Turi language
Endangered Munda language of India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Turi is an endangered Austroasiatic language of India that belongs to the Kherwarian Munda group.[3] Grierson (1906) described that Turi is similar to both Mundari and Santali. It is spoken by only half a percent of ethnic Turi, the rest having shifted to Sadri in Jharkhand, Mundari in West Bengal, and Odia in Odisha. The Turi are classified as a Scheduled Caste in Jharkhand.[4]
Distribution
Osada (1991) lists the following locations where Turi is spoken.[5]
- Jharkhand (pop. 133,137 as of 1981; then part of Bihar)
- Chhattisgarh
- West Bengal (pop. 26,443 as of 1981)
- Odisha (pop. 7,374 as of 1981)
Classification
Turi has been traditionally grouped with the Mundaric dialect continuum. A recent phylogenetic analysis on Turi conducted by Peterson, et al. (2024) using the software COG from the Summer Institute of Linguistics found that Turi forms a closer cline with the Santali dialect continuum rather than with the Mundari-Ho dialects. This result is more aligned with the classification of Turi proposed by Ethnologue (Eberhard et al. (2023)). The analysis concludes that Turi may have separated from the Kherwarian languages groups from an early date so that it may constitute a third subgroup of Kherwarian.[6]
Phonology
Consonants
Similar to Santali and Mundari, but /w/ is replaced by /ʋ/ in Turi. Most Munda languages have voiced stops accompanied with pre-glottalization and nasal release, so does Turi, but the language tends to drop the stops entirely while retains the nasal and the glottal stop. Eg. Turi [uʔm] "hair", Mundari [uˀb̥ᵐ] "hair"; Turi [mɛʔn̪] "eye", Mundari [meˀd˺ⁿ] "eye".[7]
Vowels
Morphology
Nominals
Pronouns
Emphasis on dual and plural reference in Turi pronouns can be reinforced by attaching number markers =kin and =ku directly to the pronoun. Eg. ɑliŋ bɑɾɑŋ=kin "we both (EXCL)", ɑlɛ=ku "we (PL.EXCL)".[8]
| singular | dual | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | exclusive | iɲ | ɑliɲ | ɑlɛ |
| inclusive | ɑlɑŋ | ɑpu | ||
| 2nd person | ɑm | ɑbin | ɑpɛ | |
| 3rd person | uni | unkin | unku | |
Cases
Turi has five cases. The case markers follow the number markers. For example, tʃɑʋɑ=kun=rɛn (child=PL=GEN) "of the children".[9]
| Case | Marker | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | =Ø | Intransitive subject, transitive subject, inanimate and non-specific objects |
| Oblique | =kɛ | Primary objects with verbs of speech, animate secondary object |
| Genitive | =ɑ/=ɑʔ/=rɛn | Possession of pronouns (=ɑ/=ɑʔ) and else (=ren) |
| Instrumental | =tɛ | Medium |
| Locative | =ɾɛ | Location |
Verbal morphology
Verbal agreement
Like all Kherwarian languages, Turi verbs index both the S/A and P arguments.[10]
sɔbu
all
kɑthɑ
story
ɑjum=kɛtɛ
hear=SEQ
bɑndrɑ=kun
monkey=PL
sɔbu
all
ʈɔpi
hat
ɛm-tɑd=i=ɑ=ku
give-ACT.PST=3SG.OBJ.ANIM=FIN=3PL.SUBJ
'After hearing his whole story, the monkeys gave him all the hats.'
| singular | dual | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | exclusive | =ɛŋ/=ɲ(iɲ) | =liɲ | =lɛ |
| inclusive | =lɑŋ | =pu | ||
| 2nd person | =m | =bin | =pɛ | |
| 3rd person | =i (object)/ =ɛ (subject) | =kin | =ku | |
Tense, mood, aspect/aktionsart
| Middle | Active | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | -tɑn | -ɛtɑn |
| Future | -ɔʔ/-ɔ/-ʔ/-Ø | -Ø |
| Past | -ɛn/-kɛn/-ɔn/-ɔʔ-ɛn | -ɛkɛn – Past imperfective -tɑd – Simple past |
| Present perfect | -ɑkɑn | (-ɑkɑd) |
| Past perfect | -lɛn | -lɛʔ/-lɑʔ |
Copulas
Odisha Turi has two copulas: the temporary/locative hɛn= (suppletive form kɑnɔʔɔ)[12] and identity =nɑŋ. The origin of =nɑŋ is obscure.[13]
Temporary locative copula sentence:
ɲɛl-lɑ=ə=ɛ
see-ACT.PST.PRF=FIN=3SG.ANIM
dʒɛ
then
miɑʔn
one
ɑu
and
ʈɔpi
hat
kɑnɔʔɔ
NEG.PRES.COP
'He saw then that there was (is) not one single hat.'
Identity copula sentence:
iɲ=ɑʔ
1SG=GEN
ɲumu
name
pɾʌbhɑt=nɑŋ
Prabhat=IDENT.COP
'My name is Prabhat.'
