Digital Resources Journal of Language Survey Report 2021-034

A Sociolinguistic Survey among the Dhurwa of and Orissa

D. Selwyn Joseph and Selvi Joseph A Sociolinguistic Survey among the Dhurwa of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa

D. Selwyn Joseph and Selvi Joseph

SIL International® 2021 Journal of Language Survey Report 2021-034

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ISSN: 2766-9327

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Series Editor Angela Kluge

Managing Editor Eric Kindberg

Copy Editor Eleanor J. McAlpine

Compositor Bonnie Waswick Abstract

This report concerns the use of the various languages spoken by the Dhurwa people of of Madhya Pradesh and of Orissa. The report was produced from data collected between January and March in the year 1986. During the survey, researchers Mr. D. Selwyn Joseph and Mrs. Selvi Joseph made three field trips and collected the needed information. Most of the distances were covered by cycles, although some locations were accessible only by walking even, on occasion, by climbing mountains. The first trip was made mainly to become familiar with the geographical location of the Dhurwa people. The village of Bade Kavali served as a base for the first trip. The researchers collected wordlists and texts in and around that base of operations. Gehumpadar served as a base for the second trip, and Jagdalpur as a base for the third trip. The authors and their colleague, Mr. PKD, visited test points and did the intelligibility testing in those three areas. As a result of this survey the authors strongly recommend literature development in the Dhurwa language. The comprehension of the Nethanar dialect is wide, and that dialect is also accepted by the people of other dialects. So it seems best for the Nethanar dialect to serve as central for a language development project. There is a need of reading and writing literature in the Oriya script for the benefit of the one-third of the Dhurwa people who are in the Koraput district of Orissa. Around ninety percent of the Dhurwa people speak Dhurwa as their mother tongue. Comprehension of other languages is not high among the Dhurwa-speaking Dhurwas. So it seems important to encourage language development in their vernacular. It seems profitable for Bhatri-speaking Dhurwas to have a development project and for the Halbi-speaking Dhurwas to have a project in Halbi. Regarding literacy and education, there is a definite need in the Orissa area, the Tiriya area, the Nethanar area, and the Dharba area. In the Kukanar area schools are functioning and the literacy rate is comparatively high.

(This survey report written some time ago deserves to be made available even at this late date. Conditions were such that it was not published when originally written. The reader is cautioned that more recent research may be available. Historical data is quite valuable as it provides a basis for a longitudinal analysis and helps us understand both the trajectory and pace of change as compared with more recent studies.—Editor)

Contents

1 Introduction 1.1 Goals 1.2 Location of the Dhurwa in Madhya Pradesh and Orissa 1.3 Monolingual Dhurwa-speaking Dhurwas 1.4 Non Dhurwa-speaking Dhurwas 1.4.1 Oriya-speaking Dhurwas 1.4.2 Bhatri-speaking Dhurwas 1.4.3 Halbi-speaking Dhurwas 2 Dialects of Dhurwa 2.1 Tiriya dialect 2.2 Nethanar dialect 2.3 Dharba dialect 2.4 Kukanar dialect 2.5 Intelligibility among the Dhurwa dialects 2.6 Standard and widely understood dialects of Dhurwa 3 Bilingualism 3.1 Bilingualism in 3.2 Bilingualism in Oriya 3.3 Bilingualism in Bhatri 3.4 Bilingualism in Halbi 4 Language use and attitudes 4.1 Concerning the vernacular 4.2 Concerning Hindi, the state language 4.3 Concerning Halbi, the lingua franca 4.4 Concerning Bhatri 4.5 Concerning Madia 5 Recommendations 6 Methodology 6.1 General 6.1.1 Personal interviews 6.1.2 Personal visits 6.1.3 Wordlist and questionnaire 6.2 Recorded text testing 6.3 Bilingualism 6.3.1 Hindi and Dhurwa 6.3.2 Oriya and Dhurwa 6.3.3 Bhatri and Dhurwa 6.3.4 Halbi and Dhurwa 6.4 Language use and attitudes 7 Trip summary 7.1 Trip one 7.2 Trip two 7.3 Trip three Appendix A: Questionnaires Appendix B: Wordlist Appendix C: Maps References

iv 1 Introduction

The purpose of the survey was to assess the need for literature development in the Dhurwa language.

1.1 Goals

1. To know the level of bilingualism in Hindi, Oriya, Halbi and Bhatri. 2. To find out the dialect differences which exist in Dhurwa.

Dhurwa is one of the central Dravidian languages and it is widely spoken by Dhurwas who inhabit parts of Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh and Koraput district of Orissa. The Dhurwa area starts from Kavapal (15 kms. away from Jagdalpur towards the southwest) in Jagdalpur tahsil of Bastar district and goes up to Murthonda (3 kms. northwest of Sukma) in Konta tahsil of Bastar district. The Dhurwa area also covers the western border of Koraput district of Orissa parallel to the Bastar district area. The exact population of Dhurwas is still unknown. We believe the population to be around 100,000. This figure includes Dhurwa people who no longer speak the Dhurwa language. About ninety percent of Dhurwa people still speak Dhurwa as their mother tongue, whereas ten percent have shifted to other languages. In the peripheral areas the Dhurwa people are influenced either by the lingua franca, Halbi, or the adjacent languages of Bhatri or Oriya. Most of the Dhurwa people have some knowledge of Halbi as a second language. I reached these conclusions after taking a census in the villages that I visited. Regarding the villages that I could not visit, I gathered information from the inhabitants of the villages that I was able to contact. Though there are slight differences in the Dhurwa language from village to village, there are four distinct dialect varieties. Each of these dialects is widely understood by speakers of the other Dhurwa dialects. They have a positive attitude toward the vernacular and it is widely used. Knowledge of Hindi, the state language, and Halbi, the lingua franca, is considered to be prestigious. The methodology in section 6 discusses how these conclusions were reached.

1.2 Location of the Dhurwa in Madhya Pradesh and Orissa

The geographical location of the Dhurwa people1 is clearly given in map 1 (Appendix C). It is believed that the Dhurwa people originally belonged to Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh and later migrated into the Koraput district of Orissa.2 About two-thirds of the Dhurwa live in Bastar and one-third live in Orissa. The Dhurwa people are forest dwellers. In Bastar they are found in Jagdalpur and Konta tahsils and in a few villages of Dantewada tahsil. In Orissa they live close to the western border of Koraput district. The Dhurwa population is most dense in the central part of this area.

1.3 Monolingual Dhurwa-speaking Dhurwas

Most of the Dhurwa are bilingual, but children and those who do not have contact with outsiders are monolingual in Dhurwa. Ninety percent use the Dhurwa language as their mother tongue. In Orissa, the Dhurwa-speaking Dhurwas extend from Gadagat in the north to Malkangiri in the south. In Madhya Pradesh, they extend from Kavapal in the northeast to Murthonda in the south. Dhurwa people are found in forest reserve areas; they are also found in the plains. In Orissa, the main concentration of Dhurwa people is found in the Tellurna, Tulsi, Charat Budhil, and Malkangiri areas. In Madhya Pradesh, the Dhurwa people are concentrated in the Tiriya, Nethanar, Koleng, Dharba, Tongpal, Marenga, Southinar,

1 Burrow and Bhattacharya (1953) give orientation to the possible dialect differences in the Dhurwa language. The Dhurwa language was formerly known as the Parji language. With the help of their maps we had a rough idea of the location of Dhurwa inhabitants. 2 Thusu (1968), The Dhurwa of Bastar, was very helpful in knowing the Dhurwa villages.

1 2

Kodripal, Kokkavada, Pushpal, Kindhervada, Talnar, Bududhi, Ganjenar, Kukanar, Pakel, and Murthonda areas. The population is most dense in the Kukanar, Pushpal, and Guma areas.

1.4 Non Dhurwa-speaking Dhurwas

Many areas are in contact with Halbi, the lingua franca of Bastar district, and a few other areas are in contact with either Hindi, the state language, or with Bhatri or Oriya. In the peripheral areas of the Dhurwa region, the influence of the second language is so great that the Dhurwa people have forgotten their mother tongue.

1.4.1 Oriya-speaking Dhurwas

The Dhurwa people of Orissa who live on the border of the Dhurwa area speak Oriya. For example, in Koraguda, a Dhurwa village which is about five kilometres away from Ramgeda, the older people can understand Dhurwa, but for the younger generation Oriya has become their mother tongue. About one percent of the Dhurwa people use Oriya as their mother tongue.

1.4.2 Bhatri-speaking Dhurwas

The Dhurwa people who are found in the northern part of Bastar district are in contact with Bhatri- speaking people. As a result, the villages around Kurandi and Nangur have accepted Bhatri as their mother tongue. Here the elders understand Dhurwa, but the younger generation is unable to. Bhatri- speaking Dhurwas are bilingual in Bhatri and Halbi. Though there are some Dhurwa who claim Bhatri as their mother tongue, ninety percent of the Dhurwa people do not understand Bhatri. About two percent of the Dhurwa people use Bhatri as their mother tongue.

1.4.3 Halbi-speaking Dhurwas

In the northwestern area of the Dhurwa region, the Dhurwa people claim Halbi as their mother tongue. This has come about mainly because of their close contact with Halbas and Maharas, the native speakers of Halbi. The Halbi-speaking Dhurwa are found mainly in the villages around Keshalur, Maulipadar, Jamavada, and Dharba. About seven percent of the Dhurwa people use Halbi as their mother tongue.

2 Dialects of Dhurwa

According to Burrows and Bhattacharya (1953), there are three dialects of the Dhurwa language. They also suspected the existence of one more dialect variant. During our survey we found four dialects of the Dhurwa language, but they are mutually intelligible. We can classify the four Dhurwa dialects as follows: Tiriya dialect, Nethanar dialect, Dharba dialect, and Kukanar dialect. The dialects in Orissa gradually change from north to south parallel to those in Madhya Pradesh.

2.1 Tiriya dialect

Most of the Dhurwa villages in the northern part of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa use the Tiriya dialect. This dialect is closely related to the Nethanar dialect, as table 1 shows. The Tiriya dialect differs more from the other two dialects. 3

Table 1. Linguistic similarity in four Dhurwa dialects as shown by the percentage of similar vocabulary Tiriya Dhurwa

96% Nethanar Dhurwa

93% 96% Dharba Dhurwa

90% 91% 92% Kukanar Dhurwa

The main difference between the Nethanar and Tiriya dialects is found in the future tense. The rolled vibrant symbolized by [R] is pronounced [dd] in the Tiriya dialect. The future tense marker in the Nethanar dialect, the vibrant [r], is expressed as the palatal semivowel [y] in the Tiriya dialect. The initial voiced labiodental semivowel, [v], in the the Nethanar dialect, is pronounced as the voiced bilabial stop [b], in the Tiriya dialect. Table 2 gives examples of these differences.

Table 2. Linguistic differences between Nethanar and Tiriya dialects

Nethanar Tiriya Gloss veRaan beddaan I will come pokraan pokyaan I will tell vaayaa baayaa field

2.2 Nethanar dialect

The Nethanar dialect is spoken by the people of Nethanar, Tamarvada, Kavali, and Kolavada. We have compared this dialect to the other dialects, using this dialect as the standard. Table 1 shows the lexical similarity percentages for this dialect in relation to the other three dialects.

2.3 Dharba dialect

The Dharba dialect and the Kukanar dialect are the most widely spoken dialects. The Dharba dialect extends from Nangalser to Tongpal and covers the Koleng, Dharba, and Marenga areas of Madhya Pradesh, and the Tulsi area of Orissa. The Dharba dialect speakers are considered hill dwellers. The Dharba dialect is closely related to the Nethanar dialect, as table 1 shows. The Dharba dialect is closely related to the Nethanar dialect, as table 1 shows. The main difference between the Nethanar and Dharba dialects is that retroflexed stops (symbolized by a capital letter) in the Nethanar dialect, are pronounced as dental stops in the Dharba dialect. At the grammatical level, the past tense marker, a cluster of voiceless retroflexed stops in the Nethanar dialect, are pronounced as a cluster of voiceless dental stops in the Dharba dialect. Table 3 gives examples of these pronunciation differences.

Table 3. Linguistic changes between Nethanar and Dharba dialects

Nethanar Dharba Gloss ceTaal cetaal sickle meDii medii mango veNDuu venduu to cook cenii meTTeen cenii metteen I went 4

2.4 Kukanar dialect

The Kukanar dialect is the most widely spoken dialect of the four Dhurwa dialects. It is spoken throughout the southern part of the Dhurwa region in Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. It extends from Pushpal to Sukma, and includes Kukanar, Kodripal, Guma, and Ganjenar. As with the Tiriya dialect, the future tense marker, the vibrant [r], of Nethanar, is pronounced as the palatal semivowel [y]. As is the case with the Dharba dialect, retroflexed stops are pronounced as dental stops. In addition, the final front half close vowel [e] in the Nethanar dialect, is expressed as a central half-open spread vowel [a] in the Kukanar dialect. The present tense marker of the Nethanar dialect, a front half-closed vowel [e], changes to a back half-closed rounded vowel [o], in the Kukanar dialect. Table 4 gives examples of these pronunciation differences.

Table 4. Linguistic differences between the Nethanar and Kukanar dialects

Nethanar Kukanar Gloss meDii medii mango eTTee etta how pokraan pokyaan I will tell vermeen vermon I come

The Kukanar wordlist shows several words which are very similar to Dravidian roots. Examples include: [kaN] “eye”, [cerpuu] “footwear”, [merduu] “medicine”, [kerpen] “palm tree”, and others.

Table 5. Sample differences taken from the dialect wordlists

Nethanar Tiriya Dharba Kukanar Gloss meDii meDii medii medii mango veRan veddan veRan veRan I will come pokraan pokyaan pokraan pokyaan I will tell eTTee eTTee ettee etta how uNDuu uNDuu unduu unduu sit vermeen vermeen vermeen vermon I come

2.5 Intelligibility among the Dhurwa dialects

The Tiriya dialect is mutually intelligible with the Nethanar dialect. It is fairly well understood by people who speak the Dharba and Kukanar dialects, but not vice versa. The mutual intelligibility between the Nethanar dialect and the other Dhurwa dialects is fairly high. It is widely understood. The Dharba dialect is understood by speakers of the Kukanar and Nethanar dialects, but Dhurwa speakers in the Tiriya area have difficulty understanding this dialect. The Kukanar dialect is understood by speakers of the Dharba dialect, but not by speakers of the Nethanar and Tiriya dialects. The variety of Dhurwa spoken in the southern area of the Kukanar dialect is poorly understood by the rest. Table 6 summarizes the intelligibility relationships. The column labeled “N” gives the number of people who were tested in each of the test points.

5

Table 6. Intelligibility among Dhurwa dialects

Reference points Tiriya Nethanar Dharba Kukanar Test points N 100 100 75 75 Tiriya 15 100 100 90 75 Nethanar 8 85 95 100 95 Dharba 5 100 100 90 100 Marenga 7 95 100 85 100 Kukanar 15 90 95 80 100 Kuidom 4 100 100 75 75

2.6 Standard and widely understood dialects of Dhurwa

There is no one Dhurwa dialect common to all Dhurwa-speaking people. All the dialects are considered acceptable by speakers of the other dialects. The Tiriya dialect is considered to be the Odiyan (Orissa) dialect. The Dharba dialect is thought of as the hill dwellers dialect. The Kukanar dialect is said to be mixed with Telugu, whereas the Nethanar dialect is considered to be that spoken by the plains area people. The Nethanar dialect is widely understood whereas the Dharba and Kukanar dialects are poorly understood by people from other areas. The Tiriya dialect is only fairly well understood by speakers of other areas. Although the Kukanar dialect is spoken over a large area, it is not well understood by speakers of the other dialects, whereas all seem to understand the Nethanar dialect. No one dialect has more prestige than the others.

3 Bilingualism

As a result of language contact, most of the members of the Dhurwa-speaking community know and use one of the following languages: Hindi, Oriya, Bhatri, or Halbi. Bilingualism in Hindi is the result of education and contact with the government. There are only a few Dhurwas who are truly bilingual in Hindi. In the Koraput district in Orissa, Dhurwa people are bilingual in Oriya mainly due to education. Here again very few Dhurwa are truly coordinate speakers of Oriya. The Dhurwa who live in some of the peripheral areas of Bastar no longer speak Dhurwa; they speak only Bhatri and Halbi. Some Dhurwas have shifted to Bhatri as their mother tongue as a result of extended language contact. Halbi is the lingua franca of Bastar district and a second language for most of the Dhurwa people. In the market place Dhurwa people use Halbi to communicate with other language groups, as it is the trade language. In other domains, such as the panchayat, festivals, marriages, death ceremonies, religious activities, and the home domain, the Dhurwa language is widely used. In some cases where a spouse speaks Halbi or Bhatri, the children are passive bilinguals and Dhurwa is the language of choice. In this section we will look at how well Dhurwa-speaking people understand the other languages used in the Dhurwa region. Table 7 shows how similar Dhurwa is to the other languages spoken in Bastar district on the basis of a comparison of a 200-item wordlist.

Table 7. Similarity between Dhurwa and other languages of Bastar district

Hindi Halbi Bhatri Dhurwa 11% 19% 12%

3.1 Bilingualism in Hindi

Hindi, the state language of Madhya Pradesh, belongs to the Indo-Aryan family and is not understood well by the Dhurwa people, with the exception of a handful of literate Dhurwa. Though the village 6 leasders and village police are chosen on the basis of their knowledge of Hindi, even they have difficulty understanding Hindi. The comprehension of Hindi is somewhat better in the southern areas of the Dhurwa region. More than ninety percent of the students drop out of the schools because the medium of instruction is Hindi. When we played tape recorded stories in Hindi for Dhurwa people, they were not able to understand in most villages. The village of Kukanar proved to be an exception, however. Here the boys who listened to the story were able to answer the sixteen questions. These boys are at level three of Hindi-speaking ability. Even educated Dhurwa prefer to communicate with outsiders in Halbi and not in Hindi. In some areas of the Dhurwa-speaking region, people know so little Hindi that they apparently think that the is Hindi.

3.2 Bilingualism in Oriya

Although in the Koraput district of Orissa there are some Dhurwa people who have forgotten Dhurwa in favour of Oriya, the state language is not comprehended by all the Dhurwa people in Orissa. In most areas the Dhurwa people claim to be speakers of Oriya; however, what they call Oriya is in reality a variety of Halbi closely related to the lingua franca of Bastar district.

3.3 Bilingualism in Bhatri

The Dhurwa who live amidst the Bhatri-speaking people have given up their language in favour of Bhatri. Bhatri is also understood a little by the Dhurwa people living in the peripheral area of the Dhurwa region, but it is not comprehended well by the rest.

3.4 Bilingualism in Halbi

As Halbi is the lingua franca of Bastar district, it is a second language of most of the Dhurwa-speaking people. The Dhurwa who live on the northwestern side of the Dhurwa region have given up their language in favour of Halbi. In other areas it is mainly used with outsiders who do not know Dhurwa, and it is not at all understood by children. Mainly the people who have had much contact with outsiders are those who best comprehend Halbi. Some people rarely go to the market place or to other places where they will meet non-Dhurwas because of their lack of fluency in Halbi. For mother tongue Halbi speakers, the variety in which language development work is being done is taken as representative. The Halbi that is spoken by the Dhurwa people as a second language varies widely from that spoken by people who are mother tongue speakers of Halbi. Table 8 shows how similar the Halbi spoken by the Dhurwa people as a second language in various places is to this variety of Halbi, based on the comparison of a 200-item wordlist.

Table 8. Similarity between Halbi dialects

Tiriya Nethanar Maulipadar Dharba Kukanar Halbi 70% 80% 82% 81% 75%

In the Tiriya area, the variety of Halbi used by mother tongue speakers of Dhurwa is mixed with Oriya. In the Nethanar area it is mixed with Bhatri, and in the Kukanar area it is mixed with Hindi. Compared with other dialects, the Halbi that is spoken by mother tongue speakers of Dhurwa in the Dharba area has a closer relationship with the variety of Halbi spoken by mother tongue speakers of Halbi. When intelligibility testing was done, it was found that mother-tongue Halbi is quite different from the Halbi of Halbi-speaking Dhurwas. 7

4 Language use and attitudes

4.1 Concerning the vernacular

In general the Dhurwa people have a positive attitude towards their language. They use it in all domains except with outsiders who do not know the Dhurwa language. Even an outsider who speaks the Dhurwa language is welcomed and accepted by the Dhurwas. And in some population centers, vendors in the market use the Dhurwa language even with these customers. All ceremonies are conducted in the vernacular, with the exception of the phenomenon of spirit possession. (We were told that a person possessed by a spirit will speak Halbi, the lingua franca, for as long as the possession takes place.)

4.2 Concerning Hindi, the state language

Knowing Hindi is considered highly prestigious because Hindi is the medium of instruction in schools. In spite of their interest in learning to read, write, and speak Hindi, the Dhurwa people to a large degree fail in their attempts. They have a positive attitude towards Halbi because they think it is Hindi. As mentioned in section 3.1, people who are bilingual in Hindi are selected as village leaders and for the village police based on their knowledge of Hindi.

4.3 Concerning Halbi, the lingua franca

Halbi is the only language through which the Dhurwa communicate with the other language groups such as Bhatras, Halbas, and Madyas. As it is the lingua franca it is widely used in the market place. In certain areas school teachers use Halbi as the medium of instruction.

4.4 Concerning Bhatri

Except for the Bhatri-speaking Dhurwas no Dhurwas understand Bhatri. In some villages like Koleng, people of other castes who speak Bhatri communicate only in Dhurwa with the Dhurwas.

4.5 Concerning Madia

Most of the Dhurwas are associated with Madias. They have a negative attitude towards the Madia language and they do not speak Madia. However, the Madias learn Dhurwa and communicate with the Dhurwa in the Dhurwa language.

5 Recommendations

As a result of this survey we strongly recommend that a literature development program be done in the Dhurwa language. The comprehension of the Nethanar dialect is widespread and that dialect is also accepted by the people of other dialects. So it seems best to consider the Nethanar dialect as central for language development purposes. There is need of literature in the Oriya script for the benefit of one- third of the Dhurwa people who live in the Koraput district of Orissa. Around ninety percent of the Dhurwa people speak Dhurwa as their mother tongue. The comprehension of other languages is not very high among the Dhurwa population. So it seems essential for them to understand deep concepts in their vernacular, Dhurwa. It also seems profitable to develop literature for the Bhatri-speaking Dhurwas in Bhatri and for the Halbi-speaking Dhurwas in Halbi. Regarding the need for Dhurwa literacy is concerned, there is a definite need in the Orissa area, the Tiriya area, the Nethanar area, and the Dharba area. In the Kukanar area schools are functioning and the literacy rate is comparatively high. 8

6 Methodology

6.1 General

6.1.1 Personal interviews

We interviewed mostly the village leaders about their villages and the adjacent villages. By that we came to know the geographical location of the Dhurwas. We enquired of the housewives about their villages as most of them are from other villages. We enquired of the parents about their daughters’ villages, where they are living after marriage. Later we visited most of these villages and verified the information. In this way we came to know about many Dhurwa villages.

6.1.2 Personal visits

In the beginning of our survey we visited the villages with the help of the Patel of Bade Kavali village, and the youths and local teachers. Wherever we went, we took a wordlist and a text for intelligibility testing. We stayed at least one day in a village. After traveling for seven to fifteen days, we then came back to the base. During our visits, we noted the attitiudes and the views of their language by observing and asking questions. See section 7 for the trip summary.

6.1.3 Wordlist and questionnaire

We had a 200-item wordlist for our survey. A copy of this may be found in the appendix. Mostly we collected the wordlist from the man in whose house we stayed. Mostly we asked the words only in the Dhurwa language. When we asked about the second languages, we asked in Dhurwa only. A copy of the questionnaires used may also be found in Appendix A.

6.2 Recorded text testing

We collected two texts from a native speaker of Hindi from whom we also obtained the comprehension questions. Similarly, we collected texts for Bhatri and Halbi. Regarding Dhurwa, we collected texts wherever we took a wordlist. Then we compared the wordlists. We grouped certain villages together as the wordlists looked more or less the same. Then we chose five different texts from five villages. We selected the good, acceptable, and clearly told stories. We mainly did recorded text testing in Dhurwa- speaking population centers. We did not do recorded text testing where the Dhurwas do not speak Dhurwa. We scored the recorded text test on the basis of how much they understood the stories in Hindi, Bhatri, Halbi and the different dialects of Dhurwa.

6.3 Bilingualism

6.3.1 Hindi and Dhurwa

When we asked people, “Do you know Hindi?”, they replied, “Yes! We know Hindi!” But when we talked with them in Hindi, they said, “We don’t know that Hindi, we speak only our tribal Hindi” (i.e. Halbi). So as far as the tribal people are concerned, Halbi is their Hindi. Most of the Dhurwas are at level zero in Hindi. The village leaders are at level two or three in their speaking ability of Hindi.

6.3.2 Oriya and Dhurwa

When we visited the villages in Orissa, especially near the Ramkeda area, a friend, who is a mother- tongue speaker of Oriya, accompanied us. When he talked with these Dhurwas, they could not 9 understand anything in the Oriya language. They are at level zero in Oriya, but they have a lingua franca which is closely related to Oriya. In Koraguda village, Dhurwas do not speak Dhurwa, nor do they speak Oriya. They speak some other language which they call Oriya, but which was not understood by our friend. He communicated with them in Oriya only with much difficulty. They may be at a level two in Oriya. In Madhya Pradesh a few Dhurwa also claim to speak Oriya, but, in fact, they do not.

6.3.3 Bhatri and Dhurwa

We collected a text in Bhatri from a pure Bhatri-speaking village and we prepared the questions also. During our survey we learned that in some areas the language spoken by the Dhurwa people who are associated with Bhatri-speaking people has transitioned from Dhurwa to Bhatri. We tested the Bhatri text at all the test points. The Dhurwas are at level three in the peripheral areas near Bhatri-speaking people, but are at level two in the Dharba and Nethanar dialect areas. In the Kukanar dialect area, Dhurwas are at level zero.

6.3.4 Halbi and Dhurwa

We collected the wordlist from a language consultant working in the Halbi literature development project and compared it with the Halbi in different Dhurwa areas. We could see some differences, as table 8 shows. In the Nethanar and Tiriya dialect area, the Dhurwa are at level two or three, but children and people who do not relate with people outside their language area, are at level zero. Dhurwas in the Dharba and Kukanar dialect areas are at level three or four in the local variety of Halbi. Though the Dhurwas speak Halbi as a second language, there are a lot of differences when this Halbi is compared with the Halbi of different areas.

6.4 Language use and attitudes

We explored language use patterns by observing the people in different domains, like in the home, at school, in the market, in leaders’ meetings, at shrines and in religious places. The Dhurwa people speak Dhurwa in their home. In some cases the wife is from a non Dhurwa-speaking area. In that situation she is mocked by others because she does not know Dhurwa, but speaks only the lingua franca, Halbi. While the mother speaks Halbi, the children speak Dhurwa exclusively. After a few years, when she is able, she also speaks exclusively in Dhurwa. In the market, Dhurwas use Halbi, the lingua franca, with the traders, but speak with each other in Dhurwa. In some markets the traders have learned Dhurwa and trade in the Dhurwa language. In schools, the teacher may know only Hindi or Halbi, so the students do not understand what the teacher is saying. For this reason schools are not active in many villages. Some teachers have learned some basic Dhurwa words. In the southern areas there are some educated Dhurwas who are working as teachers. In these areas the schools are functioning properly because the teacher is teaching Hindi, but giving explanations in Dhurwa.

7 Trip summary

A total of three trips were made during the sociolinguistic survey. As the Dhurwa regions do not have transportation services, most of the distances were covered by cycles and to some places by walking.

7.1 Trip one

This trip was made mainly to get to know the geographical location of the Dhurwa people. We came across many tough areas where we had to walk or climb mountains. During the first trip we used the village of Bade Kavali as a base and were involved in collecting wordlists and texts. It took a full month 10 to visit all the Dhurwa areas. There are more Dhurwas than we anticipated. This trip was mainly done with the help of available maps and locally available Dhurwa people. Though many areas were unknown to us, we were able to travel continuously for seven to ten days at a time. In some places there were restrictions on visiting the Dhurwas imposed by the forest officials.

7.2 Trip two

This trip was made mainly to collect wordlists and texts. Except for some interior areas and some areas of Orissa, we were able to collect the wordlists and texts. Mr. PKD accompanied us. We took one month to make this trip. During this trip we had Gehumpadar as a base. We were able to study language use and attitudes also.

7.3 Trip three

We made the third trip using Jagdalpur as a base. We visited only the test points and did the intelligibility testing in those areas. We finished the trip within fifteen days. A map of the trip is given in Appendix C.

Appendix A: Questionnaires

A.1 Language use

1. What language do you use in the temple? 2. What language do you use when you buy a stamp? 3. What language do you use at the bazaar? 4. What language do you use when you buy a ticket from the conductor on a bus? 5. In this house, what language do the parents speak to their children? 6. In this house, what language do the children speak to their parents? 7. In this house, what language does a man speak to his wife? 8. In this house, what language does a woman speak to her husband? 9. In this house, what language do the children speak to other children? 10. At school, what language does the teacher speak to the children?

A.2 Community profile

1. How many houses are in this village? 2. What communities live in this village? 3. What languages are spoken around here? 4. Where is the nearest market? 5. Where do people buy vegetables? 6. How do people in this village make a living? 7. Where is the nearest post office? 8. Where is the nearest primary school? 9. Where is the nearest high school? 10. Where do people have to go to catch a bus? How often does a bus pass? 11. Where do people have to go to get water? At what times? 12. Is there electricity? At what times? 13. Do many children from this village go to school? If not, why not? 14. Do many people in this village know Hindi? Halbi? Oriya? Bhatri? 15. How many people know these languages? (all, most, many, some, a few, none) 16. From which villages do women find husbands?

A.3 Preliminary questionnaire

1. Name 2. Age 3. Sex 4. Caste 5. Clan 6. Father’s name 7. His age 8. His caste 9. His clan 10. POB 11. Wife’s name (like father) 12. Mother’s name (like father) 13. Total members of household 14. Period of living 15. Education of all members with age. 16. Details of mother tongue and its usages. 17. Knowledge of other languages and their usages. 18. Do they write in the mother tongue?

11 Appendix B: Wordlist

Dhurwa wordlist

# English Tiriya Nethanar Dharba Kukanar 1 body men men menu men men 2 head t̪ɛl t̪ɛl t̪ɛl t̪ɛlːu ṱɛl 3 face mokom mokom mokom mokom mokom 4 eye bom:a bom:a bom:a bom:a/kʌɳ kʌn 5 nose muan muaɳd muaɳd muaɳd muyaɳd 6 mouth coɳd coɳd coɳd coɳdu coɳdu 7 arm budʒːam bujːom bujːom bujːom jobːa 8 palm poːd̪oːm poːd̪om poːd̪om poːd̪om lʌbːa 9 finger bʌn̪d̪a vʌn̪d̪a vʌn̪d̪a vʌn̪d̪a vʌn̪d̪a 10 belley [sic] poʈːa poʈːa poʈːa poʈːa poʈːa 11 leg kel kel kol kol kelu 12 skin t̪oːl t̪oːl t̪oːl t̪oːl t̪oːl 13 bone bu:la bu:la bu:la bu:log bu:la 14 blood net̪iɾ net̪iɾ net̪iɾ net̪iɾ net̪iɾ 15 bangle cuːɖɩ cuːɖi cuːɖi cuːɖi cuːɖi 16 anklet peɖɩ peɖi peɖi peɖi peɖi 17 ring bʌt̪ːu vʌt̪ːu vʌt̪ vʌt̪ːu vʌt̪ːu 18 footwear pʌnʌy pʌnʌy pʌnʌy pʌnʌy cɛɾp 19 dhoti pʌʈʌy gʌɳda gʌɳda gʌɳda d̪oːt̪i 20 saree pʌʈʌy gʌɳda gʌɳda eadi gʌɳda 21 town geɖa geɖa geɖa -- -- 22 village poluːb poluːb poluːb poluːb poluːb 23 house olek olek olek ole oːle 24 door kapaʈ kapaʈ kʌpaʈ kapaʈ kapaʈ 25 wall bit̪i bit̪i bit̪i bit̪i bit̪i 26 window kiɖ kiɖi kɩɖki kɩdki kɩdki kɩdki 27 broom cepiɖ cepiɖ cepid̪ cepid̪ cepid̪ 28 cow dung cʌɖpi cʌɖpi cʌɖpi gaːbaɾ gaːbaɾ 29 tree mɛɾi mɛɾi mɛɾi mɛɾi mɛɾi 30 leaf ev ev ev ev ev 31 firewood kaɖciɖ kaɽcid̪ kaɽcid̪ kaɽcid̪ kaɽcid̪ 32 sickle cɛʈal ceʈal cɛt̪ːal cɛt̪ːal cɛt̪ːal 33 axe tɛŋgya teŋgya teŋgya teŋgya teŋgya 34 knife kɛɖuːb kɛɖuːb kɛd̪uːb kɛd̪uːb kɛɾuːb 35 rope ʈoɖu ʈoɖu ʈoɖu ʈoɖu ʈoɖu 36 plough nɛŋgil naŋgil naŋgil naŋgil naŋgil 37 bow vɩl vɩl vɩl vɩlːu vɩl 38 arrow ʌmb ʌmb ʌmb ʌmbu ʌmːu 39 sun poːkal poːkal poːkal poːkal poːkal 40 moon nɛliŋ nɛliŋ nɛliŋ nɛliŋ nɛliñ 41 sky bad̪oɾ bad̪oːɾ bad̪oːr bad̪oɾ bad̪oɾ

12 13

Dhurwa wordlist

# English Tiriya Nethanar Dharba Kukanar 42 shadow niɖa niɖa niɖa niɖa niɖa 43 rain vañyi vañgi vañyi vañyi vañji 44 water niɾu niɾ niɾu niɾu niɾ 45 river pɛɾeɖ pɛɾeɖ peɾed̪ peɾed̪ peɾed̪ 46 field baya vaya vaya vaya/kʌmo vaya 47 hill kopːa kopːa kopːa kopːa/keːn̪d̪i kopːa 48 path pav pav pav pav pavu 49 wind vʌlːi vʌlːi vʌlːi vʌlːi vʌlːi 50 fire kɩcːu kɩcːu kɩcːu kɩcːu kɩcːu 51 smoke guːñyikuɖ guːñyikuɖ guːñyikuɖ guːñyi guːñji 52 ash niɖ niɖ nid̪ nid̪ nid̪u 53 mud dʒoːba joːba joːba joːba joːba 54 stone kɛl kɛl kɛlːu kɛlːu kɛlːu 55 dust guɳɖa t̪uri/guɳɖa guɳɖa guɳɖa guɳɖa 56 gold con coːn coːn coːn coːnu 57 brass pɩt̪al pit̪al pit̪al pit̪al pɩt̪al 58 silver ɾuːp ɾuːp ɾuːp can̪t̪i ɾuːp 59 iron lovːa lova lovːa lovːa lovː 60 forest mɛɾam mɛɾam ɾan mɛɾam gupːa 61 plant para para para para para 62 thorn caka caka caka caka koyːa 63 root vaɾ vaɾ vaɾ vaɾ vaɾ 64 flower puːv puːva puːvu puːvu puːv 65 fruit pʌl pʌl pʌl pʌlu pʌlː 66 mango mɛɖi mɛɖi mɛd̪i mɛd̪i mɛd̪u 67 banana uːlubi uːlubi uːlupʌl uːlu uːlu 68 tamarind cupaɾi cupaɾi cupaɾi cupaɾ cupaɾi 69 wheat goŋ goːŋ goːŋ goːŋ goːŋ 70 Ragi ɾaʈa ɾaʈa ɾaʈa ɾaʈa ɾaʈa 71 paddy vɛbɛcːiɖ vɛɾcid vɛɾcid̪ vɛɾcid̪ vɛɾci 72 rice pɛɾuːk pɛɾuːk pɛɾuːk pɛɾk pɛɾuːk 73 cooludrice vey vey vey vey vey 74 potato alu alu alu alu alu 75 brinjal kakaɳɖi kakandi kakaɳɖi kakaɳɖi kakaɳɖi maɸɖu baŋga 76 peanut cɛnay cɛnay cɛnay cɛnav cɛnav 77 chillie miɾi miɾi miɾi miɾi miɾi 78 garlic koɾulːi korulːi ulːi ulːi koɾulːi lʌsuːn 79 onion ulːi ulːi goːn̪d̪ɾi goːn̪d̪ɾɩ goːn̪d̪ɾi ulːi 80 tobacco d̪uŋgya d̪uŋgya d̪uŋgya d̪uŋgya d̪uŋgya 81 oil nɛy nɛy nɛy nɛyu nɛy 82 salt cuppu cup cup cupːu cupːu 14

Dhurwa wordlist

# English Tiriya Nethanar Dharba Kukanar 83 meat cɛp cɛp cɛp cɛp cɛp 84 fish mini mini mini mini mini 85 chicken kor kor kor kor kor 86 egg kɛɾba kɛɾba kɛɾba kɛɾba kɛɾba 87 cow gay gay gay gay gaj 88 bull bʌɖal bʌɖal bʌɖar bʌɖal bʌɖar 89 buffalo cɩr cɩr cɩr cɩru ciru 90 milk pel pel pel pel pelu 91 tail dʒaʈi jaʈi neŋgɖa puɽla puɽla 92 horn koːɖu koːɖu koːɖ koːɖ koːɖu 93 goat meva meva meva meva meja 94 sheep meɳɖa meɳɖa meɳɖa meɳɖa meɳɖa 95 dog nɛt̪ːa nɛt̪ːa nɛt̪ːa nɛt̪ːa nɛt̪ːa 96 mosquito nuɽñyi keɾkoʈːil keɾgoti uɽñyɩl uɽñdʒɩl 97 rat ɛl ɛlːu ɛl ɛlːu ɛlːu 98 ant coɖːa coɖːa cod̪ːa cod̪ːa cod̪ːa 99 spider makda d̪ad̪i makda d̪adi makda d̪ad̪i pɛlaj baɳduɾ bala 100 person mañdʒa mʌñja mañja mʌñja mʌñe 101 man mayid mʌyd̪ mʌyd̪ mʌyd̪ mʌyd̪ 102 woman ayal ayal ayal ayal ayal 103 child pap pap pap pap papu 104 father bual bual bual t̪at̪a t̪at̪a 105 mother iya iya iya ɩya/t̪ʌl iya 106 brother t̪olːeɖ t̪olːeɖ t̪olːed̪ t̪olːed̪ t̪olːed̪ 107 sister calal calal calal calal calal 108 son cɩɳɖu cɩɳɖ cɩn̪d̪ cɩn̪d̪ cɩn̪d̪u 109 daughter mal mal mal mal mal 110 husband mayɖ mayɖ mayd̪ mayd̪ ʌɽed̪ 111 wife ayal ayal ayal ayal ʌɽe 112 shrine guɖːi guɖːi guɖːi guɖːi guɖːi 113 festival tiyaɾ t̪ɩyaɾ t̪iyaɾ t̪ɩyaɾ t̪ɩyaɾ 114 spirit (evil) buːt buːt̪ buːt̪ buːt̪ buːt̪ 115 day pʌkʈa pʌkʈa pʌkʈa pʌkʈa pʌkʈa 116 night cɩt̪ːa cɩt̪ːa cɩt̪ːa cɩt̪ːa cɩt̪ːa 117 morning poːka poːka poːka poːka poːkayi 118 noon ʈɩʈːe d̪ɛlkul ʈɩʈːe d̪ɛlkul ʈɩʈːed̪ɛlkul ʈɩʈːed̪ɛlkul ʈɛlkul poːkal 119 evening aɳɖek aɳɖek aɳɖek aɳɖek aɳɖek 120 yesterday aɾi aɾi aɾi aɾi aɾi 121 to day ɩne ɩne ɩne ɩne ɩneni 122 to morrow t̪olli t̪olːi t̪olːi t̪olːi t̪olːi 123 day after pɩnge pɩnge pɩnge pɩd̪ne pɩd̪ne tomorrow 124 week aʈ d̪ina ad d̪ina aʈ d̪ina aʈ d̪in aɖ d̪ina 15

Dhurwa wordlist

# English Tiriya Nethanar Dharba Kukanar 125 month nɛlɩŋ nɛliŋ nɛlɩŋ nɛlɩŋ baːɾ nɛliñ 126 year bɛɾcikaɾ vɛɾcɩkaɾ vɛɾcɩkaɾ bɛɾcikaɾ bɛɾcikaɾ 127 cold season pʌñyɩl pʌñyɩl pʌñyɩl pʌñyil pʌñdʒɩl 128 warm season dʒeʈa jeta jeta jeta dʒeʈa/nɛn̪d̪ 129 rainy season boɾca boɾca bʌɾca bʌɾca vañdʒi 130 good ɾecːa ɾecːa ɾecːa nɩːa ʌcːal 131 bad kɩyal kɩyal kɩyal ʌɽɾa kaɾeŋ 132 wet poːt̪i poːd̪uɾano poːd̪uɾano poːyʌt̪ʌ poːyʌt̪a 133 dry veʈu veʈɾano vet̪ʌɾaɾo vet̪ʌt̪ʌ elat̪ːʌ 134 long laʈi laʈi laʈi laʈi laʈi 135 short moɳɖi moɳɖi moɳɖi moɳɖi moɳɖi 136 hot t̪ʌɖu t̪ʌɖu t̪ʌɽmo t̪ʌɖiyʌ t̪ʌɖiyʌ 137 cold elu elu ed̪ano ɛliyʌ ɛlʌt̪ːʌ 138 right vela vela vela t̪int̪a kɛy t̪ɩnt̪akɛy 139 left ɖɛbɾa ɖɛbɾa ɖɛbɾi ɾʌdʌ kɛy ɖɛbɾa 140 near lɛgːe lɛgːe lɛgːe lɛgːʌ ɭʌkːnɖi 141 far koːmaɖ koːmaɖ koːmaɖ lapi komaɖ 142 big bɛɖt̪o bɛɽt̪o bɛɽt̪ut̪ bɛɾt̪o bɛɾt̪o 143 small pɩʈit̪ pɩʈit̪o pɩʈit̪ʌ pɩʈit̪ pɩʈɩt̪ʌ 144 above puɖi poɖi pod̪i pod̪I pod̪i 145 below kɩɖi kɩɖi kɩɖi kɩdi kiɖi 146 white bɩlːot̪ vɩl vɩl vɩlːʌt̪ vɩliyat̪ 147 black mañdʒot̪ mañji koyli koyle cuːɖʌt̪ʌ 148 red nɛt̪ ɾaʈ nɛt̪ɽaʈ ɾʌgrʌgaʈ sɛŋg lal 149 green pʌyo pʌyo -- nili nili 150 blue nili nili nili nili nili 151 one okːut̪ okːut̪ okːut̪ okːut̪ okːut̪ 152 two ɩɾɛɖuk ɩɾɖuːk ɩɾɖuːk uɾɖuːk uɾɖuːk 153 three muɳɖuk muːnɖuːk muːn̪d̪uːk muːn̪d̪uːk mun̪d̪uːk 154 four naluk naluk naluk naluːk naluːk 155 five ceɳɖuk ceɳɖuːk cen̪d̪uːk cen̪d̪uːk cen̪d̪uːk 156 six coy koʈa coy koʈa cokoʈa coy ʈan coy 157 seven cat̪ koʈa cat̪ koʈa cat̪ koʈa cat̪ ʈan cat̪ 158 eight aʈ koʈa aʈ koʈa aʈ koʈa aʈ ʈan aʈ 159 nine nov koʈa no koʈa nov koʈa noː ʈan nov 160 ten d̪ec koʈa d̪ec koʈa d̪ʌc koʈa d̪ʌs ʈan d̪ec 161 twenty koɖek koɖek koɖek hie koɖek 162 half ad̪a ad̪a ad̪a -- -- 163 hundred ceɳɖ koːl ceɳɖ koːdek cen̪d̪ koːdu cʌv ceɳɖu koːl 164 yes oː oː oː oː oː 165 no cɩlːa cɩlːa cɩlːa/ɛra cɩlːa/ɛɾa cɩlːegaʈ 166 same okt̪i okt̪i okt̪i okt̪i okt̪i 167 different binɛy avuɾ ɛleg ɛleg ɛlge ɛlge bɩlag bɩlag 16

Dhurwa wordlist

# English Tiriya Nethanar Dharba Kukanar 168 clay t̪uːk t̪uːk t̪uːk t̪uːk t̪uːk 169 soil mañ maŋ maŋ mʌŋːu kuy mʌn 170 seed bɩt̪ːiɖ vɩt̪ːid vɩt̪ːiɖ vɩt̪ːiɖ vɩt̪ːiɖ 171 bark pocːiɖ bʌŋdaŋ/t̪ʌl bʌŋɖaŋ t̪oːlu t̪oːl 172 star cukːa cukːa cukːa cukːa cukːa 173 branch cɛlːa cɛlːa cɛla jɛlːa jɛlːa 174 dew mʌn mʌn men̪d̪iɾ mʌɳ mʌñdʒu 175 lightning ɖabumo mɩdu jaguɾano vɩlid̪ maɾupkumo 176 thunder kuɖɾiyano guduɾu guɖiemo guduɾu uɖen puyɩl 177 hole palka bot̪ːa bot̪ːa bot̪ːa bot̪ːa 178 pond muːɳɖa muːɳɖa muːɳɖa muɳɖa muɳɖa 179 hair t̪ɛlt̪a t̪ɛlt̪a t̪ɛlt̪a kuɩl/ vɛɳɖɾel vɛɳɖɾel kadrel 180 forehead kʌpaɾ kʌpaɾ kʌpaɾ mɛd̪eɾ mɛd̪ek 181 tooth pɛl pɛl pɛl pɛlːu pɛl 182 car kekoːl kekoːl kekoːl kekoːl kekoːl 183 boy cepal cepal padiɾ pʌdiɾ pʌcːu 184 girl mal mal mal mal malu 185 beard mecel gʌdːom gʌdːom gʌdːom gʌdːal 186 mustache mecel gʌdːom mec gʌdːom gʌdːom gʌdːal 187 pig pɛɳɖ pɛɳɖu pɛn̪d̪ pɛn̪d̪u pɛn̪d̪u 188 feather ken̪d̪ɩɖ ken̪d̪ɩd ken̪d̪ɩd ven̪d̪ɾel kaʈuk 189 earth nɛn̪d̪ɩl nen̪d̪ɩl/neli nen̪d̪ɩl nen̪d̪ɩl nɛn̪d̪ɩl 190 butterfly kokːal kokːal pɩlpili gogːa vala gogːa vala 191 tiger ɖuɾki ɖuɾki ɖuːv ɖuːvu ɖuːv 192 bear ɩli ɩli ɩli ɩli ɩli 193 monkey kovːa kovːa kovːa kovːa kovːa 194 snake bam bamb bamb bamb bamb 195 worm puɖut puɖut̪ puɖuːt̪ puɖuːt̪ puɖut̪ 196 mat cʌʈːa cʌʈːa cʌʈːa cʌʈːa cʌʈːa 197 bat vaguːɾ vaguːɾ vaguːɾ vaguːɾ vaguːɾ 198 bird t̪it̪a t̪it̪a t̪it̪a t̪it̪a t̪it̪a 199 umbrella kɛɾidʒ kɛɾid kɛɾid kɛɾid kɛɾidʒ 200 literate paykel poral poral poɾal poɾel Appendix C: Maps

Map 1. Distribution of tribals in Bastar

Source: 1986. Map hand drawn by the authors.

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Map 2. Sociolinguistic survey among Dhurwas: Trip map

Source: 1986. Map hand drawn by the authors. References

Burrow, Thomas, and Sudhibushan Bhattacharya. 1953. The Parji Language: A Dravidian language of Bastar. Hertford: Printed and published on behalf of the Administrators of the Max Muller Memorial Fund, by Stephen Austin. Thusu, Kidar Nath. 1968. The Dhurwa of Bastar. Anthropological Survey of No. 16. Calcutta: Anthropological Survey of India.

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