Sadly, the last speaker of Bo, an ancient language, has died in India.
Professor Abbi – who runs the Vanishing Voices of the Great Andamanese (Voga) website – explained: “After the death of her parents, Boa was the last Bo speaker for 30 to 40 years.
“She was often very lonely and had to learn an Andamanese version of Hindi in order to communicate with people.
“But throughout her life she had a very good sense of humour and her smile and full-throated laughter were infectious.”
She said that Boa Sr’s death was a loss for intellectuals wanting to study more about the origins of ancient languages, because they had lost “a vital piece of the jigsaw”.
“It is generally believed that all Andamanese languages might be the last representatives of those languages which go back to pre-Neolithic times,” Professor Abbi said.
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