Khorang: fix references for consistency and fixed typos

2026-03-29T13:31:54Z

fix references for consistency and fixed typos

imported>RomanSpa at 19:22, 13 August 2021

2021-08-13T19:22:16Z

New page

{{Infobox language
| name = Sora
| altname = Savara
| nativename = 𑃐𑃚𑃝, ସଉରା
| region = [[India]]
| ethnicity = [[Sora people|Sora]]
| image = [[File:Sora language.png|250px]]
| imagecaption = 'Sora' in [[Sorang Sompeng]]
| speakers = 409,549, 61% of ethnic population
| date = 2011 census
| 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>
| familycolor = Austroasiatic
| fam2= [[Munda languages|Munda]]
| fam3= South
| fam4= Sora-Gorum
| iso3 = srb
| glotto = sora1254
| glottorefname = Sora
| script = [[Sora Sompeng]], [[Odia alphabet|Odia]], [[Latin script|Latin]], [[Telugu script|Telugu]]
}}

'''Sora''' is a south [[Munda languages|Munda]] language of the [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic]] language of the [[Sora people]], an ethnic group of eastern [[India]], mainly in the states of [[Odisha]] and [[Andhra Pradesh]]. Sora contains very little formal literature but has an abundance of folk tales and traditions. Most of the knowledge passed down from generation to generation is transmitted orally. Like many languages in eastern India, Sora is listed as 'vulnerable to extinction' by [[UNESCO]].<ref name="UNESCO">{{Cite web|url=http://www.unesco.org/culture/languages-atlas/en/atlasmap/language-id-1205.html|title=Sora|website=UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger|publisher=[[UNESCO]]|language=en|access-date=2018-03-18}}</ref> Sora speakers are concentrated in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
==Distribution==
Speakers are concentrated mainly in [[Ganjam District]], [[Gajapati District]] (central Gumma Hills region (Gumma Block), etc.<ref name=":0">Anderson, Gregory D.S (ed). 2008. ''The Munda languages''. Routledge Language Family Series 3.New York: Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-32890-X}}.</ref>), and [[Rayagada District]], but are also found in adjacent areas such as [[Koraput District|Koraput]] and [[Phulbani District|Phulbani]] districts; other communities exist in northern [[Andhra Pradesh]] ([[Vizianagaram District]] and [[Srikakulam District]]).

== History ==
The Sora language has faced a wavelike pattern of usage—that is the number of people who speak Sora climbed steadily for decades before crashing down. In fact the number of people who spoke Sora went from 157 thousand in 1901 to 166 thousand in 1911.<ref name=":4">Mahapatra, B. (1991). MUNDA LANGUAGES IN CENSUS. Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, 51/52, 329-336. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/42930411</ref> In 1921, this number marginally rose to 168 thousand and kept climbing.<ref name=":4" /> In 1931, speaker numbers jumped to 194 thousand but in 1951, a period of exponential growth occurred with speaker numbers jumping to 256 thousand.<ref name=":4" /> in 1961, numbers topped at 265 thousand speakers before crashing down in 1971 when speaker numbers drop back down to 221 thousand.<ref name=":4" />

== Culture ==
Sora is spoken by the Sora people, who are a part of the Adivasi, or tribal people, in India, making Sora an Adivasi language.<ref name=":1">CHATTERJI, S. (1971). 'Adivasi' Literatures of India: The Uncultivated 'Adivasi' Languages. Indian Literature, 14(3), 5-42. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/23329913</ref> Sora is found in close proximity to Odia and Telugu speaking peoples making a great deal of Sora people [[bilingual]].<ref name=":1" /> Sora does not have much in the way of literature except for a few songs and folk tales which are usually transmitted orally.<ref name=":1" /> Sora religion is a mix of traditional shamanistic rituals and the surrounding Hinduism predominant in surrounding populations.<ref name=":8">Vitebsky, P. (1980). Birth, Entity and Responsibility: The Spirit of the Sun in Sora Cosmology. L'Homme, 20(1), 47-70. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/25131601</ref> One particular Sora ritual has to do with death. Sora retains a unique shamanistic view on the subject of death. It is said that people who die from murders, suicides, or accidents are said to be taken, in a sense, by the Sun spirit.<ref name=":8" /> These people, called ''usungdaijen'', are then said to reside in the Sun itself after death.<ref name=":8" /> Sora uses spirits to explain many phenomena. For example, if a girl in no relationship has a headache or a migrane, it is said that the ''Pangalsum'' spirit, or Bachelor Spirit who contains the souls of men who have died before [[Wedlocks|wedlock]], has placed a wreath of flowers tightly around the girls head as a symbol of claiming her as his wife.<ref name=":8" />

==Phonology==

On a similar note, our understanding of Sora phonology is limited at best but there are some generalizations that can be made. Most syllables are of the Consonant, Vowel, Consonant form and morphemes usually contain one to three syllables.<ref name=":6">Stampe, D. (1965). Recent Work in Munda Linguistics I. International Journal of American Linguistics, 31(4), 332-341. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/1264042</ref> There are 18 identifiable consonants and they fall into most of the established origins of sound. Five consonants originate from the palate while only one consonant originates from the glottis. An interesting facet of Sora [[consonant]]s is that they contain an inherent ɘ vowel.<ref name=":3">Sora Sompeng. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2017, from http://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=script_detail&key=Sora</ref> Although vowels may be pronounced differently, there exist only six vowels in Sora. There are no [[diacritic]]s and [[Aspiration (linguistics)|aspiration]] varies depending on the speaker.<ref name=":3" /> It is likely that the influence of English, Odia, and Telugu has also affected vowel pronunciation over the course of Sora's use.<ref name=":2">Donegan, Patricia, and David Stampe. "South-East Asian Features in the Munda Languages: Evidence for the Analytic-to-Synthetic Drift of Munda." Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society 28.1 (2014): n. pag. Web.</ref> Pronunciations also change in prevocalic (occurring before a vowel) and non prevocalic environments.<ref name=":3" />

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable IPA"
|-
! colspan="2" | 
![[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
![[Dental consonant|Dental]]
![[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Stop consonant|Stop]]
!voiceless
| p
| t
| 
| c
| k
| ʔ
|-
![[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]
| b
| d
| 
| ɟ
| ɡ
| 
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
| 
| s
| 
| 
| 
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| m
| n
| 
| ɲ
| ŋ
| 
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Flap consonant|Flap]]
| 
| 
| ɽ
| r
| 
| 
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| 
| l
| 
| j
| 
| 
|-
|}

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable IPA"
|-
!  
! Front
! Central
! Back
|-
! High
| i
| ɨ
| u
|-
! Mid-high
|  
|  
| ʊ
|-
! Mid
| e
| ə
| o
|-
! Low
|  
| a
|  
|-
|}

== Grammar ==
Sora uses grammatical devices, including subject and object agreement, word order, and noun compounding to show case. It is seen as a predominantly [[nominative-accusative language]] and once again differs from most other languages with its lack of a passive structure.<ref name=":7">Starosta, S. (1976). Case Forms and Case Relations in Sora. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications, (13), 1069-1107. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/20019195</ref> However, just because Sora lacks a passive case does not mean other established forms of grammatical [[Grammatical case|case]] are also missing. Rather, Sora has some complex grammatical cases.<ref name=":7" /> A few examples are as follows:<ref name=":7" />

* [[Nominative case|Nominative]]
* [[Accusative case|Accusative]]
* [[Locative case|Locative]]
* [[Instrumental case|Instrumental]]
* [[Comitative case|Comitative]]
* [[Benefactive case|Benefactive]]
* [[Genitive case|Genitive]]

In addition, Sora, like many other Munda languages, uses relator nouns to link nouns with the other parts of the sentence in order to provide a more specific meaning, called compounding.<ref name=":2" /> These monosyllabic nouns that enhance meaning are called Semantic relator nouns and are used widely in Sora.<ref name=":7" /> Sora also has a combining form for every noun in addition to the full form of the noun.<ref name=":9">Zide, A. (1976). Nominal Combining Forms in Sora and Gorum. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications, (13), 1259-1294. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/20019202</ref> The combining form allows the noun to be attached to a verb root to create a more semantically complex word, similar to compounding in other languages.<ref name=":9"/> Sora contains prefixes, infixes, and suffixes to form its affixation but only uses its suffixes to change the possession of nouns.<ref name=":2" /> The combining form is the form seen when the noun is being used with a verb or another full formed noun.<ref name=":9" /> The full form is the form seen when the noun is standing alone or functioning not in tandem with other parts of speech.<ref name=":9" /> Some templates of Sora combinations between nouns and verbs are as follows:<ref name=":9" />

Verb + Combined Form

Verb + Combined Form + Combined Form

Full Form + Combined Form

Full Form + Combined Form + Combined Form

An example of a Full Form noun shortened into the Combined Form is as follows: ''mənra,'' the Full Form of man, transform into the combined form word --''mər'' . The two—indicate that a Noun (Full or Combined) or Verb has to precede the Combined Form noun; that is the Combined Form Noun can not stand on its own.<ref name=":9" /> Although by no means conclusive, a few general guidelines about the Combined Form is that it depends on where the combination with the verb or other noun is to take place.<ref name=":9" /> If the combined form is to an infix, then its resulting form will be different from if it were to be combined as a prefix. Some examples of Full Form Nouns and their Combined Forms are as follows:<ref name=":9" />

Full Form Combined Form English Translation

ədɘ'ŋ --dɘ'ŋ honeycomb

ərɘ'ŋ --rɘ'ŋ sour

bɘ'nra'j --bɘn flour

ba'ra' --bal gun barrel

kəṛíŋ—diŋ drum

== Vocabulary ==
Sora borrows words from surrounding languages like Telugu and Oriya.<ref name=":9" /> An example of a word borrowed from Oriya is ''kɘ'ra'ñja'<nowiki/>'' which is a tree name.<ref name=":9"/> From Telugu ''mu'nu''', which means black gram, is borrowed.<ref name=":9"/> Moreover, within the Munda family itself most words appear to be mutually intelligible owing to minor differences in pronounications and phonology. [[Kharia language|Kharia]] and [[Korku language|Korku]], two other Munda languages, share mutually intelligible words with Sora.<ref name=":7" /> For example, the number 11 in Kharia is ''ghol moŋ,'' in Korku it is ''gel ḑo miya,'' and in Sora it is ''gelmuy.''<ref name=":7" /> Each 11 in each language looks and sounds remarkably similar to the other 11's. This phenomenon is not just contained in numbers but rather a great deal of vocabulary is mutually intelligible among the Munda languages. Within the Austroasiatic language family more knowledge about Sora vocabulary can be found. The [[Austroasiatic languages|Mon-Khmer]] language family which encompasses the languages primarily spoken in Southeast Asia has lexical [[cognate]]s with the Munda family.<ref name=":2" /> That means that some words found in Sora are of direct proto-Austroasiatic origin and share similarities with other derived Austroasiatic language families.<ref name=":2" /> Words that relate to the body, family, home, field, as well as pronouns, demonstratives, and numerals are the ones with the most cognates.<ref name=":2" />

=== Numerals ===
The Sora [[numeral system]] uses a base 12, which only a few other languages in the world do. [[Ekari language|Ekari]], for example, uses a base 60 system.<ref name=":5">MOHAN, S. (2012). NUMERAL EXPRESSIONS IN KHARIA KORKU, AND SORA: A COMPARATIVE ACCOUNT. Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, 72/73, 367-374. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/43610713</ref> For example, 39 in Sora [[arithmetic]] would be thought of as (1 * 20)+ 12 + 7. Here are the first 12 numerals in the Sora language :<ref name=":5" />

English: one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve

''Sora: aboy bago yagi unji monloy tudru gulji thamji tinji gelji gelmuy migel''

Similar to how English uses the suffix from the numeral ''ten'' after ''twelve'' (such as ''thirteen, fourteen,'' etc.), Sora also uses a suffix assignment to numerals after 12 and before 20. Thirteen in Sora is expressed as ''migelboy'' (12+1), fourteen as ''migelbagu'' (12+2), etc.<ref name=":5" /> Between numerals 20 and 99, Sora adds the suffix ''kuri'' to the first constituent of the numeral. For example, 31 is expressed as ''bokuri gelmuy'' and 90 as unjikuri gelji.<ref name=":5" />

The Sora number system was featured in a puzzle by [[Lera Boroditsky]], found in the More Resources section associated with her [https://www.ted.com/talks/lera_boroditsky_how_language_shapes_the_way_we_think "TED talk"].

== Writing system ==
The Sora language has multiple writing systems.<ref name=":3" /> One is called Sora Sompeng, a native writing system created only for the Sora language. It was developed in 1936 by Mangei Gomango.

[[File:Sora Sompeng script with white background.jpg|center|thumb]]

Sora is also written in the Odia alphabet by the bilingual speakers of Odisha.<ref name=":3" />
[[File:Oriya cons.gif|center|thumb]]

Similarly, Telugu is used by the bilingual speakers living in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.<ref name=":3" />

[[File:Telugu script on patterned background.gif|center|thumb]]

Finally, the last commonly used script to write Sora is the Latin script.

==Media coverage==
Sora was one of the subjects of [[Ironbound Films]]' 2008 American documentary film ''[[The Linguists]]'', in which two linguists attempted to [[Language documentation|document]] several [[moribund language]]s.

==Further reading==
*Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). [http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/sora1254 "Sora"]. ''[[Glottolog|Glottolog 2.7]]''. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
*Ramamurti, R. S. (1931). ''A Manual of the Sora (Savara) Language. Delhi: Mittal Publication.''
*Veṅkaṭarāmamūrti, G. (1986). ''Sora–English dictionary''. Delhi: Mittal Publication.

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080704112703/http://ling.lll.hawaii.edu/faculty/stampe/aa.html Austroasiatic Languages: Munda and Mon–Khmer]
{{incubator|srb}}
{{Languages of India}}
{{Austro-Asiatic languages}}

[[Category:Munda languages]]
[[Category:Endangered languages of India]]

Sora language - Revision history

Khorang: fix references for consistency and fixed typos

imported>RomanSpa at 19:22, 13 August 2021