Gorum, or Parengi, is a nearly-extinct minor Munda language of India.

Gorum
Parengi
ଗୋରୁମ୍
Native toIndia
RegionOdisha, Andhra Pradesh
Ethnicity9,445 in Odisha (2011 census)[1]
Native speakers
20 (2011)[2]
Austroasiatic
  • Munda
    • South
      • Sora-Gorum
        • Gorum
Language codes
ISO 639-3pcj
Glottologpare1266
ELPGorum

Names

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The name Gorum most likely comes from an animal/people prefix go- and root -rum meaning 'people', and is possibly related to the ethnonym Remo (Anderson 2008:381).

Parengi, or Parenga, is of obscure origin.

Status

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Gorum is 60 percent endangered and may soon become extinct. Few people under the age of thirty years can understand the language, while those who do know it are likely to deny knowing it.[3] This language seems to have been first researched in 1933.[4]

Origins

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Gorum is a member of the Munda family, as shown by the glottal consonants that are used in creaky voice. However, it has borrowed some elements from nearby Dravidian languages, such as doubly inflected AVC structures.[5]

Distribution

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Gorum speakers are located in the following areas of eastern India (Anderson 2008:381).

Gutob is spoken to the north of Gorum, and Gta to the west of Gorum.

References

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  1. ^ Parenga at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016)  
  2. ^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  3. ^ http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/4953 Endangered Language Project
  4. ^ Sitapati, G.V. 1933. "Pareng." A Miscellany of Papers Presented to Rao Sahib Mahopadhyaya Gidugu Venkata Ramamurthi. Madras. 145-65
  5. ^ Anderson, Gregory D.S. & Felix Rau. 2008. “Gorum.” In: Gregory D.S. Anderson
  • Anderson, Gregory D.S (ed). 2008. The Munda languages. Routledge Language Family Series 3.New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-32890-X.
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