Kurukh language
| Kurukh | |
|---|---|
| Kurux, Oraon, Uraon | |
| कुँड़ुख़ (उराँव), কুড়ুখ্, କୁଡ଼ୁଖ୍ | |
'Kuṛux' or 'Kuṁṛux' in Kurukh Banna alphabet (top) and Tolong Siki alphabet (bottom) | |
| Native to | India, Bangladesh, and Nepal |
| Region | Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Bihar, Tripura |
| Ethnicity | |
Native speakers | 2.28 million (2002–2011) |
Dravidian
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Devanagari Odia Kurukh Banna Tolong Siki | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | India
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:kru – Kuruxxis – Kisan |
| Glottolog | kuru1301 |
| ELP | Nepali Kurux |
Kurukh (/ˈkʊrʊx/ or /ˈkʊrʊk/; Devanagari: कुँड़ुख़, IPA: [kũɽux]), also Kurux, Oraon or Uranw (Devanagari: उराँव, IPA: [uraːũ]), is a North Dravidian language spoken by the Kurukh (Oraon) and Kisan people of East India. It is spoken by about two million people in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar and Tripura, as well as by 65,000 in northern Bangladesh, 28,600 of a dialect called Uranw in Nepal and about 5,000 in Bhutan. The most closely related language to Kurukh is Malto; together with Brahui, all three languages form the North Dravidian branch of the Dravidian language family. It is marked as being in a "vulnerable" state in UNESCO's list of endangered languages. The Kisan dialect has 206,100 speakers as of 2011.