# Santali language

Santali (ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ, Pronounced:, সাঁওতালি, ସାନ୍ତାଳୀ, सान्ताली) is a Kherwarian Munda language spoken natively by the Santal people of South Asia. It is the most widely-spoken language of the Munda subfamily of the Austroasiatic languages, related to Ho and Mundari, spoken mainly in the Indian states of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Odisha, Tripura and West Bengal. It is a recognised regional language of India as per the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. It is spoken by around 7.6 million people in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, making it the third most-spoken Austroasiatic language after Vietnamese and Khmer.
Santali was a mainly oral language until developments were made by European missionaries to write it in Bengali, Odia and Roman scripts. Eventually, the Ol Chiki script was developed by Raghunath Murmu in 1925. Ol Chiki is alphabetic, sharing none of the syllabic properties of the other Indic scripts, and is now widely used to write Santali in India.

## History

According to linguist Paul Sidwell, Munda languages probably arrived on the coast of Odisha from Indochina about 4000–3500 years ago, and spread after the Indo-Aryan migration to Odisha.
Until the nineteenth century, Santali had no written language and all shared knowledge was transmitted by word of mouth from generation to generation. European interest in the study of the languages of India led to the first efforts at documenting the Santali language. Bengali, Odia and Roman scripts were first used to write Santali before the 1860s by European anthropologists, folklorists and missionaries including A. R. Campbell, Lars Skrefsrud and Paul Bodding. Their efforts resulted in Santali dictionaries, versions of folk tales, and the study of the morphology, syntax and phonetic structure of the language.
The Ol Chiki script was created for Santali by Mayurbhanj poet Raghunath Murmu in 1925 and first publicised in 1939.
Ol Chiki as a Santali script is widely accepted among Santal communities. Presently in West Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand, Ol Chiki is the official script for Santali literature & language. However, users from Bangladesh use Bengali script instead.
Santali was honoured in December 2013 when the University Grants Commission of India decided to introduce the language in the National Eligibility Test to allow lecturers to use the language in colleges and universities.

## Geographic distribution

* Jharkhand (44.4%)
* West Bengal (33%)
* Odisha (11.7%)
* Bihar (6.2%)
* Assam (2.9%)
* Maharashtra (1.4%)
* Chhattisgarh (0.2%)
* Tripura (0.1%)
* Other states (0.10%)
Santali is spoken by over seven million people across India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal, with India being its native country and having the largest number of speakers. According to 2011 census, India has a total of 7,368,192 Santali speakers (including 358,579 Karmali, 26,399 Mahli). State wise distribution is Jharkhand (2.75 million), West Bengal (2.43 million), Odisha (0.86 million), Bihar (0.46 million), Assam (0.21 million) and a few thousand in each of Chhattisgarh, and in north-eastern states Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram.
The highest concentrations of Santali language speakers are in Santhal Pargana division, as well as East Singhbhum and Seraikela Kharsawan districts of Jharkhand, the Jangalmahals region of West Bengal (Jhargram, Bankura and Purulia districts) and Mayurbhanj district of Odisha.
Smaller pockets of Santali language speakers are found in the northern Chota Nagpur plateau (Hazaribagh, Giridih, Ramgarh, Bokaro and Dhanbad districts), Balesore and Kendujhar districts of Odisha, and throughout western and northern West Bengal (Birbhum, Paschim Medinipur, Hooghly, Paschim Bardhaman, Purba Bardhaman, Malda, Dakshin Dinajpur, Uttar Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts), Banka district and Purnia division of Bihar (Araria, Katihar, Purnia and Kishanganj districts), and tea-garden regions of Assam (Kokrajhar, Sonitpur, Chirang and Udalguri districts). Outside India, the language is spoken in pockets of Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions of northern Bangladesh as well as the Morang and Jhapa districts in the Terai of Koshi Province in Nepal.

### Official status

Santali is one of India's 22 scheduled languages. It is also recognised as the additional official language of the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal.

### Dialects

Dialects of Santali include Kamari-Santali, Khole, Lohari-Santali, Mahali, Manjhi, Paharia.

## Phonology
### Consonants

Santali has 21 consonants, not counting the 10 aspirated stops which occur primarily, but not exclusively, in Indo-Aryan loanwords and are given in parentheses in the table below.
| | | Bilabial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | (ɳ)* | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Stop | voiceless | p (pʰ) | t (tʰ) | ʈ (ʈʰ) | c (cʰ) | k (kʰ) | |
| Stop | voiced | b (bʱ) | d (dʱ) | ɖ (ɖʱ) | ɟ (ɟʱ) | ɡ (ɡʱ) | |
| Fricative | Fricative | | s | | | | h |
| Trill/Flap | Trill/Flap | | r | ɽ | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | w | l | | j | | |
    *ɳ only appears as an allophone of /n/ before /ɖ/.
In native words, the opposition between voiceless and voiced stops is neutralised in word-final position. A typical Munda feature is that word-final stops are "checked", i. e. glottalised and unreleased.

### Vowels

Santali has eight oral and six nasal vowel phonemes. With the exception of /e o/, all oral vowels have a nasalized counterpart.
| | Front | Central | Back |
| High | i ĩ | | u ũ |
| Mid-high | e | ə ə̃ | o |
| Mid-low | ɛ ɛ̃ | | ɔ ɔ̃ |
| Low | | a ã | |
There are numerous diphthongs.

### Word prominence

Santali prosody exhibits iambic patterns with stress is always released in the second syllable in most disyllabic words, excepting loan words from Hindi, Bihari, Bengali and Assamese.

### Vowel harmony

Like all Kherwarian languages, vowel harmony in Santali is a morphological triggered process.

## Morphology

Santali, like all Munda languages, is a suffixing agglutinating language.

### Nouns

Nouns are inflected for number and case.

#### Number

Three numbers are distinguished: singular, dual and plural.
| Singular | ᱥᱮᱛᱟ (seta) | 'dog' |
| Dual | ᱥᱮᱛᱟᱼᱠᱤᱱ(seta-ken) | 'two dogs' |
| Plural | ᱥᱮᱛᱟᱼᱠᱚ(seta-kɔ) | 'dogs' |

#### Case

The case suffix follows the number suffix. The following cases are distinguished:
| Case | Marker | Function |
| Nominative | -Ø | Subject and object |
| Genitive | ᱼᱨᱮᱱ (animate) ᱼᱟᱜ, ᱼᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ (inanimate) | Possessor |
| Comitative | ᱼᱴᱷᱮᱱ/ -ᱴᱷᱮᱡ | Goal, place |
| Instrumental-Locative | ᱼᱛᱮ | Instrument, cause, motion |
| Sociative | ᱼᱥᱟᱶ | Association |
| Allative | ᱼᱥᱮᱱ/ᱼᱥᱮᱡ | Direction |
| Ablative | ᱼᱠᱷᱚᱱ/ᱼᱠᱷᱚᱡ | Source, origin |
| Locative | ᱼᱨᱮ | Spatio-temporal location |
Transcript version:
| Case | Marker | Function |
| Nominative | -Ø | Subject and object |
| Genitive | -rɛn (animate) -ak', -rɛak' (inanimate) | Possessor |
| Comitative | -ʈhɛn/-ʈhɛc' | Goal, place |
| Instrumental-Locative | -tɛ | Instrument, cause, motion |
| Sociative | -são | Association |
| Allative | -sɛn/-sɛc' | Direction |
| Ablative | -khɔn/-khɔc' | Source, origin |
| Locative | -rɛ | Spatio-temporal location |

#### Possession

Santali has possessive suffixes which are only used with kinship terms: 1st person -ɲ, 2nd person -m, 3rd person -t. The suffixes do not distinguish possessor number.

### Pronouns

The personal pronouns in Santali distinguish inclusive and exclusive first person and anaphoric and demonstrative third person.
Personal pronouns :
| | | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| 1st person | exclusive | ᱤᱧ | ᱟᱹᱞᱤᱧ | ᱟᱞᱮ |
| 1st person | inclusive | ᱤᱧ | ᱟᱞᱟᱝ | ᱟᱵᱳ |
| 2nd person | 2nd person | ᱟᱢ | ᱟᱵᱮᱱ | ᱟᱯᱮ |
| 3rd person | Anaphoric | ᱟᱡ | ᱟᱹᱠᱤᱱ | ᱟᱠᱳ |
| 3rd person | Demonstrative | ᱩᱱᱤ | ᱩᱱᱠᱤᱱ | ᱳᱱᱠᱳ |
Transcript version:
| | | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| 1st person | exclusive | iɲ | əliɲ | alɛ |
| 1st person | inclusive | iɲ | alaŋ | abo |
| 2nd person | 2nd person | am | aben | apɛ |
| 3rd person | Anaphoric | ac' | əkin | ako |
| 3rd person | Demonstrative | uni | unkin | onko |
The interrogative pronouns have different forms for animate ('who?') and inanimate ('what?'), and referential ('which?') vs. non-referential.
Interrogative pronouns :
| | Animate | Inanimate |
| Referential | ᱚᱠᱚᱭ | ᱳᱠᱟ |
| Non-referential | ᱪᱮᱹᱞᱮᱹ | ᱪᱮᱫ |
Transcript version:
| | Animate | Inanimate |
| Referential | ɔkɔe | oka |
| Non-referential | cele | cet' |
The indefinite pronouns are:
Indefinite pronouns :
| | Animate | Inanimate |
| 'any' | ᱡᱟᱸᱦᱟᱸᱭᱟᱜ | ᱡᱟᱸᱦᱟᱸ |
| 'some' | ᱟᱫᱚᱢ | ᱟᱫᱚᱢᱟᱜ |
| 'another' | ᱮᱴᱟᱜᱤᱡ | ᱮᱴᱟᱜᱟᱜ |
Transcript version:
| | Animate | Inanimate |
| 'any' | jãheã | jãhã |
| 'some' | adɔm | adɔmak |
| 'another' | ɛʈak'ic' | ɛʈak'ak' |
The demonstratives distinguish three degrees of deixis (proximate, distal, remote) and simple ('this', 'that', etc.) and particular ('just this', 'just that') forms.
Demonstratives :
| | | Simple | Simple | Particular | Particular |
| | | Animate | Inanimate | Animate | Inanimate |
| Proximate | Singular | ᱱᱩᱭ | ᱱᱚᱣᱟ | ᱱᱤ | ᱱᱤᱭᱟᱹ |
| Proximate | Dual | ᱱᱩᱠᱤᱱ | ᱱᱚᱣᱟᱠᱤᱱ | ᱱᱤᱠᱤᱱ | ᱱᱤᱭᱟᱹᱠᱤᱱ |
| Proximate | Plural | ᱱᱳᱠᱳ/ᱱᱩᱠᱩ | ᱱᱚᱣᱟᱠᱳ | ᱱᱮᱹᱠᱳ/ᱱᱩᱠᱩ | ᱱᱤᱭᱟᱹᱠᱳ |
| Distal | Singular | ᱩᱱᱤ | ᱳᱱᱟ | ᱤᱱᱤ | ᱤᱱᱟᱹ |
| Distal | Dual | ᱳᱱᱠᱤᱱ | ᱳᱱᱟᱠᱤᱱ | ᱤᱱᱠᱤᱱ | ᱤᱱᱟᱹᱠᱤᱱ |
| Distal | Plural | ᱳᱱᱠᱳ/ᱩᱱᱠᱩ | ᱳᱱᱟᱠᱳ | ᱮᱹᱱᱠᱳ/ᱤᱱᱠᱩ | ᱤᱱᱟᱹᱠᱳ |
| Remote | Singular | ᱦᱟᱹᱱᱤ | ᱦᱟᱱᱟ | | |
| Remote | Dual | ᱦᱟᱹᱱᱠᱤᱱ | ᱦᱟᱱᱟᱠᱤᱱ | | |
| Remote | Plural | ᱦᱟᱹᱱᱠᱳ | ᱦᱟᱱᱟᱠᱳ | | |
Transcript version:
| | | Simple | Simple | Particular | Particular |
| | | Animate | Inanimate | Animate | Inanimate |
| Proximate | Singular | nui | noa | nii | niə |
| Proximate | Dual | nukin | noakin | nikin | niəkin |
| Proximate | Plural | noko/nuku | noako | neko/niku | niəko |
| Distal | Singular | uni | ona | ini | inə |
| Distal | Dual | onkin | onakin | inkin | inəkin |
| Distal | Plural | onko/unku | onako | enko/inku | inəko |
| Remote | Singular | həni | hana | | |
| Remote | Dual | hənkin | hanakin | | |
| Remote | Plural | hanko | hanako | | |

### Numerals

The basic cardinal numbers (transcribed into Latin script IPA) are:
| 1 | ᱢᱤᱫ | mit' |
| 2 | ᱵᱟᱨ | bar |
| 3 | ᱯᱮ | pɛ |
| 4 | ᱯᱩᱱ | pon |
| 5 | ᱢᱚᱬᱮ | mɔ̃ɽɛ̃ |
| 6 | ᱛᱩᱨᱩᱭ | turui |
| 7 | ᱮᱭᱟᱭ | ɛyae |
| 8 | ᱤᱨᱟᱹᱞ | irəl |
| 9 | ᱟᱨᱮ | arɛ |
| 10 | ᱜᱮᱞ | gɛl |
| 20 | ᱤᱥᱤ | -isi |
| 100 | ᱥᱟᱭ | -sae |
The numerals are used with numeral classifiers. Distributive numerals are formed by reduplicating the first consonant and vowel, e.g. babar 'two each'.
Numbers basically follow a base-10 pattern. Numbers from 11 to 19 are formed by addition, "gel" ('10') followed by the single-digit number (1 through 9). Multiples of ten are formed by multiplication: the single-digit number (2 through 9) is followed by "gel" ('10'). Some numbers are part of a base-20 number system. 20 can be "bar gel" or "isi".
ᱯᱮ
pe
(3‍
ᱜᱮᱞ
gel
10‍)
or
or
or
(ᱢᱤᱫ)
(mit’)
((1‍)
ᱤᱥᱤ
isi
20‍
ᱜᱮᱞ
gel
10‍)
ᱯᱮ ᱜᱮᱞ {     } or {     } (ᱢᱤᱫ) ᱤᱥᱤ ᱜᱮᱞ
pe gel or (mit’) isi gel
(3‍ × 10‍) or ((1‍) × 20‍ + 10‍)
30

### Verbs

Verbs in Santali inflect for tense, aspect and mood, voice and the person and number of the subject and sometimes of the object.

#### Santali TAM

There are no specific markers for the Imperative.
| Santali verb paradigm | Transitive | Intransitive |
| Future/Present | -Ø | -ok |
| Present Progressive | -et (-kan) | -ok-kan |
| Simple Past | -ket | -en |
| Pluperfect | -let | -len |
| Perfect | -akat | -akan |
| Past perfect | -akat-tahɛ̃kan | -akan-tahɛ̃kan |
| Past progressive | -et-tahɛ̃kan | -ok-kan-tahɛ̃kan |
| Optative | -ke | -k-ok |
| Irrealis | -le | -len |
| Conditional | -khan | -khan |

#### Subject markers

| | | singular | dual | plural |
| 1st person | exclusive | -ɲ(iɲ) | -liɲ | -lɛ |
| 1st person | inclusive | -ɲ(iɲ) | -laŋ | -bon |
| 2nd person | 2nd person | -m | -ben | -pɛ |
| 3rd person | 3rd person | -e | -kin | -ko |

#### Object markers

Transitive verbs with pronominal objects take infixed object markers.
| | | singular | dual | plural |
| 1st person | exclusive | -iɲ- | -liɲ- | -lɛ- |
| 1st person | inclusive | -iɲ- | -laŋ- | -bon- |
| 2nd person | 2nd person | -me- | -ben- | -pɛ- |
| 3rd person | 3rd person | -e- | -kin- | -ko- |

#### Indirect object indexing

Transitive verbs may form agreements with non-arguments/outside/indirect objects. To denote inalienable possession, prefix -t- is attached to the applicative forms of the pronouns; otherwise it is marked in the noun phrase and functions as an attribute.
ako-ge=ko
3PL-EMPH=3PL.SUBJ
idi-ke-t-ko-t-ako-a
take-AOR-TR-3PL.OBJ-POSS-3PL-FIN
ako-ge=ko idi-ke-t-ko-t-ako-a
3PL-EMPH=3PL.SUBJ take-AOR-TR-3PL.OBJ-POSS-3PL-FIN
'they took theirs away themselves'

#### Finiteness

Any finite verbs will attach -a, except the imperative and in the subordinate clause.
noa-rɛak
this-GEN
mit
one
ʈaŋ
CLF
kɘhɘni
story
lɘi-ad-iɲ-a=e
tell-APPL.PST.A-1SG.OBJ-FIN=3SG.SUBJ
noa-rɛak mit ʈaŋ kɘhɘni lɘi-ad-iɲ-a=e
this-GEN one CLF story tell-APPL.PST.A-1SG.OBJ-FIN=3SG.SUBJ
'he told me a story about this'

#### Causative

There are two causative markers: a- and -oco. -oco is attached on every type of verb stems, and a- is restricted to two transitive verbs jɔm ('eat') and ɲu ('drink').
sɛn-otʃo-daɽe-a-e-a=ɲ
go-CAUS-ABIL-BEN-3SG.OBJ-FIN=1SG.SUBJ
sɛn-otʃo-daɽe-a-e-a=ɲ
go-CAUS-ABIL-BEN-3SG.OBJ-FIN=1SG.SUBJ
'I let/made him come'

#### Reciprocal

Infix -pV- turns transitive and ditransitive verb roots into reciprocal meaning, but in many verbs it also conveys that the action is done together by two participants.
dal ('beat') > dapal ('beat each other')
landa ('laugh') > lapanda ('laugh together')

#### Benefactive

The benefactive for transitive and ditransitive stems is -ka in Northern Santali dialect and -ka-k in Southern Santali. In Southern Santali, if the object is animate, the last -k will be replaced by pronominal clitics.
tɔl ('bind') > tɔlka ('to bind for somebody')

#### Medio-passive

Transitive verbs and a limited number of intransitive and intransitive-transitive verb roots will take -jɔn to form the Medio-passive voice.

#### Passive and Reflexive

Transitive roots, transitive-intransitive roots, and causative stems will take -ok to derive passive stems. In the transitive-intransitive roots, it denotes the prominence of transitivity. Attaching it to transitive verbs will create reflexivity.
ɲɛl ('see') > ɲɛlok ('be seen') (passive)
ranoco ('cause to medicate') > ranocok ('be caused to medicate') (causative > passive)
mak ('cut') > makok ('cut oneself') (reflexive)

### Nominal verbalisation

In daily speeches, nominal roots can be found functioning as verbs with appropriate inflection. The verbalization of nominals extends to interrogatives and indefinites. Adjectives that are derived from nominals can take inflection as well as person indexation, too.
ɔjɔn-ad-e-a=ɲ
medicine-APPL.PST.A-3SG.OBJ-COP-FIN=1SG.SUBJ
ɔjɔn-ad-e-a=ɲ
medicine-APPL.PST.A-3SG.OBJ-COP-FIN=1SG.SUBJ
'i gave him medicine'
uni
He
dɔ
TOP
am-ak'-kan-a-e
2SG-GEN-COP-FIN-3SG.SUBJ
uni dɔ am-ak'-kan-a-e
He TOP 2SG-GEN-COP-FIN-3SG.SUBJ
'he is yours'
hana
that.far
dare
tree
noa
this
dare-ko-khɔn
tree-PL-ABL
dɔ
TOP
sɛ̃ɽa-gɛ-a
big-FOC-FIN
hana dare noa dare-ko-khɔn dɔ sɛ̃ɽa-gɛ-a
that.far tree this tree-PL-ABL TOP big-FOC-FIN
'that tree is bigger than this tree'

### Serial verb constructions

Two or more verbs and modifiers can combine together to derive a compound verb. Normally they are combinations of two transitive verbs or two intransitive verbs and limited numbers of transitive+intransitive and intransitive+transitive combinations.
ɲɛlɲam-led-e-tahɛ̃kan-a=ko
see.find-PLUP.A-3SG.OBJ-COP-FIN=3PL.SUBJ
ɲɛlɲam-led-e-tahɛ̃kan-a=ko
see.find-PLUP.A-3SG.OBJ-COP-FIN=3PL.SUBJ
'they had seen and found him'

### Auxiliary verb constructions

Complex predicates are pervasive in Munda clause structure. In Santali, there are univerbated auxiliary constructions to mark many functions, such as denoting a quick, sudden, or intense action. Santali AVCs exhibit split-doubled pattern: the lexical verb may index the object argument, and the auxiliary verb may index the subject argument.
ɲɛl-gɔt-ke-d-e-a=pɛ
see-AUX-AOR-TR-3SG.OBJ-FIN=2PL.SUBJ
ɲɛl-gɔt-ke-d-e-a=pɛ
see-AUX-AOR-TR-3SG.OBJ-FIN=2PL.SUBJ
'you guys suddenly caught sight of him' or 'you guys saw him off/said good-bye to him'

### Negation

There are three particles in Santali used to express negation: baŋ, ɔhɔ and alo. baŋ and ba (shortened form) are the negatives for interrogative and declarative sentences; ɔhɔ is the emphatic negative of declarative sentences; alo is the prohibitive negative in the imperative. These negation particles will take away the subject marker from the verb.
ba=ko
NEG=3PL.SUBJ
sap-le-d-e-a
catch-ANT-TR-3SG.OBJ-FIN
ba=ko sap-le-d-e-a
NEG=3PL.SUBJ catch-ANT-TR-3SG.OBJ-FIN
'they did not catch him'
alo=m
PROH=2SG.SUBJ
ləi-Ø-a-e-a
tell-PRES-BEN-3SG.OBJ-FIN
alo=m ləi-Ø-a-e-a
PROH=2SG.SUBJ tell-PRES-BEN-3SG.OBJ-FIN
'don’t tell him'

## Syntax

The unmarked word order of Santali is SOV, though topics can be fronted. The subject marker may appear enclitic to the verb itself if there is no preceding word.
ir-ke-t-ta-e-a=ko
cut-ASP-TR-POSS-3SG.OBJ-FIN=3PL.SUBJ
ir-ke-t-ta-e-a=ko
cut-ASP-TR-POSS-3SG.OBJ-FIN=3PL.SUBJ
'they have cut his (paddy)'

## Vocabulary

In daily conversations, Santali speakers generally employ high percentages of words of native Austroasiatic/Munda/Santali origins, compared to other Munda languages such as Kharia and Juang. Loan words, mostly borrowed from Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Nepali, Oriya and even English may account for almost 20% of the lexemes of daily needs. Younger generation who have opportunities to engage in higher education tend to be more accustomed with lexical influence from neighboring languages as well as English.

## Influence on other languages

Notable linguist Khudiram Das authored the Santali Bangla Samashabda Abhidhan (সাঁওতালি বাংলা সমশব্দ অভিধান), a book focusing on the influence of the Santali language on Bengali and providing a basis for further research on this subject. 'Bangla Santali Bhasha Samparka (বাংলা সান্তালী ভাষা-সম্পর্ক) is a collection of essays in E-book format authored by him and dedicated to linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji on the relationship between the Bengali and Santali languages.