width of the hand and oustretched thumb (roughly equal to 2 palms)
ladii goye => hand span (1): distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the forefinger, when the hand is fully extended.
laso goye => hand span (2): distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the middle finger of an outstretched hand.

ladu tuhe/tuye => cubit, forearm: distance from the elbow (ladu miru/ladu milyin) to the finger tips.

? : distance from the shoulder to the tip of the middle finger.

lyeŋnge-khupohe (as spoken in Hari and Bulla) or lyiŋnge-khupohe (as spoken in Hija), or ala lyeŋnge-khupohe/ ala lyiŋnge-khupohe : distance from the shoulder to the fingers of the opposite hand.

lyeŋnge (Hari, Bulla) or lyiŋnge (Hija), or ala lyeŋnge/ala lyiŋnge=> fathom: the distance between the fingertips of both hands when the arms are raised horizontally on the sides.
dahe/daye => pace: the distance from where one foot is set down to where the other is set down.
The word danye (two paces or steps) conveys the more general sense of "at a walkable (yet unspecified) distance":

Lemba hokii danye dalin la school doda do
The school is located within walking distance/
at a walkable distance from the village.

The above information is still uncomplete. So far the name of the unit for measuring one full arm and shoulder is not known. We also do not know whether the length of joints of fingers is used as a unit, as was for eg. the English "nail" (length of the last two joints of the middle finger). Nor do we know the relationship of one unit to the others: how many fingers for a hand span, how many feet in one pace, how many hands for a fathom, etc. If you have some additional information regarding this topic, kindly share it with us.

Apatani language
customary measures

Division of the day

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:54:00 +0000

At least 18 expressions are used in Tanii to distinguish stages of the day and night. As can be seen from the sketch below, these are particularly concentrated at points of transition such as dawn and the darking time of dusk.

1. paro ronge khonii : first crowing of the rooster before dawn
2. paro ronye khonii : second crowing of the rooster.
3. aro jimi jama : dawn (lit. "hazy morning")
4. aro konchi : early morning
5. danyi chadu : sunrise
6. aji indu : time for going to paddy field (8: 30-9:30 am)
7. alo apin diidu : lunch time
8. alo liipa : noon
9. alyin dalyi : afternoon
10. alyin apin piichan miidu : dinner cooking time (3-4 pm)
11. aji inii adu : returning from fields (5-6 pm)
12. danyi adu : sunset
13. alyin : evening
14. alyin jimi jama : late evening, dusk (lit. "hazy evening").
15. alyin kamo (lit. "dark evening")
16. piilo karlindo : moon is appearing in the sky.
17. ayo liipa : middle of the night/midnight
18. ayo-yolyan : late in the night (lit."late night").

The day is broadly divided into four periods: aro (morning), alo (day),alyin (evening), ayo (night), each of them further subdivided into several moments. As one may expect, Tanii language is much less specific about time during the night. It is to be noted that there is no specific word for "afternoon", that period of the day (alyin dalyi) being simply named in reference to the evening. The early stages of dawn are marked by a "first crowing of the rooster" (paro ronge khonii), followed by a second crowing (paro ronye khonii) which seems to mark the real dawn. In olden days both were probably important in directing domestic activities. Early morning (aro konchi) begins with a period of morning twilight between darkness and sunrise, and similarly evening begins with a period of evening twilight, when the sun has set but the darkness is not yet complete. Significantly, these moments are named respectively "hazy morning" (aro jimi jama) and "hazy evening" (alyin jimi jama), in reference to the mist cover which is a common sight of the Apatani Valley (see some pictures here) The "hazy evening" is followed by a "dark evening" (alyin kamo) that also marks the transition from day to night. The moment the sun is at its zenith is the "middle of the day" (alo liipa). Symetrically there is a "middle of the night" (ayo liipa), just as in English with "midday" and "midnight". The stages of the day are further delineated with references to routine tasks such as going to and from paddy fields, preparing of having meals.

PB & TT

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:10:00 +0000

New year is the time to celebrate

& weave new dreams,

to realise how great was the last year

& cherish the memories,

to wish and pray for a prosperous year ahead

& realise new dreams.

Today, yesterday, tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:55:00 +0000

1. The formation of adverbs refering to past or present days (as well as past or present years) is quite regular in Tanii:

	-lo	-yo	-ro	-lyin	-nyan

a-	alo day	ayo night	aro morning	alyin evening	anyan year
si(i)	si(i)lo today	si(i)yo tonight	si(i)ro this morning	si(i)lyin this evening	si(i)nyan this year
bii	biilyo yesterday	biiyo yesterday night/ last night	biiro yesterday morning/ last morning	biilyin yesterday evening/ last evening	biinyan last year
ko	kolo day before yesterday	koyo day before yesterday night	koro day before yesterday morning	kolyin day before yesterday evening	konyan 2 years ago

The only exception is biilyo (yesterday).

Note: In day-to-day conversation, kolo (day before yesterday) can have a broader sense and convey the meaning of "a few days back".

Ngo Mumbai ho kolo aku.
I arrived in Mumbai a couple of days back.

Another synonym is lonyi-lohin (literally '2-3 days') :

Lonyi-lohin kapyopa, ngo nii mi kapato.
I saw you some days back

Similarly, siinyan-siilo (literally 'this year-today') can be translated as "nowadays".

biinyan means "last year" and konyan "the year before last year" or "two years ago". Taken together, the two words biinyan-konyan convey the meaning of "in past years".

2. For refering to coming days, the formation of compound words is different : here the root -da is used with various prefixes :

D+1	D+2	D+3	D+4
arda	rida	riiboda	riikhiida/riipoda
tomorrow	day after tomorrow	three days hence	four days hence

Further specification (morning, evening, night) is made by adding corresponding words (aro, alyin, ayo). There are 2 exceptions : konda (tomorrow morning) and ri aro (day after tomorrow morning).

	morning	evening	night
D+1	konda tomorrow morning	arda alyin tomorrow evening	arda ayo tomorrow night
D+2	ri aro day after tomorrow morning	rida alyin day after tomorrow evening	rida ayo day after tomorrow night
D+3	riiboda aro 3 days hence morning	riiboda alyin 3 days hence evening	riiboda ayo 3 days hence night

Note: arida and arda-rida (literally" tomorrow-day after tomorrow") are used for counting an unspecified number of days. Both can be translated either as "in coming days" or as " in future".

Arda-rida ngo Korea inchi
I will (surely) go to Korea in future.

The formation of adverbs refering to coming years is based on the same general principle (various prefixes + da), but is not regular. For coming months there are no specific words but cricumlocutions : alyinii piilo => literally 'coming month', alyinii piilo barnye nii (lit. 'the second of coming months'), alyinii piilo barhin nii (lit. 'the third of coming months'), etc.

	DAY	MONTH	YEAR
+1	konda tomorrow	alyinii piilo next month	diirada next year
+2	rida day after tomorrow	alyinii piilo barnye nii two months hence	lonyada two years hence
+3	riiboda	alyinii piilo barhin nii three months hence	loyida (lohida ?) three years hence

Note 1 :
Lonyada could derive from : lo + nye (2) + da.
Loyida might be 'lohida' and thus derive from : lo + hin (3) + da (in Tanii the final n of 'hin' usually drops before l).

Note 2:
The same way arda-rida (literally "tomorrow-day after tomorrow") means "in coming days" or "in future", diira-lonyan (literally "next year-year after next year) can be translated as "in coming years" or " in future". Similarly loyida or lohida (3 years hence) can convey the general meaning of "in coming years".

Apatani grammar
adverbs of time

Tanii beads-8 : small coloured glass beads

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 03:40:00 +0000

Coloured glass beads bought from the plains are very popular among Taniis, as some of their necklaces are composed of several rows of small or medium-sized beads of all sort.

1. Many of them belong to the "bimpu family". Bimpu is a generic term for medium-sized glass beads, especially those that make up bimpu tasan, a necklace composed of as many as 20 types of beads displayed on a dozen or so strands. The shapes vary from cylindrical to roundish. They are differentiated mainly on the basis of their hues:

lanchan bimpu : red slightly translucent glass bead
ji bimpu : dark blue slightly translucent glass bead.
jiji bimpu : green slightly translucent glass bead
horpu bimpu : translucent glass bead

jiji bimpu

ji bimpu

lanchan bimpu

horpu bimpu

bimpu ami is a special type of glass beads originating from Venice circa 19th century. Black or burgundy in colour with white dots, they are commonly known as "Skunk beads". The Taniis simply call them bimpu ami or "eyed bimpus".

bimpu ami

2. Tado are small, cylindrical opaque yellow beads used to make necklaces known as tado tasan. Two shades are distinguished, each used to make up a specific necklace simply consisting of several strands of these beads.

akho tado : bright yellow
aper tado : terracotta

akho tado (left) and aper tado (right)

3. pike tasan is a translucent glass bead of amber hue.

pike tasan
(one bimpu ami has been inserted in the middle of the row)

4. nyime perun (or peron), literally "Tibetan soja bean" is a small, cylindrical dark blue bead. As the name indicates, they seem originate from Tibet, or more probably, as Fürer-Haimendorf suggests, they were probably obtained from Tibet on a regular basis till the Chinese takeover. As he writes in 1962 :

"Most women possess strings of crudely cut cylindrical glass beads of dark blue clour and it could seem that these have also come from Tibet. They are quite different from any beads manufactured or known in India today (...) Today they are no longer popular, and have indeed very little market value. Their place has been taken by smaller and smoother glass beads of similar dark blue colour which have for some years been available in the bazaars of North Lakhimpur." (1962, 68).

Nyime perun

Nyime perun are used to make necklaces known as nyime tasan or ji tasan, consisting of several strands of those dark blue beads ornamented with yellow and red beads.

5. Lebu ralin, despite its name, is not a carnelian bead but simply a glass bright red bead which is set up at intervals to decorate nyime tasan necklaces.

lebu ralin

Apatani beads
coloured glass beads

Apatani beads-7 : khiinii miru

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:53:00 +0000

Khiinii miru are unetched, spherical black and white banded agates. This type of stone is commonly known as "Sulemani agate", or "Solomon agate", named after King Solomon and originally supposed to be from his legendary mines. They appear to be part of a long established production whose historical center was Western Asia and may date back as far as 2500 BC. Of course, many beads found today on traditional necklaces are not anyway near that old. The pair displayed on the above picture is set up at the bottom of a santer tasan, and contrasts with the overall blue hue of the necklace. From a strictly commercial point of view, these are too worn and damaged to have any value. But their social, cultural and aesthetic value is, of course, a different matter.

In the course of history round banded agates seem to have found their way to the Himalayan cultures, especially the Tibetan one where there have become known as Bhaisajyaguru, "the Medicine Buddha" (Sman-bla in Tibetan) beads. Many of them are probably just a few hundred years old. Both Suleimani and Bhaisajyaguru refer to the same kind of stone, basically black agate with lighter banding. The cult of Bhaisajyaguru being very popular in Tibet (as well as in Mongolia, Tibet, Korea and even Japan), it is likely that the stone was attributed some talismanic or medicinal properties by the popular religion, as for Dzi-beads (see previous post).

Banded agate bead from Himachal Pradesh (for comparison)

Bhaisajyaguru beads from Nepal (left) and Tibet (right). Tibetan stones are often found to have narrower bands. (Source: garudatrading.com)

Apatani beads

banded agate beads

Tanii beads-6 : Bukhe Ripo

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:36:00 +0000

Bukhe ripo bead set up on a carnelian bead necklace, lebu tasan.

Bukhe Ripo are very distinctive beads worn by women, either interspersed with glass or carnelian beads or, if the owner is fortunate to have a collection of bukhe ripo, as a whole necklace made from the stones. Mainly oblong or cylindrical in shape, they are pierced lengthwise. The beads are engraved with geometrical patterns : circles, ovals, squares, zig zags or stripes. Colours range from browns to blacks.

The ultimate origin of those stones appears to be the Indus Valley and Iran, where they have been manufactured for the most part between 2700 BC to 1000 AD. The first ones were made in the context of the Mesopotamian and Indus Valley Civilizations, whereas in the Late Period they were mostly the work of Persians. They are either natural agates- black and browns with white banding, or fossil agate from petrified wood, exhibiting various shades of brown, some with different color inclusions. The stones are etched by hand for creating the very distinctive motifs which usually appear in ivory white (the process of making contemporary etched agate beads can be seen here).

Interestingly, nowadays etched agate beads are found primarily in the Tibetan cultural sphere (viz. Tibet, Ladakh, Tibetan areas of Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan, etc.), and for that reason they are popularly known as "Tibetan agate beads" (or "Pumtek beads" in Burma). Mostly through bartering exchanges with Tibet (and then through heritage) they have also been acquired by many inhabitants of Arunachal Pradesh. In Tibetan language, they are known as Dzi, which means 'brigthness', 'clearless', 'splendour', and are much valued. For some very fine pictures of those stones, you can visit this very informative blog. A very rich symbolism is also attached to these stones, mainly based on the number of circular motifs or "eyes" (from 1 to 21) which are represented on them (see this link), as well as a number of additional parameters (see this link).

Though the beads have never been manufactured in Tibet, they are considered as precious jewels. They are also believed to provide people with protection, so that someone who owns one one such stone will not let it go easily, nor will usually sell it. The Tibetans (as well as the Monpas of Arunachal Pradesh) find them occasionally in the earth when tilling their fields or taking their animals for grazing. The popular belief attributes a divine origine to the stones, which as such are endowed with talismanic properties and medicinal value. For that reason, Tibetans farmers or herders are often seen wearing one or two Dzi-beads around their neck. The Tibetan/Chinese numerology interferes with the popular belief by attributing a distinctive talismanic value to the stones according to the number of eye motifs. The most sought after (and hence the most expensive stones) are the ones having an odd number of 'eyes' (the best ideally having 9 or 13). Next most popular are those having unusual patterns, inclusions or colors, followed by the beads having an even number of eyes.

Some of them, which are old and authentique artifacts, command high prices, as much as several thousands dollars a piece. But nowadays many glass imitations have also been made, which are not easily distinguishable from genuine stones. And thousands of "fake made-in-China Dzi beads" are offered for sale daily on Ebay. It is likely that many Dzi beads found in modern Tibet and Arunachal are copies, including the one displayed on the above picture. So beware !

modern so-called "Dzi beads"

Apatani beads
etched agate beads

Tanii beads-5 : pilya papu or Peking glass beads

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 02:51:00 +0000

Pilya papu, more generally known as "Peking glass" beads, are large round beads of greenish colour. Many of them originate from Poshan in Northeastern China. Most were made to imitate Chinese precious stones, especially jade, and so are found in various shades of green, from dark green to very light, whitish almond green.

A Chinese necklace made of Peking glass beads (for comparison)

Though all are made of glass, the Taniis do not confuse "Peking glass" beads with other beads of similar shape and size such as the so-called "Padre" beads (for eg. santer, see previous post). They also do not normally mix the two types of beads on necklaces. Typically, two pairs of pilya papu displayed in a symmetrical way ornament the middle section of sampu tasan or chank shell necklace.

Apatani beads
Peking glass beads

Tanii beads-4 : page or Chinese melon beads

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 02:57:00 +0000

Page beads have a very distinctive shape, commonly called "melon-shape" (though pumpkin would be more accurate). They are glass paste beads of various hues, the most common being shades of blue, green and yellow. Quite common in Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet, they originate from further North in China. From the Tang dynasty onwards, China has acquired a worldwide reputation and a leading influence on the art of glass bead making. Though the Chinese did not flood the trading markets with other countries with these beads, glass melon-shaped beads have been found in various cultures as far as New Guinea where, till recently, they were used as trade currency. In making glass the Chinese used lead-barium formula which makes it more brillant, easier to cut and easier to remelt. It also makes much softer and heavier beads than contemporary soda-lime glass produced in Europe.

The Taniis use page beads for making various necklaces, interspersed with other beads or forming separate rows. A single strand of Chinese melon-shaped glass paste beads of light-blue hues is known as sampyu page and is one of their favourite necklaces.

Tanii language differentiates at least 8 types, according to the hue, size and appearance :

santer page : light blue/turquoise, opaque, big.
sampyu page : light blue/turquoise/jade green, opaque, small
saro page : dark or light blue, slightly translucent/medium size
sankhe page : blue or dark blue, slightly translucent, small
horpu page : crystal-like, translucent, medium size
bilun page : terracota, brownish yellow, slightly translucent, medium size
pike page : amber, brownish, slightly translucent, medium size
halan page : light blue, opaque, small

santer page...............................................................................................sampyu page

saro page (left and right)

sankhe page

horpu page

bilun page

pike page

halan page

A strand of old Chinese melon-shaped glass paste beads, of amber hues, from Tibet (for comparison).

Apatani beads

Chinese melon beads

Tanii beads 3 : Turquoise-blue glass beads

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:51:00 +0000

The Taniis use turquoise-blue round, chunky or cylindrical beads to make large necklaces worn by women known as santer tasan and sampyu tasan. Though imported from Tibet and indeed reminiscent of the true turquoise stones much prized by the Tibetans, they are in fact Chinese glass beads commonly known as "Padre" beads, whose colour is similar to those of turquoises (it can be also turquoise coloured tile beads in some cases). They are very popular among the Tibetans as among most indigenous communities of Arunachal Pradesh.

sambyu : medium size light blue beads (top)

santer : larger type of light blue beads (bottom)

santer page is a blue melon-shaped glass bead of the larger type (santer). On this picture displaying a few old beads the original shape has been abrased and only notches remain visible.

The smallest type of turquoise-blue glass bead is called sampyu. It comprises :

- alan : roundish, chunky beads
- sampyu peron or sampyu perun : literally "bean sampyu", cylindrical in shape

alan and sampyu perun interspersed on sampyu tasan

- sampyu page : melon-shaped bead

An old Tibetan necklace made of melon-shaped turquoise-blue glass beads (for comparison)

Apatani beads
Himalayan turquoise-blue beads

Tanii beads-2 : lebu or Carnelian beads

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:49:00 +0000

Carnelian and agate beads are used by Taniis to make only one type of necklace, which is also their longest necklace. It is known as lebu tasan and consists mostly of a single row of such beads. Its very typical colour, reddish orange shades, is due to iron oxide contained in the stones which may have bandings. Some of them can also be translucent or opaque. The carnelian and agate beads worn by the Taniis are not always faceted, but those who are are mostly hexagonal. Rectangular beads seem to be rare.

Several shapes and apparences are distinguished :

lebu : long hexagonal carnelian or agate bead which gives its name to the necklace. The biggest pair, or the biggest ones, are positioned at the bottom part.

gara or garya : short cylindrical non-faceted carnelian or agate bead. Mostly used as spacers between lebu beads.

yasi lebu : translucent carnelian or agate bead. Possibly also crystal in some cases.

rinyo lebu : diamond shape bead, usually positioned towards the middle section of the row.

lebu

gara/garya

rinyo lebu

yasi lebu

Apatani beads
carnelian beads

Tanii beads-1 : sampu or chank shell beads

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 01:25:00 +0000

Among the Tanii's most valued ornaments are chank shell beads, also inaccurately called "conch shell" beads. The Indian chank shell is a large gastropod shell (Turbinella pyrum) found along the coast of India and Pakistan. It has been used as ornament in the Indian subcontinent for 4000 years and is regarded as sacred by both Hindus and Buddhists. Tanii chank shell beads seem to have reached the Subansiri area via Tibet. In the Himalayas and Tibet the shell has numerous sacred associations : symbol of purity, source of benevolent forces, etc.

Turbinella pyrum

The Taniis use the chank shell only as beads or necklace fasteners, not as rituals objects as in Tibet. At the same time it is the only shell used by them as body ornament. Cowrie shells (Moneta moneta) which are sought after for decorating the cane straps of Tibetan swords (chiri) do not serve for making beads nor any necklace part.

1. Beads
Sampu (or sampo) is the generic name for chank shell bead. A single strand of 70 to 80 of such beads makes one typical necklace known simply as sampu tasan.

3 types are distinguished :

* sampu/sampo (proper) : these are large, chunky or discoid white beads which make up the middle and lower section of the necklace.

* sanje sampu : these are smaller, more cylindrical in shape, and usually flatter; they are positioned at the upper section of the necklace.

* hiiku : the biggest ones, hand carved so as to give the beads a helicoidal shape, they are also one of the most valuable ornaments of the Taniis. One single bead can cost upto 15000-20000 Rps. Usually found by pairs, they occupy the lowermost section of the sampu tasan.

2. Fasteners
Some necklaces are fastened under a chank shell button (sango tape) which is worn on the nape of the neck. They are circular, square or oblong in shape. Square fasteners have rounded corners.

Long oblong chank shell used as fastener for sampo tasan

Round and square sango tape on various necklaces

The fondness of many Himalayan people for marine shells has lead some scholars to speculate erroneously that the historical cradle of those populations is located near the sea. Although this "sea origin hypothesis" is not backed by any archeological nor historical evidence, it periodically resurfaces (you can find one example here). As a matter of fact the reality appears to be just the opposite. Marine beads fetched high prices in the Himalayas not because they would have always been in possession of the Himalayan peoples, but because they were not, and because they constituted a rarity in the region that could be only acquired by purchase or heritage. It is a well known fact to anthropologists that even in the Pacific islands were marine shells are abundant everywhere, those who are the most sought after and fetch the highest prices are never the ones found locally, but always those coming from distant places, often through complex trade routes.

PB
(Special thanks to Nanku Hage for having
helped me to collect the above pictures at Ziro)

Apatani beads
Shell ornaments

Tanii beads-Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:30:00 +0000

Jewelry in the form of necklaces and beads has always been of great importance among the Himalayan people, and the Taniis are no exception. They cherish beads as family heirlooms, especially those they assume to be of Tibetan origin, some of them being enormously valued. Necklaces made with those beads are not only objects of pride for their owners, but also objects of public display : on festive days Tanii women wear up to 7 heavy necklaces of different compositions and sizes. Although originally acquired through barter or trade, necklaces were (and still are) normally passed down from mother to daughters, therefore some of the beads may be quite old. Necklaces are occasionally made for family and friends but generally not for business, although beads coming from Assam, Nagaland or Delhi can be bought from a few commercial stands at Hapoli market.

Most valued beads are thought to have originally come from Tibet. But the Tibetans were involved in the trade, not the manufacture of beads, and in most cases the ultimate origin of those little glass, stone, porcelain or even metal products is quite remote from the Himalayan region. The production centre for carnelian beads has been Gujarat since Harappan times (Kanungo, 2006). Glass beads originated from China (especially the so-called "padre", "Peking" or "melon" beads), or Europe (esp. Venetia). Conch and cawrie shells came from the Indian Ocean, either the Gujarat coast or the Bay of Bengal... Indian and European beads usually crossed first the Himalayas northwards from Western India, Nepal or Bhutan, where they entered Tibet. After that they could be traded or bartered back to the Himalayan southern slopes through transactions with the Tibetans, as were also Chinese beads.

One of the trading points for West Arunachal, through which undirectly a great quantity of Tanii beads and other precious items must have been acquired prior to 1959, was Taksing in Upper Subansiri District. For once every 12 years, the Tibetans and the Monpas of this area used to undertake a great pilgrimage around the Takpa Siri mountain, a near to 6,000 meter sacred peak in the Tsari district of Southeastern Tibet. The pilgrim route known as the 'great ravine circuit' (Rongkor Chenmo) started from Chosam in Tibet, entered the Indian territory at Maja, followed the Tsari Chu valley (an tributary of the Subansiri) then the Subansiri river valley upto Taksing. The whole pilgrimage lasted 3 months, during which around 20,000 Tibetan pilgrims circled the mountain. For 10 to 15 days, in the southern tip of their circuit, they had to cross the territory inhabited by the Tagins. A safe passage and some assistance had to be negotiated from them by agents of the Tibetan central Government which was directly supporting the pilgrimage (Huber, 1999). The agreement to proceeed was obtained through a formal peace treaty and the Tagins were paid yearly tributes of food and various semi-precious goods. In addition, swords, tibetan bells and beads could be acquired through barter from Tibetan pilgrims along the way. From the Tagins the beads passed to the Nyishis, who in turn bartered them to the Taniis.

Today the Taniis possess a wide array of beads, each of which is described by a separate term and often has a story or belief attached to it. In coming posts I will try my best to describe them one by one in a very succinct way, according to the information collected during my recent visit to Ziro. Keep visiting.

References :
- Huber, T., The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain. Popular Pilgrimage & Visionary Landscape in South East Tibet, New York, Oxford university press, 1999.
- Kanungo, A.K., 2006, "Indian Ocean and the Naga Ornaments", Bulletin of Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 26 (2006), pp. 154-162. (text in Pdf)

Beads and necklaces
Apatani ornaments

Ziro from another angle

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:00:00 +0000

Click on picture to enlarge

We are all too familiar with GoogleEarth or Yahoo Maps.... A recent release from the Department of Geography at California State University provides another view of the plateau, showing the way Ziro is enclosed in its green mountainous setting and separated from the Brahmaputra valley. Just imagine when people had to travel sometimes down to the plain on foot in search for salt or iron blades...The original picture is larger, and part of a photographic collection entitled Himalaya Atlas of Aerial Panoramas - Vol I. The series offers some fantastic views of the Himalayan barrier from Uttar Pradesh to the Lohit Valley in Arunachal Pradesh. They are not aerial photos in the true sense, but a photorealistic work obtained from computer mapping. One can only regret, perhaps, some of their denominations such as 'Dafla hills' or Miri Hills' which are outdated... Anyway, hats off !

Ziro Valley

The imperative mood in Tanii

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:23:00 +0000

Understanding the grammar of an oral language such as Tanii is an essential step in order to preserve it in a accurate written form. In this post I have tried my best to introduce one basic point of Tanii grammar in a clear, though non-academic way. This point - the imperative mood - has already been addressed by scholars, both Taniis and non-Taniis: two "Apatani grammars" have been published (Abraham, 1985, Takhe, 1994), and one linguist (Shingo, 2003) deals with Apatani imperative in one chapter of his PhD thesis. The problem is that...the three authors often disagree. So I decided to enquire by myself with NPR and a couple of Tanii friends. Below are the results of our preliminary conversations. But the discussion is still open, and if as a Tanii speaker you find that any correction or addition should be made, please feel free to drop your comment. In particular there may be some dialectical variations of which I am unaware.

The imperative is a mood which is used to express commands, requests or prohibitions. The Tanii imperative is formed by adding a suffix to a verb root.

1. Command

a) The most common imperative suffix in Tanii is -to.

No barito !
Stand up !

Diipyokunii atan so linto !
Those who have taken their meals, come here !

b) To express politeness, the adverb iche (a little) is added before the verb.

Iche tanto !
Please drink !

c) When the speaker commands the addressee to move away from the speaker (for eg. to go and do something), -nge or -he are used instead of -to.

Inka ball mi tunge !
Go and kick that ball !

Harnge !
Run (away) !

According to linguist Shingo Imai (2003: 121), -nge is attached to verbal roots having one syllable, whereas -he is attached to verbal roots having 2 or more syllables.

Sukun hokii yasi hange !

(Go and) fetch water from the well !

Dunge !

(Go and) sit there !

Barihe !
Go [there] and stand up !

Gaihe !
(Go and) sing !

The use of -to vs -nge/-he depends on the motion of the adressee in relation to the speaker : -to is used when the addressee's position remains unchanged (1), or when the addressee is moving towards the speaker (2). -Nge or -he is used when the adressee is moving away from the speaker (3).

Note that the distinction between -to and -nge only applies to the motion of the addressee, not to the motion of an object. For example , if one wants to tell someone : "Throw this ball there !", one will have to use the imperative in -to, not in-nge. For in this case only the ball -not the addressee- is moving away from the speaker.

Siika ball mi inso ripato !

Throw this ball there !

d) Immediate imperative is formed by adding the suffix -ku (perfective aspect marker) to the imperative form.

Diito !
Eat

Diitoku !
Eat right now !

e) When the command affects or benefits to the speaker, the verbal root is suffixed by -pe instead of -to.
Mo mi tasan soye mi bito !
Give one necklace to him !

Ngii mi tasan soye mi bipe !
Give me one necklace !

Abraham (1985 : 102) argues that if the speaker (or the place of action) is remote from the addressee, -yupe is used in place of -pe. Our own data does not confirm this. At least in Bulla speech, to request someone to give something located in a place remote from the speaker (or to send it) is expressed by adding the suffixes -tula, -tupe, or -liipe to the verb root.

bitula/bitupe/biliipe !
give/send [it to me] !

2. Prohibition

Negative imperative, or prohibitive mood, is formed by adding -yo to the verb root :

Diiyo !
Don't eat !

It's often followed by the particle -ka, which functions here as an emphatic marker.

Luyoka !
Don't speak !

3. Request

Suggesting an action to be done collectivley alongwith the addressee is formed with the suffix -sa :

Ngunu ka Ziro mi kapyodopa busa !
Let us keep our Ziro beautiful !

4. Permission

It's a little more complicated matter here. The permissive imperative (used to signal permission) is formed :

a) When the permission is given to the addressee, with the suffix -ngetiika. The negative form is -lakema.

No lungetiika
You can speak (you are allowed to speak)

No lulakema
You cannot speak (you are not permitted to speak)

b) When the permission is given to a third person, with the suffix -kenento (or -kenanto or -kiinento depending on the dialect spoken). The negative form is obtained by replacing -to with -yo (=> -kenenyo)
Mo mi lukenento
Let him speak

Mo mi lukenenyo
Don't let him speak

c) When the permission is sought for the speaker, -pe takes the place of -to, => -kenempe (the transformation of n into m before p letter corresponds to the actual pronounciation which is nasalized before m, b, p letters, as in English).
Ngii mi (iche) inkenempe
(Please) let me go

References

- Abraham, P. T., 1985, Apatani grammar, Mysore, Central Institute of Indian Languages.
- Takhe K., 1994, The Apatani Grammar, Itanagar, Frontier Publisher & Distributor.
- Shingo I., 2003, Spatial deixis, PhD thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the State University of New York for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Linguistics
PB

Tibeto-burman language
Grammar
Imperative mood

Basic colours in Tanii

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:39:00 +0000

Every language has its own way of defining and classifying colours, whose number can vary widely. But every language has got between 2 and 12 terms which are considered 'basic' or 'elementary'.

English language has 11 : yellow, green, blue, brown, purple, red, pink, orange, black, white, and grey.

Tanii seems to have 8 : yellow (pilan), green (salyi) grue (jiji), red (lanchan), pink (lamu-layu), orange (pyamin/tormin), white (pulu), black (ji) and grey (mubu).

Different variations or shades of the same colour are distinguished for some of them, especially by means of compound words. Thus lanchan-lankho for red or vermillon (lit. 'intense, very red'), lanchan koman for crimson or carmine red (lit. 'dark red'), salyi koman for dark green, pilan-pisan for yellowish, etc. Among other words used for expressing shades of yellow colour are pilan kamo (lit. 'dark yellow', possibly yellow-earth) and pilan-lanku-lamu (meaning unknown)
Below are displayed the various colours and shades in Tanii according to our present knowledge :

Mubu is a descriptive colour words, it is primarily used to refer to ashes from fire, but secondarily used to denote ashy colour, or grey. This is a feature shared by many Asian languages such as, for eg., Japanese.
Jiji has a meaning that covers both blue and green, depending on the situation. Compare for eg. :

yapun hii jijido => the sky is blue.

anii hii jijido => the leaf is green.

anii hii salyido => the leaf is green.

In this context, both the sky and tree leaves are jiji, although Tanii language does have separate terms for blue and green, jiji and salyi. This is also a typical feature of many East and Southeast Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, etc. and, of course languages of the Tani family (Tanii, Adi, Nyishi, Tagin, Miri, Mishing, etc.). Linguists have coined the specific term “grue” (from "blue" and "green"), to describe the range of colours covered by such terms. Thus, jiji would be more accurately referred as "grue" color, not only blue.

Specific colours, or hues, are reserved for animals, such as dorlan (from dor, classifier for quadrupeds and lan, red) which denotes a brown, reddish hue for animal furs, sii talan (apparently a brownish-orange hue for cows), tapu (white, fair color), or tagyo (spotted ?). Human complexions also bear specific names, such as for eg. piikhe for dark complexion. There must be specific colours for certain textiles, dyes, beads... For eg. we don't know the name of this turquoise blue found on some beads which were originally brought from Tibet.

Do you know other color names which are not listed here ? Please help us to collect them all.

Basic colors
Color names

Apatani war dresses of olden days - 2 : headgears

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:12:00 +0000

The Apatanis used helmet-like caps called byopa that fitted close onto the head and protected it during combat. These are made of cane and have a bowl shape, except for a protruding appendice rolled at the back of the cap. According to Pura Tado*, this part is said to imitate the shape of an ear of a siidin (barking deer, Muntiacus muntjac).

A Tanii byopa

Byopa used by Taniis are very similar to cane headgears worn neighbouring Nyishis and Miris, and it is still unclear whether Taniis used to make their own caps or simply bartered them from their neighbours as they did for many other products. Fürer-Haimendorf (1980 : 62) reports that the Apatanis were in the habit of exchanging cloths and daos for cane belts, cane hats and fibre rain-cloaks. Probably this was because cane was more easily accessible to Nyishis and Miris than it was to Taniis.

As a matter of fact, only minor differences are found between Tanii byopa and Nyishi bopa :

* Both are decorated with a twisted cane rope running lengthwise in the middle part. For the Nyishi bopa it ends in a loop at the front side, and this loop is inserted in the hair-knot (podum) or over it, so that it holds firmly onto the head. Sometimes also the front part of the hat becomes encapsulated into the knot. Tanii hair-knots (piidin) being usually smaller they are inadequate for this purpose, and the cane rope is attached to the cap as a mere decoration (see above picture).

Nyishi bopa attached to podum.

Source : Verrier Elwin photo collection

* Both are trimmed with bird tail feathers set up horizontally at the top of the cap towards the back. Favourite species among Taniis are eagles, buzzards and hawks [pamu, pari, still unidentified but possibly Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus), Indian Black Eagle (Ictinaetus malayensis) or shikra (accipiter badius)]. Also red jungle fowl (parii-parsin, gallus gallus) and racket-tailed drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus, Dicrurus remifer) whose beautiful pairs of tail feathers embellish the cap. A distinctive ornament much prized by Nyishis is the upper beak of hornbill species (Buceros bicornis, Aceros nipalensis), often red-dyed, which is fastened in the front side of the cap. It is not unknown among Taniis, but they use them only occasionally. The reason of this difference lies in the sociological meaning of this ornament, which is different for each society. Hornbill regalia seems to be a sign of higher status among Nyishis - but not among Taniis - and for that reason some of the beaks found on Nyishi hats are conspicuously decorated.

Red-dyed hornbill beak decorating a Nyishi bopa

Ornamented hornbill beak protruding over the cap (Nyishi)

Tail feathers of the Greater racket-tailed drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus) hanging from a Nyishi bopa.

* Both Tanii and Nyishi headgears are often trimmed with the talon of a bird of prey, probably obtained from the same above mentioned species.

Talon of a bird of prey trimmed on the back portion of cane hats from Nyishi (left) and Tanii (right)

A special version of the Tanii cane headgear is rendered waterproof by adjunction of tama amu (see previous post). Tufts of the outer bark of this plant are incorporated into the basketry, which for that purpose is made coarser. Today, Tanii byopa have ceased to be used for hunting, but are still occasionally worn during war related rituals such as ropi.

*Pura Tado, "War Dresses and Weapons of the Apa Taniis", in S. Dutta and B. Tripathy, Martial Traditions of North East India, New Delhi : Concept Pub., 2006, pp.220-227.

war dresses of olden days

headgears

Apatani war dresses of olden days - 1 : body armours

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:09:00 +0000

Altogether with shields, war dresses contitute defensive weapons aimed at preventing warriors from being injured by daos, arrows or spears. A distinctive feature of Tanii war dresses is the fact that they are mostly made of plants. Four accessories are considered here. Headgears will be treated in a separate post.

1. Lecha is a kind of body protection of cane matting worn in the back like a haversack. The cane basketry is mounted with fur-like substance derived from a particular tree, known as tama amu. This yet unidentified plant species resembles a palm tree or a giant fern and is found in the sub-montane forest zone. The fibers or 'hair' (amu) are probably extracted from the outer bark of the tree. Tulfts are incorporated one by one into the basketry during the manufacturing process, making this back protection look like a black cloak.

Tanii lecha. Source Ahin Sajain on Flickr

In olden days lecha were used not only for war but also for hunting, as the fibre coating makes them waterproof. By covering the back of the body they offered a complementary protection to the shield during combat. According to one previous comment from Buru "a sword cut to the back is harmlessly absorbed, though less so for a spear and no protection from an arrow."

Lecha worn by Tanii are very similar to those of Nyishis (left), and it is still unclear whether they were self-made or simply bartered from their neighbours. Fürer-Haimendorf reports that the Apatanis were in the habit of exchanging locally produced daos and cloths for fibre rain-cloaks from Nyishis and Miris (1980 : 62).

Nowadays lecha are rarely seen being used as rain shields during jungle trips, but they continue to serve during war-related rituals such as for eg. ropi.

Nyishi cloak (for comparison). Source : Verrier Elwin digitalized collection, Smithsonian Institute

2. Tanned mithun or buffalo hides were fastened around the chest and offered an efficient protection from the armpit to the groin known as hupo. Similar artifacts were used by Nyishis.

3. A large cane belt or cane matted ring (hurin), designed to protect the viscera, was put on the waist and offered additional protection. The use of this accessory has been totally abandoned nowadays, although very similar cane rings are still occasionally worn by Nyishi or Miri elderly men.

Source : Verrier Elwin digitalized collection, Smithsonian Institute

4. The so-called "tails" (ahu), which attracted much attention from the first outsiders in the late 19th century, may also have had a practical function in protecting the genital organs during combat. They consist of strands of cane strips dyed in red, loosely fastened together and bent into a loop. This "tail" was set on a loin-belt (yari) that was fastened around the waist. Nowadays ahu-yari are only occasionally worn by performers during certain important rituals.

Source : Christa Neuenhofer's photobase

In addition, Pura Tado* mentions the use of two textiles as body protections which I am unable to confirm. One is a muffler (lampru) made of Tibetan wool designed for protecting the neck. Another is jilya pulye, a coarse silk coat which, according to the author, was "so strong that the pointed or sharp-edged weapons hardly penetrate it".

*Pura Tado, "War Dresses and Weapons of the Apa Taniis", in S. Dutta and B. Tripathy, Martial Traditions of North East India, New Delhi : Concept Pub., 2006, pp.220-227.

traditional weapons

body armours

Apatani weapons of olden days - 4 : shields

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:13:00 +0000

The shield (siitin) is the only defensive weapon of the Taniis. It is rectangular in shape, traditionally made of several layers of mithun or buffalo hide. After being well tanned the skins are stretched together over a bamboo framework and tied with cane. By their form as well as the materials used, Tanii shields differ from both Tibetan shields (which were invariably round) and the Indo-Persian circular convex shields (circular with four domed bosses) commonly found in the Brahmaputra Valley. They share more affinities with shields found for eg. in Nagaland and Mizoram. Unlike Naga and Mizo shields however, shields made of strong bamboo matting seem to be absent, as well as ornamentations such as brass discs or tufts of animal's hair.

A strap made of plaited cane is fixed in the back, as also a cane hand-grip set in the upper right corner.

The strap is looped over the right shoulder and the shield hands at the body left side, covering and protecting it. The hand-grip located in the upper right corner allow the left hand to hold the shield firmly, while the right hand is free and can hold a spear or a sword.

Today shields are occasionally used in several rituals related to war. The presence of one siitin in the house is also said to represent the menfolk of the household.

olden weapons

shield

Apatani weapons of olden days - 3 : bow and arrows

noreply@blogger.com (NPR) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:11:00 +0000

Along with spears, bows constitute the only projectile weapons traditionally used by Taniis, as guns were unknown in this part of the Himalayas prior to the advent of the Indian administration.

Tanii bows are plain bamboo bows, with no stock. The whole bow is called alyi; the string is called lyiha (from alyi, bow, and aha, string). Whether there is a specific word in Tanii to denote the stave is not known, nor is known which bamboo variety is considered most suitable for making staves. The stave is a simple bamboo section, the inside of the bamboo making the convex side. Two notches are made at the ends to receive the string. Strings are ostensibly made of twisted cane fibre, although this has yet to be confirmed. The string is attached to the two ends of the bow stave by a knot.

Arrows (apii/apu) are of 2 types :

- bamboo-tipped arrow, unbarbed. It consists of a rounded shaft with a pointed tip, having no separate head.

- iron-headed bamboo arrow. The head has a barbed iron point (apu-putu). Plant fibers (pyarmo) are used to fasten the iron tip onto the shaft. Possibly these are identical to fibers known as tama-amu used for making waterproof coatings.

All arrows are feathered with finely cut leaf fletches (murto) for regulating their direction. Again, it is still unclear which of these two plant species, tama amu or pyarmo, is used for making fletches, but pyarmo fibers are used to tie the fletches onto the arrow shaft. At the end of the shaft butt a notch is made to receive the bow string. The iron heads are sometimes poisoned with aconite (iimyo, Aconitum ferox). The plant is made into a paste which is applied on arrow tips.

The arrows are carried in a quiver (age) made of a hollow bamboo, suspended over the right shoulder by a sling of plaited cane. The quiver is fitted with a cane lid also attached to the sling by means of plaited cane (left).

In shooting, the stave is gripped by the left hand and held in an oblique manner, and the quiver hangs under the left shoulder so that arrows can be picked up easily with the right hand. The usual mode for shooting an arrow is to allow it to run between the first and second fingers, while the butt end of the arrow is held betwen the thumb and first finger. Tanii archers use cane rings known as lake or lyiha-lako covering all four fingers of the hand. According to Pura Tado*, this helps grip the arrow tightly. Possibly it may also function as a kind of trigger, as well as a protection for fingers. The left wrist is protected from being hurt by the bow string by means of a wristband (lahii). According to the author it is traditionally made of long human hair which are collected and made into yarn by spinning, then "artistically made into a thick rope with some symetrical designs" (2006 : 223).

In olden days bows and arrows were used both for war and for hunting. It seems that they were also employed in inter village disputes among Taniis, including those gyambo sonii or 'demonstrations of war', by which two clans or villages could challenge each other openly in a conventional manner. However, according to Fürer-Haimendorf, as a rule they were confined to long-distance arrow shooting, as was also bamboo spear throwing. The same author also reports that it was an arrow who killed the victim of the last Apatani gyambo sonii having opposed Tajang and Reru in 1972 (some information on this event can be found here).

traditional archery

bow and arrows