Korku

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Korku
Spoken in: Central India (Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra)
Total speakers: 478,000 (as of 1997)[1]
Language family: Austro-Asiatic
 Munda
  North Munda
   Korku
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: –
ISO 639-3: ksz
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Korku is a little-known tribe of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in India. The largest number of the Korkus is found in Betul and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh. Whilst they share the love of the forests with the Gonds, they are also excellent agriculturists and in Bhainsdehi tahsil of Betul district have pioneered the cultivation of potatoes and coffee.

[edit] Language

Their Korku language belongs to the Kolarian or Munda family, isolated in the midst of a Dravidian (Gondi) population. The Korkus are also closely associated with the Kalto or Nihali people, many of whom have traditionally lived in special quarters of Korku villages.[2] Korku is spoken by a total of approximately 478,000 people, mainly in four districts of southern Madhya Pradesh (Khandwa, Harda, Betul, Hoshangabad) and three districts of northern Maharashtra (Amravati, Buldana, Akola). The nouns may have either one of the three genders: masculine, feminine or neutral. The adjectives are placed before the nouns they qualify. Korku is spoken in a reducing number of villages and is gradually being replaced by Hindi.

[edit] References

  • Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition 2005 (online version).
  1. ^ Ethnologue report for the Korku language
  2. ^ Ethnologue report on the Nihali language

[edit] Further reading

  • Nagaraja, K. S. (1999). Korku language: grammar, texts, and vocabulary. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
  • Deogaonkar, S. G., & Deogaonkar, S. S. (1990). The Korku tribals. Castes and tribes of India, 1. New Delhi, India: Concept Pub. Co. ISBN 8170222974
  • Zide, N. H. (1963). Korku noun morphology. [Chicago: South Asian Languages Program, University of Chicago.
  • Zide, N. H. (1960). Korku verb morphology. [S.l: s.n.
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