Juang
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Juang is an indigenous language spoken in Odisha (Orissa), India, mainly in southern Keonjhar, northern Angul, and eastern Dhenkanal districts. It belongs to the South Munda subgroup of the Western Austroasiatic language family, which is part of the larger Munda branch. The Juang language is also known by other names such as Patua, Puttoas and Patra. Linguistically, it has been associated with Kharia, and earlier classifications by Zide (1969) grouped both under the Central Munda subgroup. However, more recent studies like Anderson (2001) suggest Juang might actually be an isolated branch within the Munda languages, indicating its unique status.
As per the 2001 Indian Census, there are about 30,875 Juang speakers, though Ethnologue (2000) estimates around 50,000 speakers. Despite these numbers, the language is considered vulnerable, as many younger speakers are shifting to Odia, the dominant regional language. Juang is heavily influenced by Odia, especially in its grammar and vocabulary. This influence has caused the loss of some native features such as the glottal stop and introduced Odia-style relative clauses, quotative constructions, and anaphora systems. Despite these influences, Juang still retains core Munda grammatical patterns and several idiosyncratic features that make it linguistically interesting.
Juang does not have its own writing system and uses the Odia script when written. Early descriptions of Juang appear in Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India and a brief sketch by Sten Konow. Further linguistic studies have been conducted by Pinnow (1960), Mahapatra (1962), Matson (1962), Dasgupta (1978), and Patnaik (2000).
Additionally, the Academy of Tribal Dialects and Culture (ATDC) has developed language-learning materials on Juang, authored by Sashmita Mohapatra (1991). These materials provide basic phonology, morphology, vocabulary, songs, and folk tales, supporting both linguistic and cultural preservation.
Juang society is broadly divided into Plains Juangs and Hill Juangs. Hill Juangs live in the Gonasika and Pallara hills, while Plains Juangs reside in around 147 villages in Keonjhar and Dhenkanal districts. The language is still actively used in homes, schools, and community interactions, although external pressures from Odia and mainstream culture are leading to gradual language shifts. Juang is structurally an agglutinative language, showing Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order, use of numeral classifiers, and complex verb inflection, features typical of other Munda languages.
The lexical similarity between Juang and Kharia is around 20–22%, indicating some shared vocabulary but considerable divergence. This low similarity supports the view that Juang may have developed separately for a long time.
Culturally, the Juang people have been well studied in anthropological and sociological research, though many of these works remain unpublished or limited to dissertations. A now-unavailable magazine called ‘Banakua’, edited by Upendra Mishra, also published a short sketch of the Juang language.