Kurukh language

Vowels (Sayōr̤ 12)

Consonants (Hawōr̤ 21)

Phonological Observations

• Status of Voiced Stops: In native Dravidian Kurukh, voiced stops ([b], [d], [ḍ], [ɡ]) are strictly allophonic.
• Dentalveolar Rhotic Contrast: True Kurukh features both the Alveolar trill /r/ and the alveolar tap /ɾ/.
• Retroflex Rhotic: The retroflex approximant /ɻ/, typically represented as r̤ or ḻ.
• Aspiration: Entirely absent in the "True Kurukh" inventory; any aspirated sounds are Indo-Aryan imports.
• Intervocalic Lenition: A core rule where stops undergo softening between vowels.

Elimination of Aspiration

In standard spoken Kurukh, aspirated stops like /bʰ/, /dʰ/, /ḍʰ/ and /ɡʰ/ are common due to centuries of contact with Nagpuri and Hindi. In True Kurukh, these are recognized as non-native. The revival process replaces these imports with their unaspirated equivalents or native fricatives (like the velar /x/), effectively restoring the Dravidian "hardness" of the tongue.

From Phonemic to Allophonic Voicing

Perhaps the most significant shift is the status of voiced stops (b, d, ḍ, g). In Indo-Aryanized Kurukh, these are independent phonemes. In Native True Kurukh, voicing is purely environmental. A stop is generally voiceless at the beginning of a word but becomes voiced intervocalically (between vowels). This "Lenition" rule simplifies the phonemic inventory while adding a melodic, fluid quality to spoken sentences.

Restoration of Liquid Contrasts

Revived Kurukh places heavy emphasis on its liquid (rhotic and lateral) distinctions:

• The Alveolar Contrast: Distinguishing the trill /r/ from the tap /ɾ/.
• The Retroflex approximant: The revival of the rare Dravidian /ɻ/ (similar to the Tamil 'zh'), which provides the language with its unique acoustic signature, distinguishing it from the "flapped" rhotics of Indo-Aryan languages.

Phonotactic Purity

The revival enforces native syllable structures, largely preferring Consonant-Vowel (CV) patterns and strictly governing consonant clusters. This "refining" removes the heavy, cluster-laden phonology of borrowed Sanskritized terms, opting instead for the rhythmic, agglutinative flow native to the Kurukh people.

References

• Hahn, Ferdinand (1900). Kurukh Grammar. Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Press.

1. Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns distinguish between singular (-n) and plural (-m) forms. A defining feature is the distinction between **Exclusive** (excluding the listener) and **Inclusive** (including the listener) 1st-person plural forms. Notably, the inclusive form (*nām*) represents a collective identity; therefore, no singular form exists for the inclusive 1st person.

2. Third Person Pronoun

The third-person pronominal system is fundamentally deictic, mapping grammatical referents onto physical space (Proximal, Medial, and Distal). Historically and in contemporary usage, Kurukh utilizes a Binary Gender System, though a new proposal (2026) suggests a transition to a Ternary Gender System.

3. Case Suffixes and Declension

In Kurukh, grammatical cases are formed by appending suffixes to the Oblique Stem of the pronoun. The genitive system utilizes a stable pronominal suffix alongside person-specific attributive suffixes.

Nouns

Kurukh nouns have three grammatical genders, namely masculine, feminine and neuter. To the Kurukh only men are masculine ; women and goddesses (evil spirits) are feminine ; all others are neutral. Masculine nouns of the third person singular have two forms, the indefinite and the definite. The indefinite is the simplest form of the noun, thus āl man. The definite form is made by adding -as for the singular, thus ālas, ("the man").^[19]

There are only two grammatical numbers, the singular and the plural.^[19]

The following is an example declension table for a masculine noun "āl", meaning "man" ^[20]

The feminine declension is almost identical to the masculine, but lacks a definite form. The following example is for "mukkā" ("woman").^[20]

The neuter declension for "allā" ("dog") shows almost identical singular forms, but a difference in pluralization.^[20]

English

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Devanagari script

होर्मा आलारिन् हक् गहि बारे नू मल्लिन्ता अजादि अरा आण्टें मन्ना गहि हक़् ख़खर्कि रै। आरिन् लुर् अरा जिया गहि दव् बौसा ख़खकि रै अरा तम्है मझि नू मेल्-प्रें गहि बेव्हार् नन्ना चहि।

Latin script

Hōrmā ālārin hak gahi bāre nū mallintā azādi arā aṅṭēm mannā gahi haq xakharki raī. Ārin lur arā jiyā gahi dav bausā xakhakī raī arā tamhai majhi nū mēl-prēm gahi bēvhār nannā nā cahi.