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Post Graduate Diploma in Translation Studies

Kurukh:      It is spoken in Bhagalpur, Chota Nagpur divisions of Bihar state; Sambalpur districts of Orissa; Rayagha, Surguz districts of Madhya Pradesh. The number of speakers are 1,333,670. Malto:      It is spoken in the mountains of Rajmahal, in Santal Pargan$as of Bihar and West Bengal. The number of speakers are 100,177. Brahui:      It is spoken in the mountains regions of the Baluchistan province of Pakistan, here and there crossing the border into neighbouring parts of Sind. The 1961 census put a figure of 365,000 on the semi nomadic Brahui people. QUESTIONS How are Dravidian languages subgrouped? What are the characteristic features of Dravidian languages ? State the geographical distribution of different Dravidian languages. 421.4.6: MUNDA LANGUAGES      Munda is the sub-family of the Austro-Asiatic languages family. There are now reckoned to be ten Munda languages including some recently discovered small tribal languages and altogether there are spoken by sixty lakhs(1971 census). These languages are situated geographically on the Chhota Nagpur plateau (in the States of Bihar and Orissa) and in the Mahadeo mountains of Madhya Pradesh. Socially, economically the Munda people are among the most backward in India. They live on hill tops and in forests, surrounded by the Indo-Aryan speakers occupying the plains. The most important of the Munda languages are Santali (4, 332,511) and Mundari (742,739). Together with contiguous dialects these are traditionally united under the name of Kherwari. The following dialects are found in these languages. Birhor and Asuri, Ho, Bhumij, Korwa, Ko·a and also Turi, Asuri. The Kherwari languages and dialects are a fairly compact group. They cover the whole of eastern half of the Chhota Nagpur plateau, reaching the Ganges in the North East and the Mahanadi river in the South East. Korku: (347,661 speakers) With its dialect Mowasi is isolated from its sisters being situated in the Mahadeo mountains. Nevertheless, it bears a close similarity to Kherwari. Kharia: (212,605 speakers) spoken on the Chhota Nagpur plateau, in the vicinity of Mundari. Juang: (19,038 speakers) Spoken to the North of Cuttack. Savara or Sora: (209, 092 speakers) It is spoken on the Southern borders of Orissa. Contiguous with it are Gutob or Gadaba (40,193) and the newly discovered languages at the Southern end of the Koraput region. Parengi (Gorum), Boa (Remo) and Didey (Gta). These are spoken by very small groups which are liable - as are many other small scale Munda languages and dialects - to rapid reduction. 421.4.6.1: CLASSIFICATION OF THE MUNDA LANGUAGES      In the map of India, we will have to proceed from West, from the North East of Maharashtra to the East towards Central and Southern Bihar and Northern Orissa and then to turn to the South and proceed upto the bank of the Godavari river. This is roughly the area in which the Munda languages are spoken mainly in the hilly regions.      Bhattacharya (1975) has divided Munda languages into two broad divisions. Lower Munda and Upper Munda. Didey, Bonda and Gutob are grouped under Lower Munda and the remaining languages under Upper Munda. Lower Munda languages do not show the person and number of the object in the verb. But a neighbouring Munda language Parengi along with most other Munda languages have this incorporation of object with the verb. The Lower Munda languages are different from the rest of the Munda languages in many other respects. Lower Munda has two groups. The first one consists of Gutob and Bonda and the second one of Didey. Didey occupies the Southern most point of the Munda area.      Being centrally situated among Upper Munda, Kherwari occupies the core part of it. The Kher group and Korku are the northern most Munda tongues. The Kherwari group consists of Santali and Mundari and some minor speeches. We may call Kherwari Northern Munda and Korku North Western Munda. The rest of the Upper Munda languages i.e. Kharia, Junang, Savara and Parengi are intermediary Munda. Besides sharing some common features among themselves, these languages agree more with Lower Munda than with Korku-Kherwari.      Among intermediary Munda, Savara and Parengi have greater affinities with Lower Munda than with Juang, and Kharia, which in their turn agree sometimes with Kherwari-Korku in contradistinction to Savara and Parengi. Therefore these two Kharia and Juang are classified as Central Munda.      The earlier term Southern Munda is retained for a group consisting of the five Munda languges, Savara, Parengi, Gutob, Bo¸· and Didey spoken in the district of Koraput as they share some common features. 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