Kurukh (;
Devanagari: कुंड़ुख़), also Kurux, Oraon or Uranw, is a
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
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...
,
West Bengal,
Assam,
Bihar and
Tripura
Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...
, as well as by 65,000 in northern
Bangladesh, 28,600 of a dialect called Uranw in
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
and about 5,000 in
Bhutan. Some Kurukh speakers are in
Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is most closely related to the
Malto language. It is marked as being in a "vulnerable" state in UNESCO's list of
endangered languages.
The Kisan dialect has 206,100 speakers as of 2011.
Classification
Kurukh belongs to the Northern Dravidian group of the
Dravidian family languages, and is closely related to Sauria Paharia and Kumarbhag Paharia, which are often together referred to as
Malto.
Writing systems
Kurukh is written in
Devanagari, a script also used to write
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
,
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
,
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.
Geographical distribution
Kurukh language spoken mostly in
Raigarh,
Surguja
Surguja district is a district of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The district is one of the oldest districts of Chhattisgarh. The headquarters of the district is Ambikapur.
The district lies in its eponymous Surguja dialectal region (where ...
,
Jashpur
Jashpur District is a district of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh bordering Jharkhand and Odisha. Jashpur Nagar is the administrative headquarters of the district. The district was formerly a princely state before Indpendence. Highly mou ...
of
Chhattisgarh,
Gumla
Gumla is a city which is the district headquarters in the Gumla subdivision of the Gumla district in the state of Jharkhand, India.
History
Gumla began as a hamlet. A week-long "Cow Fair" (''Gau-Mela'') took place every year, where items in d ...
,
Ranchi,
Lohardaga,
Latehar
Latehar is a town which is a headquarter of Latehar district of Jharkhand state, it is known for its natural environment, forest, forest products and mineral deposits. Latehar remained a part of Palamau District as a sub division since 1924. ...
,
simdega
Simdega is a city in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Simdega is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and Subdivision. The city stands at an elevation of approximately 418 metres (1371 feet) above sea level and cov ...
of
Jharkhand,
Jharsuguda
Jharsuguda is a city and district headquarters of Jharsuguda district of Odisha, India. It is an industrial hub, consisting mainly of metallurgical industries. It is well connected to major cities of India through the rail network, and a rece ...
,
Sundargarh and
Sambalpur district of
Odisha
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...
.
It is also spoken in
Jalpaiguri district of
West Bengal,
Assam and
Tripura
Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...
states by Kurukh who are mostly Tea-garden workers.
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. 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. Bangladesh also has some speakers.
Phonology
Vowels
Kurukh has five cardinal vowels. Each vowel has long, short nasalized and long nasalized counterparts.
Consonants
The table below illustrates the articulation of the consonants.
Education
Kurukh languages is taught as a subject in the schools of
Jharkhand,
Chhattishgarh,
Madhya Pradesh,
Odisha
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...
,
West Bengal and
Assam.
Sample phrases
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.
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
*
*
*
Kurukh basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurukh Language
Agglutinative languages
Dravidian languages
Languages of India
Languages of Jharkhand
Languages of Odisha
Subject–object–verb languages
Brahmic scripts