Tangam language
Sino-Tibetan language of North-East India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tangam is an endangered Sino-Tibetan language of the Tani subgroup spoken in Arunachal Pradesh state in Northeast India. The total number of Tangam speakers has been alternatively estimated at 150[3] and 253.[4] The primary Tangam village is Kuging [kugɨŋ], which is located at 28°57'22"N and 94°59'25"E, approximately four hours' walk from Tuting in Upper Siang district. Tangam speakers are also found in some neighbouring villages, as well as in Tuting town.
| Tangam | |
|---|---|
| Region | Arunachal Pradesh |
Native speakers | 150[1] (2013-01-10) |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | included under Adi [adi] |
| Glottolog | tang1377 |
| ELP | Tangam |
 Tangam is classified as Critically Endangered language by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.[2] | |
Most Tangam are hill tribespeople, with a material culture that is similar to that of most Tani peoples of the Siang River valley. However, due to close present and historical contacts with Memba (Bodic-speaking) peoples of Tibet and Arunachal Pradesh, Tangam have also adopted some Tibetan cultural traits.
In the only large-scale work to treat the Tani languages, Sun (1993) had no access to Tangam data and supposed it to be a variety of Damu.[5] Post (July 2013) suggested that this was probably not the case, and that Tangam was a distinct Tani language, being mutually-unintelligible to a large extent with any other Tani language.[1] Genealogically, Tangam may align with the Western Tani languages, although it resembles the Eastern Tani languages with which it is in contact to a greater degree.[6]
A comprehensive description of Tangam (grammar, lexicon and texts) was published in 2017.[3]