Mundari language

Geographical distribution

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

Status

In 2011, Mundari was recognised as an additional official language of Jharkhand under the Jharkhand Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2011. This status allows for the language to be used in administrative and cultural contexts alongside Hindi, the state's primary official language.

Dialects

Mundari has the following dialects which are spoken mostly in Jharkhand state:

• Hasada (𞓞𞓕𞓛𞓡𞓕𞓙, ): east of the Ranchi-Chaibasa Road
• Naguri (𞓨𞓕𞓦𞓟𞓣𞓚, ): west of the Ranchi-Chaibasa Road
• Tamaria (𞓝𞓕𞓧𞓕𞓪𞓚𞓕, ) or Latar (𞓒𞓕𞓝𞓕𞓫𞓣, ): Panchpargana area (Tamar, Bundu, Rahe, Sonahatu, Silli)
• Kera (𞓢𞓤𞓣𞓕𞓙, ): 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 are nasalized. Vowels preceding or following are also nasalized.

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.

Counting

Relations

The table below shows familial relations in Mundari:

Verb

Grammar

In 1903, Hoffmann noted something abnormal with the Mundari lexicon: the lack of discrete lexical distinction. Mundari lexemes are not inherently specified for lexical categories. He made several following impressions:

Mundari words have such a great vagueness or functional elasticity that there can be no question of distinct parts of speech in that language

— Hoffmann (1903), repeated in Encyclopaedia Mundarica (1928)

[...]Thus the same unchanged form is at the same time a Conjunction, an Adjective, a Pronoun, an Adverb, a Verb, and a Noun, or, to speak more precisely, it may become a Conjunction, an Adjective, and so on, but by itself alone it is none of them. It is simply a vague elastic word, capable of signifying, in a vague manner, several distinct concepts, that is of assuming a variety of functions.

— Hoffmann (1903, p. xxi)

Similar issues with word class distinction have been also reported in other Munda languages, especially North Munda (Santali (Bodding 1929, Ghosh 1994, Neukom 2001), Ho (Deeney 1978), Korku (Drake 1903, Zide (undated)), Kharia (Pinnow 1960, Peterson 2003), Juang. Grierson (1906) summarized the issue in his Linguistic Survey of India:

[...]The various classes of words are not clearly distinguished. The same base can often be used as a noun, an adjective, or a verb. Spoken language, of course, is not composed of words but of sentences, and the meaning of each individual word is only apparent from the context. The Munda words simply denote some being, object, action, or the like, but they do not tell us how they are conceived. It is for instance only after inspection of the context that we can decide whether a word denoting the idea "to give" means "giving" or "given."

— Grierson (1906, p. 28)

Modern typologist interest in Mundari lexical categories was revitalized by Cook (1965), Langendoen (1967), Sinha (1975), Osada (1992), Bhat (1994), and most famously Evans & Osada (2005). Evans & Osada challenged the flexible analysis, contending instead that Mundari exhibits distinct yet exceptionally fluid grammatical categories (nouns, verbs, and adjectives). Their argument rests upon three specific criteria for assessing flexibility: (i) explicit semantic compositionality across both argument and predicate functions, (ii) bidirectionality, and (iii) exhaustiveness. This research prompted an extensive series of peer reviews and criticism within the same volume of Linguistic Typology. Notwithstanding these debates, Osada (1992), Badenoch & Osada (2019), and Badenoch et al. (2019) identify expressives as a further open lexical class in Mundari, encompassing a minimum of 1,500 lemmas. Mark Dingemanse comments: "yet the status of this considerable lexical stratum in the language has not featured in any word-class debates."

This section will leave out the discussions on Mundari & North Munda flexibility and focus on the morphological differences between two main dialects, Hasadaʔ and Keraʔ, specifically in relation to their respective approaches to lexical flexibility.

In Hasadaʔ Mundari, entity-denoting lexemes and structures or "noun"-like, "noun phrase"-like, and "adjective"-like all can be used as semantic bases of predicates (i.e. "verbs") without derivation. The "verbal" constructions' semantic results are often compositional (predictable), but sometimes they can be idiosyncratic.

buru=ko

mountain=3PL.SUBJ

bai-ke-d-a

make-COMPL-TR-IND

'They made the mountain.'

saan=ko

firewood=3PL.SUBJ

buru-ke-d-a

mountain-COMPL-TR-IND

'They heaped up the firewood.' (Lit. 'They mountained the firewood.')

aɲ

I

hen-saʔ

that-side

ne-saʔ-ken-a=ɲ

this-side-MID.PST-IND=1SG.SUBJ

'I moved to this side and that, walked back and forth.' (Lit. 'I that-side this-side-ed')

eŋga-oʔ-ta-n-a=eʔ

mother-PASS-PROG.OR-INTR-IND=3SG.SUBJ

'She is becoming a mother.' (Lit. 'She's mothering')

In contrast, Keraʔ Mundari does not allow such blatant uses of "zero-derivation" (i.e. conversion) like in Hasadaʔ and other dialects. Nouns can only used as verbs with the sense of performing the semantical action with the presence of verbalizing suffix -o/-u. For examples:

1. aɽandi "wedding"

aɽandi-u-a=le

wedding-VBLZR:do-IND=1PL.SUBJ

'We conduct wedding.'

1. sindri "vermillion"

sindri-u-a=le

vermillion-VBLZR:do-IND=1PL.SUBJ

'We put vermillion.'

Regarding the limit of flexibility, there is an infix -n- that can be inserted into certain Mundari lexemes, which "transforms the verb root into an abstract inanimate noun stem, which is no longer capable of verb inflection". Per Hengeveld & Rijkhoff (2005), citing Cook (1965)'s data:

dal "strike" → da-n-al "a blow"

dub "sit" → du-n-ub "a meeting"

ol "to write" → o-n-ol "the writing"

Writing system

Mandari is written in native Mundari Bani (Mundari: 𞓧𞓟𞓨𞓜𞓕𞓣𞓚 𞓗𞓕𞓨𞓚, romanized: Mundari Bani), invented in the 1980s by Rohidas Singh Nag, which has since seen limited but increasing use in literature, education, and computing. It is a true alphabet that consists of 27 distinct letters and 5 diacritical marks, the forms of which are intended to evoke natural shapes. The script is unicameral, written from left to right, and consonants do not possess an inherent vowel. They are organised into five clusters, each led by a primary vowel. The first letter of the consonant's name matches the primary vowel. Their names follow traditional naming schemes.

Mundari is also written in Odia, Devanagari and Bengali scripts.

Sample text

The following text is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written in Mundari:

Mundari Script

𞓝𞓐𞓨𞓐𞓗-𞓱: 𞓛𞓐𞓗𞓤𞓨 𞓞𞓐𞓪𞓐 𞓢𞓐𞓢𞓤𞓮 𞓧𞓕𞓨𞓕𞓣𞓔 𞓐𞓜𞓐𞓙 𞓐𞓢𞓝𞓚𞓓𞓕𞓣 𞓢𞓐𞓣𞓤𞓓𞓕𞓦 𞓑𞓕𞓚𞓝𞓚 𞓗𞓕𞓗𞓐𞓝 𞓣𞓤 𞓖𞓐𞓨𞓐𞓧 𞓖𞓐𞓣𞓐𞓔𞓤𞓝𞓤 𞓕𞓡𞓕𞓨𞓕𞓡 𞓐𞓜𞓐𞓦 𞓗𞓐𞓣𞓕𞓗𞓐𞓣𞓚 𞓨𞓕𞓧𞓕𞓢𞓕𞓨𞓕. 𞓚𞓨𞓢𞓟𞓦𞓢𞓤 𞓛𞓤𞓥𞓕 𞓐𞓜𞓐𞓦 𞓖𞓚𞓮𞓭 𞓑𞓤𞓪𞓤𞓦 𞓖𞓚𞓭𞓟𞓣𞓤𞓓𞓕𞓙 𞓤𞓨𞓤𞓧𞓢𞓐 𞓨𞓕𞓧𞓕𞓢𞓕𞓨𞓕 𞓐𞓜𞓐𞓙 𞓚𞓨𞓢𞓟𞓙 𞓒𞓐𞓙𞓝𞓤 𞓞𞓕𞓦𞓤𞓓𞓕 𞓗𞓐𞓓𞓕 𞓒𞓤𞓢𞓕 𞓖𞓕𞓦𞓕𞓣 𞓗𞓕𞓢𞓕𞓝𞓚𞓘𞓕𞓙.

Odia Script

ତୋନୋବ୍ ୧. - ସୋବେନ ହୋଡ଼ୋକୋ କେ ମନରଂଗ ଓଡ଼ୋଃ ଅକ୍ତିୟାର କୋ ରେଅଃ ତଇତି-ବାବତ ରେ ଜନମ ଜୋରୋଂଗ୍ଏତେ ଅହ୍ଡାନଡ ଓଡ଼ୋଃ ବରା ବରୀ ନମା କନା। ଇନକୁ କେ ସେଂଡ଼ାଁ ଓଡ଼ୋଃ-ଜୀ ପେଡେଃ, ଜୀଉ ରେଅଃ ଏନେମକୋ ନମା କନା ଓଡ଼ୋଃ ଇନକୁ ଲୋଓଃତେ ହଗେଆ-ୱୋଆ ଲେକା ଜଗର ବକଡ଼ ଲଗାତିଂଗ୍ଅଃ।

Devanagari Script

तोनोब् १. - सोबेन होड़ोको के मनरंग ओडोओ अक्तियार को रेअः पइति-बाबत रे जनम जोरोंग्एते अह्डानड ओड़ोओ बराबरी नमा कना। इनकु के सेंड़ॉ ओड़ोओ-जी पेडेः, जीउ रेअः एनेमको नमा कना ओड़ोओ इनकु लोओःते हगेया-वोया लेका जगर बकर लगातिंग्अः॥

Bengali Script

তোনোব্ ১. - সোবেন হোড়োকো কে মনরংগ ওড়োও অক্তিয়ার কো রেঅঃ পইতি-বাবত রে জনম জোরোংগ্এতে অহ্ডানড ওড়োও বরাবরী নমা কনা। ইনকু কে সেংড়াঁ ওড়োও-জী পেডেঃ, জীউ রেঅঃ এনেমকো নমা কনা ওড়োও ইনকু লোওঃতে হগেয়া-ওয়োয়া লেকা জগর বকড় লগাতিংগ্অঃ।

Romanisation

Tonob'-Mod: Soben hoḷo kokew manarng oḍoḥ oktiyar koreyag paiti babot re jonom jorongete adanad oḍog borabori namakana. Inkugke seṇa oḍog jīw peḷeg jī ureyaḥ enemko namakana oḍoḥ inkuḥ loḥte hageya boya leka jagar bakatiñaḥ.

IPA transcription

t̪onob-mod̪: soben hoɽoko ke manaraŋɡa oɽoo akt̪iaːra ko reʔ pait̪i-baːbat̪a re d͡ʑanama d͡ʑoroŋɡʔet̪e ahɖaːnaɖa oɽoo baraːbariː namaː kanaː. inku ke seŋɽãː oɽoo-d͡ʑiː peɽeː, d͡ʑiːu reʔ enemako namaː kanaː oɽoo inku looːt̪e haɡeaː-woaː lekaː d͡ʑaɡara bakara laɡaːt̪ŋɡʔ.

English

Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.