Mundari language

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. It is closely related to Santali. Mundari Bani,[3] a script specifically to write Mundari, was invented by Rohidas Singh Nag.[4][5] It has also been written in the Devanagari, Odia, Bengali, and Latin writing systems.

For other uses, see Mundari (disambiguation).

Mundari
मुंडारी, মুন্ডারি, ମୁଣ୍ଡାରୀ, 𞓧𞓟𞓨𞓜𞓕𞓣𞓚
'Mundari' in Mundari Bani script
Native toIndia, Bangladesh, Nepal
EthnicityMunda and Bhumij
Native speakers
1,661,656 (2011 census)[1]
1,061,352 (2001 census)[2]
Austroasiatic
  • Munda
    • North
      • Kherwarian
        • Mundaric
          • Mundari
Dialects
Mundari Bani
Others: Odia, Devanagari, Bengali, Latin
Official status
Official language in
 India
Language codes
ISO 639-3unr
Glottologmund1320
ELPBhumij

History

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.[6]

Historical number of Mundari speaker
Census year Speaker ±% Ref.
1971 771,253 – [7]
1981 742,739 Decrease 3.70 [7]
1991 861,378 Increase15.97 [7]
2001 1,061,352 Increase 23.22% [7]
2011 1,128,228 Increase 6.03% [7]
2021 – –

Geographical distribution

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.[8] Another 500,000, mainly in Odisha and Assam, are recorded in the census as speaking "Munda," potentially another name for Mundari.

Dialects

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 2008:196). There may be around 50,000 Bhumij speakers, although the census records around 27,000.[9]

Phonology

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

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 iu
Mid eo
Open a

Consonants

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
S.No.MundariTransliterationTranslation
1मियदMiyadOne
2बारियाBariaTwo
3आपियाApiaThree
4उपनिआUpniafour
5मोड़ेयाModeaFive
6तुरियाTuriaSix
7एयाAreSeven
8इरलियाErliaEight
9आरेयाAreaNine
10गेलेयाGaleaTen
11Gel MiyadEleven
12Gel BariyaTwelve
13ApiyaThirteen
14UpunaFourteen
15ModeyaFifteen
16TuriyaSixteen
17Eya Seventeen
18IriliyaEighteen
19Areya Nineteen
20Mid Hisi Twenty
21Hisi MiyadTwenty-one
30Mid hisi GelThirty
31Hisi Gel MiyadThirty-one
40Bar Hisi Forty
41Bar Hisi MiyadForty-one
50Bar Hisi GelFifty
60Aapi Hisi Sixty
70Aapi Hisi GelSeventy
80Upun Hisi Eighty
90Upun Hisi GelNinety
100 Mid SaayeOne hundred
200Bar SaayeTwo hundred
1000Mid HazarOne thousand
1,00,000Mid LakOne lakh

Relations
MundariTransliterationTranslation
ऐंन्गाEngaMother
आपूमApumFather
हग्गाHaggaBrother
मिस्सीMissiSister
गुयाGuyaSister/brother of sister/brother in law
गतिंगGatinFriend
Hon kodaSon
Hon KudiDaughter

Verb
MundariTransliterationTranslation
रिकाएआRikā'ē'āDoes
ओलेआOl'ē'āWrite
जगरेआJagor'ē'āTalk
पढ़वएआPadv'ē'āRead
लेलेआLel'ē'āLook / see
सेनेआSen'ē'āCome along with
नमेआNem'ē'āFound
निरेआ Nir'ē'āRun
सबेआSab'ē'āHold
लेका एआLeka'ē'āCount
मुकाएआMuka'ē'āMeasure
रिका एआRika'ē'āCut
Hedem Sweet
Kete-e Hard
Lebe-e Soft
Singi Sun
Chandu-uMoon
Ipil Stars
Sirma Sky
Ote DishumEarth
Rimilcloud
HoyoAir/Wind
GitilSands
DhudiDust
LosodMuddy
HodomoBody
TasadGrass
DaruTree
SakamLeaf
DayirBranches of Tree

Writing system
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

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.[10]

Notes
  1. The Bhumij often considered as distinct language

References
  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. "Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues –2001". censusindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 15 April 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  3. "Mundari Bani".
  4. "BMS to intensify agitation on Mundari language". oneindia.com. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  5. "Adivasi. Volume 52. Number 1&2. June&December 2012". Page 22
  6. Sidwell, Paul. 2018. "Austroasiatic Studies: state of the art in 2018". Presentation at the Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, May 22, 2018.
  7. "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.
  8. "Mundari". ethnologue.
  9. "Keeping Munda in mind". Pune Mirror. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  10. 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.
  • Anderson, Gregory D.S (ed). 2008. The Munda languages. Routledge Language Family Series 3.New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-32890-X.
  • 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.

8.https://omniglot.com/writing/mundaribani.htm 9.https://omniglot.com/writing/mundari.htm

Further reading
  • 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

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