User:Makbwiki/KuiLanguage(India)

Kui (କୁଇ)(also Kandh, Khondi, Khond, Khondo, Kanda, Kodu (Kōdu), Kodulu, Kuinga (Kūinga), Kuy) is a South-Eastern Dravidian language spoken by the Khonds. The Khond people mainly reside near the mountainous region between the Mahanadi river in Odisha and the northern part of the Visakhapatnam district in Madras. The Khonds expand into many districts, scattering a large area, which is why a variety of linguistic differences in Kui can be noticed depending on the area. Kui is mostly spoken in Odisha; however, because it does not have a script, it is often written in the Odia script. It also bears a resemblance with other languages, such as Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada. The last recorded number of Kui speakers was 941,488, as recorded in 2011. The language is currently listed as vulnerable due to the heavy influence of neighboring, more dominant languages.

Classification
Kui is one of the lesser languages in the larger Dravidian language group. There are over twenty-six Dravidian languages currently known, and these are classified into four genetic subgroups: South Dravidian, South-Central Dravidian, Central Dravidian, and North Dravidian. Kui belongs to the South-Central Dravidian subgroup where Telugu is the major literary language within it, and Gondi, Koṇḍa, Kui, Kuvi, Pengo, Manḍa are the lesser languages.

Kui is categorized as a vulnerable language due to the steadily decreasing number of speakers (2011 census measuring 941,488 speakers).

History
Kui is the language of the Kondh (also spelled Kond, Kondha, Kandha, etc.) tribes. It is one of the largest tribal groups in Odisha, an East Indian state. The Kondhs, who refer to themselves as Kuinga, are mostly known for their cultural heritage and values which revolve around respecting nature. They reside mainly in and around the hilly and forested country between the Mahanadi river in Odisha and the north-west parts of the Visakapatnam District in Madras. Kui also has speakers across the districts of Kandhamal, Boudh, Ganjam, Kalahandi, Koraput, Gajpati, Rayagada, Nayagarh and others. The Kandhamal district in Odisha, specifically, has a fifty-five percent Kondh population, and was named after the tribe. Because Kui is spoken in many areas, it has several alternate names, such as Kandh, Khondi, Khond, Khondo, Kanda, Kodu (Kōdu), Kodulu, Kuinga (Kūinga), and Kuy. This is also why there are regional variations in the vocabulary, pronunciation, and accent of Kui.

Linguistically, the Kondhs are divided into two groups: the Kui Kondh and the Kuvi Kondhs. The Kuvi Kondhs speak the language Kuvi, which is very similar to Kui. The Kuttia Kondhs, another group of Kondhs, who are found in the Muniguda, Nayagarh, Boudh, Ganjam, Kandhamal, G. Udayagiri and Bolangir regions, are said to also speak Kui, while the Kondhs found in the Nabarangpur, Narayan Patna, Kashipur, Kalyansinghpur, Rayagada and Lakhimpur subdivisions are said to speak Kuvi. While the languages have become quite distinct from each other over time, the Kondhs believe that they only speak one language.

Kui is a language that shares many components with other languages. It displays a close kinship to Telugu in particular, and maintains a classic Dravidian form of grammar. While many of the Kondhs have lost their mother tongue and speak Odia (of the Indo-Aryan language family) instead of Telugu, some members of other casts and tribes, especially those of the ‘Pan caste’, have adopted Kui as their language. The Kondhs are in close contact with non-tribal speakers of Odia for a few reasons. First, because it is the official language of the Odisha state. Odia is also the primary linguistic medium in educational, social, economical and religious settings. Additionally, Odia speakers surround Kondh country on three sides. This close connection to Odia has resulted in a language shift of Kui to Odia in some parts of the district while also maintaining stable Kui-Odia contact bilingualism in the remaining areas. The shift from Kui to Odia is of concern particularly because of the vulnerability of Kui. Odia speakers have been slowly pushing Kui out of village markets, where most of the Kui-Odia exchanges take place, resulting in Kondh women being deprived of their economic power to bargain. This influence of Odia, however, is more apparent in the North and North-East of the Kondh country rather the south.

Currently, there is no script for Kui, which is why there is also no written literature. Some individuals have translated Bibles and a few other school books, but these have been written in Odia script. While Kui doesn't have any written literature, it certainly has a rich oral literature, with popular genres including songs, ritual chants, stories for children, riddles, planting songs by women, ploughing songs by men, children's games, symbolic languages, etc. The prose form of Kui is represented by folktales, which account for the major portion of the oral literature. W. Winfield describes Kui as an excellent medium for telling stories. The topics of these stories include activities like hunting, fishing, and agriculture, religious rituals, progress of civilization, and many more. The story-teller role is filled by grandmothers, mothers, grandfathers, and other elders in the community. What is unique about Kui story-telling is that the act itself is interactive. The story-teller and audience respond to each other during the activity, making it more lively and enjoyable for all. The Kui people place great importance on nature and culture based on the Earth around them, and this is evident in their storytelling. In the story of Hen and the Brinjal Plant, a hen plants a seed in the earth, after which she lays her eggs. The seed germinates as a result of the rainfall. Soon after, the hen's eggs hatch and chicks come out. The brinjal plant also bears flowers and fruit. This brief summarization of a Kui story shows an emphasis on the importance of nature and growth.

Like folktales, Kui songs also feature similar themes. These songs can be sung with accompanying music from khanjani, flute, dhol or simple claps and tinkering sound of silver anklets of the damsels. Elders chant hymns to Gods, women transplanting paddy and men tilling the land sing the songs about their work, and children sing their play songs. Anuja Mohan Pradhan specifically describes Kui planting songs as plain, simple, serene, and refreshing. These songs are usually four lines long and are a way for hardworking women to relax and entertain themselves. An example of a Kui planting song (with translation) is as follows:   Karagali kopukusa, [The green (Kopu) leaves of summer,]

Labengani mehana ajasaka aatula losa, [Seeing the youngmen,]

Aatula losa dhono- [The women folk came close to place (assembled to a place)]

Kanubanda lobegosha. [My dear, (in the village) Kanubanda and Lobegosha.]  Despite the vast variety of genres prevalent in oral literature, Kui has been facing endangerment. UNESCO list of endangered languages categorizes Kui as "vulnerable," meaning most children speak the language, but it may be restricted to certain domains, such as at home. As a result, there is a stark difference in vocabulary knowledge between generations, and the rate of intergenerational language transfer is decreasing quickly. One of the main hurdles for the preservation of Kui is the absence of a script or alphabet for the language. A lack of orthography prevents the language from spreading. Another reason for the decline is the adoption of the regionally dominant Odia language as the first language in primary education and English as the language of higher studies.

Official status
Kui is solely spoken in India. It is the most popular tribal language spoken in Kandhamal, Boudh, Koraput, Kalahandi, Rayagada, Nayagarh, Ganjam, Gajapati, Nabarangpur, Sonepur, Angul, and Dhenkanal districts of Odisha. Most Kui speakers, however, reside in the mountainous country that rests between the Mahanadi river in Odisha and the north-west corner of Visakhapatnam district in Madras.

Dialects/Varieties[edit]
There are two main dialects of Kui. The eastern dialect is spoken in and around Ghumasar, and the southern dialect is spoken in Ganjam, Koraput, Kalahandi, Khondhamal, and Boudh. The Linguistic Survey of India from 1906 also lists a third dialect: the western dialect spoken in Chinna Kimedi. Of the dialects, the eastern dialect is considered to be the standard Kui and is used by scholars, such as L. Letchmajee (1902), J.E. Friend-Pereira (1909), and W. Winfield (1928-29), to discuss the language.

Sounds/Phonology
To preface, Kui has no written characters of its own, but the Roman alphabets have been adopted to make the study of the language possible. While some scholars have attempted to create their own alphabet or written form of Kui, none have been officially adopted or taught in any educational setting.

Kui Consonants: k, g, s, j, p, b, v, h, n, m, r, l, ṭ, ṛ, ḍ, ṇ, ñ, t, and d.

Many of these consonants (k, g, s, j, p, b, v, h, n, m, r, and l) are pronounced as they would be in English. The cerebrals (ṭ, ṛ, ḍ, ṇ) are pronounced by turning back the tip of the tongue high into the palate. The dentals (t and d) are pronounced by placing the tip of the tongue behind the teeth. Aspirated consonants are not used in Kui.

Kui Vowels: a, ā, e, ē, i, ī, o, ō, u, and ū.

The Kui language has five short vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and five long vowels (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū). The short vowels are pronounced more quickly than the long vowels, as explained using examples, and long vowels are always marked with the diacritical mark above the letter. The vowels are illustrated below with romanization and International Phonetic Alphabet.

Morphology
Kui, similarly to the other languages of the Dravidian family, is an agglutinative language. The language contains many morphemes that are modified. There are no prefixes or infixes, but there are suffixes and compounds used to modify words. An example of a compound word is derinōmeri (a severe fever) where the first part of the word, deri, means 'great,' and the second part of the wird, nōmeri, means 'fever.'

Syntax
The syntax of Kui is subject-object-verb (SOV), as are the rest of the languages in the Dravidian family.

Examples of Kui word order:

1. Kogāñjū māhā prēk-ātēñjū-- "A lad went to steal mangoes."

- In this sentence, according to the SOV syntax, the subject would be "Kogāñjū" or lad, the object would be "māhā," or mangoes, and the verb would be "prēk-ātēñjū," or the past tense of steal (went to steal).

2. Veska gaṭanju mrahnu tini katitenju--"The woodman cut down the tree."

- In this sentence, the subject is "veska gaṭanju" or woodman, the object is "mrahnu" or tree, and the verb would be "tini katitenju" or cut.

Vocabulary/Lexis
Due to reasons mentioned previously, Kui resembles many different languages. Many Kui words (as well as some grammatical properties) resemble those of Telugu. For example, the word for 'house' in both languages is Illu. Kui also borrows words and other linguistic features from Odia. In the Odisha district, a substantial amount of Odia vocabulary has intermingled in the ordinary speech of the Khonds. However, the influence of Odia is more prevalent in the north and north east of the Khond country than that in the south. Other languages that Kui has a close relationship with include, Kuvi, Kond, Gondi, Kolami, Naiki, Ollari, Gadba, Parji, Pengo, and Manda. While Kui borrows vocabulary from other languages, its total number of words is much less. In fact, there are only about 700 verbs in the entire language.

One interesting characteristic of Kui vocabulary is the absence of words that signify higher forms of thought. As a result, there are no abstract nouns to signify an ideal entity that would exist separate and distinct from a concrete object. Concepts that require a high degree of mental comparison and abstraction, such as civility, are unable to be transcribed in Kui. Another interesting characteristic of this language is the insufficient number of words to specify and differentiate between various kinds of moral qualities and the different forms of higher activities. For example, the word nēg can mean 'good,' 'kind,' 'generous,' 'sympathetic,' 'discreet,' 'modest,' 'pious,' etc. When the need arises to specify a particular moral quality, individuals resort to circumlocution, often without success, however.

Writing system
The Kui language has several similar characteristics to other Dravidian languages. The major word classes are nouns (substantives, numerals, pronouns), adjectives, verbs (intransitive, transitive, and causative), and indeclinables (particles, adverbs, interjections, onomatopoetic words). There are only two genders in Kui: masculine and neuter, or non-masculine class (includes females, spirits, inanimate objects, etc.). Kui also has a clusivity distinction. This means that there are two forms of the first person plural pronouns: an inclusive form and an exclusive form. The inclusive form denotes the person speaking and the person spoken to, while the exclusive form denotes solely the person speaking and excludes the person being spoken to. All of the positive verb forms in Kui have their corresponding negative counterparts, negative verbs. In Roman letters, this is denoted using two dots over the vowel that immediately succeeds the verbal base. For example, "he did not give" would be written as sīätenju.

Numerals
In Kui, only the first two numbers have survived, and numbers beyond that are expressed using Oriya numerals up to the number twenty. Counting beyond twenty is done using multiple of twenties. For example, forty is two twenties, sixty is three twenties, etc.

Examples
Written Examples

1. Āmu kūinganḍeru."We are Kui people." 2. Ī sinḍa nāi tōṛenja nāngi sīatenju."My friend gave this cloth to me."3. Āmu maī nāju tani iḍu ronḍa ḍēspi manamu. "We are building a house in our village."4. Dādani kōgi mrīenju sāki-gātani pala vēga dīna sīnenju. "My brother's little son gives rice every day to the hungry man."