14. Language.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Russell, R. V. (Robert Vane)
Of the Kharia dialect Sir George Grierson states that it is closely allied to Savara, and has also some similarity to Korku and Juāng:7 “Kharia grammar has all the characteristics of a language which is gradually dying out and being superseded by dialects of quite different families. The vocabulary is strongly Aryanised, and Aryan principles have pervaded the grammatical structure. Kharia is no longer a typical Munda language. It is like a palimpsest, the original writing on which can only be recognised with some difficulty.”8 An account of the Kharia dialect has been published in Mr. G. B. Banerjee’s Introduction to the Kharia Language (Calcutta, 1894).
Source notes
1 This article is mainly based on notes taken by Rai Bahādur Hīra Lāl at Raigarh, with extracts from Colonel Dalton’s and Sir H. Risley’s accounts of the tribe.
2Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Kharia.
3Saccharum spontaneum. This grass infests cultivated fields and is very difficult to eradicate.
4Melia indica.
5Ethnology of Bengal.
6Jungle Life in India, p. 89.
7Linguistic Survey, vol. iv. Munda and Dravidian Languages, p. 22.
8Ibidem, p. 129.