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Santali
ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ
The word "Santali" in Ol Chiki script
Native to	India, Bangladesh
Ethnicity	Santal
Native speakers	7.6 million (2011 census)
Language family	Austroasiatic Munda North Munda Kherwari Santali
Dialects	Mahali (Mahli)
Writing system	Ol Chiki script, Devanagari, Bengali-Assamese script, Roman script, Odia alphabet
Official status
Official language in	India
Language codes
ISO 639-2	sat
ISO 639-3	Either: sat – Santali mjx – Mahali
Glottolog	sant1410  Santali maha1291  Mahali

Santali (Ol Chiki: ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ), also known as Santhali, is the most widely-spoken language of the Munda subfamily of the Austroasiatic languages, related to Ho and Mundari, spoken mainly in the Indian states of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Odisha, Tripura and West Bengal. It is a recognized regional language of India per the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. It is spoken by around 7.6 million people in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, making it the third most-spoken Austroasiatic language after Vietnamese and Khmer.

Santali was a mainly oral language until the development of Ol Chiki by Pandit Raghunath Murmu in 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

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.

Until the nineteenth century, Santali had no written language and all shared knowledge was transmitted by word of mouth from generation to generation. European interest in the study of the languages of India led to the first efforts at documenting the Santali language. Bengali, Odia and Roman scripts were first used to write Santali before the 1860s by European anthropologists, folklorists and missionaries including A. R. Campbell, Lars Skrefsrud and Paul Bodding. Their efforts resulted in Santali dictionaries, versions of folk tales, and the study of the morphology, syntax and phonetic structure of the language.

The Ol Chiki script was created for Santali by Mayurbhanj poet Raghunath Murmu in 1925 and first publicized in 1939.

Ol Chiki as a Santali script is widely accepted among Santal communities. Presently in West Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand, Ol Chiki is the official script for Santali literature & language. However, users from Bangladesh use Bengali script instead.

Geographic distribution

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (December 2019)

The highest concentrations of Santali speakers are in the Bhagalpur and Munger districts of southeastern Bihar; Hazaribag and Manbhum districts of Jharkhand; Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Purulia, Bankura, and Birbhum districts of West Bengal; and in the Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts of Odisha. Santali speakers are also in Assam, Mizoram, and Tripura states.

Santali is spoken by over seven million people across India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal. Most of its speakers live in India, the 2001 census listing 6,469,600 speakers in the states of Jharkhand (2.8 million), West Bengal (2.2 million), Odisha (0.70 million), Bihar (0.39 million), Assam (0.24 million), and a few thousand in each of Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura.

Official status

Santali is one of India's 22 scheduled languages. It is also recognized as the second state language of the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Dialects

Dialects of Santali include Kamari-Santali, Karmali (Khole), Lohari-Santali, Mahali, Manjhi, Paharia.

Phonology

Consonants

Santali has 21 consonants, not counting the 10 aspirated stops which occur primarily, but not exclusively, in Indo-Aryan loanwords and are given in parentheses in the table below.

*ɳ only 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

Santali has eight non-nasal and six nasal vowels.

There are numerous diphthongs.

Morphology

Santali, like all Munda languages, is a suffixing agglutinating language.

Nouns

Number

Three numbers are distinguished: singular, dual and plural.

Case

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

Possession

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.

Pronouns

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

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

The indefinite pronouns are:

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

Numbers

Numerals

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

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

Verbs

Verbs in Santali inflect for tense, aspect and mood, voice and the person and number of the subject.

Subject markers

Object markers

Transitive verbs with pronominal objects take infixed object markers.

Syntax

Santali is an SOV language, though topics can be fronted.

Influence on other languages

Santali, belonging to the Austroasiatic family, has retained its distinct identity and co-existed with languages belonging to the Indo-Aryan family, in Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and other states. This affiliation is generally accepted, but there are many cross-questions and puzzles.

Borrowing between Santali and other Indian languages has not yet been studied fully. In modern Indian languages like Western Hindi the steps of evolution from Midland Prakrit Sauraseni could be traced clearly. In the case of Bengali such steps of evolution are not always clear and distinct, and one has to look at other influences that moulded Bengali's essential characteristics.

A notable work in this field was initiated by linguist Byomkes Chakrabarti in the 1960s. Chakrabarti investigated the complex process of assimilation of Austroasiatic family, particularly Santali elements, into Bengali. He showed the overwhelming influence of Bengali on Santali. His formulations are based on the detailed study of two-way influences on all aspects of both languages and tried to bring out the unique features of the languages. More research is awaited in this area.

Notable linguist Khudiram Das authored the 'Santali Bangla Samasabda 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 সাঁওতালী ভাষা-সম্পর্ক) is a collection of essays in E-book format authored by him and dedicated to linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji on the relationship between the Bengali and Santali languages.

Rising significance of Santali

Santali was honoured in December 2013 when the University Grants Commission of India decided to introduce the language in the National Eligibility Test to allow lecturers to use the language in colleges and universities.

See also

• Languages of India
• Languages with official status in India
• List of Indian languages by total speakers
• National Translation Mission
• Santali Misplaced Pages
• Ol Chiki script

References

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. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
2. Santali at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018)
   Mahali at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018)
3. http://www.ethnologue.com/21/language/sat/
4. ^ Santhali at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Mahali at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
5. ^ "Distribution of the 22 Scheduled Languages". censusindia.gov.in. Census of India. 20 May 2013.
6. Sidwell, Paul. 2018. Austroasiatic Studies: state of the art in 2018. Presentation at the Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, May 22, 2018.
7. Hembram, Phatik Chandra (2002). Santhali, a Natural Language. U. Hembram. p. 165.
8. Kundu, Manmatha (1994). Tribal Education, New Perspectives. Gyan Publishing House. p. 37. ISBN 9788121204477.
9. "Ol Chiki (Ol Cemet', Ol, Santali)". Scriptsource.org. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
10. "Santali Localization". Andovar.com. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
11. https://www.ethnologue.com/language/sat
12. "Santhali becomes India's first tribal language to get own Misplaced Pages edition". Hindustan Times. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
13. "Second language". India Today. 22 October 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
14. Roy, Anirban (27 May 2011). "West Bengal to have six more languages for official use". India Today. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
15. "Glottolog 3.2 – Santali". glottolog.org.
16. "Santali: Paharia language". Global recordings network. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
17. Anderson, Gregory D.S. (2007). The Munda verb: typological perspectives. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
18. "Santali". The Department of Linguistics, Max Planck Institute (Leipzig, Germany). 2001. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
19. Syllabus for UGC NET Santali, Dec 2013

Further reading

• Byomkes Chakrabarti (1992). A comparative study of Santali and Bengali. Calcutta: K.P. Bagchi & Co. ISBN 81-7074-128-9
• Ghosh, A. (2008). Santali. In: Anderson, G. The Munda Languages. London: Routledge.
• 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. ISBN 0-921599-68-4
• 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.

Dictionaries

• Bodding, Paul O. (1929). A Santal dictionary. Oslo: J. Dybwad.
• A. R. Campbell (1899). A Santali-English dictionary. Santal Mission Press.
• English-Santali/Santali-English dictionaries
• Macphail, R. M. (1964). An Introduction to Santali, Parts I & II. Benagaria: The Santali Literature Board, Santali Christian Council.
• Minegishi, M., & Murmu, G. (2001). Santali basic lexicon with grammatical notes. Tōkyō: Institute for the Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. ISBN 4-87297-791-2

Grammars and primers

• 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

• 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. ISBN 81-7525-080-1
• Santali Genesis Translation.
• The Dishom Beura, India's First Santali Daily News Paper. Publisher, Managobinda Beshra, National Correspondent: Mr. Somenath Patnaik

External links

• National Translation Mission's (NTM) Santali Pages
• OLAC resources in and about the Santali language
• OLAC resources in and about the Mahali language
• RWAAI Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage
• Santali language in RWAAI Digital Archive

v t e Languages of Bangladesh
Official language	Bengali
Indo-European	Assamese Goalpariya Kamrupi Bengali Chittagonian Dhakaiya Kutti Dobhashi Eastern Bengali Noakhailla Rangpuri Rarhi Sylheti Varendri Bihari Bishnupriya Chakma English Bangladeshi English Hajong Hindustani Dhakaiya Urdu Hindi Urdu Khotta Odia Persian Rohingya Sadri (Nagpuri)
Sino-Tibetan	Shö A'Tong Bawm Sak Kukish Falam Garo Hakha Chin (Laiholh) Khumi Koch Kokborok Megam Meitei (Manipuri) Mizo Mru Pangkhu Rakhine (Marma) Rengmitca Tanchangya
Austroasiatic	Khasi Koda Kol Mundari Pnar Santali War-Jaintia
Dravidian	Kurukh Sauria Paharia
Afro-Asiatic	Arabic
Sign	Indo-Pakistani Sign Language

• Santali language
• Munda languages
• Santhal
• Official languages of India
• Languages of Assam
• Languages of Bihar
• Languages of Jharkhand
• Languages of Mizoram
• Languages of Odisha
• Languages of Tripura
• Languages of West Bengal
• Languages of Bangladesh
• Languages attested from the 19th century