Template:Infobox language Template:Infobox ethnonym Kurukh (Template:IPAc-en or Template:IPAc-en;[1] Devanagari: कुँड़ुख़, Template:IPA), also Kurux, Oraon or Uranw (Devanagari: उराँव, Template:IPA),[2] is a North Dravidian language spoken by the Kurukh (Oraon) and Kisan people of East India. It is spoken by about two million people in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam and Tripura, as well as by 65,000 in northern Bangladesh, 28,600 of a dialect called Uranw in Nepal and about 5,000 in Bhutan. The most closely related language to Kurukh is Malto; together with Brahui, all three languages form the North Dravidian branch of the Dravidian language family. It is marked as being in a "vulnerable" state in UNESCO's list of endangered languages.[3] The Kisan dialect has 206,100 speakers as of 2011.
Etymology
According to Edward Tuite Dalton, "Oraon" is an exonym assigned by neighbouring Munda people, meaning "to roam". They call themselves Kurukh.[4] According to Sten Konow, Uraon will mean man as in the Dravidian Kurukh language, the word Urapai, Urapo and Urang means Man. The word Kurukh may be derived from the word Kur or Kurcana means "shout" and "stammer". So Kurukh will mean 'a speaker'.[5]
Classification
Kurukh belongs to the Northern Dravidian group of the Dravidian family languages,[6] and is closely related to Sauria Paharia and Kumarbhag Paharia, which are often together referred to as Malto.[7]
Writing systems
Kurukh is written in Devanagari, a script also used to write Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Nepali and other Indo-Aryan languages.
In 1991, Basudev Ram Khalkho from Odisha released the Kurukh Banna script. In Sundargarh district of Odisha the Kurukh Banna alphabet is taught and promoted by Kurukh Parha. Fonts have been developed and people are using it widely in books, magazines and other material. The alphabet is also used by Oraon people in the states of Chhattisgarh, Bengal, Jharkhand and Assam.[8]
In 1999, Narayan Oraon, a doctor, invented the alphabetic Tolong Siki script specifically for Kurukh. Many books and magazines have been published in Tolong Siki script, and it saw official recognition by the state of Jharkhand in 2007. The Kurukh Literary Society of India has been instrumental in spreading the Tolong Siki script for Kurukh literature.[9][10]
Geographical distribution
Template:Pie chart In India, Kurukh is mostly spoken in Raigarh, Surguja, Jashpur of Chhattisgarh, Gumla, Ranchi, Lohardaga, Latehar, Simdega of Jharkhand; Jharsuguda, Sundargarh and Sambalpur district of Odisha.
It is also spoken in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura states by Kurukh who are mostly Tea-garden workers.[11]
Speakers
It is spoken by 2,053,000 people from the Oraon and Kisan tribes, with 1,834,000 and 219,000 speakers respectively. The literacy rate is 23% in Oraon and 17% in Kisan. Despite the large number of speakers, the language is considered to be endangered.[12] The governments of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have introduced the Kurukh language in schools with majority Kurukhar students. Jharkhand and West Bengal both list Kurukh as an official language of their respective states.[13] Bangladesh also has some speakers.
Phonology
Vowels
Kurukh has five cardinal vowels. Each vowel has long, short nasalized and long nasalized counterparts.Template:Sfn
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | |
| Mid | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | |
| Low | Template:IPA link |
Consonants
The table below illustrates the articulation of the consonants.Template:Sfn
- Medially voiced aspirates and voiced plosives + /h/ contrast, there are some minimal pairs like /dʱandha:/ "astonishment" and /dʱandʱa:/ "exertion". Clusters of voiced aspirates and /h/ are possible too as in /madʒʱhi:/ "middle" and /madʒʱis/ "zamindar's agent".Template:Sfnp
- Of the nasals, /m, n/ are phonemic; [ɳ] only occurs before retroflex plosives; /ŋ/ mostly occurs before other velars but can occur finally with deletion of previous /g/, there are cases where /ŋg/ and /ng/ contrast; /ɲ/ mostly occurs before post alveolars but /j/ can become /ɲ/ around nasal vowels as in /paɲɲa:/ (or /pãjja:/).Template:Sfnp
Morphology
Kurukh, like other Dravidian languages, is an agglutinative language. The sentence structure is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). In its morphological construction, there is suffixation but there are no infixes or prefixes.[14]
Nouns
Kurukh nouns have three grammatical genders, namely masculine, feminine and neuter. To the Kurukh only men are masculine ; women and goddesses (evil spirits) are feminine ; all others are neutral. Masculine nouns of the third person singular have two forms, the indefinite and the definite. The indefinite is the simplest form of the noun, thus āl man. The definite form is made by adding -as for the singular, thus ālas, ("the man").[15]
There are only two grammatical numbers, the singular and the plural.[15]
The following is an example declension table for a masculine noun "āl", meaning "man" [16]
| Case | Singular | Definite | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | āl | ālas | ālar |
| Genitive | āl | ālas gahi | ālar gahi |
| Dative | āl | ālas gē | ālar gē |
| Accusative | ālan | ālasin | ālarin |
| Ablative | āltī | ālas tī | ālartī , ālarintī |
| Instrumental | āl trī, āl trū | - | ālar ṭrī, ālar trū |
| Vocative | ē ālayо̄ | - | ē ālarо̄ |
| Locative | āl | ālas nū | ālar nū |
The feminine declension is almost identical to the masculine, but lacks a definite form. The following example is for "mukkā" ("woman").[16]
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | mukkā | mukkar |
| Genitive | mukkā gahi | mukkar gahi |
| Dative | mukkāgē | mukkar gē |
| Accusative | mukkan | mukkarin |
| Ablative | mukkantī | mukkartī , mukkarintī |
| Instrumental | mukkā trī, mukkā trū | mukkar trī, mukkar trū |
| Vocative | ē mukkai | ē mukkarо̄ |
| Locative | mukkā nū | mukkar nū |
The neuter declension for "allā" ("dog") shows almost identical singular forms, but a difference in pluralization.[16]
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | allā | allā guṭhi |
| Genitive | allā gahi | allā guṭhi gahi |
| Dative | allā gē | allā guṭhi gē |
| Accusative | allan | allā guṭhin |
| Ablative | allantī | allā guṭhi tī , allā guṭhintī |
| Instrumental | allā trī, allā trū | allā guṭhi trī, allā guṭhi trū |
| Vocative | ē allā | ē allā guṭhi |
| Locative | allā nū | allā guṭhi nū |
Education
The Kurukh language is taught as a subject in the schools of Jharkhand, Chhattishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Assam.[17]
Sample phrases
| Phrases | English Translation |
|---|---|
| Nighai endra naame? | What is your name? |
| Neen ekase ra'din? | How are you? (Girl) |
| Neen ekase ra'dai? | How are you? (Boy) |
| Een korem ra'dan. | I am fine. |
| Neen ekshan kalalagdin? | Where are you going? (Girl) |
| Neen ekshan kalalagday? | Where are you going? (Boy) |
| Endra manja? | What happened? |
| Ha'an | Yes |
| Malla | No |
| Een mokha Lagdan. | I am eating. |
| Neen mokha. | You eat. |
| Neen ona. | You drink |
| Aar mokha lagnar. | They are eating. |
| Daw makha | Good Night |
Sample text
English
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Devanagari script
Latin script
Hōrmā ālārin hak gahi bāre nū mallintā azādi arā aṅṭēm mannā gahi haq xakharki raī. Ārin lur arā jiyā gahi dav bausā xakhakī raī arā tamhai majhi nū mēl-prēm gahi bēvhār nannā nā cahi.
Alternative names and dialects
Kurukh has a number of alternative names such as Uraon, Kurux, Kunrukh, Kunna, Urang, Morva, and Birhor. Two dialects, Oraon and Kisan, have 73% intelligibility between them. Oraon but not Kisan is currently being standardised. Kisan is currently endangered, with a decline rate of 12.3% from 1991 to 2001.[18]
References
- ↑ Template:OED
- ↑ Glottolog 4.5 - Nepali Kurux.
- ↑ Endangered Languages: The Full List(15 April 2011).
- ↑ Dalton E. T. The Oraons: Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal. 1872. Section 1, page 215.
- ↑ Grammar of the Kurukh Language{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Mittal Publications(1985)
- ↑ Intransitive Predication{{#if:Stassen|, Stassen}. Oxford University Press(1997). ISBN 978-0199258932
- ↑ PS Subrahmanyam, "Kurukh", in ELL2. Ethnologue assigns Nepali Kurux a separate iso code, kxl.
- ↑ Kurukh Banna. Omniglot.
- ↑ Tolong Siki alphabet and the Kurukh language. Omniglot. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
- ↑ Preliminary Proposal to Encode the Tolong Siki Script in the UCS(8 April 2010). Retrieved 19 December 2019.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedKurux - ↑ Daniel Nettle and Suzanne Romaine. Vanishing Voices: The Extinction of the World's Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Page 9.
- ↑ Kurukh given official language status in West Bengal. Jagranjosh.com(2017-03-06). Retrieved 2019-05-12.
- ↑ Vitality and Endangerment of Contemporary Kurukh.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Kurukh grammar. Calcutta Bengal Secretariat Press(1911).
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Kurukh grammar. Calcutta Bengal Secretariat Press(1911).
- ↑ Kurukh gets official language status in West Bengal. The Hindu(2017-03-02). Retrieved 2022-05-02.
- ↑ Census of India: Growth of Non-Scheduled Languages-1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001, ORGI. www.censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 2017-10-15.
Sources
- The Kurux Language{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Brill(2017). ISBN 978-90-04-34766-3
- Kurukh Grammer by the Rev. Ferdiand Hahn
- The Dravadian Languages by Bhadriraju Krishnamurti Grignard's Kurukh Classification.
Further reading
- Elements of Kurux Historical Phonology. Anthropos({Template:Year).
- Viewing Proto-Dravidian from the Northeast. Journal of the American Oriental Society({Template:Date).
- Perumalsamy, P. (2002) "Kisan" in Linguistic Survey of India: Orissa volume, New Delhi: Office of Registrar General, pp: 497-515.
- Template:Cite thesis
- Folktale collections
- Hahn, Ferdinand. Blicke in die Geisteswelt der heidnischen Kols: Sammlung von Sagen, Märchen und Liedern der Oraon in Chota Nagpur. Gütersloh: C. Bertelsmann, 1906.
- Hahn's Oraon Folk-lore in the Original: a critical text with translation and notes{{#if:Hahn|, Hahn}. Spectrum Publications(1931)
External links
- Kuruḵh̲ (Orā̃ō)-English dictionary{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Bengal Secretariat Press(1903)
- Kuruḵẖ grammar{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Bengal Secretariat Press(1900)
- Kuruk̲h̲ folk-lore: in the original{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. The Bengal Secretariat Book Depot(1905)
- Kurukh basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
- Proposal to encode Tolong Siki
- Omniglot's page on Tolong Siki
- Tolong Siki script site
Template:Languages of India Template:Dravidian languages Template:Authority control