Aka-Bo was one of the Great Andamanese languages of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal — a family that may descend from some of the first human migrations out of Africa, tens of thousands of years ago. The Great Andamanese once numbered in the thousands across a dozen tribes. British colonization in the 19th century brought disease and displacement that collapsed the population to a few dozen.
The last fluent speaker of Aka-Bo was a woman called Boa Sr, who survived the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and lived to about 85. In her final years she had no one to speak Bo with; she told a linguist that she felt lonely for it, and had taken to talking to the birds. She died on 26 January 2010. With her, a line of human speech that may have run unbroken for forty thousand years came to an end.
Worth remembering
- The Great Andamanese languages may trace back to one of the first human migrations out of Africa, tens of thousands of years ago.
- In her final years Boa Sr said she was lonely with no one left to speak Bo with, and had taken to talking with the birds.
Sources
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.