How one language became four: the impact of different contact-scenarios between “Sadani” and the tribal languages of Jharkhand

Abstract

Four Indo-Aryan linguistic varieties are spoken in the state of Jharkhand in eastern central India, Sadri/Nagpuri, Khortha, Kurmali and Panchparganiya, which are considered by most linguists to be dialects of other, larger languages of the region, such as Bhojpuri, Magahi and Maithili, although their speakers consider them to be four distinct but closely related languages, collectively referred to as “Sadani”. In the present paper, we first make use of the program COG by the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) to show that these four varieties do indeed form a distinct, compact genealogical group within the Magadhan language group of Indo-Aryan. We then go on to argue that the traditional classification of these languages as dialects of other languages appears to be based on morphosyntactic differences between these four languages and similarities with their larger neighbors such as Bhojpuri and Magahi, differences which have arisen due to the different contact situations in which they are found.