A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Korku [Kfq] Language Area

Digital Resources Journal of Language Survey Report 2021-040

A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Korku [kfq] Language Area

James Stahl A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Korku [kfq] Language Area

James Stahl

Researchers

Noel Kotian, Yashoda Kotian, Harold Waghela, Sheela Waghela, Raja Mohan Doss, Jonathan Chavan, J. Ganespandy, Prabakar, Ramouya, David Doss, Pravin, Rambao, Calvin Rensch, Carolyn Rensch, Frank Blair, Charles Meeker

SIL International® 2021 Journal of Language Survey Report 2021-040

 2021 SIL International®

ISSN: 2766-9327

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Managing Editor Eric Kindberg

Copy Editor Eleanor J. McAlpine

Compositor Bonnie Waswick Abstract

(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: Background information 2 Survey goals and summary of the findings 2.1 Goals of the survey 2.2 Summary of findings 2.2.1 Introduction 2.2.2 Dialect intelligibility testing 2.2.3 Bilingualism 2.2.4 Language attitudes 2.2.5 Language use 3 Dialect area studies 3.1 Dialect intelligibility testing 3.1.1 Methodology 3.1.2 Dialect intelligibility scores 3.2 Wordlists 3.3 Conclusion 4 Bilingualism 4.1 Methodology 4.2 Results 4.2.1 Korku 4.2.2 Gowlan 5 Language attitudes 5.1 Methodology 5.2 Results 5.2.1 Korku 5.2.2 Gowlan 6 Language use 6.1 Methodology 6.2 Results 6.2.1 Korku 6.2.2 Gowlan 7 Recommendations 7.1 Language development 7.2 Further survey 7.2.1 Korku 7.2.2 Nihali 7.2.3 Gowlan 7.2.4 Gowli 7.2.5 Bhalay 7.2.6 Lohari 7.2.7 Gondi 7.3 General recommendations 7.4 Conclusion Appendix A: Intelligibility Test Scores Appendix B: Bilingualism Test Scores Appendix C: Bilingualism Self-Assessment Appendix D: Language Use/Language Attitude Appendix E: Korku Survey Travelogue Appendix F: Wordlists Appendix G: Bibliography of Alternative Sources References

iv 1 Introduction: Background information

The Korku people live in villages primarily in hilly tracts but also in the plains of northern Maharashtra and southern Madhya Pradesh. They rarely occupy an entire village but usually live in the same villages as other ethnic or caste groups, such as Gowlis, Gowlans, Bhalays, Gonds, Nihals, and Bhils. Korku [kfq] is a Munda [unx] language, unrelated to the Indo-Aryan or Dravidian languages of their neighbors or to Hindi [hin] and Marathi [mar], the regional languages of the area. There are three principal dialects of the Korku language: Ruma, Bondoy, and Bouriya. The Linguistic Survey of India (Grierson 1906) reports that a fourth, Mawasi, is spoken in Chhindwara district. One Mawasi wordlist was collected from Amdhana, Betul district, Madhya Pradesh. Unfortunately, we have no recorded text from that area. We have not been able to locate a significant group of speakers of Mawasi Korku. Parmar in Folktales of Pradesh (1972:83) reports another dialect, Korku Parsi. According to one Korku speaker from Khanapur, Korku Parsi is spoken in Bori, Betul district. However, our studies have not identified a separate dialect in that area which might be called Korku Parsi, unless it is an alternate name for a dialect already identified by another name. Ruma Korkus are found primarily in Amravati district, Maharashtra and in the southern portion of Betul district in Madhya Pradesh. Ruma Korkus are also found in Buldana and Akola districts of Maharashtra and in East Nimar district of Madhya Pradesh. Bouriya Korkus are found north of Betul city and in the Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh. Bondoy Korkus are found living around the city of Betul. The Korkus, as an entire group, number 67,742 in Maharashtra and 182,893 in Madhya Pradesh according to the 1971 Government of India census (Office of the Registrar General 1972). The numbers from the Classified State Bibliography of Linguistic Research on Indian Languages (Geetha 1983), are higher than the census tables, although the source of the tables is not stated. The tables show 221,960 in Madhya Pradesh and 85,312 in Maharashtra (Geetha 1983:59). Another language of mixed or unknown origin (influenced by the Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, and Munda families) is Nihali [nll]. In a comparison of 210 words, only 25 percent were found to have any similarity to any of the words in the Korku wordlists. Nihals live in the districts of Buldana, Akola, East Nimar, and Amravati in separate Nihali-speaking villages and also within predominantly Korku villages. According to Geetha (1983), they number 1,167 in India, of which 478 live in Madhya Pradesh and 689 live in Maharashtra. The Gowlis and Gowlans are two other groups living in the area. They speak languages belonging to the Indo-Aryan language family. Both groups report themselves as belonging to the Gowli caste. Both are found in the Amravati district, Maharashtra. Gowlans are also found as far north as Hoshangabad district, Madhya Pradesh and are reported to live as far south as northern Karnataka (personal communication from Trevor Locke). A Gowli speaker, who formerly lived in Madhya Pradesh but who has now immigrated to Maharashtra, reports that there is some difference in the dialects spoken in those two states. Also living in the Amravati district are members of the Bhalay and Lohari castes. Bhalays comprise up to 40 percent of the population of some villages in the district, but we have no evidence of a village composed entirely of Bhalay people. Loharis are a very small minority in the area. The latest edition of Ethnologue (Grimes 1984:390) reports that Gade Lohars are a nomadic blacksmith group living all over northwest and north central India. This sociolinguistic survey of the Korku language area was conducted by a team led by Noel Kotian. Noel, Yashoda Kotian, J. Ganespandy, Harold Waghela, Sheela Waghela, Jonathan Chavan, and Raja Mohan Doss collected a large amount of the data. This team also gave hospitality, provided information concerning Korku culture and language, and introduced the technical team of Frank Blair, Charlie Meeker, Jim Stahl, Calvin Rensch, and Carolyn Rensch to the Korku communities. Community leader Ramouya, David Doss, Mr. Pravin, Mr. Rambao, and community leader Prabakar also introduced the technical team to the Korku communities, gave hospitality, and provided information concerning Korku language and culture. The field work of the survey was started December 1984 to February 1985, continued from October to December 1985, and was completed in April 1986.

1 2

2 Survey goals and summary of the findings

2.1 Goals of the survey

1. To discover the location and population of communities in northern Maharashtra and south-central Madhya Pradesh that use Korku dialects as the traditional mother tongue. 2. To investigate which other languages are found within the Amravati district of Maharashtra. 3. To measure the degree of linguistic similarity and mutual intelligibility among the Korku dialects used in the various communities. 4. To investigate the extent to which speakers of Korku, Gowlan, and Gowli are bilingual in Marathi and Hindi (the regional languages). 5. To investigate language use and language attitudes in the Korku, Gowlan, and Gowli communities. Particular attention has been paid to determine the language used in the home and in traditional activities and attitudes toward literature in the regional languages and the local languages.

2.2 Summary of findings

2.2.1 Introduction

The survey was conducted in Amravati, Akola, and Buldana districts of (northern) Maharashtra, and Betul, East Nimar, Hoshangabad, Chhindwara, and Dewas districts of Madhya Pradesh, all areas where Korkus live. The survey has confirmed the need for language and literature development in Korku. Possibly a second literature development project is needed for Gowlan speakers. Further testing is needed to verify that need.

2.2.2 Dialect intelligibility testing

The extent to which speakers of various Korku dialects understand one another was investigated by means of recorded text tests. The scores on the tests for the areas visited are high, showing a rather homogeneous language area. Khanapur is in East Nimar district, Madhya Pradesh. Khamalpur is in Betul district, Madhya Pradesh. Lahi is in Hoshangabad district, Madhya Pradesh. And Dharni and Chikli are in Amravati district, Maharashtra. Table 1 shows the intelligibility test scores.

Table 1. Scores of Korku dialect intelligibility tests

In the testing in Khamalpur, only five people participated due to unavoidable circumstances, so not much confidence can be placed in those scores.1 At all the other test points at least ten subjects

1 Perhaps if the Khamalpur Korkus had heard a text of their own language before being tested on the other dialects (and if five more speakers had been tested on the other dialects), the dialect intelligibility testing scores of these five people might have been higher.

3 participated in the testing. The scores for Khamalpur Bondoy indicate that Bondoy speakers understand Bouriya Korku better than Ruma Korku. We have as yet no data showing how well Bouriya and Ruma speakers understand Bondoy Korku. According to the scores of the dialect intelligibility tests, it seems that the Bouriya dialect is better understood than the Ruma dialect. Certainly the Khamalpur Bondoy speakers understand Lahi Bouriya (88%) better than they do Chikli Ruma (82%). Lahi Bouriya speakers scored only 87% on Khanapur Ruma as compared with 95% scored by the Ruma speakers of Dharni (only about 15 kilometers away from Khanapur) on Lahi Bouriya.2 All things considered, Lahi Bouriya seems to be the most widely understood Korku dialect. Nevertheless, Khanapur seems to be a better understood form of Ruma than Chikli. So, if Khamalpur Bondoy speakers, when tested, prove to understand Khanapur Ruma well, that may indicate that Khanapur Ruma—as well as Lahi Bouriya—would be suitable as a central dialect for producing literature. (See Appendix A.)

2.2.3 Bilingualism

In the Amravati district, the survey investigated the extent to which Korkus understand both Marathi and Hindi since both languages are used there as major languages. In Madhya Pradesh, we tested Korkus only on their understanding of Hindi. Before the bilingualism testing was started, a profile of the community was developed by administering a preliminary questionnaire to as large a segment of the community as possible. It asked for demographic, educational, and kinship information. From this information, the proportion of the population in the various social categories was calculated, and people were drawn from these categories to be tested. We used recorded narrative text tests and questionnaires to investigate bilingualism. The texts were structured in the same way as the dialect intelligibility testing texts. However, we administered the tests to a larger part of the population since it is assumed that the level of bilingualism proficiency varies more throughout the population than does the degree of comprehension of a related language. The bilingualism questionnaire asked the participant what activities he can carry out in the regional language. We tried to investigate whether or not the participant could use a second language at abstract levels and not only at narrative levels of language complexity. As a result of the bilingualism testing, we found that Korkus do not understand either of the regional languages well enough for them to use literature in those languages. The majority could not adequately use a second language even at the narrative level. They scored poorly on the recorded text tests. For example, the Korkus in Chikli scored 64 percent on the average when tested on their comprehension of Hindi. The scores ranged from 20 to 100 percent. In Dharni, the average was 67 percent. The scores ranged from 20 to 90 percent. In Semadoh, the average was 59 percent. The scores ranged from 10 to 100 percent. In Khanapur, the average was 72 percent. The scores ranged from 20 to 100 percent. In Lahi the average was 55 percent. The scores ranged from 20 to 80 percent. Those Korkus who have passed the fourth standard might be able to use literature in Hindi due to their educational experience. However, this group represents only 15.5 percent of the population surveyed. Korkus were also tested on Marathi in Dharni and in Semadoh. In Dharni, eleven subjects averaged 75 percent with a range of 60 to 80 percent. There were at least seven others who took the Hindi test who could not or would not take the Marathi test because they said that they did not know Marathi. If they were included, the average might be 46 percent, if all scored 0 percent. In Semadoh, Korkus averaged 70 percent with a range of 60 to 80 percent. Here also, the majority (twelve people out of seventeen) claimed not to know Marathi and could not or would not finish the test. The Gowlans in Chikli scored only slightly higher than the Korkus on the Hindi recorded text test. They averaged 70 percent as a group. The scores ranged from 40 to 100 percent. Among the Gowlans also it was those who have had at least a fourth standard education who averaged over 80 percent on the

2 However, one subject in Lahi had a score of 40 percent, which was 40 percent lower than any other score on the Khanapur test, in spite of the fact that he scored 90 percent on the test from his own dialect. If that score were not counted, the average would rise to 92 percent. In that case, Lahi speakers would seem to understand Khanapur Ruma almost as well as Dharni speakers understand Lahi.

Hindi narrative text test. It does not appear that the majority of Gowlan speakers can understand Hindi sufficiently to use literature solely in Hindi. A self-assessment questionnaire was used to learn how the participants rate their own bilingual ability with the regional languages. Some of the ratings correspond closely to the scores on the narrative text test, but many of the self-ratings are higher than the scores on the narrative text test. In other words, some respondents rated their ability higher than the level of ability suggested by their performance on the recorded text test. (See Appendices B and C.)

2.2.4 Language attitudes

To test for respondent attitudes toward the languages used in their community, we used a set of seven questions suited to the situation in which the Korkus and Gowlans live. The questions were asked between the sections of bilingualism tests. Questions asked were as the following: “Is Korku/Gowlan as pure/good a language as Hindi/Marathi?” and “Which language will you teach to your children?” The questions were designed to reveal the attitudes of the participants toward the regional languages as well as their own language. (See Appendix D.) We found that Korkus have a mildly positive, to very positive, attitude toward their mother tongue, which means that they intend to continue speaking Korku in the future and think of Korku as the dearest language to them. Attitudes range from neutral to mildly positive toward using Hindi, which means that they see Hindi as being important for communicating to non-Korkus they come into contact with. Attitudes toward Marathi vary from mildly negative to neutral, meaning that they do not attach much importance to learning Marathi. Gowlans demonstrate a very positive attitude toward speaking Gowlan. It is the language that is dearest to them. Hindi is the second language of importance. Most people (69 percent) wanted their children to learn Hindi. Only 28 percent wanted their children to learn to speak Marathi. Eighty-nine percent wanted their children to learn to speak Gowlan. Gowlans have a mildly positive to very positive attitude toward speaking Hindi. They see Marathi as being of minor importance, although 39 percent said they would like to know Marathi better.

2.2.5 Language use

Gowlans use their language in the home and in the village, but usually only with other Gowlans. Hindi is spoken very infrequently in the home, although Hindi is the language used most often in the marketplace. Only 14 percent said they speak Gowlan in the marketplace but in each case they also use Hindi. Ninety-seven percent said they use Hindi there. Hindi is also the language of wider communication. Ninety-four percent use Hindi with Korkus. Korkus use their mother tongue in the home and in the marketplace according to the information collected in Chikli. It is interesting to note that, in Chikli, 73 percent use Korku in the marketplace, but usually just with other Korkus. Hindi is also used in the marketplace by 98 percent of the participants. So, 71 percent use both languages in the marketplace, and 27 percent use only Hindi there. In Dewas and western Hoshangabad, we found the Korkus using Hindi in the home and marketplace. They claimed not to use Korku any longer. In the Akola and Buldana districts of Maharashtra, Marathi is the second language of Korku communities. In Khamalpur, Betul district, we found Korkus living in predominantly Gondi areas, using both Gondi and Hindi as the “second” languages. We do not know in which domains they use Gondi (except that they sing only in Gondi and not in Korku). In conclusion, we believe that, in spite of dialect differences, Korku is a single language and that, according to the population samples which have been tested, the majority of Korku speakers are not sufficiently fluent in the second languages to use the existing literature in those languages. They have very positive attitudes toward using their own language and feel it to be as good as the regional languages. Korku is spoken extensively at home and in the marketplace. Neither do the Gowlans demonstrate a high level of bilingualism with the regional languages, at least in the Chikli area. They speak Gowlan extensively in the home but use Hindi as a means of inter-caste communication. Gowlan is the language dearest to them. (See Appendix D.)

3 Dialect area studies

3.1 Dialect intelligibility testing

3.1.1 Methodology

Dialect intelligibility testing was done in Betul, Hoshangabad, and East Nimar districts of Madhya Pradesh and in the Amravati district of Maharashtra. The testing method largely followed the techniques described in Casad’s Dialect Intelligibility Testing (1974). A nonfolkloric narrative, not widely known in the community and lasting two to four minutes, was recorded by a native speaker of that community. The text was recorded on a master text tape. It was then transcribed and translated into English and Hindi. Next, between twelve and twenty content questions were formulated by the survey technician, asking for a variety of simple answers found in the text. These were transcribed and then recorded by another native speaker onto the master question tape. These questions were reviewed by other native speakers to be sure they were valid and clear. Then parts of the story which included the answers to the questions were dubbed onto the third tape, leaving a pause between each pair of answers. Then a test tape was prepared. The entire text was dubbed onto the test tape. This was followed by the first section of the text, then the first question, then the remaining sections of the text followed by their corresponding questions. This test tape was played for ten people native to that place. This is called the hometown test. This was done to be sure that the questions elicit the proper answers if there is no problem of dialect comprehension. Ideally, each hometown participant should answer all questions correctly on the hometown test. Those questions that were consistently answered incorrectly were removed from the test, leaving at least ten usable questions for further testing. At subsequent test points, the questions from all reference points to be used in the testing were translated into the local dialect. Thus, the subjects from each test point should understand the questions without difficulty. In this way, it is just the understanding of the recorded answer that is tested.

3.1.2 Dialect intelligibility scores

The results of testing among Korku subjects found in table 1 are reproduced below for convenience.

Table 1. Testing reference points of Korku subjects

Four analytical situations can be recognized by looking at the average score and the standard deviation. If the average is high, above 80 percent and the standard deviation is low, under ten, then we can say the story on the test tape is fairly easily understood in that area. There is not much difference in each individual’s score If the average is low, below a threshold of 70 percent and the standard deviation is also low, then it means that almost no one understood the story on the test tape. Anytime the standard

6 deviation is high, no matter whether the average score is high or low, then we know that people’s understanding of the story on the test tape varied widely from person to person. This is often the case when some people in a community have learned to speak another language, but others have not. This kind of understanding is different from that more uniform understanding which results from two languages being inherently similar. Table 2 illustrates these situations:

Table 2. Four analytical situations involving standard deviation

The standard deviation could not be computed for some tests, because some of the relevant data, once gathered, got lost in the post. The standard deviations for the tests for which necessary data are available are given below in table 3. For each test, the standard deviation is followed by the number of subjects from that test point, e.g., 6.6 (sd)/N10 (number of people tested).

Table 3. Standard deviations of dialect intelligibility testing scores and number of individuals tested (N)

From these results (in tables 1 and 3), we can see that Korku is a rather homogeneous language. The dialect variety does not seriously inhibit comprehension. The picture would be clearer if we knew (a) how well speakers of other dialects understand the Bondoy dialect and (b) how well Mawasi speakers—if they exist in significant numbers—understand and are understood by other dialects. We did not get a text in Khamalpur Bondoy until a year after we had tested Khamalpur speakers on Chikli Ruma and Lahi Bouriya Korku, so a Bondoy test was not available for most of the period of data gathering. Neither did we get a text from the Mawasi area of the Chhindwara district. In the former case, the people spoke their mother tongue with us but were not willing to fully participate in the testing. In the latter case, they said that they speak only Hindi, and that was verified by Gonds who live in their area. (See Appendix A.)

3.2 Wordlists

We collected wordlists from almost every language group found in the Amravati district. Korku wordlists were collected from every district that was visited except Chhindwara and Dewas districts in Madhya Pradesh. Each wordlist was elicited using a standard list of 210 items in English translated into Hindi. (See Appendix F.) It is readily observed that the wordlists differ more widely than the results of the dialect intelligibility testing would suggest. In other words, the dialect intelligibility testing shows a closer relationship than the wordlists indicate. Our practice was to collect a wordlist from two people in the same place in order to cross-check the data. For various reasons, not all the wordlists are completely comparable. For example, three slightly different master wordlists were used over the seventeen-month period. So, in the comparisons only words that are common to all three master wordlists were used. Furthermore, the wordlists were recorded by five people using various systems of transcription. In the comparison process, we looked for pairs of similar sounding words. The method for determining similarity is as follows: If half the phones are identical and the other half differ by an average of one feature each, those words are considered similar. If the average difference between non- identical phones is more than one feature, the words are not considered similar. We have found some consistent lexical differences in our comparison of Korku wordlists. These lexical differences were brought to our attention by one of the language assistants from Bhili village, Akola district, Maharashtra. He knew just the geographical locations where these words were used. For example, in Buldana and East Nimar districts west of Amravati district words glossed “body” and “blood” are jiu and maion while in Amravati district the words are kombor and pacana. The Korkus living in the Amravati district appear to have fewer borrowings from the regional languages than those living in the Bouriya areas of Madhya Pradesh. This is especially evident in the numeral systems. From “seven” to “ten” and “twenty”, only the Ruma dialect (Khanapur, E. Nimar district) uses the Korku numerals. The percentages of similar pairs in the Korku wordlists are found below in table 4.

Table 4. Wordlist percentages

NOTE: The asterisks (*) indicate that a comparison is not available

These percentages were calculated by dividing the number of pairs of similar words by the total number of pairs compared. The number of pairs compared is not always the same, but always more than 140 comparisons were made between any two wordlists.

The wordlist from Amdhana, Betul district, Madhya Pradesh has low percentages of similar words when compared with all other wordlists except Lahi Bouriya and Khamalpur Bondoy. The language assistants called themselves Mawasi Thakur. The lowest percentage is between Amdhana Mawasi and Khanapur Ruma (58%), which suggests poor understanding between these two dialects. From Betul district, we have wordlists from three different dialects, Amdhana Mawasi, Bagdara Ruma, and Khamalpur Bondoy. The percentages do correspond to the traditionally named dialect areas. Those wordlists from the same dialect compare with a high score. According to these scores, it seems that Khamalpur Bondoy is closer to Lahi Bouriya (76%) than to Amdhana Mawasi (75%) and Khanapur Ruma (67%). Khanapur Ruma has the highest percentage of similar words among the Ruma wordlists. Amdhana Mawasi seems to be more lexically distinct than the others. Amdhana Mawasi averages 68 percent similarity with all other lists, Khanapur Ruma averages 72 percent, and Lahi Bouriya averages 76 percent. Nihali has less than 25 percent similar vocabulary when compared with any of the Korku wordlists. It has some Dravidian-based words (“two, three, four” in Nihali are ira, moʈo, nalko and in Gondi they are run, munth, nulu) and some Indo Aryan-based words (“five” to “ten” are pas, sa, saʈo, aʈo, nao, deco).

3.3 Conclusion

In conclusion, combining data from the wordlist similarity percentages and the dialect intelligibility testing averages, it appears that Lahi Bouriya is slightly more widely understood than Khanapur or Chikli Ruma Korku. Lahi averages 76 percent similarity with all other wordlists, while Khanapur averages 72 percent. Also Lahi Bouriya Korku was well understood by the other dialect groups (especially Khamalpur Bondoy in intelligibility testing). It appears that Bouriya would be an appropriate dialect to serve as the standard as the Korku language is being developed as a written language.

4 Bilingualism

4.1 Methodology

Bilingualism testing was carried out on a large scale in Chikli village and in surrounding hamlets. Less intensive bilingualism testing was done in villages near Dharni, and in Semadoh (both in the Amravati district). In Maharashtra, Korkus were tested to determine their comprehension of Hindi and Marathi, while Gowlans were tested to determine their comprehension only of Hindi. Gowlans live in an area of Maharashtra where Hindi is the regional language; Marathi is used only with government workers and teachers. In Madhya Pradesh, only Hindi was used in Korku bilingualism testing. The widespread testing procedures centered mainly on recorded text tests. The Hindi text about a father and son who had a bad wheat harvest and went to steal the grains of their neighbor’s good harvest was recorded in Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh. The speaker who recorded the text broadcasts in Hindi across the country and is considered to speak a widely understood variety of Hindi. The clarity of the story was validated in Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh and in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, with mother-tongue Hindi speakers. Three of the questions originally formulated were eliminated after preliminary testing because they consistently produced incorrect answers from mother-tongue Hindi speakers. This yielded ten questions for use in bilingualism testing. The Marathi text about a scooter accident was recorded by a mother-tongue speaker of Marathi in Nasik, Maharashtra. The suitability of this text was validated in Parathwada and Semadoh, Amaravati district, Maharashtra, with ten mother-tongue speakers of Marathi. Three questions were eliminated from this test also because of consistently incorrect answers, thus yielding a total of ten questions for use in bilingualism testing. In Chikli, where bilingualism testing on a large scale was carried out, a village profile was constructed from interviews with village leaders. In addition, each household of the community was interviewed informally using questions from a social-demographic questionnaire. This information helped us to develop a social profile of that community. From that profile we were able to identify

9 significant sub-groups and their size within the community. We identified the following potentially significant factors: mother tongue, age, education, sex, birthplace, parents’ birthplace, other places of residence, and religion. Samples could be old men with no education, young women with education, young men with education who have lived in the city for schooling, etc. These factors were then studied to determine which of them significantly influence bilingual ability in the regional language. A large number of participants is needed for bilingualism testing to give a better idea of which factors are most influential in determining an individual’s degree of fluency in the regional languages. Unlike inherent intelligibility of related languages, comprehension of a second language is an acquired skill and is not uniform in the community. In addition to the recorded text test used widely in the less intensive testing, a self-assessment questionnaire was used in Chikli. This questionnaire is designed to measure active bilingualism, i.e., how well the subject can speak the regional language. This instrument was in an experimental stage, not having been administered in this form previously. The test is based on the assumption that people using a second language have the ability to assess their own degree of fluency, from almost no fluency to fluency equivalent to that of an educated mother-tongue speaker. We used questions such as “If a doctor gives you medicine, is it easy to understand his directions?” If the subject answers “yes” to this and other questions on the same level of difficulty, then that person exhibits a level of fluency above passive understanding of a simple narrative. The questions were arranged according to a scale of presumed increasing difficulty. Thus, the subject was also asked more difficult questions such as, “Suppose the patel does not know Hindi, and the tehsildar comes, can you translate for them?” Assuming that the conversation includes complicated material to translate, being confident that one is able to function in such a situation requires a high degree of fluency in the regional language. Although the test is still somewhat experimental, it does offer some promise in investigating bilingualism. (See Appendx C.)

4.2 Results

4.2.1 Korku

The Korkus averaged 64 percent on the Hindi recorded text test in Chikli where the most bilingualism testing was done. The standard deviation was 21, showing a wide spread in the individual scores. Those who scored high were males under the age of thirty who had passed the fourth standard education. Other factors that seemed to influence a high degree of fluency were (a) working for the government, and (b) living near large towns where the regional languages are widely spoken. Other Korku test points did not show a significantly greater understanding of Hindi than did Chikli. (See Appendx B.) The results of Hindi bilingualism testing among Korkus are listed in table 5. The participants are grouped according to age and education. For those participants with zero to three years of schooling (“uneducated”), there are three age groupings: below thirty, thirty-one to forty-five years of age and above forty-five. For those participants with four or more years of school (“educated”), there are two age groups: below thirty, and between thirty-one and forty-five years of age. The groups have also been divided by sex as “M” for male and “F” for female. The average of the test scores for each group is listed first. This is followed by the standard deviation of those scores, and finally the number (N) of participants in each group.

Table 5. Hindi narrative bilingualism test results—Korku

NOTE: “+4” refers to four or more years of schooling.

Age seems to have a greater influence on bilingualism between the averages for the uneducated young men and the uneducated middle-aged men. Otherwise, the averages for all other groups decrease as age increases. These results demonstrate the large influence that education plays on the individual’s degree of bilingualism. Those participants who had completed a fourth standard education had significantly higher scores on the Hindi narrative text tests. Only in Chikli and (to a lesser extent) in Dharni do we have a large sample of the sex, education, and age groups of the general population. In Chikli, no women participants had any education, except for one woman with one year of school. They had the lowest scores of the entire group (40% and 50%). In Khanapur, just 30 kilometers from Chikli, we have a good sample of educated young women. They scored 80 percent on the Hindi text test. Education makes quite a difference in their scores as compared to the uneducated women groups of Chikli. But note that it is only the educated young men anywhere that had a group average that exceeded 80 percent. Clearly they are not representative of the entire Korku community. The majority of Korku speakers do not understand Hindi at a high level. Table 6 shows the percentage of male and female Korku speakers in Chikli according to their education and ages, following the population profile. As the percentages have been rounded, the total for all categories comes to less than 100%. The participants have again been divided into groups based on education (0–3 years and above 3) and age (below 30, between 31 and 45, and above 45 years).

Table 6. Size of the education, age, and sex groups for Korku speakers in Chikli

It should be noted that, in the Hindi bilingualism testing in Lahi and Dharni, three questions were dubbed onto the test tape before their corresponding answers, whereas they should have been inserted after the answers. This may have skewed those results to some extent. Also note that bilingualism testing on a large scale was planned only for Chikli and Dharni. That is why the other samples only contain ten people, usually the same ten who took the hometown Korku test. These latter samples probably are not adequate since the subjects involved were generally the most bilingual of the community, the most willing to interact with outsiders. Korku speakers living in Dharni and Semadoh, Amravati district, Maharashtra, were tested on Marathi on a small scale. Marathi was not tested in Chikli because of the fact that Korkus there use Hindi as their second language. In Semadoh only five out of seventeen respondents finished the Marathi text test, as was mentioned earlier. They all have more than three years of education and are young males. The average of their scores was 70 percent. The standard deviation was 12. In Dharni, eleven Korkus were tested on the Marathi text test. The standard deviation was eight. Based on these results and the fact that many would not continue the Marathi test, it is clear that Korkus do not understand Marathi well enough to use Marathi literature. The range of positive responses on the self-assessment questionnaire have been averaged for each group of scores on the Hindi text test. There is a correlation between the results of the test and the questionnaire, with the exception of the 60 percent group (average 10.4, which exceeds the average of nine for the 70 percent group). At this stage, we are not sure of the significance of this correlation, other than what was stated above. The self-assessment questionnaire was administered to the same people in Chikli who took the Hindi narrative text test. A simple correlation of the questionnaire and the text test cannot be made such that the self-assessment equals the performance on the narrative text test. For example, some people just said “yes” to every question asked, which made them seem very bilingual. But, in some cases, they scored only 50 percent on the Hindi text test. The average and range of positive responses on the self- assessment questionnaire with the number of respondents at each interval was compared with the Hindi text test score. The comparison of these two for Korku subjects in Chikli is given in table 7.

Table 7. Comparison of self-assessment scores with Hindi text test percentages—Chikli Korku

4.2.2 Gowlan

Table 8 shows the size of the education, age, and sex groups, in percentages, for Gowlan speakers living in the community of Chikli according to the population profile. Again, the participants have been

12 divided into groups on the basis of education (0–3 years and above 3) and age (below 30, between 31 and 45, and above 45 years).

Table 8. Size of the education, age, and sex groups for Gowlan speakers in Chikli

In Chikli, the Gowlans did not score much higher than the Korkus on the Hindi narrative text test. They averaged 70 percent as an entire group. Again, it was the educated young men who scored the highest (86%). Educated middle-aged men also scored high (82%). Only these two sub-groups had averages which exceeded 80 percent. The results of the Hindi text test for Gowlans in Chikli are found in table 9, the average of results/standard deviation of those results/number (N) of participants in that group). (See also Appendix B.)

Table 9. Hindi Narrative Bilingualism Test results—Gowlan

The self-assessment question scores do not correlate as well with the Hindi recorded text test as in the Korku comparison. Notice in table 10 that the Gowlans rate their ability in Hindi to be much higher than do the Korkus in Chikli, and that their questionnaire averages are very uniform despite their performance on the Hindi text test. Except for the 50 percent grouping, there is a gradual descent in the averages. The average and range of positive answers are listed in table 10 with the Hindi text percentage grouping.

Table 10. Comparison of self-assessment scores with Hindi text test percentages—Chikli Gowlan

These scores indicate that the majority of Gowlans in Chikli do not understand Hindi at the level where they can depend solely on the Hindi medium especially for complicated messages. Of course, this evidence is only from one community and may or may not be representative of the Gowlan community

13 in East Nimar and Betul districts of Madhya Pradesh. But the implications are so significant that further bilingualism evaluation of Gowlans in other locations is a matter of urgency.

5 Language attitudes

5.1 Methodology

In order to determine attitudes toward the regional languages, a questionnaire was administered to speakers of Korku and Gowlan in the Chikli area. The questions were interspersed between bilingualism tests and were formed in ways that pertain to their living situation. (See Appendix D.)

5.2 Results

5.2.1 Korku

The answers to each of the seven language attitude questions were tallied. The number of respondents offering a given answer was divided by the total number of respondents. This gave a percentage for each answer. For example, forty out of forty-seven respondents said that they wanted their children to learn Korku. That means that 97 percent gave that answer. For some questions the same subject gave multiple answers. For example, four Korku speakers (96 percent of the sample) answered that they would like to learn both Marathi and Hindi better, while 53 percent preferred to learn Hindi and 21 percent wanted to learn Marathi. In this way, we investigated which language people prefer and which language they hope to use in the future. Forty-seven Korkus were interviewed in this section—all those who were tested for bilingualism plus several that were not. The first question was “What language is easy for Korku people to learn?” Most people think that Korku is the easiest language to learn, which is the expected answer. The interesting part is that only Marathi is thought to be the hardest language to learn. Marathi is taught in the schools but not used much in the community by Korkus. The respondents rated their answers as first, second, and third choices, totalled below in table 11.

Table 11. The easiest language for Korkus to learn

The second question was “What language would you like to know better?” Most people chose Hindi. Even English was included in the selection, as listed in table 12.

Table 12. Language(s) Korkus would like to know better

The next three questions were concerned with which languages the respondents wanted their children to speak. The answers imply which languages the parents see as profitable for their children to use in the future, particularly which regional languages. Seventy-two percent answered that they wanted their children to learn to speak Hindi. Only 15 percent of the participants wanted their children to learn to speak Marathi. Ninety-eight percent of these people said that they would teach their children to speak Korku. If this were not so, one would conclude that Korku would not survive into the future. However, the parents do see that teaching their children Korku is of high importance. Although the parents might not be able to teach their children regional languages, it is significant that they want their children to learn them. Questions six and seven asked if Korku is as good/pure a language as the regional languages, Hindi and Marathi. Sixty-four percent responded that Korku is as good/pure as Hindi. Eighty-one percent said that Korku is as good/pure as Marathi. This shows that they see their language as important as the regional languages and suggests favorable attitudes toward Korku literature in the future. In conclusion, Korkus in Chikli demonstrate very positive attitudes toward using and maintaining Korku as their mother tongue. They have a mildly positive attitude toward Hindi and a neutral attitude toward Marathi. It is not thought to be of much use to them at the present.

5.2.2 Gowlan

Gowlans also were interviewed using the same seven questions of the language attitude questionnaire, except, of course, that Gowlan was substituted for Korku. From the results, one can see that Hindi is more favored than Marathi in this geographical area, but less so by Gowlans than by Korkus. The first question is “What language is easiest for Gowlans to learn?” Compared with the Korku answers it seems that Gowlans find Hindi not as difficult to learn. The answers are rated and listed in table 13.

Table 13. The easiest language for Gowlans to learn

Question two asks “What language would you like to know better?” Most Gowlans favored learning Hindi but not by as large a percentage as the Korkus. Possibly this is closely related to language use and the fact that Hindi is used more in the Chikli area than Marathi.

Table 14. Language(s) Gowlans would like to know better

The next three questions ask which language the parents want their children to learn to speak. Sixty-nine percent want their children to speak Hindi. Twenty-eight percent want their children to speak Marathi. And 89 percent want their children to learn to speak Gowlan. Hindi is again favored over Marathi. Gowlan will apparently still be the language of the home in the next generation. Questions six and seven ask whether Gowlan is as good/pure a language as the regional languages. Sixty-seven percent said that Gowlan is as good/pure as Hindi. Ninety-seven percent said that Gowlan is as good/pure a language as Marathi. In conclusion, Gowlans have a very positive attitude toward using their own language. Hindi is also highly favored, but probably for different purposes. Gowlans demonstrate a mildly positive to very positive attitude toward using it, whereas Marathi does not have such a favored position in their attitudes.

6 Language use

6.1 Methodology

A language-use questionnaire was administered to speakers of Korku and Gowlan in this survey. Our objective was to determine in which domains the participants use their language and in which they use the regional languages. The questionnaire included such questions as “Which language to you use in the home?” and “Which language do you use in the marketplace?” The language that is used in the home is assumed to be of great importance to them, reflecting the strong correlation between language use and language attitudes. (See Appendix D.) The language-use questionnaire consists of six questions about how people use their language in the community and six questions concerning language use with family members (in the home). Each answer was given a percentage reflecting the number of the respondents which chose that answer. Some respondents provided more than one answer to the same question. The total number of Korku respondents was forty-two, five less than participated in the language attitude survey.

6.2 Results

6.2.1 Korku

The first question is “Do you know any Korkus who have married non-Korkus?” Thirty-nine percent answered that they knew of such marriages. If the percentage was much higher, say above 80 percent, it might be assumed that Korkus are being assimilated into the dominant society. This might lead to them giving up their language and the distinctives of their culture. However, this is not the case. Korkus usually marry within their own tribe but not within their clan.

Question two asks if they ever, including “sometimes” or “occasionally”, use Hindi with Korku speakers. Eighty-three percent said that they do, but many said that they would do this only if the other person knows Hindi. Usually, they speak Hindi to Hindi speakers and Korku to Korku speakers. The third question is “Which language do you speak in the bazaar?” This may require only a very limited knowledge of the regional languages. The dialogue is usually quite predictable in such situations, e.g. “How much is this?”, “If you don’t have it, then where can I find it?” Sixty-eight percent said that they use both Korku and Hindi in the bazaar. Thirty percent said that they use only Hindi in the bazaar. One person abstained from answering. Note that no Korkus said that they use only Korku in the bazaar. The next two questions ask which language(s) Korkus speak to non-Korkus who live in the same village, Gowlans and Gowlis. Ninety-five percent said that they speak Hindi to Gowlis, and 88 percent said they speak Hindi to Gowlans. One person said that he speaks Gowli to Gowlis. Four people said they speak Gowlan to Gowlans. Some Gowlans and Korkus in the Chikli area work together in the fields. The next question is “Do you know any Korkus who do not speak Korku anymore?” One man said that a Korku who does not know how to speak Korku any longer is “like the son of a donkey”. Another lady said that only Korku babies fit this category. Fifteen percent said that they know of Korkus who do not speak Korku anymore. This implies that the Korku language will continue to be spoken for at least the next generation or so. The next six questions concern language use in the home, with family members. One interesting thing to note here is how little, if at all, the mother speaks Hindi with her children. Usually it was the father who has such conversations. Almost always Korku was rated as the best language for use in the home. In only a few cases did the respondent favor using Hindi in the home more than Korku. One man said that it is because Korkus do not use Hindi in the home that they are so backward. Marathi was never mentioned as being used in the home, nor was any other language mentioned other than Hindi and Korku. Table 15 presents the percentages of Korku (K) and Hindi (H) use in the home, and who speaks to whom in that language.

Table 15. Language use in Korku homes

From these percentages it can be seen that the father is the agent of linguistic change in the Korku family although the movement seems to be slight. It is he who uses Hindi with the children more than the mother does. The mother appears to be the one who is maintaining the language and culture with her often-monolingual relationship to her children. Korku is definitely the most widely used language in the home.

6.2.2 Gowlan

The same set of questions was asked of the Gowlans with Gowlan substituted for Korku. It can be observed that Gowlans use their language mostly in the home, where Hindi is used quite infrequently. Hindi is by far the most widely used language outside of the home. The first question is “Do you know any Gowlans who have married non-Gowlans?” Sixty-eight percent answered that they knew of such marriages. It would be interesting to know if they married outside their Gowli caste also. The next question is “Do you ever speak Hindi to Gowlan people?” Fifty-eight percent said that they do. However, usually Gowlans speak Gowlan to Gowlans and Hindi to anyone else.

The third question is “What language(s) do you speak in the bazaar?” Ninety-seven percent said they use Hindi in the bazaar. Only 14 percent said they use Gowlan in the bazaar. It appears that Gowlans have a much more fixed role for Hindi in this domain than do the Korkus. The next two questions concern which language Gowlans use with non-Gowlans who live in their village. Ninety-four percent said they speak Hindi with Korkus. Three people said they speak Korku to Korkus. Two people said they speak Gowlan with Korkus. Ninety-two percent of the respondents said they speak Hindi with Gowlis. Only three people said they speak Gowli with Gowlis, and one person said they speak Gowlan with Gowlis. Clearly Hindi is the language for communicating to other groups within the same village. The next section has to do with language use in the home. The results are presented in table 16. Notice how sparingly Hindi (H) is used in the home. Gowlan (G) is still an active language.

Table 16. Language use in Gowlan homes

It can be observed from the results that the father is the one who uses Hindi the most. The mother uses Gowlan more. Gowlan is the language of the home, and it appears that it will be for at least the next generation. In conclusion, Hindi is the language used by the largest number of individuals in the Chikli area, but Korku and Gowlan are still used overwhelmingly in the home. In home and family domains, Korku and Gowlan are living and viable languages. In order to communicate for full understanding, then, one would have to learn the language of the home, Korku or Gowlan.

7 Recommendations

7.1 Language development

There is a definite language development need for Korku speakers, based on the results of this language survey. Korkus cannot understand Hindi well enough to use Hindi literature. Only educated males averaged over 80 percent on the Hindi text test. The majority of Korku respondents averaged much lower. Neither were the averages in other test points better than the results from Chikli. Furthermore, most Korku speakers in Chikli rate their own ability in Hindi at a level of comprehension below the level required to understand difficult messages, especially Hindi literature. Korkus are not sufficiently bilingual in Marathi either. Marathi is not widely understood by Korku speakers, nor is Marathi used much as a second language. Furthermore, Korkus do not exhibit positive attitudes toward using Marathi. Language development is needed for the Korku language group as a whole. According to the dialect intelligibility scores, the Korku language appears to be rather homogeneous. Lahi Bouriya appears to be the dialect that is most widely understood among Korku speakers. Gowlans represent a possible need for literature development based on the results of this language survey. Like the Korkus, only educated men averaged above 80 percent on the Hindi text test. This means that the Gowlans in Chikli do not comprehend Hindi well enough to use Hindi literature. This survey represents only a portion of Gowlan communities; there are also Gowlan communities in Betul and East Nimar districts in Madhya Pradesh. Possibly Gowlans in those districts comprehend and are more proficient in Hindi than Gowlans in Chikli. Gowlans use Hindi more frequently in the domains of

18 the home and the marketplace than Korkus do. Gowlans in Chikli have positive attitudes toward using Hindi.

7.2 Further survey

7.2.1 Korku

Further dialect intelligibility might be done in the northwestern part of Chhindwara district to determine the status of the Mawasi community and how it relates to the other dialects. However, first it needs to be determined if there is a viable Mawasi Korku-speaking community or just a few speakers. Furthermore, the relationship of Bondoy to other Korku dialects needs to be further clarified. Ruma speakers and Bouriya speakers should be tested on a recorded text test of the Bondoy dialect inasmuch as Khamalpur (Bondoy) was used as a test point but not as a reference point.

7.2.2 Nihali

Nihali also needs further study. Nihals generally live in or near Korku villages. Nihals in Chikaldara taluk and in Akola district identify themselves with Korkus. They often said that Nihali and Korku are one language. Because of their close identification with Korkus, it is possible that they are sufficiently bilingual in Korku to use Korku literature. No bilingual studies have yet been conducted to investigate their understanding of Korku or the regional languages. Nihals were found to be using their language in the home in Jammat Jalgaon, Buldana district. There is a school for tribals there. Korkus claim to not understand any Nihali, since Nihals are considered very low-caste Korkus.

7.2.3 Gowlan

It seems clear that the Gowlans in Chikli cannot understand Hindi well enough to use the Hindi literature. It is recommended that investigation be carried out to learn whether Gowlans living outside of Chikli can understand Hindi sufficiently to use Hindi literature. Possibly in Madhya Pradesh the Gowlans have a better understanding of Hindi. That remains to be seen.

7.2.4 Gowli

A language survey among the Gowlis is also needed. The situation in which we were working did not lend itself to such a survey at this time. Data are needed concerning the extent to which Gowlis understand the regional languages. Further investigation of the extent of their language group should be conducted to investigate possible dialect differences before it can be determined that there is a definite need for language development in Gowli.

7.2.5 Bhalay

The language of the Bhalay community also needs further investigation including their understanding of the regional languages.

7.2.6 Lohari

The language of the Lohari caste is another language needing further investigation. It would be worth collecting sociolinguistic data from large Lohari communities to assess their language development needs. Only a few families were found in Chikli, Amravati district, Maharashtra during our survey.

7.2.7 Gondi

Gondi speakers are also found in the Amravati district. The Gondi dialects are an extensive language group. An independent survey of Gondi languages should be organized to investigate dialect relationships from Betul district to Bastar district and into Maharashtra.

7.3 General recommendations

It is recommended that people working with Korku speakers learn to speak Korku in order to communicate most effectively. Based on the results of this survey, it is considered a more effective way to communicate with Korkus than using the regional languages. Furthermore, it is recommended that the Devanagari script be used for printing Korku literature. It seems, however, that these recommendations are already being carried out.

7.4 Conclusion

In conclusion, the Korku language group has a definite language development need. They cannot use either of the regional languages well enough to use literature in those languages. Korku is one language, and Lahi Bouriya seems to be the most widely understood dialect. The Gowlan language has a possible language development need, but more testing should be done very soon to verify that possibility.

Appendix A: Intelligibility Test Scores

Listed in this appendix are the individual scores, listed by letter, obtained on the intelligibility tests in the locations specified. The average of the scores, the number of respondents, the standard deviation of that average, the number of questions (Q), and the average and standard deviation of those questions are also included.

Table A.1a. Khamalpur Bondoy dialect intelligibility home town

Table A.1b. Khamalpur Bondoy intelligibility home town

20 21

Table A.2a. Dharni Ruma dialect intelligibility home town

Table A.2b. Dharni Ruma dialect intelligibility home town

Table A.2c. Dharni Ruma dialect intelligibility with Khanapur Rhuma

Table A.2d. Dharni Ruma dialect intelligibility with Lahi Bouriya

Table A.3a. Khanapur Ruma dialet intelligibility home town

Table A.3b. Khanapur Ruma dialet intelligibility home town

Table A.4a. Lahi Bouriya dialect intelligibility home town

Table A.4b. Lahi Bouriya dialect intelligibility home town

Table A.4c. Lahi Bouriya dialect intelligibility with Khanapur Ruma

Appendix B: Bilingualism Test Scores

Listed in this appendix are the individual scores, listed by letter, obtained on the bilingualism tests in the locations specified. The average of the scores, the number of respondents, the standard deviation of the average, the number of questions, and the average and standard deviation of those questions are also included. Please note that the hometown scores for Khamalpur Bondoy, Khanapur Ruma, Lahi Bouriya and Dharni Ruma are listed in Appendix A. Intelligibility Test Scores.

Table B.1. Khamalpur Bondoy Hindi bilingualism

Table B.2. Khanapur Ruma Hindi bilingualism

26 27

Table B.3. Lahi Bouriya Hindi bilingualism

Table B.4a Dharni Ruma Hindi bilingualism

Table B.4b. …bilingualisma

a Part of the information in this table including the title was lost.

Table B.5a. Semadoh Ruma bilingualism home town

Table B.5b. Semadoh Ruma Hindi bilingualism

Table B.5c. Semadoh Ruma Marathi bilinguism

Table B.6a. Chikli Ruma bilingualism home town

Table B.6b. Chikli Ruma Hindi bilingualism

Table B.7a. Chikli Gowlan bilingualism home town

Table B.7b. Chikli Gowlan Hindi bilingualism

Appendix C: Bilingualism Self-Assessment

Questionnaire (Korku)

Expected answers are given below each question.

1. Do you sometimes get stuck in Hindi? 2. Can you speak Hindi like a group of friends from M.P.? 3. If a doctor gives you medicine, is it easy to understand his directions? 4. If you work for the deputy ranger, will he laugh at your Hindi? 5. If you heard Rajiv Gandhi’s speech on the radio, can you say the same things to the teacher in the village? 6. If a person from Dharni speaks bad of Korku people, can you make him understand (argue with him) in Hindi? 7. Suppose the deputy ranger catches you taking the wood, can you make him understand (explain) in Hindi? 8. Suppose it is your friend who is caught, can you explain for him? 9. Can you give respect when you talk to important people in Hindi? 10. Suppose the patel does not know Hindi, and the tahsildar comes, can you translate between them? 11. Do you ever make a mistake in Hindi? 12. If you are working for a teacher, can you follow all his instructions? 13. Do you know as many words in Hindi as you know in your MT?

34 Appendix D: Language Use/Language Attitude

Questionnaire (Korku)

1. Which language is easiest to learn, your MT or Hindi? 2. Which language is easiest to learn, your MT or Marathi? 3. Which language is easiest to learn, Hindi or Marathi? 4. What language would you like to know better? 5. Will you teach your children to speak Hindi? 6. Will you teach your children to speak Marathi? 7. Will you teach your children to speak your MT? 8. Is your MT as good a language as Hindi? 9. Is your MT as good a language as Marathi? 10. Do you know any in your community who don’t speak the MT anymore? 11. Do you know of anyone of your community who has married outside? 12. Do you ever speak Hindi to people of your community? 13. What language do you use in the bazaar? 14. What language do you use to speak to people from other (non-Hindi) communities? 15. What language do you speak to your spouse? 16. What language does your spouse speak to you? 17. What language do you speak to your children? 18. What language do your children speak to you? 19. What language does your spouse speak to your children? 20. What language do your children speak to your spouse?

35 Appendix E: Korku Survey Travelogue

This survey began in December 1984 and ended in April 1986. It consisted of three separate periods of field work: December 1984 to February 1985, October to December 1985, and February to April 1986.

E.1 The first trip

During the first segment of the survey, December 1984 to February 1985, Jim Stahl worked with Noel Kotian and Jonathan Chavan in the Korku language area. At the beginning of this survey, much of the data collection was done in and around Chikli village, Amravati district, Maharashtra. Wordlists were collected from the Bhalays, the Gowlans, the Korkus, and the Gonds living in Chikli. Texts to be used for dialect intelligibility testing were also collected during that time in Korku, Gowlan, Hindi, and Marathi. The first three texts were also validated in that geographical area. The Marathi test was not validated. In January 1985, Noel Kotian and Jim Stahl made a trip to Madhya Pradesh to investigate the Korku dialects there. Unable to find Korkus living near Bhuranpur, they decided to continue on to Seoni Malwa, Hoshangabad district, Madhya Pradesh. With the kind help of Rambao, we travelled to his home in Lahi, about 20 kilometers from Seoni Malwa. There we collected a Bouriya text and validated it, and collected a wordlist of the Bouriya dialect. We also tested the Bouriya speakers living there on the Ruma dialect, as spoken in Chikli. From Seoni Malwa, we proceeded to Padhar Hospital in the Betul district. There we met the director of the hospital, who offered the use of the village health team’s jeep. We accompanied them to some nearby villages. In Khamalpur, one of the villages we visited, we collected a wordlist from the Bondoy dialect. We were unable to collect a text for dialect intelligibility testing. People were unwilling to cooperate, probably because we were new to them. We did test five people on the Bouriya and Ruma dialects but it was impossible to do the testing without constant distraction. From Betul, we travelled to Chhindwara, Chhindwara district, Madhya Pradesh. There we contacted a Catholic priest who works with tribals in the area. He was unable to tell us where in Chhindwara district the Korkus lived. So we left for Chikli and Chikaldara to test the Ruma speakers on Bouriya and to collect language data from the Gowli community. In Chikaldara, we collected a Gowli wordlist and text. However, the text was not validated. By that time it was nearing the time I should leave for Nepal, so no more data were collected. Then some of the data was lost.

E.2 The second trip

The second part of the survey was from October to December 1985. Not much was accomplished during this time. We were able to get a new wordlist for Ruma Korku in Chikli village. Also, from Chikli we were able to collect sociolinguistic data from interviews with the Korku and Gowlan speakers. Some time was also spent trying to get a wordlist from Nihals living near Chikaldara, but the data was Korku. Noel Kotian and Jonathan Chavan made another trip to Khamalpur, Betul district and collected a wordlist and text from the Bondoy speakers there. They also tested them on Hindi, but not on the other two Korku dialects.

E.3 The third trip

The final part of the survey was from February to April 1986, carried out by Charlie Meeker, Frank Blair, and me. We collected much more data. Frank and Charlie travelled with Jonathan Chavan to East Nimar district and to Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh in mid-February. In Khanapur, East Nimar, Charlie and Frank collected a Ruma text and wordlist. They also tested ten people on the Hindi bilingualism text. From there they travelled to Seoni Malwa and met Rambao. Charlie went back to Lahi

36 37 where Noel and I visited on the first trip. There he collected a text and wordlist, tested Bouriya speakers on Khanapur Ruma, and tested ten people on Hindi. Frank did the same in Moragao, a village nearby. During that time, I was in Semadoh, Amravati district, Maharashtra, collecting bilingualism data for Korku speakers there. I got a Ruma wordlist, a Gondi wordlist, and a Gowli wordlist. I also collected a Ruma text and validated it as well as the Marathi text from Nasik. I was able to collect information for a community profile and to begin some bilingualism tests on Marathi and Hindi. J. Ganespandy did much of the data collection. During the next part of this survey, Frank went to Dewas district in Madhya Pradesh with Jonathan Chavan to look for Korku speakers living there. They found a Korku community but found that the Korkus speak Hindi only. Charlie went to Dharni, Amravati district, and did much the same as I was doing in Semadoh. During the next phase, I travelled with J. Ganespandy and a Korku man, RC. We travelled southwest of Chikaldara to the Buldana and Akola districts of Maharashtra. We made contacts and collected wordlists in the villages of Bhili, Papet Kera, and Warsari in Akola district, and Jammut Jalgaon in Buldana district. In this last place, we collected a wordlist from a student at a school for Nihals and Korkus. A travelling companion and I also made a trip north of Parathwada to look for Bopchi Korkus but were unable to find any. Instead, we collected a wordlist from a Ruma Korku. During this time, Frank was in Chikli conducting extensive bilingualism tests with Gowlans and Korkus. He did the same things Charlie and I were doing in Dharni and Semadoh but on a larger scale. He also introduced another questionnaire, the self-assessment questionnaire. He was there with Noel Kotian until he left for Kulu in Himachal Pradesh. After a respite in Nagpur with FJ and the hostel boys, Charlie and I travelled to Chhindwara to again look for Korkus. We made some good contacts at the tribal museum and another agency who directed us to go to Pachmarhi in Hoshangabad district. We were told we would meet Mawasi Korkus there. However, we found that the Korkus spoke Hindi, so we went to Nepal.

Appendix F: Wordlists

In this appendix are found wordlists of Chikli Ruma, Khanapur Ruma, Bagdara Ruma, Warsari Ruma, Moragao Bouriya, Lahi Bouriya, Amdhana Mawasi, Khamalpur Bondoy, and Jammat Jalgaon Nihali. Preceding the wordlists is the South Asia Survey Phonetic Alphabet.

38 39

Appendix G: Bibliography of Alternative Sources

Girard, Beryl. n.d. Notes on Korku phonology. Ms. Girard, Beryl. n.d. Lessons on Korku culture. Ms. Kuiper, F. B. J. 1966. The sources of the Nihali vocabulary. In Norman Zide (ed.), Studies in comparative Austro-Asiatic linguistics. The Hague: Mouton. 57–81. Mundlay, Aashar Kelkar. 1966. Linguistic and ritual maintenance of self-identity among the Nihals. Ms. Zide, Norman H. 1966. Korku low tone and the Proto-Korku_Kherwarian vowel system. In Norman Zide (ed.), Studies in comparative Austro-Asiatic linguistics. The Hague: Mouton. 214–229. Zide, Norman H. 1958. Final stops in Korku and Santali. Indian Linguistics 19.44–48.

96 References

Casad, Eugene H. 1974. Dialect intelligibility testing. Norman, OK: Summer Institute of Linguistics and University of Oklahoma. Geetha, K. R. 1983. Classified state bibliography of linguistic research on Indian languages. (Hindi-speaking states: Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi.) CIIL Occasional Monograph Series, 28. Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages. Census of India 1971. 1972. New Delhi: Ministry of Home Affairs. Grierson, George Abraham. 1906. Linguistic survey of India: Munda and Dravidian languages. Vol. 4, 167–196, 239–275. Calcutta: Government of India, Central Publishing Branch. Parmar, Shyam. 1972. Folklore of Madhya Pradesh. New Delhi: National Bank Trust.