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{{short description|Dravidian language of eastern India}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Kurukh
| altname = Kurux, Oraon
| nativename = कुड़ुख़, কুড়ুখ, କୁଡ଼ୁଖ
| image = [[File:Kurukh in Tolong Siki.png|250px]]
| imagecaption = 'Kurukh' in Tolong Siki alphabet
| states = [[India]]
| region = [[Odisha]], [[Jharkhand]], [[West Bengal]], [[Chhattisgarh]], [[Assam]], [[Bihar]], [[Tripura]]<ref name="Kurux"/>
| ethnicity = {{unbulleted list|[[Kurukh people]]|[[Kisan people]]}}
| speakers = 2.28 million
| date = 2002-2011
| ref = <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011Census/Language_MTs.html|title=Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011|publisher=Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India|website=www.censusindia.gov.in|access-date=2018-07-07}}</ref><ref name="Kurux">{{Cite news|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/kru|title=Kurux|work=Ethnologue|access-date=2018-07-11|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/kxl|title=Kurux, Nepali|work=Ethnologue|access-date=2018-07-11|language=en}}</ref>
| familycolor = Dravidian
| fam2 = Northern Dravidian
| fam3 = Kurukh–Malto
| dia1 = Oraon
| dia2 = [[Kisan people|Kisan]]
| dia3 = Dhangar
| script = Tolong Siki<br/>[[Devanagari]]<br/>Kurukh Banna
| iso2 = kru
| iso3 = kru
| lc1 = xis
| ld1 = Kisan
| glotto = kuru1301
| glottorefname = Kurux
| nation = {{flag|India}}
* [[Jharkhand]] (additional)
* [[West Bengal]] (additional)
}}
'''Kurukh''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ʊr|ʊ|x}}<ref>{{OED|Kurukh}}</ref> ([[Devanagari]]: कुड़ुख़), also '''Kurux''', '''Oraon''' or '''Uranw''',<ref>http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/nepa1253</ref> is a [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian language]] spoken by nearly two million [[Oraon]] and [[Kisan tribe|Kisan]] tribal people of [[Jharkhand]], [[Chhattisgarh]], [[Odisha]], [[West Bengal]], [[Assam]], [[Bihar]] and [[Tripura]] in [[India]], as well as by 65,000 in northern [[Bangladesh]], 28,600 a dialect called Uranw in [[Nepal]] and about 5,000 in [[Bhutan]]. Some Kurukh speakers are in [[South India]]. It is most closely related to [[Brahui language|Brahui]] and [[Malto language|Malto (Paharia)]]. The language is marked as being in a "vulnerable" state in UNESCO's list of endangered languages.<ref name=guardian-unesco-list>{{cite web|last1=Evans|first1=Lisa|title=Endangered Languages: The Full List|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/apr/15/language-extinct-endangered|work=The Guardian}}</ref> The Kisan dialect has 206,100 speakers as of 2011.

==Classification==
Kurukh belongs to the Northern Dravidian group of the [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian]] family languages,<ref>{{cite book
|last=Stassen
|first=Leon
|title=Intransitive Predication
|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]
|series = Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory
|year=1997
|isbn=978-0199258932
|page=220
}}</ref> and is closely related to Sauria Paharia and Kumarbhag Paharia, which are often together referred to as [[Malto language|Malto]].<ref>PS Subrahmanyam, "Kurukh", in [[ELL2]]. ''Ethnologue'' assigns Nepali Kurux a separate iso code, ''kxl''.</ref>
[[File:DravidianTree.png|thumb|Dravidian language tree]]

==Writing systems==
Kurukh is written in [[Devanagari]], a script also used to write [[Sanskrit]], [[Hindi]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Nepali language|Nepali]] and other [[Indo-Aryan languages]]. In 1999, Narayan Oraon, a doctor, invented the [[alphabet]]ic Tolong Siki script specifically for Kurukh. Many books and magazines have been published in Tolong Siki script, and it saw official recognition by the state of [[Jharkhand]] in 2007. The Kurukh Literary Society of India has been instrumental in spreading the Tolong Siki script for Kurukh literature.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ager |first1=Simon |title=Tolong Siki alphabet and the Kurukh language |url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/tolongsiki.htm |website=Omniglot |access-date=19 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Pandey |first1=Anshuman |title=Preliminary Proposal to Encode the Tolong Siki Script in the UCS |url=http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2010/10106-n3811-tolongsiki.pdf |access-date=19 December 2019 |date=8 April 2010}}</ref>

==Geographical distribution==
Kurukh language spoken mostly in [[Raigarh district|Raigarh]], [[Surguja district|Surguja]], [[Jashpur district|Jashpur]] of [[Chhattisgarh]], [[Gumla district|Gumla]], [[Ranchi district|Ranchi]], [[lohardaga district|Lohardaga]], [[Latehar district|Latehar]], [[simdega district|simdega]] of [[Jharkhand]], [[Jharsuguda district|Jharsuguda]], [[Sundargarh district|Sundargarh]] and [[Sambalpur district]] of [[Odisha]].

It is also spoken in [[Jalpaiguri district]] of [[West Bengal]], [[Assam]] and [[Tripura]] states by Kurukh who are mostly Tea-garden workers.<ref name="Kurux">{{Cite news|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/kru|title=Kurux|work=Ethnologue|access-date=2018-07-11|language=en}}</ref>

==Speakers==
It is spoken by 2,053,000 people from the [[Oraon]] and [[Kisan tribe]]s, with 1,834,000 and 219,000 speakers respectively. The literacy rate is 23% in Oraon and 17% in Kisan. Despite the large number of speakers, the language is considered to be [[Endangered language|endangered]].<ref>Daniel Nettle and Suzanne Romaine. ''Vanishing Voices: The Extinction of the World's Languages''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Page 9.</ref> The governments of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have introduced the Kurukh language in schools with majority Kurukhar students. Jharkhand and West Bengal both list Kurukh as an official language of their respective states.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/west-bengal-grants-official-language-status-to-kurukh-1488780574-1|title=Kurukh given official language status in West Bengal|date=2017-03-06|website=Jagranjosh.com|access-date=2019-05-12}}</ref> Bangladesh also has some speakers.

==Phonology==

=== Vowels ===
Kurukh has five cardinal vowels. Each vowel has long, short nasalized and long nasalized counterparts.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=The Kurux language : grammar, texts and lexicon|last=1970-|first=Kobayashi, Masato|isbn=9789004347663|location=Leiden|oclc=1000447436|date = 2017-09-21}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+
Kurukh simple vowels
!
!Front
!Central
!Back
|-
!High
|/i/
|
|/u/
|-
!Mid
|/e/
|
|/o/
|-
!Low
|
|/a/
|
|}

=== Consonants ===
The table below illustrates the articulation of the consonants.<ref name=":1" />
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+Kurukh consonants
!
!Labial
!Alveolar
!Retroflex
!Palatal
!Velar
!Glottal
|-
!Voiceless stop
|/p/
|/t/
|/ʈ/
|/tʃ/
|/k/
|/ʔ/
|-
!Voiceless asp. stop
|/pʰ/
|/tʰ/
|/ʈʰ/
|/tʃʰ/
|/kʰ/
|
|-
!Voiced stop
|/b/
|/d/
|/ɖ/
|/dʒ/
|/g/
|
|-
!Voiced asp. stop
|/bʱ/
|/dʱ/
|/ɖʱ/
|/dʒʱ/
|/gʱ/
|
|-
!Fricative
|
|/s/
|
|(ʃ)
|/x/
|/h/
|-
!Nasal
|/m/
|/n/
|(ɳ)
|/ɲ/
|/ŋ/
|
|-
!Liquid
|
|/l/ /ɾ/
|/ɽ/ /ɽʱ/
|
|
|
|-
!Glide
|/w/
|
|
|/j/
|
|
|}

==Education==
Kurukh languages is taught as a subject in the schools of [[Jharkhand]], [[Chhattishgarh]], [[Madhya Pradesh]], [[Odisha]], [[West Bengal]] and [[Assam]].<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/revitalising-a-language/article17395995.ece Revitalising a language - The Hindu]</ref>

==Sample phrases==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Phrases !! English Translation
|-
| Nighai name endra? || What is your name ?
|- আপনার নাম কি?
|Nin ekase radin? || How are you? (Girl)
|- আপনি কেমন আছেন?
|Nin ekase raday?
|| How are you? (Boy)
|- আপনি কেমন আছেন?
|En korem radan.
|| I am fine.
|- আমি ভালো আছি।
|Nin eshan Kalalagdin ?
|| Where are you going? (Girl)
|- আপনি কোথায় যাচ্ছেন?
|Nin eshan Kalalagday ?
|| Where are you going? (Boy)
|- আপনি কোথায় যাচ্ছেন?
|Endra manja? || What happened?
|- কি হইছে?
|Hae || Yes
|- হ্যাঁ।
|Mala || No
|- না।
|En Mokha Lagdan. || I am eating.
|- আমি খাচ্ছি।
|Nin Mokha. || You eat.
|- তুমি খাও।
|Aar mokha lagnar. || They are eating.
|- তারা খাচ্ছে।
|}

==Alternative names and dialects==
Kurukh has a number of alternative names such as Uraon, Kurux, Kunrukh, Kunna, Urang, Morva, and Birhor. Two dialects, Oraon and Kisan, have 73% intelligibility between them. Oraon but not Kisan is currently being standardised. Kisan is currently endangered, with a decline rate of 12.3% from 1991–2001.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/Statement8.aspx|title=Census of India: Growth of Non-Scheduled Languages-1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001|last=ORGI|website=www.censusindia.gov.in|access-date=2017-10-15}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{cite book|author=Ferdinand Hahn|title=Kuruḵh̲ (Orā̃ō)-English dictionary|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_frNJAQAAIAAJ|access-date=25 August 2012|year=1903|publisher=Bengal Secretariat Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_frNJAQAAIAAJ/page/n133 126]–}}
*{{cite book|author=Ferdinand Hahn|title=Kuruḵẖ grammar|url=https://archive.org/details/kurukhgrammar00hahnuoft|access-date=26 August 2012|year=1900|publisher=Bengal Secretariat Press}}
*{{cite book|title=Kuruk̲h̲ folk-lore: in the original|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbS5AAAAIAAJ|access-date=25 August 2012|year=1905|publisher=The Bengal Secretariat Book Depot}}
*[http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\drv\ned&limit=-1 Kurukh basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database]
*[http://omniglot.com/writing/tolongsiki.htm Omniglot's page on Tolong Siki]

{{Languages of India}}
{{Dravidian languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurukh Language}}
[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Dravidian languages]] 
[[Category:Languages of India]]
[[Category:Languages of Jharkhand]]
[[Category:Languages of Odisha]]
[[Category:Subject–object–verb languages]]
[[Category:Brahmic scripts]]

Kurukh language - Revision history

WilheminaJanzen: rework content for accuracy and improved wording

Krishan Kumar Jangir: slightly cleanup article after review also and corrected details

->Fdom5997: /* Consonants */ Fixed chart links

imported>Ravensfire: Reverting edit(s) by कमल यादव (talk) to rev. 1034239004 by 45.112.243.168: rv spam (from contribs) (RW 16.1)