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Santali language

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Santali
ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ
The wordSantaliin Ol Chiki script
Native toIndia,Bangladesh,Nepal
EthnicitySantal
Native speakers
7.6 million (2011 census[1])[2]
Austroasiatic
  • Munda
    • East
      • Kherwarian
        • Santal
          • Santali
Dialects
  • Mahali (Mahili)
  • Kamari-Santali
  • Khole
  • Lohari-Santali
  • Manjhi
  • Paharia
Official status
Official language in
Language codes
ISO 639-2sat
ISO 639-3Either:
sat– Santali
mjx– Mahali
Glottologsant1410Santali
maha1291Mahali
States where Santali is additional official language —JharkhandandWest Bengal
Distribution map of Santali language and other Munda languages
A girl speaking Santali.
Santali books in Mayurbhanj Book Fair

Santali(Pronounced:[santaɽi],Ol Chiki:ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ,Bengali:সাঁওতালী,Odia:ସାନ୍ତାଳୀ,Devanagari:संताली), also known asSantalorSanthali,is the most widely-spoken language of theMundasubfamily of theAustroasiatic languages,related toHoandMundari,spoken mainly in the Indian states ofAssam,Bihar,Jharkhand,Mizoram,Odisha,TripuraandWest Bengal[5]bySantals.It is a recognised regional language of India as per theEighth Scheduleof the Indian Constitution.[6]It is spoken by around 7.6 million people inIndia,Bangladesh,BhutanandNepal,making it the third most-spokenAustroasiaticlanguage afterVietnameseandKhmer.[5]

Santali was a mainly oral language until developments were made by European missionaries to write it inBengali,Odiaand Roman scripts. Eventually, theOl Chiki scriptwas developed byRaghunath Murmuin 1925. Ol Chiki is alphabetic, sharing none of the syllabic properties of the other Indic scripts, and is now widely used to write Santali in India.

History

[edit]

According to linguistPaul Sidwell,Munda languagesprobably arrived on the coast ofOdishafromIndochinaabout 4000–3500 years ago, and spread after theIndo-Aryan migrationtoOdisha.[7]

Until the nineteenth century, Santali had nowritten languageand all shared knowledge was transmitted by word of mouth from generation to generation. European interest in the study of thelanguages of Indialed to the first efforts at documenting the Santali language.Bengali,Odiaand Roman scripts were first used to write Santali before the 1860s by European anthropologists, folklorists and missionaries including A. R. Campbell,Lars SkrefsrudandPaul Bodding.Their efforts resulted in Santali dictionaries, versions of folk tales, and the study of the morphology, syntax and phonetic structure of the language.

TheOl Chiki scriptwas created for Santali byMayurbhanjpoetRaghunath Murmuin 1925 and first publicised in 1939.[8]

Ol Chiki as a Santali script is widely accepted among Santal communities. Presently inWest Bengal,Odisha,andJharkhand,Ol Chiki is the official script for Santali literature & language.[9][10]However, users from Bangladesh use Bengali script instead.[dubious–discuss]

Santali was honoured in December 2013 when theUniversity Grants Commission of Indiadecided to introduce the language in theNational Eligibility Testto allow lecturers to use the language in colleges and universities.[11]

Geographic distribution

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Distribution of Santali language in the state of India[12]

Jharkhand (44.4%)
West Bengal (33%)
Odisha (11.7%)
Bihar (6.2%)
Assam (2.9%)
Maharashtra (1.4%)
Chattisgarh (0.2%)
Tripura (0.1%)
Other states (0.1%)
District wise distribution of Santali language. (Greater shade implies a greater percentage.)

Santali is spoken by over seven million people acrossIndia,Bangladesh,Bhutan,andNepal,with India being its native country and having the largest number of speakers.[5]According to2011 census,India has a total of 7,368,192 Santali speakers (including 3,58,579Karmali,26,399Mahli).[13][14]State wise distribution isJharkhand(2.75 million),West Bengal(2.43 million),Odisha(0.86 million),Bihar(0.46 million),Assam(0.21 million) and a few thousand in each ofChhattisgarh,and innorth-easternstatesTripura,Arunachal Pradesh,Mizoram.[15]

The highest concentrations of Santali language speakers are inSanthal Pargana division,as well asEast SinghbhumandSeraikela Kharsawandistricts ofJharkhand,theJangalmahalsregion ofWest Bengal(Jhargram,BankuraandPuruliadistricts) andMayurbhanj districtofOdisha.

Smaller pockets of Santali language speakers are found in the northernChota Nagpurplateau (Hazaribagh,Giridih,Ramgarh,BokaroandDhanbaddistricts),BalesoreandKendujhardistricts of Odisha, and throughout western and northernWest Bengal(Birbhum,Paschim Medinipur,Hooghly,Paschim Bardhaman,Purba Bardhaman,Malda,Dakshin Dinajpur,Uttar Dinajpur,JalpaiguriandDarjeelingdistricts),Banka districtandPurnia divisionof Bihar (Araria,Katihar,PurniaandKishanganjdistricts), and tea-garden regions of Assam (Kokrajhar,Sonitpur,ChirangandUdalguridistricts). Outside India, the language is spoken in pockets ofRangpurandRajshahidivisions of northern Bangladesh as well as theMorangandJhapadistricts in theTeraiofProvince No. 1inNepal.[16][17]

Official status

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Santali is one of India's22 scheduled languages.[6]It is also recognised as the additional official language of the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal.[18][19]

Dialects

[edit]

Dialects of Santali include Kamari-Santali, Khole, Lohari-Santali, Mahali, Manjhi, Paharia.[5][20][21]

Phonology

[edit]

Consonants

[edit]

Santali has 21 consonants, not counting the 10 aspirated stops which occur primarily, but not exclusively, inIndo-Aryanloanwords and are given in parentheses in the table below.[22]

Bilabial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n (ɳ)* ɲ ŋ
Stop voiceless p(pʰ) t(tʰ) ʈ(ʈʰ) c(cʰ) k(kʰ)
voiced b(bʱ) d(dʱ) ɖ(ɖʱ) ɟ(ɟʱ) ɡ(ɡʱ)
Fricative s h
Trill/Flap r ɽ
Approximant w l j
*ɳonly appears as an allophone of /n/before /ɖ/.

In native words, the opposition between voiceless and voiced stops is neutralised in word-final position. A typical Munda feature is that word-final stops are "checked", i. e. glottalised and unreleased.

Vowels

[edit]

Santali has eight oral and sixnasalvowel phonemes. With the exception of /e o/, all oral vowels have a nasalized counterpart.

Front Central Back
High iĩ u ũ
Mid-high e əə̃ o
Mid-low ɛɛ̃ ɔɔ̃
Low aã

There are numerous diphthongs.

Morphology

[edit]

Santali, like allMundalanguages, is a suffixingagglutinating language.

Nouns

[edit]

Nouns are inflected for number and case.[23]

Number

[edit]

Three numbers are distinguished: singular, dual and plural.[24]

Singular ᱥᱮᱛᱟ(seta) 'dog'
Dual ᱥᱮᱛᱟᱼᱠᱤᱱ(seta-ken) 'two dogs'
Plural ᱥᱮᱛᱟᱼᱠᱚ(seta-kɔ) 'dogs'

Case

[edit]

The case suffix follows the number suffix. The following cases are distinguished:[25]

Case Marker Function
Nominative -Ø Subject and object
Genitive ᱼᱨᱮᱱ(animate)
ᱼᱟᱜ,ᱼᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ(inanimate) 		Possessor
Comitative ᱼᱴᱷᱮᱱ/-ᱴᱷᱮᱡ Goal, place
Instrumental-Locative ᱼᱛᱮ Instrument, cause, motion
Sociative ᱼᱥᱟᱶ Association
Allative ᱼᱥᱮᱱ/ᱼᱥᱮᱡ Direction
Ablative ᱼᱠᱷᱚᱱ/ᱼᱠᱷᱚᱡ Source, origin
Locative ᱼᱨᱮ Spatio-temporal location

Transcript version:

Case Marker Function
Nominative -Ø Subject and object
Genitive -rɛn(animate)
-ak',-rɛak'(inanimate) 		Possessor
Comitative -ʈhɛn/-ʈhɛc' Goal, place
Instrumental-Locative -tɛ Instrument, cause, motion
Sociative -são Association
Allative -sɛn/-sɛc' Direction
Ablative -khɔn/-khɔc' Source, origin
Locative -rɛ Spatio-temporal location

Possession

[edit]

Santali has possessive suffixes which are only used with kinship terms: 1st person-ɲ,2nd person-m,3rd person-t.The suffixes do not distinguish possessor number.[26]

Pronouns

[edit]

The personal pronouns in Santali distinguish inclusive and exclusive first person and anaphoric and demonstrative third person.[27]

Personal pronouns
Singular Dual Plural
1st person exclusive iɲ əliɲ alɛ
inclusive alaŋ abo
2nd person am aben apɛ
3rd person Anaphoric ac' əkin ako
Demonstrative uni unkin onko

The interrogative pronouns have different forms for animate ('who?') and inanimate ('what?'), and referential ('which?') vs. non-referential.[28]

Interrogative pronouns
Animate Inanimate
Referential ɔkɔe oka
Non-referential cele cet'

The indefinite pronouns are:[29]

Indefinite pronouns
Animate Inanimate
'any' jãheã jãhã
'some' adɔm adɔmak
'another' ɛʈak'ic' ɛʈak'ak'

The demonstratives distinguish three degrees of deixis (proximate, distal, remote) and simple ('this', 'that', etc.) and particular ('just this', 'just that') forms.[30]

Demonstratives
Simple Particular
Animate Inanimate Animate Inanimate
Proximate nui noa nii niə
Distal uni ona ini inə
Remote həni hana hini hinə

Numerals

[edit]

The basic cardinal numbers (transcribed into Latin script IPA)[31]are:

1 ᱢᱤᱫ mit'
2 ᱵᱟᱨ bar
3 ᱯᱮ pɛ
4 ᱯᱩᱱ pon
5 ᱢᱚᱬᱮ mɔ̃ɽɛ̃
6 ᱛᱩᱨᱩᱭ turui
7 ᱮᱭᱟᱭ ɛyae
8 ᱤᱨᱟᱹᱞ irəl
9 ᱟᱨᱮ arɛ
10 ᱜᱮᱞ gɛl
20 ᱤᱥᱤ -isi
100 ᱥᱟᱭ -sae

The numerals are used withnumeral classifiers.Distributive numerals are formed by reduplicating the first consonant and vowel, e.g.babar'two each'.

Numbers basically follow abase-10pattern. Numbers from 11 to 19 are formed by addition, "gel" ('10') followed by the single-digit number (1 through 9). Multiples of ten are formed by multiplication: the single-digit number (2 through 9) is followed by "gel" ('10'). Some numbers are part of a base-20 number system. 20 can be "bar gel" or "isi".

ᱯᱮ

pe

(3‍

×

ᱜᱮᱞ

gel

10‍)


   

or

or

or


   

(ᱢᱤᱫ)

(mit’)

((1‍)

×

ᱤᱥᱤ

isi

20‍

+

ᱜᱮᱞ

gel

10‍)

ᱯᱮ {} ᱜᱮᱞ {
    } or {
    } (ᱢᱤᱫ) {} ᱤᱥᱤ {} ᱜᱮᱞ

pe {} gel {} or {} (mit’) {} isi {} gel

(3‍ × 10‍) {} or {} ((1‍) × 20‍ + 10‍)

30

Verbs

[edit]

Verbs in Santali inflect for tense, aspect and mood, voice and the person and number of the subject and sometimes of the object.[32]

Subject markers

[edit]
singular dual plural
1st person exclusive -ɲ(iɲ) -liɲ -lɛ
inclusive -laŋ -bon
2nd person -m -ben -pɛ
3rd person -e -kin -ko

Object markers

[edit]

Transitive verbs with pronominal objects take infixed object markers.

singular dual plural
1st person exclusive -iɲ- -liɲ- -lɛ-
inclusive -laŋ- -bon-
2nd person -me- -ben- -pɛ-
3rd person -e- -kin- -ko-

Syntax

[edit]

Santali is anSOV language,though topics can be fronted.[33]

Influence on other languages

[edit]

Notable linguistKhudiram Dasauthored the 'Santali Bangla Samashabda Abhidhan'(সাঁওতালি বাংলা সমশব্দ অভিধান), a book focusing on the influence of the Santali language on Bengali and providing a basis for further research on this subject. 'Bangla Santali Bhasha Samparka(বাংলা সান্তালী ভাষা-সম্পর্ক) is a collection of essays inE-bookformat authored by him and dedicated to linguistSuniti Kumar Chatterjion the relationship between the Bengali and Santali languages.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^"Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues – 2011".www.censusindia.gov.in.Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.Archivedfrom the original on 16 July 2019.Retrieved7 July2018.
  2. ^SantaliatEthnologue(21st ed., 2018)Closed access icon
    MahaliatEthnologue(21st ed., 2018)Closed access icon
  3. ^"P and AR & e-Governance Dept".wbpar.gov.in.Retrieved10 January2021.
  4. ^"Redirected".19 November 2019.Archivedfrom the original on 9 May 2019.Retrieved9 May2019.
  5. ^abcdSantaliatEthnologue(18th ed., 2015)(subscription required)
    MahaliatEthnologue(18th ed., 2015)(subscription required)
  6. ^ab"Distribution of the 22 Scheduled Languages".censusindia.gov.in.Census of India. 20 May 2013.Archivedfrom the original on 7 February 2013.Retrieved26 February2018.
  7. ^Sidwell, Paul. 2018.Austroasiatic Studies: state of the art in 2018.Archived22 May 2018 at theWayback MachinePresentation at the Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, 22 May 2018.
  8. ^Hembram, Phatik Chandra (2002).Santhali, a Natural Language.U. Hembram. p. 165.
  9. ^"Ol Chiki (Ol Cemet', Ol, Santali)".Scriptsource.org.Archivedfrom the original on 27 November 2015.Retrieved19 March2015.
  10. ^"Santali Localization".Andovar.com.Archivedfrom the original on 17 March 2016.Retrieved19 March2015.
  11. ^"Syllabus for UGC NET Santali, Dec 2013"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on 6 November 2018.Retrieved4 January2020.
  12. ^"C-16: Population by mother tongue, India - 2011".Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.
  13. ^"SCHEDULED LANGUAGES IN DESCENDING ORDER OF SPEAKERS' STRENGTH - 2011"(PDF).census.gov.in.Archived(PDF)from the original on 9 October 2022.Retrieved17 December2019.
  14. ^"ABSTRACT OF SPEAKERS' STRENGTH OF LANGUAGES AND MOTHER TONGUES - 2011"(PDF).census.gov.in.Archived(PDF)from the original on 14 November 2018.Retrieved17 December2019.
  15. ^"PART-A: DISTRIBUTION OF THE 22 SCHEDULED LANGUAGES-INDIA/STATES/UNION TERRITORIES - 2011 CENSUS"(PDF).census.gov.in.Archived(PDF)from the original on 15 April 2022.Retrieved17 December2019.
  16. ^"Santhali".Ethnologue.Archivedfrom the original on 25 May 2020.Retrieved4 January2020.
  17. ^"Santhali becomes India's first tribal language to get own Wikipedia edition".Hindustan Times.9 August 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 22 February 2019.Retrieved22 February2019.
  18. ^"Second language".India Today.22 October 2011.Archivedfrom the original on 14 February 2022.Retrieved5 November2019.
  19. ^Roy, Anirban (27 May 2011)."West Bengal to have six more languages for official use".India Today.Archivedfrom the original on 6 March 2023.Retrieved5 November2019.
  20. ^"Glottolog 3.2 – Santali".glottolog.org.Archivedfrom the original on 9 July 2018.Retrieved26 February2018.
  21. ^"Santali: Paharia language".Global recordings network.Archivedfrom the original on 3 December 2018.Retrieved26 February2018.
  22. ^Anderson, Gregory D.S. (2007).The Munda verb: typological perspectives.Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
  23. ^Ghosh (2008),p. 32.
  24. ^Ghosh (2008),pp. 32–33.
  25. ^Ghosh (2008),pp. 34–38.
  26. ^Ghosh (2008),p. 38.
  27. ^Ghosh (2008),p. 41.
  28. ^Ghosh (2008),p. 43.
  29. ^Ghosh (2008),p. 44.
  30. ^Ghosh (2008),p. 45.
  31. ^"Santali".The Department of Linguistics, Max Planck Institute (Leipzig, Germany). 2001. Archived fromthe originalon 1 December 2017.Retrieved27 November2017.
  32. ^Ghosh (2008),p. 53ff..
  33. ^Ghosh (2008),p. 74.

Works cited

[edit]
  • Ghosh, Arun (2008). "Santali". In Anderson, Gregory D.S. (ed.).The Munda Languages.London: Routledge. pp. 11–98.

Further reading

[edit]
  • Byomkes Chakrabarti(1992).A comparative study of Santali and Bengali.Calcutta: K.P. Bagchi & Co.ISBN81-7074-128-9
  • Hansda, Kali Charan (2015).Fundamental of Santhal Language.Sambalpur.
  • Hembram, P. C. (2002).Santali, a natural language.New Delhi: U. Hembram.
  • Newberry, J. (2000).North Munda dialects: Mundari, Santali, Bhumia.Victoria, B.C.: J. Newberry.ISBN0-921599-68-4
  • Mitra, P. C. (1988).Santali, the base of world languages.Calcutta: Firma KLM.
  • Зограф Г. А. (1960/1990). Языки Южной Азии. М.: Наука (1-е изд., 1960).
  • Лекомцев, Ю. K. (1968). Некоторые характерные черты сантальского предложения // Языки Индии, Пакистана, Непала и Цейлона: материалы научной конференции. М: Наука, 311–321.
  • Grierson, George A.(1906).Linguistic Survey of India.Vol. IV,Mundā and Dravidian languages.Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India.
  • Maspero, Henri. (1952).Les langues mounda.Meillet A., Cohen M. (dir.), Les langues du monde, P.: CNRS.
  • Neukom, Lukas. (2001).Santali.München: LINCOM Europa.
  • Pinnow, Heinz-Jürgen. (1966).A comparative study of the verb in the Munda languages.Zide, Norman H. (ed.) Studies in comparative Austroasiatic linguistics. London—The Hague—Paris: Mouton, 96–193.
  • Sakuntala De. (2011).Santali: a linguistic study.Memoir (Anthropological Survey of India). Kolkata: Anthropological Survey of India, Govt. of India.
  • Vermeer, Hans J.(1969).Untersuchungen zum Bau zentral-süd-asiatischer Sprachen (ein Beitrag zur Sprachbundfrage).Heidelberg: J. Groos.
  • 2006-d. Santali. In E. K. Brown (ed.) Encyclopedia of Languages and Linguistics. Oxford: Elsevier Press.

Dictionaries

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Grammars and primers

[edit]
  • Bodding, Paul O. 1929/1952.A Santal Grammar for the Beginners,Benagaria: Santal Mission of the Northern Churches (1st edition, 1929).
  • Cole, F. T. (1896).Santạli primer.Manbhum: Santal Mission Press.
  • Macphail, R. M. (1953)An Introduction to Santali.Firma KLM Private Ltd.
  • Muscat, George. (1989)Santali: A New Approach.Sahibganj, Bihar: Santali Book Depot.
  • Skrefsrud, Lars Olsen(1873).A Grammar of the Santhal Language.Benares: Medical Hall Press.
  • Saren, Jagneswar "Ranakap Santali Ronor" (Progressive Santali Grammar), 1st edition, 2012.

Literature

[edit]
  • Pandit Raghunath Murmu (1925) ronor: Mayurbhanj, Odisha Publisher ASECA, Mayurbhanj
  • Bodding, Paul O., (ed.) (1923–1929)Santali Folk Tales.Oslo: Institutet for sammenlingenden kulturforskning, Publikationen. Vol. I—III.
  • Campbell, A. (1891).Santal folk tales.Pokhuria, India: Santal Mission Press.
  • Murmu, G., & Das, A. K. (1998).Bibliography, Santali literature.Calcutta: Biswajnan.ISBN81-7525-080-1
  • Santali Genesis Translation.
  • The Dishom Beura,India's First Santali Daily News Paper. Publisher, Managobinda Beshra, National Correspondent: Mr. Somenath Patnaik
[edit]
Santali editionofWikipedia,the free encyclopedia
Mahali testofWikipediaatWikimedia Incubator
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