Turi is an endangered
Munda language
The Munda languages are a group of closely related languages spoken by about nine million people in India and Bangladesh. Historically, they have been called the Kolarian languages. They constitute a branch of the Austroasiatic language famil ...
of India that is closely related to
Mundari. It is spoken by only half a percent of ethnic Turi, the rest having shifted to
Sadri
Sadri is a municipality in the Pali district of Rajasthan, India. It is considered the gateway to Marwar from Mewar. Sadri is one of the main places of worship for the Jain community. Ranakpur Temple and Shri Parshuram Mahadev Mandir are locate ...
in Jharkhand, Mundari in West Bengal, and
Odia in
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 Sc ...
. The Turi are classified as a
Scheduled Caste in Jharkhand.
Distribution
Osada (1991) lists the following locations where Turi is spoken.
*
Jharkhand
Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . ...
(pop. 133,137 as of 1981; then part of
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...
)
**
Giridih district
Giridih district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand
Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwe ...
**
Ranchi district
Ranchi district is the most populous district of Jharkhand state in eastern India. Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, is the district headquarters. It was established as a district in 1899.
History
Iron slag, potsherds and iron tools have been ...
**
Hazaribagh district
Hazaribagh district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state, India and the district headquarter located in Hazaribagh town. It is currently a part of the Red Corridor.
Etymology
The district is named after its headquarters, the tow ...
*
Chhattisgarh
**
Raigarh district
Raigarh district is a district of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raigarh is the district headquarters.
The district was formed by merging the princely states of Raigarh, Sakti, Sarangarh, Udaipur and Jashpur. Jashpur is now a ...
*
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...
(pop. 26,443 as of 1981)
*
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 Sc ...
(pop. 7,374 as of 1981)
References
*Konow, Sten. 1906. Tūrī. In Grierson, George A. (ed.), Muṇḍā and Dravidian Languages, 128-134. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing.
*Osada, Toshiki. 1991. Father Ponette's Field Note on Turi with a Comparative Vocabulary. Journal of Asian and African Studies 42. 175-189.
Munda languages
Endangered languages of India
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