Birjia language

Birjia
Bijori
Native toIndia
EthnicityBirjia
Native speakers
(13,000 cited 2001)
Austroasiatic
  • Munda
    • North
      • Kherwarian
        • Mundaric
          • Birjia
Language codes
ISO 639-3bix
Glottologbijo1238

The Birjia language, also known as Binjhia or Bijori, is a language of India. It is commonly assumed to be a Munda language closely related to the Asuri language. However, Anderson, based on Prasad (1961:314), suggests that Birjia (Binjhia) may be an Indo-Aryan language, although the Birjia are a tribe of the Asuri nation. The latter include the Asur and the Agariya.

Distribution

Birjia is spoken in:

Phonology

Bhattacharya (2022) lists the following phonemes for the Birjia variety spoken in Gumla district, Jharkhand:

Consonants

Birjia consonants: 8–9 
Bilabial Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop/Affricate voiceless p t̪ t͡ʃ ʈ k ʔ
aspirated pʰ t̪ʰ t͡ʃʰ ʈʰ kʰ
voiced b d̪ d͡ʒ ɖ ɡ
breathy bʱ d̪ʱ d͡ʒʱ ɖʱ ɡʱ
Fricative (f) s ç h
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Approximant w l j
Rhotic r ɽ

Vowels

Birjia vowels: 2 
  Front Central Back
High i u
Mid-high e ə o
Mid-low ɛ ɔ
Low a

Word structure

Monosyllabic templates

  • VC: /otʰ/ "earth", /up/ "hair"
  • V: /o/ "to smell"
  • CV: /kʰu/ "cough"
  • CVC: /ɟan/ "bone", /bʰap/ "steam"
  • CVCC: /menʔ/ "eye"

Disyllabic templates

  • VCV: /iʈa/ "brick"
  • VVC: /oitʰ/ "behind"
  • CVV: /rua/ "fever"
  • CVCV: /hasa/ "clay"
  • CVVC: /ɲein/ "toy"
  • VCVC: /ipil/ "star"
  • VCCVC: /uttər/ "north"
  • CVCCV: /samdʱo/ "daughter-in-law's mother/
  • CVCVC: /palah/ "snow"
  • CVCCVC: /seŋgel/ "fire"
  • CVCCCV: /banɖɽo/ "storm"
  • CVCVCC: /reŋetʔ/ "hunger"
  • CVCCVV: /sərləi/ "matchstick"
  • CVVCVV: /kairao/ "to get angry"

Polysyllabic

  • VCVCV: /iremi/ "to harvest"
  • CVCVCV: /haremi/ "to bury a dead body"
  • CVCVCVCV: /nakaɟami/ "to comb hair"
  • CVCVCVCVCVC: /tajarajanam/ "to prepare"

Morphology

Nominal morphology

Pronouns

singulardualplural
1st person ɲiaɲia
2nd person amaʔabanape
3rd person huni/hunikuɽihukinhuku

Cases

Bhattacharya (2022) describes several cases in Birjia.: 28–31  Like Santali and Mundari, Birjia lacks general case markers to demonstrate syntactic relationship between arguments.

Case Marker Function
Nominative/Accusative =Ø Subjects and objects
Dative =ʔta Animate dative/recipient argument
Genitive =raʔ Possession
Instrumental =te Medium
Ablative eteraʔ From

Vocabulary

Numerals

Numbers greater than three have been replaced by Indo-Aryan borrowings.

GlossBirjiaSantali
"one" mian mitˀ
"two" barija bar
"three" peja pɛ

Nature

GlossBirjiaSantali
"cloud" rimil rimil
"dog" seta seta
"he" huni uni
"horse" sadom sadɔm
"wood" səhan sahan
"fruit" ɟoʔoh dʒɔ
"fish" haku hako
"ant" muon muˀtʃ
"house" oɽa oɽaˀk
"star" ipil ipil
"rope" bawer baber ~ waber

References

  1. 1 2 Birjia at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ↑ Anderson, Gregory D.S., ed. (2008). The Munda languages. New York: Routledge Language Family Series 3. p. 195. ISBN 0-415-32890-X.
  3. 1 2 3 Bhattacharya, Krishna (2022). A Brief Grammatical Sketch of the Birjia Language. Central Institute of Indian Languages. Retrieved 23 April 2026 – via sanchika.ciil.org.