SOME NOTES ON THE KUI DIALECT AS SPOKEN BY THE KUTTIA KANDHS OF NORTH-EAST KORAPUT by T. BURROW AND S.

BHATTACHARYA According to the Linguistic Survey of India, IV, p. 457, Kui has two principal dialects, "one eastern and spoken in Gumsur and the adjoining parts of Bengal (sic, i.e. Orissa), and one western spoken and spoken in Chinna Kimedi". Gumsur and Chinna Kimedi are two tracts in the Ganjam district the former lying roughly in the eastern and the latter in the south-western part of it. Of these two dialects the Gumsur dialect has been considered to be the standard Kui, and has been mainly dealt with by scholars writing on the Kui language, namely J. P. Frye (1851), J. Smith (1876), L. Letchmajee (1902), J. E. Friend-Pereira (1909), and more recently W. Winfield (1928-29). In view of its more comprehensive nature and greater accuracy the work of Winfield may be considered to have superseded the earlier works to a large extent, and at the present time it is the standard work on the Kui language. The Linguistic Survey based its account of Standard Kui on the works of Smith and Letchmajee. Its specimen from the district Khondmals agrees with the standard dialect but shows a more marked influence of Oriya. For the Chinna Kimedi dialect it was content to repeat the brief notes of L. Letchmajee from which not much more emerges than that original l is retained instead of being changed to .d (ilu "house" as opposed to i.du, etc.). A specimen is also given of the dialect as spoken in Kalahandi which shows this feature, and also intervocalic -c- (-cc-) for the usual Kui -s- (-ss-) in places where this feature occurs also in the Kuttiya dialect and in Kuvi (i.e. mach~ra "were", sach~njft "he went" [macceru, saccenju]). Apart from these features there are no signs of any very great differences between these dialects and the standard, but nevertheless they should offer a fruitful field of investigation for further research. The dialect of the Kut..tiya Kandhs of which a short account is given in the following pages, has so far not figured in any work on the Kui language. While touring the Koraput district in the winter of 1957-58 we decided to spend a short time investigating this dialect, partly on

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account of the reputation the Ku.t.tiyashave of being the most primitive of the Kandhs, and partly because situated as they are near the boundary which separates the Kui and Kuvi languages they might possess a dialect intermediate between the one and the other. Among the earliest references to the Kut..tiyas is the following by Campbell :1 "The inhabitants of the villages above named are a wild race known as Kootia Khonds, speaking a dialect of the Khond language that differs considerably from that spoken by the surrounding tribes." It appears from his narrative that throughout his journey in the Kandh land in connection with the suppression of human sacrifice, he found the language more or less uniform everywhere except in this one area. He further writes: "In the Moota of Ryabiji the Meriah prevails to a great extent, and the natives resemble in character and appearance those of Chinna Kimedy, but the dialect they speak is different and could with difficulty be understood by my interpreters" (p. 198). Ryabiji and Chandrapur, two villages in the Bisam-Cuttack taluk of Koraput district, are located in the heart of the Kut..tiya tract, and it may be assumed that the dialect referred to by Campbell in this passage also refers to that of the Kut.t.iya Kandhs. Verrier Elwin distinguishes the Ku.t.tiyas from the rest of the Kandhs, emphasizing their primitive character and their dependence still on axe cultivation.~ In order to make acquaintance with the Ku.t.tiya dialect we camped at Gudari some 25 miles north of Gunupur for a week. So far as we could gather the southern part of the Ku.t.tiyatract lies a few miles to the west of Gudari. The forest area inhabited by them extends from this place along the borders of Bisam-Cuttack and Gunupur taluks to Ryabiji and Chandrapur. We realised later that Chandrapur situated far more into the interior would have been a more suitable place for our work. As it was, we were dependent on such Kut.tiyas as we could contact in Gudari, but it was difficult to retain their services for any long period, so the material gathered was less extensive than it would have been under more favorable conditions. Nevertheless we were able to ascertain the main features of the dialect which proved to be interesting, and which woull deserve further study. It is a dialect of Kui, not Kuvi, but it possesses a number of characteristics of the latter language, and in general when it differs from the standard Kui it shows features which can be found in Kuvi. The most obvious of these
1 Campbell (John), A personal Narrative of Thirteen Years Service among the Wild Tribes of Khondistan (1864), p. 228, Elwin, V., Tribal Myths of Orissa. p. xliv.

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features is the change of initial s- to h-; hapu "thorn": W. sapu; hikk- "to bend the head": W. sika; Mpa "chicken": W. s[pa; Mvenfi "pus": W. st'venfi; heni "razor": W. sine; heru.ri "squirrel": W. siru.ri; h~je "brinjal": W. s~je; hoju "porcupine": W. soju; h6l- "to enter": W. s~lba. Towards the north of the area this h- begins to give way to the standard s-, and informants coming from this distance gave such forms as su.da "mouth", serki "neck", and s6.dagga "lungs". Intervocalically the same change takes place (viha "fly", kruhu "antelope") but this feature appears also widely in standard Kui (W. kruhu, viha, beside krusu, visa). Another feature shared by Kuvi, and as remarked above by the Kui as spoken in Kalahandi is the correspondence of intervocalic -c- (-cc-) with Kui -s- (-ss-), 3 where primitive Dravidian had either -cc- or -r_r- > -cc-. Such cases of -c- (-ce-) recorded by us are dcaska "women", dci ki- "to choose", eecur "how many", kicc- "to nip, pinch", jecce'e "I pulled", .ddc- "to measure", d~c- "to carry on the head", nacc- "to press", pucci "anthill", mdci "dirt", muce- "to shut", r~e- "to rub, smear", mftci "mucus of nose" and so forth: cf. W. asaska, aska, eso.ri, kisa, jese, .ddsa, .clftsa, nasa, pusi, mdsi, musa, r~sa, m~si, and on the other hand Kuvi d.za (S.) "female", achali (F.) "to sort out", echura (F.) "how much", kie- (Su.) "to pinch", recee'e (Su.) "i pulled", lde- (Su.) "to measure", duee- (P.), jucc- (Su.) "to carry on the head", pucci (Su. P.) and so forth. Original -.d- is preserved in Kui and Kuvi when preceded by a nasal (Kui s?nd.u, s~n.dru "gum, resin": Kuvi (Su.) hin.dru "id.") but intervocally, with few exceptions (e.g. Kui ~.da "goat": Ta. yat.u, at.u) it is changed in the manner to be described below. Such cases of-d- (and by metathesis .d-) which occur in both languages, or which occur in Kui and have not developed out of original -l-, are to be explained as representing either original -.d.d-(Kui a.da "intercepting object": Te. a.d.damu "obstacle", etc.; o.da "to swear": Te. ot.t.u "an oath", o.d.du "to wager", etc.), or -.n.d- when the nasal has been lost (e.g. Kui, Kuvi ko.d- (ko.d.d-) "to take, buy" based on the past stem kon..d- of kol.- "to take"); Kui pu.du "pimple, a dry itch" : Te. puv.du "a sore". Such instances of-.d- (which is always distinct from-.rin pronunciation as well as in origin in both Kui and Kuvi) are not very common in the two languages, but in Kui the frequency of-d- is much increased because of a strong tendency to turn original -l- into -.d-. The change is by no means universal, mainly affecting a number of common nouns (pa.du "tooth", ka.du)"foot", etc.) but rarely appearing in verbal roots where -l- is generally preserved (]el- "to pull", nol- "to ladle", etc.). The change is also commonly absent in the case of suffixal syllables (e.g.
a In these cases Winfield gives -s-, the earlier grammars and the LSI usually
-ss-

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pumbeli "foam") though Winfield's pogda "pullet", if miswritten for *pog.da, would contain such a variant as opposed to pokla "a hen which
has never laid an egg". The change is attested both in the case of -lrepresenting original -l- (i.du "house", etc.) and -l- representing original -!(o.di beside oli "bear"), but the former class is decidedly the commoner. The change is one of the characteristic features that distinguish Kui from Kuvi since the latter retains Dravidian -l- unchanged, while it changes -!into -.r-. This origin of-.d- in Kui may be recognised in common Dravidian words as instanced above and in such further examples as me.du "peacock," vi.du "bow" and k6.du "pestle"; also in a further set of examples, where the word is not so widely represented, from the evidence of the sister language Kuvi, e.g. kf~.di "paddy": Kuvi kfdi; sM.i "raw, unripe, green": Kuvi hi'li "id.", .daangi "night": Kuvi la'a~a "id.", .daisi "early in the morning": Kuvi (Su.) la'isi'e "id.". In other eases where even a Kuvi etymology is not available the nature of the -.d- remains problematical. If a Kui dialect could be found which consistently retained -/- such doubts would be solved. The Ku.t.tiya dialect, as recorded by us, shows no great difference from the standard Kui in this respect, though it was the/-form that was recorded in cases where Winfield gives alternatives (gila "upper arm", rn?la "female child", vali "stone": W. gila/gi.da, mila]mi.da, vali/va.di). To judge by the slender evidence of the LSI the Kalahandi dialect goes a good deal further in the preservation of-l- (ilu "house", kalu "leg", and salanga, i.e. s6langa, W. s6.danga "angry" are recorded), but even here the change to -.d- occurs (neg. base si.d- "is not"). As far as the dialect of Chinna Kimedi is concerned L. Letchmajee asserts that the -.d- of the Bod and Gumsur dialects is universally changed to -/-, but detailed information is lacking, and since his statement cannot be true as regards -.d- in Kui when it is not out of -/-, it must be treated with reserve. The above feature illustrates the fact that in spite of certain Kuvi characteristics the dialect is quite definitely Kui, not Kuvi. At this point we should emphasise that Kui and Kuvi are to be regarded as two separate languages, and not as two dialects of the same language as has sometimes been held. They are of course closer to each other than to any other Dravidian language, as their common name would lead one to believe, but they are mutually unintelligible, and they differ from each other in many important respects, phonetic, morphological and lexicographical. In the vast majority of cases the Kut..tiya dialect sides with Kui and not Kuvi. Of the important phonetic differences the first to be mentioned is the treatment of Dravidian -./-. In Kui this develops to -l-, and after this

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fusion it is liable, along with original -l- to be further changed into -.d(oli, o.di "bear"). On the other hand in Kuvi Dravidian- ./- is changed to-r(o'.ri "bear", etc.), a treatment which it shares with Konda and Pengo. The second important difference is to be seen in the treatment of the ori-nal alveolars, in which the two languages diverge in several respects. The combination -_r_r-developed to -cc-, which in Kui is further modified to -s-, although, as pointed out above, certain dialects, including that of the Kut.t.iyas agree with Kuvi in this respect (Kuvi pucci "anthill", Kui (K) pucci, (W)pusi "id.": Ta pu_r.ru, etc.). The group -_n.r-developed to -nj- in both languages and this may be further simplified by loss of the nasal (e.g. Kui (K) mfmji "three": Ta. mfm__ru,etc., with nasal preserved, and Kuvi pajji, Kui paji: Ta. pan__ri"pig", etc., ~ with nasal assimilated. It is however in the treatment of the single alveolar -.r- that the two languages differ most, and in addition to diverging one from another, neither language displays unitary treatment. Furthermore the matter is complicated by the fact that in these two languages - as also in Konda, Pengo, and Gondi - intervocalic -_r- and -.d- fell together, and have undergone the same development in each language. In the first place we have the development of the alveolar (and along with it of the original -d- which has coalesced with it) to -y- in Kuvi and -jin Kui: (a) Original -_r-: Kni aja "to become cool", Kuvi ay- "id.": Ta. a_ru,etc. Kui (K) ~ju "water", Kuvi ~yu: Ta. ya.ru, a_ru, etc. Kui n~ja "to sprout", Kuvi. n~y-: Ta. n@'u"appear, rise", na_ru"sprout", etc. (b) Original -.d-: Kui naju, Kuvi nayu "village": Ta. nat.u, etc. Kui 6ja "to break" (intr.), Kuvi 6y-: Parji 6.d-, etc. Of these two alternative treatments it is possible that the one appearing in Kuvi is the more original, since Kui shows a development of y- to -j- in cases where -y- is original and not out of -r- or -.d-, e.g. in kaju "hand", Kuvi keyyu. The Ku.tt.iya dialect shows the Kui development in such examples as ~ju "water" and 6j- "to be broken." It also agrees with Kui in a more idiosyncratic series where we find a development to -g-, and where the distinction between the two languages, Kui and Kuvi, is particularly striking, because in the corresponding Kuvi words the result is not -y- as
4 N o t e t h a t in the same way G o n d i has paddi 'pig', b u t mand 'three'.

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in the examples quoted above, but -_r-. The Kut.t.iya examples which we recorded coincide with the Kui forms. They are ug- "to butt" (past stem ugd-) and peg- "to pick up" (impv. pegumu, past lsg. pegd'e, absol. pegjanahi). These belong to a series of nine verbs recorded by Winfield and given by him in the infinitive form in which there has been transposition of the consonants of root and suffix, e.g. pebga "to pick up" < *pegba (1 sg. pr. pegi, 1 sg. pastpegde). The other verbs in this series are abga "to be suitable" (agi, agde), ibga "to cast down" (igi, igde), ubga "to strike against, butt" (ugi, ugde), gebga "to associate with" (gegi, gegde), tubga "to fasten a necklace" (tugi, tugde) nobga "to wash" (nogi, nogde), mabga "to roll on the ground" (magi, magde), and subga "to roast" (sugi, sugde). Among these the etymology of abga and gebga is at present uncertain, but in the case of the others we find that Kuvi-r- corresponds to Kui -g- (and also that Kon.da in such cases has -r-). E.g. : ibga: Kuvi ir- (irh-) "to throw"; ubga: Kuvi ur- (urh-) "to butt", Kon.da u.r-; tubga: Kuvi tur- (turh-) "to put on, wear"; nobga: Kuvi nor- (norh-) "to wash", Kon.da no.r.; pebga: Kuvi per- (perh-) "to pick up", Kon.da per-; mabga: Kuvi mar- (marh-) "to roll over", Kond.a mar-; subga: Kon.da su_r-, Gondi surrana "to bake". It can also be stated that both Dravidian -r- and -.d- are represented in these examples, -r- for instance in pebga (Ta. pe.rukku, etc.), and -.d- for instance in nobga (Ta. nut.akku, etc.). As for the -g- of Kui itis presumably to be taken as a secondary develppment of-j-, and as a parallel we may note that kaju "hand" also appears as kagu. Thus the developments of Kui and Kuvi are quite independent of each other, and it can also be observed that even in other cases Dravidian -r- (-.d-) is represented by -r- in Kuvi. An example is found in Kuvi p~r"to chase" (of. Kon.da p~r-, Pengo p3z- "id.") corresponding to Kui peha "to drive away" (with exceptional development to -h- in this case). Similarly we have Kuvi re- (recc-) "to pull" (of. Konda tel-, _re.rh- "id.") corresponding to Kui jelba, and re'nai (S.) rechali (F.) "to descend" corresponding to Kuijapa. On the other hand the reverse treatment seems to have taken place in the case of Kui r~ga "the small stalk on which a grain of paddy hangs"; cf. Kuvi (P)jeka "head of rice", jengfl (F.) "an ear of paddy", jekan_ga (F.) "ears of paddy". We also find this consonant represented by -r- in Kui in some cases where it has come to stand after an initial consonant as a result of metathesis: e.g. gr~mb'a "to learn" gr~ppa "to teach" (of. Go. kar~tana "to

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learn" with -r- originally alveolar, and still distinguished as such in certain dialects), and mr~nga "to be lost" (Ta. ma.rai etc.). It is possible that in these cases the Kuvi treatment was -j- (with a reversal of the usual situation) if we assume that in j~p-(j~pit-) "to learn, teach" and j~ng- "to get lost" the initial of a consonant group has been elided (i.e. j~p- < *gj~p., and j~ng- < *mj~ng-). Finally we may observe that when the original alveolar was immediately followed by a voiceless consonant, the development was to -s- in both Kui and Kuvi. This is dearly seen for instance in the plural action forms of some of the above verbs, e.g. Kui iska, uska and peska corresponding to ibga, ubga and pebga. Similarly in Kuvi we find iskali (F.) "to dump down" beside it- (irh-) "to throw". The same applies of course in the case of original -.d-, so that we have for instance Kui n~ska, pl. of naju "village", and likewise Kuvi naska, pl. of nayu. A question to be investigated in studying a Kui dialect was that of the glottal stop. This feature is exceedingly prominent in Kuvi and it is, abundantly, though not consistently registered by both Schultze and Fitzgerald. The situation in Kui is less dear. Winfield ignores this feature except in treating of the negative conjugation, in the case of which he speaks of "a curious momentary break in the pronunciation of the verb between the verbal base and the succeeding inflections" (Grammar, p. 62; he writes two dots on the succeeding vowel to indicate this, ves~'nju "he will not speak", etc.). Otherwise, in cases where the equivalent Kuvi word shows the glottal stop, there is no sign of it in Kui according to Winfield, e.g. keeri "arrow", v~e "tomorrow", maisi "the day after tomorrow", bilu.ri "evening": Kuvi (F.) gi'erri "arrow-shaft", (Su.) vi'e "tomorrow", ma'e "day after tomorrow", mil'ora "evening". On the other hand J. E. Friend-Pereira, writing on what is essentially the same dialect as Winfield, recognises " a peculiar abrupt sound" in many forms in addition to the negative; e.g. gP~ "I do", Ida "maiden", da'u "after", and so forth. It seems therefore not unlikely that Winfield has to a large extent ignored a feature which ought in fact to be noted, though his reference to hiatus being very common (Grammar, p. 1) may in fact refer to this feature. In the Ku.t.tiya dialect we found the glottal stop to be frequent, though it is pronounced with noticeably less force than in KuvL On the whole Friend-Pereira's observations were confirmed as far as this dialect is concerned, but it is possible that the further one goes north the less obvious the sound will be. Examples of words in which we recorded the glottal stop are as follows" vira'a "earth, soil", raka'a "blood", ki'e.ri"castor plant", maha'a "mango",

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p.ri'a "unripe mango", be'ot.i "back", d.d'a~a "night", sro'i "soot", rna'esi "tomorrow", ote'e "I took", o'i "I will take", a'e "is not", mu'enu "I cannot",jePenu "I did not pull". Compare on the one hand W. vira, raka, maha, p.ria, beot.i, .ddangi,sr6bi, rnaisi, ore, oi, ~', muk'nu,jelb'nu, and on the other hand Kuvi (Su.) i'ira "earth, soil", (P.) raka'a "blood", (Su.) maha'a "mango", ki'e.ni "castor plant", la'a~a "night", (Su.) ro'va, (S.) roowa, (F.) r6'ya "soot", (Su.) ote'~ "I took", (F.) a'e "not".
Another matter to be considered when working on Kui was the accuracy of the material already avaiIable. As remarked above, the work of Winfield may be regarded to have superseded that of his predecessors in most respects (but not as we have seen in respect of the glottal stop, and not in certain other matters such as numerals), so it seemed advisable to test a certain number of points on which there remained some doubt. These points are mainly questions of vowel length, and of the distinction between dental and retroflex. Here a few corrections were found to be necessary. For instance one would expect for comparative reasons that kr6ga (W.) "fat" should have retroflex -.r- (cf. Kuvi (Su.) korva, etc.), and this in fact is the form we recorded (k.r6ga). Similar cases appear in our k.rahoni "a dance", k r6- "to be bent", and t.rdda~ga "liver" compared with Winfield's kraha "to swim, to move with the arms outstretched while dancing", kr6su "bending, bowed", trd.da "liver". The reverse variation is seen between our srd~gu "breast", and Winfield's s.rdngu. The correctness of our form is confirmed by Kuvi (Su.) rd~gu "breast". In other cases where our material from Kui is not sufficient, a similar correction of the forms given by Winfield is suggested by the evidence of Kuvi. For instance in view of Kuvi (Su.) g.ro'li "a double handful", and grih(grist-) "to slide, slip", it may be considered probable that Kui gr6.da "the scoop or receptacle made by holding both hands together" and grihpa "to be smooth, slippery", should be corrected to g.r6da and g.rihpa, but further work in the field is necessary before such points can be settled. In the matter of quantity it may be noted that we recorded gut.a "stump" (cf. Kuvi (Su.) gut.t.u, pl. gu!ku "id.") whereas Winfield gives gftt.a, and consequently there is some reason to doubt the correctness of the form given by him, just as there is in the case of his sat.a "to point", in view of the form assumed by this word elsewhere in Dravidian (Ta. cut.t.u, etc.), though this needs to be tested. As further instances of doubtful quantity in Winfield we may mention dmbu "arrow" (F.P. ambu; our informants gave a different word, lati), and ohpa "to break" and kahpa "to plaster" in view of the contrast with 6ja "break" (intr.) and kdja "to plaster" (cf. Kuvi (F.) kaiyali, Pc. kaz- "to plaster").

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In some cases we observed variation between surd and sonant in this dialect as compared with standard Kui. Thus, in agreement with Kuvi, it has ki- "to do" as opposed to W.'s giva (also kiva in his B. dialect), and harp- "(hen) to flap wings" W. jarpa, but also sarpa, Kuvi (Su.) han.-, (S.) hanpinai "id.". Variation in the opposite direction is seen infira "cloth": W. s~ra "rag"; gateli "cot" (Kuvi P. galeli) : W. kale; jaleri ki- "to sift": W. s(tleri "sieve"; grah- "to excrete" (Kuvi Su. grah- "id."): W. k.rahpa; Our K. ga.d.da "stream" contrasts in the same way with Kuvi (S.) kad.d.a "id.". Similar differences are found between Kuvi and W.'s Kui, e.g. Kuvi (S.) gitori kinai "to tickle": W. kfti "tickling"; Kuvi (Su.) kuguri "dove": W. guguri "id."; Kuvi (S.) kudu "broken rice": W. gudu "id."; Kuvi (F.) kandromi grayu "a round hole": W. gunduri "a round thing, a circle"; Kuvi (F.) gPerri "arrow shaft": W. keeri "arrow"; Kuvi(S.)g6peri "grasshopper": W. kopolosi (of. Malt. qopo); Kuvi (F.) gonjali "to string" (bow), open (umbrella)": W. k6nja "to stretch something from one point to another", "to string bow"; Kuvi gro'li "a double handful": W. kr6.da; Kuvi te.deli "waist": W..d~ti "id."; Kuvi (S.) tulpinai "to tramp": W..du.da "to tread, trample"; Kuvi (Su.)pr6.di "banyan": W. br6d.i; Kuvi (Su.) grayu "hole, pit": W. krau; Kuvi (S.) gohnai "to outreach"; W. kohpa "to hold out the hand"; Kuvi tang- "to hang": Kui (K.) dang- "id." (W. drfmga, with intrusive -r-); Kuvi (Su.) p6da "girl"; W. b6da. In all such cases of course the voiced variant is secondary. The word for "calf" we got, gra.du, contrasts with W..dra.du "id.", and it appears that occasionally in W.'s dialect there is a change from gr(gr-) to .dr- (dr-). This seems also to have happened in .drapa "to step over" (cf. Ta. kata- "to cross", etc.), in .dra- "thunder" (of. Kuvi (Su.) gn.u"to thunder"), and in d.rahpa "to be hard, stiff", cf. Te. gad.usu "hard", etc. Kuvi on the other hand has for "calf" .dalu, with loss of g- ( < *g.dalu). Another feature of Winfield's Kui is the appearance of an intrusive -rwhich has no etymological justification. This happens for instance in dranga "to swing", as opposed to Kuvi tfmg-, and the -r- is also absent in Ku.t.tiya dang-. The same has probably happened in the various forms of the word for "tail" given by Winfield (d.r~lu, .dr~n.du, .dr~ngoni, .dr~oli, .dr~onji) to judge from the corresponding forms in Kuvi (le~guni) and Pengo (hi,gun). It will be seen that the initial .d- after which this secondary -r- has been introduced represents original -l-, and that in Pengo the original -l- has been assimilated to the succeeding nasal. The similarity between this word and Sanskrit tahgaIa- is worth noting, and the Sanskrit word, for which no indo-European etymology is available is in all probability derived from the Dravidian word which is preserved in these

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three languages. The Kut..tiya form of the word we received, .d~.dru, shows an intrusive -r- in the second syllable in the singular and in the first syllable in the plural (.dr~t.ku). In connection with initial s- an intrusive -.rappears in W. s.rohpa "to come out, emerge", srrppa "to cause to emerge". No trace of -.r- is found in the forms of this verb which appear in the related languages: Kuvi ho'- (hott-) "to come out" (F. hrchali "to go out", S. hrnai "to start"), Pengo hr- (hott-), Kon.da s6- "id." (cf. also Kur. co'ond, Malt. choye "to rise, start"). The Ku.t.tiya form we obtained here agrees with that of Kuvi: 3 sg. pr. hopinne "it comes out". The same thing seems to have happened in Kui s.r~nga "turmeric": Kuvi h~nga "id.", and in Kui srahpa "to be sour" (K. srapi "sour"): Kuvi (S.) hapne "pungent". It is also quite certainly secondary in Kui sr~nda "to blow the nose": Kuvi (F.) sindali "id." (cf. also Ta. c~ntu, etc.) No -i"- was found in the Ku.t.tiya form of this word mf~ci~a Mndi rna'i "I am blowing my nose". In the Kui forms quoted, s.rohpa and srahpa, there also appears an -hwhich seems to have no etymological justification. In neither case was -hrecorded in the Ku.t.tiya dialect. Likewise we recorded mranu "tree", as opposed to W. 's mrahnu, and .d~ka "carry on the shoulder" (Kuvi .d~k-) as opposed to his .dehka. Another example of this kind in Winfield is to be seen in s.rahnu kr.di "bullock": compare Kon.da ran (pl. raku) "bullock", and further Kon.da .rapi, Go. sa.rapi, etc. "cowdung". Among other minor phonetic points we may mention the occasional palatalisation of-g- by one of our informants, namely in vanjus "tongue" (W., and another of our informants vaggosi) and unjuli "finger nail" (W. unguliS). An intervocalic -h- instead of-g- appears in nehi "good" (in agreement with Kuvi) and in joh- "to wash clothes" (Kui negi, jrga). We recorded b-, not v-, in b.r?c- "to press" as opposed to W.'s v.r~sa. An occasional tendency was found to turn -6- into -a- (hf~ju "boil": W. srju). In a number of words a more original -e- was found where W. has -i-, e.g. in ro nese "one day", W. ronisi (cf. Kuvi Su. n~cu "day", ro n~cu "one day"). Metathesis appeared in ripi "mahua" which is not found in W. (irpi). As opposed to W. u.rgi "boiled rice" we recorded orgi "porridge made of man deya grain". In the case ofp.ru~g- "to snap, break", tr. p.ruk(W. plupka "break") we seem to have an instance, rare in this dialect but regular in Kuvi, of-.r- representing original -!-. We find -n.d- simplified to -n- in vd.roni "next year" as opposed to W. va.ron.di (of. also Kuvi, Su.
5 Winfield derives this word from Oriya, thinking presumably of Skt. anguli- and its derivatives, but apart from the difference of vowel the I A word means 'finger', not 'finger-nail'. It would therefore seem better to attach the Kui word to Ta. ukir, Ka. uguru 'nail', etc.

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T. BURROW AND S. BHATTACHARYA

van.ona "id."). Note also K. murenji "spine" (W. mud.renfi, Kuvi Su. mur'esi). Occasional instances were noted of an inorganic -h- at the beginning of words, e.g. hit.ananji "youngest (son)", cf. W. it.a "last born,
youngest". In the short time available not a great deal of grammatical material could be collected, but as far as we could see the divergences from Winfield's Grammar are not very great. Among the forms of the plural ka.rka and kaska from kanu "eye" and kaju "hand" agree in form with Kuvi (kan.ka, keska) rather than with W. (kanga, kaka), and are no doubt older forms (cf. also Go. A. ka.rk "eyes"). No doubt also an older type in Kui are the metathesised plurals tr~ka "ants" and tr~ka "bamboos" from taru and t~ru,Gas opposed to W.'s tarka and t~rka which have been remade on on the analogy of the singular. In the same way no doubt a form like Kui m~nga "fishes" has been reformed in comparison with I(uvi (Su.) mn.~ka, but in this case the Ku.tt.iya dialect also has m~nga. K. vacaka, plural of vanju "finger", contrasts with W.'s vaska or vaskaka, but Winfield mentions (Grammar, p. 14) that the plural suffix -ska is sometimes lengthened to -saka. A similar plural was recorded by us in m~caka "eggs", sg. mYnju. In this case m~nju, the original form of the word for "egg" (cf. Go. m~nj "egg") is not found in WinfieId's Kui. Instead, he has m~sa, pl. mYsaka "testicle". His plural form corresponds exactly to ours (taking into account the alternation between -c-and-s- in the two dialects), but m~sa is a new form based on the plural. Nouns ending in -~gu show the same substitution of unvoiced consonant for nasal voiced consonant in the plural, sra~gu "breast", pl. srSkaka. The same kind of plural was recorded by us in takaka, pl. of tangu "hoof", a word that does not seem to be elsewhere recorded either in Kui or Kuvi. The declension follows much the same pattern as that given by Winfield, with occasional variations. The accusative seemed to be rarely used except in the case of masculine nouns (acc. mr~nani "son", kuenani "man"), the simple stem usually sufficing. In the few forms recorded from neuter nouns (e.g. kra.diti "tiger", pf~siti "cat") the termination was -ti in contrast to the -tini given by Winfield. The locative was commonly in -ta, e.g..de.dita "on a tree", neppita "on the shoulder", hu.data "in the mouth", kurita "in a pot". Winfield does not give this, though he has -to "at" and -tani "in". Other forms recorded agreed with W. (e.g. abl. * Kui (K.) t~ru 'bamboo' = Kuvi d~.ru id. W. gives quite a different meaning for t~ru, 'shoot, bud'. Possibly his meaning should have been 'bamboo shoot' but the matter can only be decided by first-hand enquiry.

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-t.i, rfpet.i "from above") including the common postpositions, e.g. heni.rahi "with a razor" (W. rai with no -h-), Oju-la'i "in the water". The masculine nominative singular termination is in Kui -enju, -anju (mr[enju "son", eanju "he", sasenju "he went"), on the other hand in Kuvi it appears as -esi, asi (Su. mir'esi "son", evasi "he", haccesi "he went"). The Kut..tiya dialect has -nj- like the rest of Kui, but final -i as in Kuvi: mrienji "son", eanfi "he", etc. Agreement with Kuvi is particularly noticeable in the case of the personal pronouns. In the Kut..tiya dialect these are n~nu 'T', m~mu "we" (exd. ; we did not record the inclusive form), n~nu "thou", mfru "you", as opposed to W. dnu, ~mu, [nu, [ru. On the other hand compare Kuvi n~nu, mdmbu, n[nu, m[mbu. The dialect has separate accusative forms distinct from the dative, whereas in W.'s dialect the latter case is also used for the accusative. These forms are nana'a "me" and nina'a "you" (forms for the plural are not recorded). The genitive forms recorded are n~, ma, nf, rn[ (n~ .dukri "my wife", ma kuri "our pot", nf k6d. i "your cow", mf n~yu "your (pl.) village"). We recorded also a longer form na'i e.g. n~'i rin.di mrdgaska "my two daughters". According to W. the genitives are n~i, m~i, n~, m~. As opposed to W.'s neuter pronominal form Tri "this" we recorded a base id- (id inari "what is this?", ida 6mu "take this"). The corresponding pronoun in Kuvi is idi. W. gives an- as the interrogative base (ani "what", anari "what thing", etc.), but remarks that in some districts the base is in-. It is the latter type of interrogative which is found in the Ku.t.tiya dialect: ini, inari. In the dialect of Kui studied by Winfield the Dravidian numerals beyond "two" have been lost, and this is generally the case in the more northern dialects. The same loss has occurred in Kuvi, and so far no trace of any Dravidian numeral above "two" has been found in any dialect of that language. On the other hand certain dialects of Kui less exposed to Oriya influence have preserved the Dravidian numerals up to "seven", and these are given in the grammars of L. Letchmajee and J. E. Friend-Pereira. According to the Linguistic Survey (IV, 469) the Dravidian numerals up to "ten" are preserved in the dialect of Chinna Kimedi, but no forms are quoted. The statement must be treated with scepticism unless confirmation is forthcoming. In the Kut.t.iya dialect the numerals up to "seven" are preserved. The simplest form of the numerals appears in certain standard combinations, e.g. ro nese "one day", ri nese "two days", rnf~ dina, "three days", ndl dina "four days", s~ dina "five days", hdja dina "six days", o.ri dina "seven days". More commonly in connection

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T. BURROW AND S. BHATTACHARYA

with non-masculine nouns the following longer forms are used: ron.di "one", rin.di "two", manfi "three", nalgi "four", s~ggi "five", haja gota "six", o.rigo.ta "seven" (e.g. ron.dikoju "one fowl", rin.dikoska "two fowls", etc.). Masculine forms up to "four" were recorded: ro'onfi "one man", ri'er/ri'ari "two men", mu'ar "three men", nalur "four men". Beyond that the affix gan.di (W. gan.di "body, person") is used: s~ gan.di, haja gan.di, o.ri gan.di "five (six, seven) men". The numerals up to "four" may also receive the inflections of the first and second persons: mamu ri'atamu "we two", mamu mu'atamu "we three", m~ru ri'atatari "you two", miru naltatari "you four", etc. Above "twenty" the counting is normally in scores: ri kr.ri "40", mft kr.ri "60", s~g gr.ri "100", o.rig grpi "140", etc. The verbal forms recorded conform in the main to the system of Winfield, but there are certain points of difference. In the past tense W. has the first person singular termination -e (takite "I walked", krte "I reaped"), that is to say the same ending as the neuter 3rd sg. The corresponding termination Ku.t.tiya dialect is -e'e (kite'e "I did", reste'e "I said", etc.), a form which closely agrees with that of Kuvi (Su. paste'~ "I spread", etc.). It is probably therefore a more original form of the termination which has been shortened in the more nothern dialects. Another peculiarity is that in the verbs of W.'s first conjugation (i.e. verbs with past stem in -it- as opposed to simple -t-) a different termination, -enu, is used: kftritenu "I fell", tumbitenu "I sneezed", maskitenu "I exchanged", etc. Otherwise the conjugation of the two simple tenses, past and future, is the same as W.'s, except that the glottal stop appears in the first person of the future (ki'i "I will do"), and there is a final -i instead of -u in such forms as vatenji "he came", vateri "they came", h~nenji "he will give" and maneri "they are". The imperative forms are the same as W'.s, but note the forms of the first person plural: regina "let us cut (corn)", kina "let us do", hon.d~na "let us cut up (meat)" regina "let us thatch". This form is mentioned by Friend-Pereira (p. 47, sana "let us go"), but ignored by Winfield except for the form of the negative verb kgma (Grammar, p. 74). The relative participles agree with W. and also the verbal participles of the present (e.g. h~ndi, vehpi, 60 and of the past (vaja, pilca, pegja). Likewise the adverbial participles (tacci vamu "bringing come"), which as in W. are often repeated (dahi dahi "seeking", .dricci .dricci "dragging). Elsewhere absolutives are formed, as in W. (p. 131 ft.), by the addition of "conjunctional particles" to the past verbal participle. Corresponding to W.'s -nai we have form in-nahi: e~ganahi "having climbed", pegjanahi "having picked", palganahi "having lowered the head". This -nahi may

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131

appear shortened to -ni (p~cani "having pressed", hr.rcani "having inserted"), or even to -n (jejan "having pulled"). An infinitive in -oni is frequent: ueboni "to drink", h~.roni "to see", tr~boni "to wander". It may also be used as a noun: k.rahoni "a dance". Winfield (Grammar, p. 136) gives a corresponding form in -on.di, pagon.di "to fight", etc. Compare the similar change of-n.d- to -n- in K. v&oni "next year": W. v&on.di. The four compound tenses follow the same pattern as in Winfield, and as in Winfield both uncontracted (6i mane "she is taking") and contracted (rinenfi "he is taking") forms are found. In our material the contracted forms are considerably more abundant than the uncontracted ones. A suffix -esi added to the past stem and making temporal or conditional adverbs is recorded in a few instances, e.g. ticcesi "if on eats", or "when one eats", but the material is somewhat scanty". Similar forms appear not to be registered elsewhere. The Kui language, along with Kuvi, has developed a special type of verbal inflection which is used when the first or second persons form the direct or indirect object of the verb, and occasionally when some more general reference to them is implied. This conjugation is formed by the insertion between the root and the terminations of certain augments, namely -a- (s~ai "I will give [you]": s~i "I will give [him, them]"); -ara(sfaragnu "I will not give [to you": sfO'nu "I will not give [to him, them]"), -ta- (v~tai "I will strike [you]": v~i "I will strike [him, them]"), -tara(v~tara~'nu "I will not strike [you]": v~gnu "I will not strike [him]"). For the full details see Winfield who calls these augments "transition particles". These "particles" seem to represent, in a partly disguised form, the common Dravidian verbal base ta/tar- "to bring, to give (to you or me)", which functions elsewhere in Dravidian (e.g. alreadyin Old Tamil) as an auxiliary verb combined with the verbal root. The restriction of its reference to the first and second persons remains the characteristic feature of this type of conjugation in Kui. The elision of the initial t- in -a- and -ara- is natural in such a subsidiary verb, and we may cite in comparison the contracted forms of the compound tenses where the ma- of the verb manis elided. Our forms correspond in the main to Winfield's: Mai "I will give (to you)", tl~tai "I will twist (your arm)", t6stamu "show (me)", etc. The only difference seems to be that the form in -ara- (-tara-) is more widely used. In addition to examples in the future tense (naccara'i "I will press (you)", etc. : cf. W., p. 105, peharai "I will drive (you) away"), it is found also in the past tense where it is not given by W. : kiccaratenji "he nipped (you or

132

T. BURROW AND S. BFIATTACHARYA

me)", pand.arate'e "I sent (you)"). Instances of this formation being used with a more general reference ot the first or second persons appear in the following examples: .dStamu "lie down (here, near us)", j~tara'enu "I will not descend (down to where you are); cf. Winfield p. 109. Another type of extended conjugation in Kui is made by what Winfield calls "the motion particle" -ka, which is also inserted between root and termination: mehkai "I will go and look", mehkate "I went and looked". Similar forms were given by our informants, e.g. pihka'i "I willleave (you) and go", dahka'i "I will go and look for", and (with the variant -gatr~ga'i "I will go for a walk". The forms of the first person singular of the past tense differ from W.'s in having the termination -enu: tr~gatenu "I went for a walk", takatenu "I went and fetched". This -ka- is perhaps to be connected with the ka- "to go" which appears in Kurukh kgmd (alternating with ker-, kal-), and in the present stem ka- of the Brahui verb hining "to go". In the Kuvi language a type of atmanepada is commonly formed by the use of the auxiliary verb ko.d.d-. In Kui Winfield makes no mention of this in his account of the auxiliary verbs (pp. 123-128), but we got some forms of this kind from our Kut..tiya infomants: e.g. nd vanju kracan go.ditenu "I cut my finger", maha'apegjan go.dumu "pick yourself a mango". As far as can be seen from these two examples the auxiliary is added to the past verbal participle with affixed -n. It is possible that further investigation will show this construction to be generally current in Kui. We found also that the verb h~- "to give" was in common use as an auxiliary: e.g. dahani tacca hiat.u "having sought bring", kutta h~amu "sew (something for me)." In these examples the auxiliary is added to the past verbal participle. In some cases it is added to the past verbal participle with affixed -n, and in these cases the initial of the auxiliary is voiced: mr~kjan jPi "I will hide". This usage is probably imitated from the very frequent use of the verb "to give" as an auxifiary in the local Oriya vernacular. Winfield does not give this in his list of auxiliary verbs. The following forms were also noted: drpa-vinne "(dog) barks", "(cow) lows", arpa-vite "(cow) lowed", ~ju valga-vinnu "water boils", ~ju valgavitu "water boiled", himba urpa-vinnu "porridge is boiling over". No similar forms are given by Winfield. They contain apparently the infinitives of the verbs concerned in the beginning, but the remainder of the formation is not dear. As was to be expected the dialect contains a considerable number of words not recorded by Winfield, and something like half of these are words which are also found in Kuvi. Cases of the latter are seen in ava

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133

"elder brother's wife" (Kuvi F. awa "siter-in-law"), ~d- "to get wet" (Kuvi ~d- "id.") ek- "to load (on a car0, Kuvi. S. ekhnai (over burden"), kappeli "bitter" (cf. Kuvi Su. S. kambeli "id."), kamb- "to ripen, (hair) to become grey" (Kuvi kamb- "id."), kriu-peja~a "ear-wax" (Kuvi kirpejja "id."), kirga viha~a "a kind of bees" (Kuvi Su. P. kr~yya, F. kiringya "bee"), kuri "pot" (Kuvi kurri "id."7), koraka (pl.) "horse-gram, dolichos uniflorus'" (Kuvi Su. kora, pl. koraea "id."; Kui (W.) has Oriya loanword kolta), krandu "mongoose" (Kuvi Su. krandu "id."), ga.dda "river" (Kuvi Su. ka.d.da "id."), guti "mouth" (Kuvi Su. guti "id."), jaggu "cloud" (Kuvi ht~gu "cloud, sky"), tumb- "to sneeze" (Kuvi Su. tumm- "id."), nam- "to believe" (Kuvi S. namminai "id."), p~c- "to press, squeeze, milk" (Kuvi Su. p?c- "id."), pon.da "milehcow" (Kuvipon.da "id."), prtu "male of animals" (Kuvi prtu "id."), munju "forehead" (Kuvi. Su. munju "id."), mrftmbu "face" (Kuvi mf~rnbu "id."), mluk- "to draw water (by dipping in pot)" (Kuvi Su. mn.uk- "id."), trip- "to wash (face)", (Kuvi Su. F. rap"id."), vrih- "to ask, beg" (Kuvi Su. rTh- (dst-), S. rihnai, F. dssali "to ask, beg"; thus it appears that an initial v- has been lost in Kuvi, which makes the connection with Ta. ira- "to beg", etc. doubtful), lanj- to bale water (with hands) (Kuvi Su. P..ranj- "id."; possibly the same as W.'s lanj"sprinkle"), h~guli "the itch" (Kuvi Su. h~guti; W. has the verb s~pka "to itch"), hrmb- "to rub, stroke" (Kuvi S. hrmbinai "to scour scrub"). The following words appear to be recorded neither in Winfield nor in the available Kuvi material: ira "build of field", una "hole", karbeli "quickly", kakori "cold (of water)", kfdu "cheek", ko.di "hoe", klfma "quill of porcupine", kleh- "to build (house)", girer "lizard", ger- "to open", jura "Aonla tree" (cf. Kon.da sf4rika maran "id."), t.u4l.umi"a kind of drum" (cf. Ta. tut.umai, Te. tu.dumu "a kind of drum"), groho (in the plural, grohoga) "phlegm", g.ria "bank of river", .di.di "midday" (cf. Pj. t.it.te-delkul "id."), .dTma "numbness, loss of sensation (in a limb)", .don.do "thigh", td~gu (pl. tdkaka) "hoof", to.rkenji "thief" (L. Letchmajee, p. 39, has torka "thief"), nati "chin", parp- "to comb" (of. Kol. paT- "id."), pf~hi mranu "Kusam tree, Schleichera trijuga" (Kon.da pfczi "id.", el. Ta. pft, pftvu, etc. "id.") prkari "smoke" (of. Te. poga, etc.), p.r~k- "(food) to become stale" (cf. Tu. parahguni "id."), p.ruma "feather", m~.ra "ricefield", mresk- "to rub", ruk- "to scrape together with the hand", reg- "to cut (corn)", r~pe "aloft", .r~d-, "to float", lukuri "cool shade", sfrta "lower" This word appears in 'VizagapatamKondh' text givenin the GramophoneRecords of the Languagesand Dialects of the Madras Presidency (Madras, 1927), p. 72. As far as we have been able to observeit is not elsewhererecordedin Kuvi.

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(cf. Go. Tr. sir--sirta "under, beneath"), h~ca "mat", hal- "to dissolve (intr.). Other words appear in a somewhat different form from that given in Winfield's account of Kui. Of these a number have already been mentioned in connection with the phonetic variations between this dialect and Winfield's. In addition the following variant forms may be mentioned: acc- "to fear": W. aja; ~ci ki- "to choose": W. aska; or?i "rat, mouse": W. o.dri, Kuvi orli; kdnju "carrying yoke": W. kdsa "id." (probably originating from the plural, cf. the remarks on W.'s m~sa as opposed to K. m~nju "egg" above; Kuvi (Su. F.) has k~nju "id.", but F. also gives k~cha); kdt.- "to fix, fasten, secure" (W. only in combination with giva: k~t.a giva "to latch"); kitkoro.di "armpit" (cf. W. kitki lombe.ri); kiskinj scorpion" : W. kiskant.oeri); k.r6- "to bend" (intr.), k.r6p- "to bend" (tr.): W. krrsu inba "to bend"; graha "rust": W. kai; grucc- "to smear the floor with cowdung": W. g.ruhka; .dumb- "to be extinguished (fire)" (Kuvi also has .dumb-) :W. lumba "id."; pikk- "to be heaw" (Kuvi pikk"id."): W. p~ga; pua "embers" (na.ri pua; Kuvi P. pYtya "burning coal", F. puiya "spark"): W. pf~vala "spark"; p~r- "to chase, drive away" (Kuvi p~r-): W. peha; bre- "to burst" (intr., e.g. boil, 3 sg. past brete): W. cf. probably pr~ju "a cleavage"; mu~gi "nose": W. mungeli; muci traka "a kind of ants" W. mura.ri, (P.) mujo.ri "id."; mrag- "to hide": W. marga; mr~ga, pl. mrdgaska "daughter" (Kuvi ma~ga, 131.m~ska): W. mrau, pl. mrauska; m.rO.du"turban": W. mrr.du "a strip of cloth for tying a coil of hair"; r~nj- "to blaze" : W. riva "to burn"; ru- "to set light to" (1 sg. past rute'e): W. ruta "id." (1 sg. past rutite); .rgtga "shade, shadow" (cf. Kuvi P..r~a "id."; probably < *nriga, cf. Ta. ni.ral, etc.): W. (only in his dialect P.) rage.di "shade, shadow"; re- "to be burnt" (3 sg. nt. past vete): W. vehpa (vehte); vr~g- "to bend": W. v.r~ja; horovanga, pl." a species of ants which bite": W. so.dro "a medium sized black ant". From the point of view of meaning some clarifications were obtained. The tree name kehel(i), which W. defines as "a species of tree the wood of which is used for handles and tools", was found to be the DhSman tree (Grewia tiliaefolia), and a connection was thereby established with Go. (Tr. k~sla, (M) kehela "id."). The word nippi was given for "shoulder" (W. nipi "the back of the neck"), and so it became clear that it is to be connected with To. n~'p "shoulder" and Ko.d. nippi "id." (cf. also Kuvi P. neppu "shoulder"). Winfield gives sohpa (P.) with the meaning "to stick in the throat, choke", but out informants gave the same verb in the meaning "stick to the pot (rice when cooking)", so we must assume that the verb has the quite general meaning "stick, get stuck". Our t~ru (pl. tr~ka)

THE KUI DIALECT AS SPOKEN BY THE KUT.TIA KANDHS

13 5

"bamboo", agreeing with Kuvi d~ru "id.", has quite a different meaning from W.'s "shoot, bud", and if the meanings are correctly recorded in both cases, they will probably have to be considered as separate homophones. The Ku.t.tiya dialect has ~ju "water", with the expected phonetic correspondence to Kuvi ~yu. On the other hand Winfield has ~ju in the sense of "cooked rice, food, rice-water, gruel, a meal". This also should probably be regarded as a homophone, and a corresponding Kuvi word is probably to be assumed from Schulze's h~ru y u t a ittinai "marinate" (Vocabulary, p. 103; lit. "put salt in thej~u"; the initial j- (i.e. y-) can be taken as the common prothetic y- before front vowels, or possiblyj~u is a misprint for ~ju). For "water" W. has quite a different word, siru/si.dru, of uncertain etymology. He does, however, give ~su "water", but this is a compositional form (cf. Ta. y~r_ru-, etc.), as can be seen from the following examples: ~su k6ru "hippopotamus", ~su loeri "kingfisher", ~su pota "a teal."