NDA (II) 2019 General Ability Test · Question 117 of 148

Correct — A, Austric. The Munda languages — Santali, Mundari, Ho, Kharia and others spoken mainly by tribal communities of eastern-central India — form the western branch of the Austroasiatic family, which older Indian textbooks call the 'Austric' group. Khasi (Meghalaya) and the Nicobarese tongues are the family's other Indian members, in its Mon-Khmer branch. Munda is therefore neither Dravidian, Sino-Tibetan nor Indo-European.

• (b)Dravidian — The Dravidian family is Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and their kin of the south; the Munda tongues are genetically and structurally distinct from it.
• (c)Sino-Tibetan — Sino-Tibetan covers the Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas and the North-East (Bodo, Naga, Manipuri); Munda is not part of it.
• (d)Indo-European — The Indo-Aryan languages (Hindi, Bengali, Marathi) belong here; Munda is a pre-Aryan, Austroasiatic group.

India's languages fall into four main families — Indo-Aryan (a branch of Indo-European), Dravidian, Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman) and Austroasiatic, the last also called Austric. The Austric group in India has two branches: Munda (Santali, Mundari, Ho) across the east-central tribal belt, and Mon-Khmer (Khasi in Meghalaya, and Nicobarese).

Recognise the family names. Only 'Austric/Austroasiatic' houses the Munda (Kol) languages; the other three options are the more familiar families that Munda is being contrasted against.

• India has four main language families: Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Sino-Tibetan and Austroasiatic (Austric).
• Munda (Santali, Mundari, Ho, Kharia) is the western, Indian branch of the Austroasiatic family.
• Khasi (Meghalaya) and Nicobarese belong to the Mon-Khmer branch of the same Austric family.
• Santali, a Munda language, is in the Eighth Schedule and is written in the Ol Chiki script.

• Assuming any tribal language must be Dravidian.
• Confusing Munda (Austric) with the Tibeto-Burman languages of the North-East.

Match a language or language group to its family — 'Austric/Austroasiatic' is the tag for Munda and Khasi.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following belongs to the Munda group of languages?

  • (a)Khasi
  • (b)Santali
  • (c)Manipuri
  • (d)Malayalam

  Answer(b) Santali — a core Munda language of the Austroasiatic family.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Khasi, spoken in Meghalaya, belongs to which language family?

  • (a)Dravidian
  • (b)Sino-Tibetan
  • (c)Austroasiatic (Austric)
  • (d)Indo-European

  Answer(c) Austroasiatic (Austric) — its Mon-Khmer branch.