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INTRODUCTION
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Kuvi is a Central Dravidian language spoken in the
border districts of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. It is
closely related to Kuvi. The tribes who speak the Kuvi
and Kuvi languages are called by the name Khond or
Kondh. It is difficult to ascertain the number of Kuvi
speakers. Kuvi was not returned as a mother-tongue in
the 1961 census. ‘Apparently Kuvi-speaking khonds
prefer to return their tribal name only as their
mother-tongue".1 The number
of speakers reported for Khond in the 19161 census is
1,68,027 of which 1,44,922 live in Orissa, 22,730 in
Andhra Pradesh and the rest elsewhere. However, the
census report notes that "Khond/Kondh returns as
mother-tongue should normally indicate the Kui-Kuvi
language sub-group of the Central Dravidian.
Distinguishing between the Kui and Kuvi speech returns
would entail separate language survey."
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some work has been done in the past on the Kui
language.3
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1
2
3
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R.C. Nigom:
Language Handbook on Mother Tongues in Census : Census Centenary Monograph
No. 13, Language Division, Office of the Registrar-General India, 1972
(p.1334).
Ibid (p. 118)
Schulze, F.V.P. The grammar of the Kuvi-Chand
language Madras--1913. |
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the work done on Kuvi is relatively very little.
After the early work by Schulze and samples in
Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India (Vol.
IV), the only recent work is a journal article
by S. Bhattacharya and T. Burrow, which gives
only a short vocabulary of Kuvi along with some
notes. 4 So the need for linguistic work on Kuvi
including an extensive grammar and dictionary
cannot be exaggerated. In the words of the census
report again “ In any case for a speech
community of this magnitude, detailed comprehensive
linguistic data are any time commendable.”
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| Kuvi has three main dialects.
They are : |
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i)
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The Rayagada dialect
corresponding with the Rayagada, Narayanpatna
and Gunupur subdivisions and adjacent areas.
This area borders on the Srikakulam district of
Andhra Pradesh.
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ii)
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The Laxmipur dialect
corresponding with the Laxmipur, Kasipur,
Nowarangpur sub-divisions and adjoing areas and
which is in the heart of the Koraput district.
The dialect is surrounded by Oriya.
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iii)
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The Dongria dialect
corresponding with the Bissam-Cuttack and
Muniguda sub-divisions and adjoining areas. The
speakers of this dialect inhabit the upper
slopes of the hills in that area which are a
part of the Eastern Ghats.
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Dialect differences can be
classified under three heads (i) Lexical (ii)
Phonological (iii) Morphological. Kuvis in the
Rayagada area borrow words from Telugu. Kuvis
from the Laxmipur area borrow Oriya and the
Dongria Kuvis borrow from both the Laxmipur and
Rayagada Kuvis. Since lexical
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4 |
Notes on
Kuvi with a short vocabulary 1.1.J. Vol.6,
1962-63 |
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R.C.
Nigom, op-cit (p.118)
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