Akajeru
| Jeru | |
|---|---|
| Aka-Jeru | |
| Native to | India |
| Region | Andaman Islands; interior and south North Andaman island, Sound island. Presently Strait Island |
| Ethnicity | Jeru |
Native speakers | 3 (2020) |
Great Andamanese
| |
| Devanagari | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | akj |
| Glottolog | akaj1239 |
Aka-Jeru | |
Great andamanese [sic] is classified as Critically Endangered according to the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Jeru, or Akajeru (also known as Yerawa, not to be confused with Järawa), is a moribund dialect of the Northern Andamanese language, and the last surviving variety of the Great Andamanese language family. Jeru was spoken in the interior and south coast of North Andaman and on Sound Island. A koiné of the Northern Andamanese dialects, based principally on Akajeru, was once spoken on Strait Island; the last semi-fluent speaker of this, Nao Jr., died in 2009.
Akajeru, Akachari, Akakhora and Akabo were dialects of a singular language, termed Northern Andamanese, with lexical correspondency between Akajeru and Akachari at 93%.