Mundari language
Mundari is a Munda language of the Austroasiatic language family spoken by the Munda people in eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. It is closely related to Santali. Mundari Bani, a script specifically to write Mundari, was invented by Rohidas Singh Nag. It has also been written in the Devanagari, Odia, Bengali, and Latin writing systems.
History
According to linguist Paul Sidwell, Munda languages probably arrived on coast of Odisha from Indochina about 4000–3500 years ago after Indo-Aryan migration to Odisha.Geographical distribution
Mundari is spoken in the Ranchi, Khunti, Seraikela Kharsawan and West Singhbhum, East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, and in the Mayurbhanj, Kendujhar, Baleshwar, Sundargarh district of Odisha.Dialects
Toshiki Osada, citing the Encyclopaedia Mundarica, lists the following dialects of Mundari, which are spoken mostly in Jharkhand state.- Hasada : east of the Ranchi-Chaibasa Road
- Naguri : west of the Ranchi-Chaibasa Road
- Tamaria or Latar: Panchpargana area
- Kera : 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.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 | |||
| Mid | |||
| Open |
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 | ||
| Stop | p | t̪ | ʈ | t͡ɕ | k | ʔ | |
| Stop | |||||||
| Stop | b | d̪ | ɖ | d͡ʑ | g | ||
| Fricative | s̪ | h | |||||
| Nasal | m | n̪ | ɳ | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Approximant | w | l | ɽ | j | |||
| Trill | r |
Counting
Relations
Verb
Samples
| Mundari | Transliteration | Translation |
| सिंग बोंगा मरांग बोंगा। | Sing bonga marang bonga | God is almighty. |
| अमा नुतुम चिना ? | Amā nutum chénā | What is your name? |
| अायं नुतुम रिमिल तना। | A̔iy nutum Rimil tanā. | My name is Rimil. |
| अम कोते सेनो तना? | Am kōtēm sēnō tanā | Where are you going? |
| नेते हुजू में | Nētē hijū mē | Come here. |
| अम चिल्का मेना ? | Am chilkā mēnāme | How are you? |
| आलोम नाक खुजाओ में | Ālama nāka khujā'ō maiṁ | Don't scratch your nose. |
| जागर लाई पैसा लॉगो। | Jāgar natin paisā lagawa | Talking costs money. |
| अम सिनेमा लाई सेनो तना चि का ? | Ām cinēmā lel sēnō tanā cī. | Will you go to Cinema? |
| अम चिकम चिका ताना ? | Am kanam cekā tānā? | What are you doing? |
| एमके चिकना मेना ? | Ēmakē cikanā mēnā? | you have any problem |
| अम कोतेम सेनो ताना ? | Ām kōtēm senoh tānā? | Where are you going? |
| अम कोते ते हिजु ताना ? | Koteyam hijuh tan | Where are you coming from? |
| थड़ीआ | Thaṛī'ā | Utensils. |
| बहा | Baā | Flower. |
| हइः | Hai | Fish |
| हइःपसे | Hai pase | Fishing |