MUNDA LANGUAGES

any of several Austroasiatic languages spoken by about 9,000,000 people (the Munda) in northern and central India. Some scholars divide the languages into two subfamilies: the North Munda (spoken in the Chota Nagpur Plateau of Bihar, Bengal, and Orissa) including Korku, Santhali, Mundari, Bhumij, and Ho; and the South Munda (spoken in central Orissa and along the border between Andhra Pradesh and Orissa). The latter family is further split into Central Munda, including Kharia and Juang, and Koraput Munda, including Gutob, Remo, Sora (Savara), Juray, and Gorum. The classification of these languages is controversial. North Munda (of which Santhali is the chief language) is the more important of the two groups; its languages are spoken by about nine-tenths of Munda speakers. After Santhali, the Mundari and Ho languages rank next in number of speakers, followed by Korku and Sora. The remaining Munda languages are spoken by small, isolated groups of people and are little known. Characteristics of the Munda languages include three numbers (singular, dual, and plural), two gender classes (animate and inanimate) for nouns, and the use of either suffixes or auxiliaries for indicating the tenses of verb forms. In Munda sound systems, consonant sequences are infrequent, except in the middle of a word. Except in Korku, where syllables show a distinction between high and low tone, accent is predictable in the Munda languages.