Mundari language

This article is about a Munda language spoken in India. For a Nilotic language spoken in Africa, see Mandari dialect.

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 and northern Rangpur Division of Bangladesh.^[3] It is closely related to Santali and Bhumij.^[4] Mundari Bani, a script specifically to write Mundari, was invented by Rohidas Singh Nag.^[5][6] It has also been written in the Devanagari, Odia, Bengali, and Latin writing systems.

Mundari
मुंडारी, মুন্ডারি, ମୁଣ୍ଡାରୀ, 𞓧𞓟𞓨𞓜𞓕𞓣𞓚
'Mundari' in Mundari Bani script
Native to	India, Bangladesh, Nepal
Ethnicity	Munda
Native speakers	1.6 million (2011 census)[a][2]
Language family	Austroasiatic Munda North Kherwarian Mundaric Mundari
Dialects	Hasada Naguri Tamaria Kera
Writing system	Mundari Bani Others: Odia, Devanagari, Bengali, Latin
Official status
Official language in	India Jharkhand (additional)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: unr – Mundari unx – Munda
Glottolog	mund1320

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.^[7]

Geographical distribution

Historical speaker of Mundari language variety

Census	Munda (±%)	Mundari (±%)	Total (±%)
1971	309,293		771,253		1,080,546
1981	377,492	(+22)	742,739	(-4)	1,120,231	(+3.6)
1991	413,894	(+9.6)	861,378	(+16)	1,275,272	(+13.8)
2001	469,357	(+13.5)	1,061,352	(+23)	1,530,709	(+20.0)
2011	505,922	(+7.8)	1,128,228	(+6)	1,634,150	(+6.7)
Source: Census of India[8]

Distribution of Mundari language (incl. Munda) in the state of India (2011)^[1]

1. Jharkhand (57.62%)
2. Odisha (29.46%)
3. Assam (5.7%)
4. West Bengal (4.73%)
5. Other (2.49%)

Mundari is spoken in the Khunti, Ranchi, Seraikela Kharsawan and West Singhbhum, East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, and in the Mayurbhanj, Kendujhar, Sundargarh district of Odisha by at least 1.1 million people.^[9] 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

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	i		u
Mid	e		o
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.	Mundari	Transliteration	Translation
1	मियद	Miyad	One
2	बारिया	Baria	Two
3	आपिया	Apia	Three
4	उपनिआ	Upnia	four
5	मोड़ेया	Modea	Five
6	तुरिया	Turia	Six
7	एया	Are	Seven
8	इरलिया	Erlia	Eight
9	आरेया	Area	Nine
10	गेलेया	Galea	Ten
11		Gel Miyad	Eleven
12		Gel Bariya	Twelve
13		Apiya	Thirteen
14		Upuna	Fourteen
15		Modeya	Fifteen
16		Turiya	Sixteen
17		Eya	Seventeen
18		Iriliya	Eighteen
19		Areya	Nineteen
20		Mid Hisi	Twenty
21		Hisi Miyad	Twenty-one
30		Mid hisi Gel	Thirty
31		Hisi Gel Miyad	Thirty-one
40		Bar Hisi	Forty
41		Bar Hisi Miyad	Forty-one
50		Bar Hisi Gel	Fifty
60		Aapi Hisi	Sixty
70		Aapi Hisi Gel	Seventy
80		Upun Hisi	Eighty
90		Upun Hisi Gel	Ninety
100		Mid Saaye	One hundred
200		Bar Saaye	Two hundred
1000		Mid Hazar	One thousand
1,00,000		Mid Lak	One lakh

Relations

Mundari	Transliteration	Translation
एङ्गा	Eṅga	Mother
आपु	Apu	Father
हागा	Haga	Brother
मिसि	Misi	Sister
गुया	Guya	Sister/brother of sister/brother in law
गति	Gati	Friend
	Hon koṛa	Son
	Hon Kuṛi	Daughter

Verb

Mundari	Transliteration	Translation
रिकाएआ	Rikā'ē'ā	Does
ओलेआ	Ol'ē'ā	Write
जगरेआ	Jagor'ē'ā	Talk
पढ़वएआ	Padv'ē'ā	Read
लेलेआ	Lel'ē'ā	Look / see
सेनेआ	Sen'ē'ā	Come along with
नमेआ	Nem'ē'ā	Found
निरेआ	Nir'ē'ā	Run
सबेआ	Sab'ē'ā	Hold
लेका एआ	Leka'ē'ā	Count
मुकाएआ	Muka'ē'ā	Measure
रिका एआ	Rika'ē'ā	Cut
হেড়েম	Hedem	Sweet
	Kete-e	Hard
	Lebe-e	Soft
	Singi	Sun
	Chandu-u	Moon
	Ipil	Stars
	Sirma	Sky
	Ote Dishum	Earth
	Rimil	cloud
	Hoyo	Air/Wind
	Gitil	Sands
	Dhudi	Dust
	Losod	Muddy
	Hodomo	Body
	Tasad	Grass
	Daru	Tree
	Sakam	Leaf
	Dayir	Branches 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. According to the 2011 Census, 1,128,228 people in India reported Mundari, 505,922 reported Munda as their mother tongue, totaling 1,634,150 individuals, or approximately 1.6 million.^[1]