Khortha

Khortha is classified within the Indo-Aryan language family, belonging to the Eastern Zone (Bihari group). It is closely related to Magahi and Sadri.

Speakers

According to the 2011 Census of India, Khortha is spoken by approximately 8,038,733 people (historically grouped under Hindi for census purposes).

Distribution in India

The language is primarily spoken in the state of Jharkhand, particularly across the North Chotanagpur division in districts such as Hazaribagh, Koderma, Giridih, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Ramgarh, and Chatra. It is also spoken in neighboring districts of Bihar.

Major grammatical features

• Phonology: The sound system generally aligns with neighboring Bihari languages. It exhibits vowel harmony and monophthongization of diphthongs. There is a frequent merger of sibilants, typically realizing /ʃ/ as /s/.
• Morphology: Nouns are inflected for case using postpositions (e.g., the locative marker -e and the genitive -ker or -k). Pronouns show a three-way honorific distinction in the second and third persons (non-honorific, ordinary, and honorific).
• Syntax: Khortha displays a default Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order. It lacks active split-ergativity, employing a nominative-accusative alignment in its verbal agreement patterns.

Further reading

For more information on the language, sociolinguistic status, and dialects, see the Wikipedia article on Khortha.