lingvo.wikisort.org - Language

Kurukh (/ˈkʊrʊx/;[5] Devanagari: कुंड़ुख़), also Kurux, Oraon or Uranw,[6] is a Dravidian language spoken by nearly two million Kurukh (Oraon) and Kisan tribal people of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar and Tripura in India, as well as by 65,000 in northern Bangladesh, 28,600 of a dialect called Uranw in Nepal and about 5,000 in Bhutan. Some Kurukh speakers are in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is most closely related to Brahui and Malto (Paharia). The language is marked as being in a "vulnerable" state in UNESCO's list of endangered languages.[7] The Kisan dialect has 206,100 speakers as of 2011. The Oraon (Uraon) or Kurukh language is similar to the Kannada language.[8]

Kurukh
Kurux, Oraon, Uraon
कुंड़ुख़, কুড়ুখ, କୁଡ଼ୁଖ
'Kurrux' in Tolong Siki alphabet[1]
Native to	India
Region	Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Bihar, Tripura[2]
Ethnicity	Kurukh Kisan
Native speakers	2.28 million (2002–2011)[3][2][4]
Language family	Dravidian Northern Dravidian Kurukh-Malto Kurukh
Dialects	Oraon Kisan Dhangar
Writing system	Tolong Siki Devanagari Kurukh Banna
Official status
Official language in	India Jharkhand (additional) West Bengal (additional)
Language codes
ISO 639-2	kru
ISO 639-3	kru – inclusive code Individual code: xis – Kisan
Glottolog	kuru1301
ELP	Nepali Kurux

Classification

Kurukh belongs to the Northern Dravidian group of the Dravidian family languages,[9] and is closely related to Sauria Paharia and Kumarbhag Paharia, which are often together referred to as Malto.[10]

Writing systems

Kurukh is written in Devanagari, a script also used to write Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Nepali and other Indo-Aryan languages. 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.[11][12]

Geographical distribution

Kurukh language spoken mostly 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.[2]

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.[13] 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.[14] Bangladesh also has some speakers.

Phonology

Vowels

Kurukh has five cardinal vowels. Each vowel has long, short nasalized and long nasalized counterparts.[15]

Kurukh simple vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

Consonants

The table below illustrates the articulation of the consonants.[15]

Kurukh consonants

			Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal			m	n	(ɳ)	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	plain	p	t	ʈ	tʃ	k	ʔ
		aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	ʈʰ	tʃʰ	kʰ
	voiced	plain	b	d	ɖ	dʒ	g
		aspirated	bʱ	dʱ	ɖʱ	dʒʱ	gʱ
Fricative				s		(ʃ)	x	h
Rhotic		plain		ɾ	ɽ
		aspirated			ɽʱ
Glide			w	l		j

Education

Kurukh languages is taught as a subject in the schools of Jharkhand, Chhattishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Assam.[16]

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.

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.[17]

References

Further reading

• Andronov, M. S. “Elements of Kurux Historical Phonology”. In: Anthropos 69, no. 1/2 (1974): 250–53. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40458519.
• Kobayashi, Masato. "Review of Viewing Proto-Dravidian from the Northeast, by Martin Pfeiffer". In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 140, no. 2 (2020): 467–81.

External links

• Ferdinand Hahn (1903). Kuruḵh̲ (Orā̃ō)-English dictionary. Bengal Secretariat Press. pp. 126–. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
• Ferdinand Hahn (1900). Kuruḵẖ grammar. Bengal Secretariat Press. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
• Kuruk̲h̲ folk-lore: in the original. The Bengal Secretariat Book Depot. 1905. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
• Kurukh basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
• Omniglot's page on Tolong Siki

На других языках

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- [en] Kurukh language

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[fr] Kurukh

Le kurukh (ou oraon, autonyme, kũṛux) est une langue dravidienne, parlée par environ 2 millions d'Aborigènes, à la frontière des États de l'Uttar Pradesh, du Madhya Pradesh, du Bihar, du Bengale occidental, de l'Orissa, en Inde. D'autres Kurukh ont émigré pour le travail, notamment dans les plantations de thé de l'Assam. En dehors de l'Inde, le kurukh est parlé au Népal, au Bhoutan et au Bangladesh[2].

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[it] Lingua kurukh

La lingua kurukh (Devanagari: कुड़ुख़, o Kuṛux) è una lingua dravidica settentrionale parlata in India, Bangladesh, Nepal e Bhutan

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[ru] Курух

Курух (Деванагари: कुरुख़), также известен как ораон — дравидийский язык, носителями которого являются народности ораон (или «курух») и адиваси, проживающие в Бихаре, Джаркханде, Ориссе, Мадхья-Прадеш, Чхаттисгархе и Западной Бенгалии (Индия), а также на севере Бангладеш. В качестве письменности используется деванагари, а также оригинальный алфавит толонг-сики, изобретённый в конце XX века врачом Нарайяном Ораоном. Язык курух является ближайшим родственником языков брауи и малто. Несмотря на большое количество носителей (более 2 млн), язык находится под угрозой исчезновения[1].

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