Boa Sr

Boa Sr. (c. 1925 – 4 February 2010) was an Indian woman, believed to be the last speaker of the Aka-Bo language, one of the Great Andamanese languages. The Great Andamanese are an indigenous people of the Andaman Islands, a chain of islands in the Bay of Bengal.

Boa Sr. was born on Strait Island, a small island where the surviving Great Andamanese people were relocated by the Indian government following decades of decline due to disease, displacement, and conflict after British colonization. She was a member of the Bo tribe, one of the ten distinct tribes collectively known as the Great Andamanese.

Following the deaths of the other Aka-Bo speakers, Boa Sr. became the last fluent individual. Linguists attempted to document the language through recordings and interviews with her, recognizing the imminent extinction of Aka-Bo. While she retained considerable knowledge of the language, isolation and the lack of other speakers made it difficult to fully reconstruct the language's grammar and vocabulary.

Boa Sr.'s death in 2010 marked the extinction of the Aka-Bo language. Her passing is considered a significant event in the study of endangered languages and the impact of colonialism on indigenous cultures and linguistic diversity. Her life and the loss of Aka-Bo serve as a reminder of the fragility of languages and the importance of language preservation efforts.