Munda languages

 

(mʊn'də) , group of languages generally regarded as a subfamily of the Southeast Asian family of languages. See Southeast Asian languages.

Munda
Geographic distribution:	East India, Bangladesh
Genetic classification:	Austro-Asiatic  Munda
Subdivisions:	Kherwari Korku Kharia-Juang Koraput

The Munda languages are a language family spoken by about nine million people in eastern India and Bangladesh. They constitute a branch of the Austroasiatic language family, generally placed in opposition to the Mon-Khmer languages of Southeast Asia, which means they are distantly related to Vietnamese. The origins of the Munda languages are not known, though it is generally thought that they are autochthonous languages of eastern India. Ho, Mundari and Santali are notable languages of this group.

Munda languages influenced other Indian languages like Sanskrit and the Dravidian languages, and were in turn strongly affected by these languages. The family is generally divided into two branches: North Munda, spoken in the Chota Nagpur Plateau of Jharkhand, Bengal, and Orissa, and South Munda, spoken in central Orissa and along the border between Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. However, it is widely suspected that this is an oversimplification.

North Munda, of which Santali is the chief language, is the more important of the two groups; its languages are spoken by about nine-tenths of Munda speakers. After Santhali, the Mundari and Ho languages rank next in number of speakers, followed by Korku and Sora. The remaining Munda languages are spoken by small, isolated groups of people and are little known.

Characteristics of the Munda languages include three grammatical numbers (singular, dual, and plural), two genders (animate and inanimate), a distinction between inclusive and exclusive first person plural pronouns, and the use of either suffixes or auxiliaries to indicate tense. In Munda sound systems, consonant sequences are infrequent except in the middle of a word. Other than in Korku, where syllables show a distinction between high and low tone, accent is predictable in the Munda languages.

Classification

Diffloth (1974)

The bipartite Diffloth (1974) classification is widely cited:

• North Munda
  • Korku
  • Kherwarian
    • Kherwari branch: Agariya, Bijori, Koraku
    • Mundari branch: Mundari, Bhumij, Asuri, Koda, Ho, Birhor
    • Santali branch: Santali, Mahali, Turi
• South Munda
  • Kharia-Juang: Kharia, Juang
  • Koraput Munda
    • Remo branch: Gata (Gta), Bondo (Remo), Bodo Gadaba (Gutob)
    • Savara branch[Sora-Juray-Gorum] : Parengi (Gorum) [in Koraput District] , Sora (Savara), Juray, Lodhi

Diffloth (2005)

Diffloth (2005) shows a somewhat more complex picture:

• Core Munda languages

• North Munda languages

Korku

Kherwarian

• Kharian-Juang

• Koraput

In both cases, branches in boldface are uncontroversial groups.

Further reading

• Munda Languages. (2007). Routledge. ISBN 9780415328906
• Anderson, G. D. S. (2007). The Munda verb: typological perspectives. Trends in linguistics, 174. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110189650
• Śarmā, D. (2003). Munda: sub-stratum of Tibeto-Himalayan languages. Studies in Tibeto-Himalayan languages, 7. New Delhi: Mittal Publicdations. ISBN 8170998603
• Śarmā, D. (2003). Munda: sub-stratum of Tibeto-Himalayan languages. Studies in Tibeto-Himalayan languages, 7. New Delhi: Mittal Publicdations. ISBN 8170998603
• Newberry, J. (2000). North Munda dialects. Victoria, B.C.: J. Newberry. ISBN 0921599684
• Newberry, J. (2000). North Munda hieroglyphics. [Victoria, B.C.]: J. Newberry. ISBN 0921599692
• Varma, S. (1978). Munda and Dravidian languages: a linguistic analysis. Hoshiarpur: Vishveshvaranand Vishva Bandhu Institute of Sanskrit and Indological Studies, Panjab University. 0CLC 25852225

External links

• bibliography

Donate to Wikimedia