Turi language

Not to be confused with the Thuri language of South Sudan.

Turi is an endangered Austroasiatic language of India that belongs to the Kherwarian Munda group.^[3] Grierson (1906) described that Turi is similar to both Mundari and Santali. It is spoken by only half a percent of ethnic Turi, the rest having shifted to Sadri in Jharkhand, Mundari in West Bengal, and Odia in Odisha. The Turi are classified as a Scheduled Caste in Jharkhand.^[4]

Turi
तुरी
Native to	India
Region	Jharkhand
Ethnicity	Turi
Native speakers	2,000 (2007)[1]
Language family	Austroasiatic Munda North Kherwarian Mundaric Turi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	trd
Glottolog	turi1246
ELP	Turi
Turi is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger[2]

Distribution

Osada (1991) lists the following locations where Turi is spoken.^[5]

• Jharkhand (pop. 133,137 as of 1981; then part of Bihar)
  • Giridih district
  • Ranchi district
  • Hazaribagh district
• Chhattisgarh
  • Raigarh district
• West Bengal (pop. 26,443 as of 1981)
• Odisha (pop. 7,374 as of 1981)

Phonology

Consonants

Similar to Santali and Mundari, but /w/ is replaced by /ʋ/ in Turi.

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	(ɳ)*	ɲ	ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p (pʰ)	t (tʰ)	ʈ (ɖʈʰ)	tʃ (tʃʱ)	k (kʰ)	ʔ
	voiced	b (bʱ)	d (dʱ)	ɖ (ɖʱ)	dʒ (dʒʱ)	ɡ (ɡʱ)
Fricative			s				h
Trill/Flap			r	ɽ
Lateral			l
Approximant					j	ʋ

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid-high		(ə)
Mid-low	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a

Morphology

Verbal agreement

Like all Kherwarian languages, double- and triple markings are possible in Turi.

		singular	dual	plural
1st person	exclusive	=ɛŋ/=ɲ(iɲ)	=liɲ	=lɛ
	inclusive		=laŋ	=pu
2nd person		=m	=bin	=pɛ
3rd person		=i (object)/ =ɛ (subject)	=kin	=ku

Tense, mood, aspect/aktionsart

	Middle	Active
Present	-tan	-ɛtan
Future	-ɔʔ/-ɔ/-ʔ/-Ø	-Ø
Past	-ɛn/-kɛn/-ɔn/-ɔʔ-ɛn	-ɛkɛn – Past imperfective -tad – Simple past
Present perfect	-akan	(-akad)
Past perfect	-lɛn	-lɛʔ/-laʔ