Korku language


Korku is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Korku tribe of central India, in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. It is isolated in the midst of the Gondi people, who are Dravidian, while its closest relatives are in eastern India.
Korkus are also closely associated with the Nihali people, many of whom have traditionally lived in special quarters of Korku villages. Korku is spoken by around 200,000 people, mainly in four districts of southern Madhya Pradesh and three districts of northern Maharashtra . Korku is spoken in a declining number of villages and is gradually being replaced by Hindi. For these reasons, Korku is classified as 'vulnerable to extinction' by UNESCO.

Etymology

The name Korku comes from Koro-ku, Koro 'person, member of the Korku community'.

Varieties

Zide lists the following dialects.
Korku is spoken in the following regions :

Vowels

Korku has 6 vowels; a, e, i, o, u, ɨ, and 2 nasalized vowels; ɪ̃, ʊ̃.

Consonants

Korku has 22 consonants.

Grammar

Nouns may have either one of the three genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Adjectives are placed before the nouns they qualify.

Writing system

The Korku language uses the Balbodh style of the Devanagari script, which is also used to write the Marathi language.

Endangerment

The use of the Korku language has been heavily influenced by larger hegemonic languages, especially Hindi. That influence affects not just language but also the customs and culture of traditional Korku people. A few groups have been more successful in preserving their language, specifically the Potharia Korku.
The national census of 2001 reported 574,481 people claiming to speak Korku, an un-scheduled language.