Languages of Chhattisgarh

[vijayjohn]

Chhattisgarh is a state that was separated from Madhya Pradesh not long after the dawn of the millennium, on Nov. 1, 2000. Its official language is Hindi but with Chhattisgarhi as an "additional official language." Chhattisgarhi is an Indo-Aryan language with no recognition at the national level at all since the government considers it a dialect of Hindi. However, while it does share features with Hindi, it also shares features with Eastern Indo-Aryan languages and has substantial influence from neighboring non-Indo-Aryan (Dravidian and Munda) languages.

The other Indo-Aryan language varieties spoken in Chhattisgarh are mostly Halbic languages, which Wikipedia at least claims are transitional between Marathi and Odia. The remaining ones are apparently Surgujia, closely related to Chhattisgarhi, and Bhatri, closely related to Odia.

Three Munda languages are also spoken in Chhattisgarh. One of them is Korwa, a North Munda language closely related to Santali and even more closely related to Mundari (neither of which is spoken in Chhattisgarh AFAICT). There are two main varieties of Korwa called Korowa and Kodaku, each spoken in different parts of the same district (Surgujia) in Chhattisgarh. Another Munda language spoken in Chhattisgarh is Kharia, a South Munda language. Both languages are also spoken in neighboring Jharkhand, and Kharia is also spoken in Odisha. However, Majhwar, another language closely related to Korwa, Santali, and Mundari, is spoken further north in Uttar Pradesh as well as Chhattisgarh.

Dravidian languages spoken in Chhattisgarh include Koya, which is closely related to the Kui and Kuvi languages spoken nearby as well as to the Gondi language and spills over the borders from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Odisha. Southern Gondi similarly spills over the border from Maharashtra and Telangana to the west. The other Dravidian languages of Chattisgarh are varieties of the closely related Muria and Maria languages, which are Gondi languages, a Central Dravidian language called Parji, and Kurux, a North Dravidian language.