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Mundari language

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This article is about a Munda language spoken in India. For a Nilotic language spoken in Africa, see Mandari dialect.

Mundari
मुंडारी, মুন্ডারি, ମୁଣ୍ଡାରୀ, 𞓧𞓟𞓨𞓜𞓕𞓣𞓚
'Mundari' in Mundari Bani script
Native toIndia, Bangladesh, Nepal
EthnicityMunda and Bhumij
Native speakers
1.6 million[a] (2011 census)[1]
Austroasiatic
  • Munda
    • North
      • Kherwarian
        • Mundaric
          • Mundari
Dialects
Mundari Bani
Ol Onal (Bhumij)
Others: Odia, Devanagari, Bengali, Latin
Official status
Official language in
 India
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
unr – Mundari
unx – Munda
Glottologmund1320
ELPBhumij
Munadri (along with variety Bhumij) is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger[2]

Mundari (Munɖari) is a Munda language of the Austroasiatic language family spoken by the Munda tribes in eastern Indian states of Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and northern Rangpur Division of Bangladesh.[3] It is closely related to Santali.[4] Mundari Bani, a script specifically to write Mundari, was invented by Rohidas Singh Nag.[5][6] It has also been written in the Devanagari, Odia, Bengali, and Latin writing systems.

History[edit]

According to linguist Paul Sidwell (2018), Munda languages probably arrived on coast of Odisha from Indochina about 4000–3500 years ago and spread after Indo-Aryan migration to Odisha.[7]

Historical speaker of Mundari language
YearSpeaker±%
1971 771,253—    
1981 742,739−3.7%
1991 861,378+16.0%
2001 1,061,352+23.2%
2011 1,128,228+6.3%
Source: Census of India[8]

Geographical distribution[edit]

Mundari is spoken in the Ranchi, Khunti, Seraikela Kharsawan and West Singhbhum, East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, and in the Mayurbhanj, Kendujhar, Baleshwar, Sundargarh district of Odisha by at least 1.1 million people.[9] Another 500,000, mainly in Odisha and Assam, are recorded in the census as speaking "Munda," potentially another name for Mundari.

Dialects[edit]

Toshiki Osada (2008:99), citing the Encyclopaedia Mundarica (vol. 1, p. 6), lists the following dialects of Mundari, which are spoken mostly in Jharkhand state.

  • Hasada ([hasa-daʔ]): east of the Ranchi-Chaibasa Road
  • Naguri ([naɡuri]): west of the Ranchi-Chaibasa Road
  • Tamaria ([tamaɽ-ia]) or Latar: Panchpargana area (Tamar, Bundu, Rahe, Sonahatu, Silli)
  • Kera ([keraʔ]): ethnic Oraon who live in the Ranchi city area
  • Bhumij, listed in many sources as a separate language, may in fact be a variety of the Latar (Tamaria) dialect of Mundari. It is spoken across Jharkhand state and in Mayurbhanj district, Odisha (Anderson 2008, pp. 196–197). There may be around 50,000 Bhumij speakers, although the census records around 27,000.[10]

Phonology[edit]

The phonology of Mundari is similar to the surrounding closely related Austroasiatic languages but considerably different from either Indo-Aryan or Dravidian. Perhaps the most foreign phonological influence has been on the vowels. Whereas the branches of Austroasiatic in Southeast Asia are rich in vowel phonemes, Mundari has only five. The consonant inventory of Mundari is similar to other Austroasiatic languages with the exception of retroflex consonants, which seem to appear only in loanwords. (Osada 2008)

Vowels[edit]

Mundari has five vowel phonemes. All vowels have long and short as well as nasalized allophones, but neither length nor nasality are contrastive. All vowels in open monosyllables are quantitatively longer than those in closed syllables, and those following nasal consonants or /ɟ/ are nasalized. Vowels preceding or following /ɳ/ are also nasalized.

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

Consonants[edit]

Mundari's consonant inventory consists of 23 basic phonemes. The Naguri and Kera dialects include aspirated stops as additional phonemes, here enclosed in parentheses.

Labial Dental Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n̪ ɳ ɲ ŋ
Plosive voiceless p t̪ ʈ t͡ɕ k ʔ
aspirated (pʰ) (t̪ʰ) (ʈʰ) (t͡ɕʰ) (kʰ)
voiced b d̪ ɖ d͡ʑ ɡ
Fricative s̪ h
Approximant w l ɽ j
Trill r

Counting[edit]

S.No. Mundari Transliteration Translation
1 मियद Miyad One
2 बारिया Baria Two
3 आपिया Apia Three
4 उपनिआ Upnia four
5 मोड़ेया Modea Five
6 तुरिया Turia Six
7 एया Are Seven
8 इरलिया Erlia Eight
9 आरेया Area Nine
10 गेलेया Galea Ten
11 Gel Miyad Eleven
12 Gel Bariya Twelve
13 Apiya Thirteen
14 Upuna Fourteen
15 Modeya Fifteen
16 Turiya Sixteen
17 Eya Seventeen
18 Iriliya Eighteen
19 Areya Nineteen
20 Mid Hisi Twenty
21 Hisi Miyad Twenty-one
30 Mid hisi Gel Thirty
31 Hisi Gel Miyad Thirty-one
40 Bar Hisi Forty
41 Bar Hisi Miyad Forty-one
50 Bar Hisi Gel Fifty
60 Aapi Hisi Sixty
70 Aapi Hisi Gel Seventy
80 Upun Hisi Eighty
90 Upun Hisi Gel Ninety
100 Mid Saaye One hundred
200 Bar Saaye Two hundred
1000 Mid Hazar One thousand
1,00,000 Mid Lak One lakh

Relations[edit]

Mundari Transliteration Translation
एङ्गा Eṅga Mother
आपु Apu Father
हागा Haga Brother
मिसि Misi Sister
गुया Guya Sister/brother of sister/brother in law
गति Gati Friend
Hon koṛa Son
Hon Kuṛi Daughter

Verb[edit]

Mundari Transliteration Translation
रिकाएआ Rikā'ē'ā Does
ओलेआ Ol'ē'ā Write
जगरेआ Jagor'ē'ā Talk
पढ़वएआ Padv'ē'ā Read
लेलेआ Lel'ē'ā Look / see
सेनेआ Sen'ē'ā Come along with
नमेआ Nem'ē'ā Found
निरेआ Nir'ē'ā Run
सबेआ Sab'ē'ā Hold
लेका एआ Leka'ē'ā Count
मुकाएआ Muka'ē'ā Measure
रिका एआ Rika'ē'ā Cut
হেড়েম Hedem Sweet
Kete-e Hard
Lebe-e Soft
Singi Sun
Chandu-u Moon
Ipil Stars
Sirma Sky
Ote Dishum Earth
Rimil cloud
Hoyo Air/Wind
Gitil Sands
Dhudi Dust
Losod Muddy
Hodomo Body
Tasad Grass
Daru Tree
Sakam Leaf
Dayir Branches of Tree

Writing system[edit]

Main article: Mundari Bani
Mundari Bani (Mundari Script)

Mandari is also written in native Mundari Bani, invented in the 1980s by Rohidas Singh Nag.

Grammar[edit]

It has been claimed the Mundari has no word classes, so that nouns, verbs, and adjectives are distinguished only by context. However, this has been disputed, notably by Evans and Osada in 2005.[11]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ This includes speakers counted under Mundari, Munda and Bhumij
  2. ^ The Bhumij often considered as distinct language

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues – 2011" (PDF). www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  2. ^ Moseley, Christopher; Nicolas, Alexander, eds. (2010). Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (PDF) (3rd ed.). Paris: UNESCO. pp. 46–47. ISBN 978-92-3-104096-2. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Mundari alphabet, pronunciation and description".
  4. ^ "Mundari Bani".
  5. ^ "BMS to intensify agitation on Mundari language". oneindia.com. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  6. ^ "Adivasi. Volume 52. Number 1&2. June&December 2012". Page 22
  7. ^ Sidwell, Paul. 2018. "Austroasiatic Studies: state of the art in 2018" Archived 3 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Presentation at the Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, May 22, 2018.
  8. ^ "Statement 8 : Growth of Non-Scheduled Languages - 1971, 1981, 1991,2001 and 2011" (PDF). censusindia.gov.in. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2021.
  9. ^ "Mundari". ethnologue.
  10. ^ "Keeping Munda in mind". Pune Mirror. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  11. ^ Evans, Nicholas; Osada, Toshiki (2005). "Mundari: The myth of a language without word classes". Linguistic Typology. 9 (3). doi:10.1515/lity.2005.9.3.351. hdl:1885/54663. S2CID 121706232.

Further reading[edit]

  • Anderson, Gregory D.S (ed). 2008. The Munda languages. Routledge Language Family Series 3.New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-32890-X.
  • Evans, Nicholas & Toshki Osada. 2005a. Mundari: the myth of a language without word classes. In Linguistic Typology 9.3, pp. 351–390.
  • Evans, Nicholas & Toshki Osada. 2005b. Mundari and argumentation in word-class analysis. In Linguistic Typology 9.3, pp. 442–457
  • Hengeveld, Kees & Jan Rijkhoff. 2005. Mundari as a flexible language. In Linguistic Typology 9.3, pp. 406–431.
  • Newberry, J. (2000). North Munda dialects: Mundari, Santali, Bhumia. Victoria, B.C.: J. Newberry. ISBN 0-921599-68-4
  • Osada Toshiki. 2008. "Mundari". In Anderson, Gregory D.S (ed). The Munda languages, 99–164. Routledge Language Family Series 3.New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-32890-X.

Texts[edit]

External links[edit]

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