Ao | |
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Central Naga | |
Geographic distribution | Nagaland, India |
Ethnicity | Ao Naga, Lotha Naga, Sangtam Naga, Yimkhiung Naga |
Linguistic classification | Sino-Tibetan |
Subdivisions |
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Language codes | |
Glottolog | aoic1235 |
The Ao or Central Naga languages are a small family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken by various Naga peoples of Nagaland in northeast India. Conventionally classified as "Naga", they are not clearly related to other Naga languages, and are conservatively classified as an independent branch of Sino-Tibetan, pending further research. There are around 607,000 speakers of the languages in total.
Coupe (2012)[1] considers the Angami–Pochuri languages to be most closely related to Ao as part of a wider Angami–Ao group.