Santali language

Santali
ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ
The word Santali in Ol Chiki script
Native to	India, Bangladesh, Nepal
Ethnicity	Santal, Mahali
Native speakers	7.6 million (2011 census[1])[2]
Language family	Austroasiatic Munda North Munda Kherwarian Santal Santali
Dialects	Mahali (Mahili) Kamari-Santali Khole Lohari-Santali Manjhi Paharia
Writing system	Ol Chiki script (official)[3] Bengali-Assamese script[4] Odia script Devanagari Santali Latin alphabet
Official status
Official language in	India Jharkhand (additional) West Bengal (additional)
Language codes
ISO 639-2	sat
ISO 639-3	Either: sat – Santali mjx – Mahali
Glottolog	sant1410  Santali maha1291  Mahali
Distribution of Santali language

Santali (ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ, Pronounced: [santaɽi], সাঁওতালি, ସାନ୍ତାଳୀ, सान्ताली) is a Kherwarian Munda language spoken natively by the Santal people of South Asia. It is the most widely-spoken language of the Munda subfamily of the Austroasiatic languages, related to Ho and Mundari, spoken mainly in the Indian states of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Odisha, Tripura and West Bengal.^[5] It is one of the constitutionally scheduled official languages of the Indian Republic and the additional official language of Jharkhand and West Bengal per the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.^[6] It is spoken by around 7.6 million people in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, making it the third most-spoken Austroasiatic language after Vietnamese and Khmer.^[5]

Santali is characterised by a split into at least a northern and southern dialect sphere, with slightly different sets of phonemes: Southern Santali has six phonemic vowels, in contrast with eight or nine in Northern Santali, different lexical items, and to a certain degree, variable morphology. Santali is recognised by linguists as being phonologically conservative within the Munda branch. Unlike many Munda languages that had their vowel systems restructured and shrunk to five such as Mundari, Ho, and Kharia, Santali retains a larger vowel system of eight phonemic cardinal vowels, which is very unusual in the South Asian linguistic area.^[7][8] The language also uses vowel harmony processes in morphology and expressives similar to Ho and Mundari.^[9] Morphosyntactically, Santali, together with Sora, are considered less restructured than other Munda languages, having less influence from Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages.^[10] Clause structure is topic-prominent by default.^[11]

Santali is primarily written in Ol Chiki script, an indigenous alphabetic writing system developed in 1925 by Santal writer Raghunath Murmu. Additionally, it is also written in various regional Indian writing systems such as Bengali-Assamese script, Odia script, Devanagari, and the Santali Latin alphabet.^[7]

The Santals call themselves hɔɽ (lit. 'man') and their language hɔɽ rɔɽ ("language of the Santals"). In North Bengal, the language is known as jaŋli or pahaɽia. In Bihar it is called parsi ("foreign"). The name Santal, in turn, was derived from Sāmanta-pāla ('dwellers of the frontiers') and was used by Bengalis to refer the Santals. L.O. Skrefsrud assumed that Santal was derived from Sãot, name of a place in Midnapore region in West Bengal where the Santals were supposed to have been settled in remote antiquity.^[12] In Nepal, the Santali language is known as Satar.^[13]

According to linguist Paul Sidwell, proto-Munda language speakers ancestral of Santali probably arrived on the coast of Odisha from Indochina about 4000–3500 years ago, and spread before the Indo-Aryan migration to the Chota Nagpur Plateau and adjacent areas.^[14]

Santali remained an oral language until the mid-1800s, when European interest in the languages of India led to the first efforts to document it. The language was initially recorded using the Bengali, Odia, and Roman scripts by European-American anthropologists, folklorists, and missionaries such as Jeremiah Phillips, A. R. Campbell, Lars Skrefsrud, and Paul Bodding. Their work resulted in Santali dictionaries, collections of folk tales, and studies on the language’s morphology, syntax, and phonetics.

In 1922, Sadhu Ramchand Murmu from Jhargram district of West Bengal attempted to create a Santali script called Monj Dander Ank, but it did not gain popularity. Later, in 1925, Raghunath Murmu from Mayurbhanj district of Odisha developed the Ol Chiki script, which was first publicised in 1939 and eventually became widely adopted.^[15][16] The Ol Chiki script is now considered as official script for Santali literature and language across West Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand.^[17][18] However, users from Bangladesh use Bengali script instead.

Santali was included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India for official recognition as a scheduled language in 2003 through the 92nd Amendment Act, granting it the right to be used in government communication, education, and competitive examinations.^[19] In December 2013, the UGC, the higher education regulatory body of India, introduced Santali as a subject in the National Eligibility Test (NET), enabling its use for lectureship and as a medium of instruction in colleges and universities.^[20]

Santali is spoken by over seven million people across India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal, with India being its native country and having the largest number of speakers amongst the four.^[5] According to 2011 census, India has a total of 7,368,192 Santali speakers (including 358,579 Karmali, 26,399 Mahli).^[22][23] State wise distribution is Jharkhand (2.75 million), West Bengal (2.43 million), Odisha (0.86 million), Bihar (0.46 million), Assam (0.21 million) and a few thousand in each of Chhattisgarh, and in north-eastern states Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram.^[24]

The highest concentrations of Santali language speakers are in Santhal Pargana division, as well as East Singhbhum and Seraikela Kharsawan districts of Jharkhand, the Jangalmahals region of West Bengal (Jhargram, Bankura and Purulia districts) and Mayurbhanj district of Odisha.

Smaller pockets of Santali language speakers are found in the northern Chota Nagpur plateau (Hazaribagh, Giridih, Ramgarh, Bokaro and Dhanbad districts), Balesore and Kendujhar districts of Odisha, and throughout western and northern West Bengal (Birbhum, Paschim Medinipur, Hooghly, Paschim Bardhaman, Purba Bardhaman, Malda, Dakshin Dinajpur, Uttar Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts), Banka district and Purnia division of Bihar (Araria, Katihar, Purnia and Kishanganj districts), and tea-garden regions of Assam (Kokrajhar, Sonitpur, Chirang and Udalguri districts). Outside India, the language is spoken in pockets of Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions of northern Bangladesh as well as the Morang and Jhapa districts in the Terai of Koshi Province in Nepal.^[25][26]

Santali is one of India's 22 scheduled languages.^[6] It is also recognised as the additional official language of the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal.^[27][28]

Dialects of Santali include Kamari-Santali, Khole, Lohari-Santali, Mahali, Manjhi, Paharia.^[5][29][30]

Being scattered apart in many different pockets in one of the most densely-populated parts of India, Santali dialects are becoming increasingly distinct in phonology, morphology, and lexicon. Reports by R.N. Cust (1878) mentioned four or more dialects, while according to George Campbell, only two main Santali dialects are attested: Northern and Southern. Data gathered by Ghosh (1994) and Kobayashi et al. confirm Campbell's account.^[31] Northern Santali speakers are concentrated in Santhal Pargana division (Godda, Deoghar, Dumka, Jamtara, Sahibganj and Pakur), Hazaribagh, the Singbhum districts of Jharkhand; Purnia and Bhagalpur divisions in Bihar; Malda division, Birbhum, Bankura, Murshidabad, Cooch Behar, and Jalpaiguri districts in West Bengal. Southern Santali speakers predominantly live in Southern Bankura, Purulia, Paschim Medinipur in West Bengal; Balesore and Kendujhar, and Mayurbhanj district of Odisha.^[32]

According to observation by Ghosh, "In the lexicon SS (Southern Santali) and NS (Northern Santali) are somewhat different, initiated by borrowing from the neighbouring languages. The local borrowings in the two dialects are so high that sometimes one appears to be unintelligible to the other. In certain cases the usage is also different."^[33]

Santali has 21 consonants, not counting the 10 aspirated stops which occur primarily, but not exclusively, in Indo-Aryan loanwords and are given in parentheses in the table below.^[34]

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	(ɳ)*	ɲ	ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p (pʰ)	t (tʰ)	ʈ (ʈʰ)	c (cʰ)	k (kʰ)	ʔ
	voiced	b (bʱ)	d (dʱ)	ɖ (ɖʱ)	ɟ (ɟʱ)	ɡ (ɡʱ)
Fricative			s				h
Trill/Flap			r	ɽ
Approximant			l		j	w

*ɳ only appears as an allophone of /n/ before /ɖ/.

In native words, the opposition between voiceless and voiced stops is neutralised in word-final position. A typical Munda feature is that word-final stops are "checked", i. e. glottalised and unreleased.

Bodding (1929) noted that in the vowel space between an open syllable and a syllable that starts with a vowel, if both vowels are of the same height, approximant /w/ is inserted in between cues of two low vowels, and /j/ for mid-high and high vowels.

Santali has eight oral and six nasal vowel phonemes. With the exception of /e o/, all oral vowels have a nasalised counterpart.

	Front	Central	Back
High	i ĩ		u ũ
Mid-high	e	ə ə̃	o
Mid-low	ɛ ɛ̃		ɔ ɔ̃
Low		a ã

There are numerous diphthongs and triphthongs. Larger vowel sequences can be found, eg. kɔeaeae, meaning 'he will ask for him', with six consecutive vowels.^[35]

Note that in the level diphthongs /ea, ia, io, iu, oa, ua/, semivowels /w, j/ are usually inserted in between and dissolve the diphthong into two syllables when realised.^[36]

Santali prosody exhibits iambic patterns with stress is always released in the second syllable in most disyllabic words, excepting loan words from Hindi, Bihari, Bengali and Assamese. In trisyllabic words, a process called V2 deletion actively drops the second vowel, turning the supposedly trisyllable into a disyllable consisting of two heavy syllables. Despite that, stress consistently falls on the second syllable. Eg. hapaɽam ('ancestor') → hapˈɽám.^[37][10]

Like all Kherwarian languages, vowel harmony in Santali is a morphological triggered process.^[38] In morphology and word formation, Santali uses a vowel harmony system based on vowel height. There are certain restrictions in a vowel harmonic sequence:^[9]

1). /e/ and /o/ never co-occur with /u/ in the same stress unit (word with affixes, enclitics,...).

2). /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ never co-occur with /e/ and /o/. Thus, some suffixes and enclitics may have two variants, such as the instrumental suffix -tɛ, the vowel is raised to /e/, → [-te]. Note that this only occurs with weak (harmonic) syllables and suffixes, while others do not. More examples to show: ɛɽɛ=e → [ɛɽɛ=jɛ] (lie=3), ɛgɛr ("to scold"), gɔʈɛn ("part"), mɛrɔm ("goat"), ɛhɔp ("to begin").

3). Syllables with /i/ and /u/ only co-occur with /ə/, but not /a/. Eg. busək ("to give birth"), bidə ("to dismiss"), əgu ("to bring").

4). Only /a/ can co-occur with /e o ɛ ɔ/ while /ə/ cannot. Eg. boŋga ("evil spirit"), sadɔm ("horse"), hako ("fish"), mare ("ancient").

5). /e/ may be alternated to /i/ if the preceding syllable ends with /u/ or /ə/.

Santali, like all Munda languages, is a suffixing agglutinating language.

Nouns are inflected for number and case.^[39]

Three numbers are distinguished: singular, dual and plural.^[40]

Singular	ᱥᱮᱛᱟ (seta)	'dog'
Dual	ᱥᱮᱛᱟᱼᱠᱤᱱ(seta-ken)	'two dogs'
Plural	ᱥᱮᱛᱟᱼᱠᱚ(seta-kɔ)	'dogs'

The case suffix follows the number suffix. The following cases are distinguished:^[41]

Case	Marker	Function
Nominative	-Ø	Subject and object
Genitive	ᱼᱨᱮᱱ (animate) ᱼᱟᱜ, ᱼᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ (inanimate)	Possessor
Comitative	ᱼᱴᱷᱮᱱ/ -ᱴᱷᱮᱡ	Goal, place
Instrumental-Locative	ᱼᱛᱮ	Instrument, cause, motion
Sociative	ᱼᱥᱟᱶ	Association
Allative	ᱼᱥᱮᱱ/ᱼᱥᱮᱡ	Direction
Ablative	ᱼᱠᱷᱚᱱ/ᱼᱠᱷᱚᱡ	Source, origin
Locative	ᱼᱨᱮ	Spatio-temporal location

Transcript version:

Case	Marker	Function
Nominative	-Ø	Subject and object
Genitive	-rɛn (animate) -ak', -rɛak' (inanimate)	Possessor
Comitative	-ʈhɛn/-ʈhɛc'	Goal, place
Instrumental-Locative	-tɛ	Instrument, cause, motion
Sociative	-são	Association
Allative	-sɛn/-sɛc'	Direction
Ablative	-khɔn/-khɔc'	Source, origin
Locative	-rɛ	Spatio-temporal location

Santali has possessive suffixes which are only used with kinship terms: 1st person -ɲ, 2nd person -m, 3rd person -t. The suffixes do not distinguish possessor number.^[42]

To mark nominals as definite, Santali morphology uses suffixes -tɛtˀ for nouns, and -ʈakˀ for pronouns, respectively.^[43]

The personal pronouns in Santali distinguish inclusive and exclusive first person and anaphoric and demonstrative third person.^[44]

Personal pronouns

		Singular	Dual	Plural
1st person	exclusive	ᱤᱧ	ᱟᱹᱞᱤᱧ	ᱟᱞᱮ
	inclusive		ᱟᱞᱟᱝ	ᱟᱵᱳ
2nd person		ᱟᱢ	ᱟᱵᱮᱱ	ᱟᱯᱮ
3rd person	Anaphoric	ᱟᱡ	ᱟᱹᱠᱤᱱ	ᱟᱠᱳ
	Demonstrative	ᱩᱱᱤ	ᱩᱱᱠᱤᱱ	ᱳᱱᱠᱳ

Transcript version:

		Singular	Dual	Plural
1st person	exclusive	iɲ	əliɲ	alɛ
	inclusive		alaŋ	abo
2nd person		am	aben	apɛ
3rd person	Anaphoric	ac'	əkin	ako
	Demonstrative	uni	unkin	onko

The interrogative pronouns have different forms for animate ('who?') and inanimate ('what?'), and referential ('which?') vs. non-referential.^[45]

Interrogative pronouns

	Animate	Inanimate
Referential	ᱚᱠᱚᱭ	ᱳᱠᱟ
Non-referential	ᱪᱮᱹᱞᱮᱹ	ᱪᱮᱫ

Transcript version:

	Animate	Inanimate
Referential	ɔkɔe	oka
Non-referential	cele	cet'

The indefinite pronouns are:^[46]

Indefinite pronouns

	Animate	Inanimate
'any'	ᱡᱟᱸᱦᱟᱸᱭᱟᱜ	ᱡᱟᱸᱦᱟᱸ
'some'	ᱟᱫᱚᱢ	ᱟᱫᱚᱢᱟᱜ
'another'	ᱮᱴᱟᱜᱤᱡ	ᱮᱴᱟᱜᱟᱜ

Transcript version:

	Animate	Inanimate
'any'	jãheã	jãhã
'some'	adɔm	adɔmak
'another'	ɛʈak'ic'	ɛʈak'ak'

The demonstratives distinguish three degrees of deixis (proximate, distal, remote) and simple ('this', 'that', etc.) and particular ('just this', 'just that') forms.^[47]

Demonstratives

		Simple		Particular
		Animate	Inanimate	Animate	Inanimate
Proximate	Singular	ᱱᱩᱭ	ᱱᱚᱣᱟ	ᱱᱤ	ᱱᱤᱭᱟᱹ
	Dual	ᱱᱩᱠᱤᱱ	ᱱᱚᱣᱟᱠᱤᱱ	ᱱᱤᱠᱤᱱ	ᱱᱤᱭᱟᱹᱠᱤᱱ
	Plural	ᱱᱳᱠᱳ/ᱱᱩᱠᱩ	ᱱᱚᱣᱟᱠᱳ	ᱱᱮᱹᱠᱳ/ᱱᱩᱠᱩ	ᱱᱤᱭᱟᱹᱠᱳ
Distal	Singular	ᱩᱱᱤ	ᱳᱱᱟ	ᱤᱱᱤ	ᱤᱱᱟᱹ
	Dual	ᱳᱱᱠᱤᱱ	ᱳᱱᱟᱠᱤᱱ	ᱤᱱᱠᱤᱱ	ᱤᱱᱟᱹᱠᱤᱱ
	Plural	ᱳᱱᱠᱳ/ᱩᱱᱠᱩ	ᱳᱱᱟᱠᱳ	ᱮᱹᱱᱠᱳ/ᱤᱱᱠᱩ	ᱤᱱᱟᱹᱠᱳ
Remote	Singular	ᱦᱟᱹᱱᱤ	ᱦᱟᱱᱟ
	Dual	ᱦᱟᱹᱱᱠᱤᱱ	ᱦᱟᱱᱟᱠᱤᱱ
	Plural	ᱦᱟᱹᱱᱠᱳ	ᱦᱟᱱᱟᱠᱳ

Transcript version:

		Simple		Particular
		Animate	Inanimate	Animate	Inanimate
Proximate	Singular	nui	noa	nii	niə
	Dual	nukin	noakin	nikin	niəkin
	Plural	noko/nuku	noako	neko/niku	niəko
Distal	Singular	uni	ona	ini	inə
	Dual	onkin	onakin	inkin	inəkin
	Plural	onko/unku	onako	enko/inku	inəko
Remote	Singular	həni	hana
	Dual	hənkin	hanakin
	Plural	hanko	hanako

The basic cardinal numbers (transcribed into Latin script IPA)^[48] are:

1	ᱢᱤᱫ	mit'
2	ᱵᱟᱨ	bar
3	ᱯᱮ	pɛ
4	ᱯᱩᱱ	pon
5	ᱢᱚᱬᱮ	mɔ̃ɽɛ̃
6	ᱛᱩᱨᱩᱭ	turui
7	ᱮᱭᱟᱭ	ɛyae
8	ᱤᱨᱟᱹᱞ	irəl
9	ᱟᱨᱮ	arɛ
10	ᱜᱮᱞ	gɛl
20	ᱤᱥᱤ	-isi
100	ᱥᱟᱭ	-sae

The numerals are used with numeral classifiers. Distributive numerals are formed by reduplicating the first consonant and vowel, e.g. babar 'two each'.

Numbers basically follow a base-10 pattern. Numbers from 11 to 19 are formed by addition, gel ('10') followed by the single-digit number (1 through 9). Multiples of ten are formed by multiplication: the single-digit number (2 through 9) is followed by gel ('10'). Some numbers are part of a base-20 number system. 20 can be bar gel or isi.

To derive new nominals, the stems of lexical verbs, adjectives, and other nouns can employ many different methods, including affixation, reduplication, and compounding.

Suffixation: Two nominalising suffixes -itʃˀ for animate, and -akˀ for inanimate noun class, are used to form referential nominals.^[49]

Verbs → nouns: jɔm ('eat') > jɔmakˀ ('food')

adjectives → nouns: nɔtɛ ('this side') > nɔtɛn ('belonging to this side') > nɔtɛnakˀ ('thing of this side') / nɔtɛnitʃˀ ('one of this side')

ponɖ ('white') > ponɖakˀ ('white thing') / ponɖitʃˀ ('white one')

suffixes → nouns: ɔl-tɛ (write-INS) > ɔltɛakˀ ('that with which is written(pen)')

An entire verbal construction can be nominalised:^[43]

Infixation is the most productive derivation method in Santali. Infixes -tV-, -nV-, -mV-, -ɽV-, and -pV- are often inserted into nouns, verbs, adjectives to derive new words.^[50]

ɛhɔp ('begin') > ɛtɔhɔp ('beginning')

rakap ('rise', 'ascend') > ranakap ('development')

Prefixation in North Munda has been reduced to a very few restricted exceptions.^[51]

tʃɛt ('teach') > matʃɛt ('teacher')

Verbs in Santali inflect for tense, aspect and mood, voice and the person and number of the subject and sometimes of the object.^[52] However, defining parts of speech in traditional linguistic terms, such as "verbs" and "nouns" in Jharkhandi Munda languages more generally (including most Kherwarian varieties and Kharia) is a highly controversial issue, since the evidence for discrete lexical categories like nouns, verbs, and adjectives is often extremely weak or even virtually absent, at least in the basic lexical level. From this perspective, it may be nearly unfeasible to apply the conventional parts-of-speech framework to North Munda. A single element with apparently nominal semantics (may be metonymic in nature) may function as the predicate base in one sentence (typically in clause-final position), while appearing elsewhere as an argument in the same phonological and morphological form with zero-derivation. In fact, predicates and their complements may be primarily defined by syntactic configurations rather than by inherent lexical categories. For further theoretical and empirical discussions on word classes in Mundari, see Evans & Osada (2005), Peterson (2005), Hengeveld & Rijkhoff (2005), Croft (2005); for Kharia, see Peterson (2013).

Similarly, Santali has been described as a language with a regular degree of lexical flexibility.^[53] Neukom (2001) posits that "nouns" don't exist in Santali, but instead there are "flexible lexemes" that can function either as arguments (=referential role) or as predicates within phrasal units, with no profound categorical distinction between these uses.^[54] In everyday speech, Santali flexibility may show even more idiosyncrasies than those documented for Mundari. Rau (2013) provides attested examples showing that, within accepted usage, even proper names—cross-linguistically often treated as purely referential expressions denoting inherent properties such as names—may frequently occur as predicates in Santali without eliciting objections.^[55] For instance, the sentence unkin-dɔ Kaɽa ar Guja-wa-kin-a 'Their names were Kara and Guja' (lit. "they were Kara-and-Guja-ed") uses the second proper name directly as an active applicative predicate, while the first name precedes the conjunctive element, producing a distributive interpretation of the predication.^[56]

Neukom (2001) further notes that almost any type of lexeme—including nominals, interrogatives, and indefinites—can function predicatively, but only in combination with either a light verb copula (kan "COP.IPFV" or tahɛ̃kan "COP.IMPREF") or an applicative suffix -a/-wa (often glossed as "for/to someone") plus the indicative/finite suffix. Together, these elements act as a compositional verbalising operator, yielding a structure that behaves like a nominal sentence.^[57][58] Rau (2013) also notes that there are examples of zero-copula construction.^[59] A commonly cited property of lexically flexible languages is the absence or reduced productivity of lexical derivational mechanisms. While Ghosh (2008) (#Morphology##Derivation) showcases that Santali does indeed possess a productive derivational system, the extent to which derived forms participate in systematic, corpus-wide lexical flexibility in Santali has not yet been assuredly established. For discussion on the flexibility of Southern Santali, see Dash (2025).

The Santali TAM system is very complicated. In fact, categories of tense-aspects and voices always fuse into an interlocked system consisting of a series of verbal subtemplates, so it is impossible for analyses to single out a morpheme that marks a single TAM category accordingly. TAM paradigms interact with active and middle voice intricately: Active TAMs denote senses of UNMARKED, transitive, volitional, and outwardly directed, mostly employed in polyvalent predicates; Middle TAMs signify the status of intransitive, self-directed, and avolitional, mostly found in monovalent predicates. There are two subtemplates for the imperfective and perfective. Two recognisable tense categories are non-past and past, and the past is further divided into two tenses: anterior and aorist. The imperative/prohibitive do not have any markers but possess their own unique verbal templates.^[60]

Santali verb paradigm	Active	Middle
Future/Present	-Ø	-okˀ
Present Progressive	-etˀ (-kan)	-okˀ-kan
Aorist	-ketˀ	-en
Anterior	-letˀ	-len
Perfect	-akatˀ	-akan
Past perfect	-akatˀ-tahɛ̃kan	-akan-tahɛ̃kan
Past progressive	-etˀ-tahɛ̃kan	-okˀ-kan-tahɛ̃kan
Optative	-ke	-k-okˀ
Irrealis	-le	-len
Conditional	-khan

Applicative voice in Santali is represented by adding the applicative marker -a- to four tenses (Future, Imperfective, Past 1, Perfect) with an additional and rare Past 2 tense in the cases of inanimate objects. The active set serve polyvalent predicates, while the middle set mark for monovalent ones.

Santali applicative TAMs	Active	Middle
Future	-a	-jɔn
Present	-a-kan	-jɔn-kan
Past Animate	-atˀ	-an
Perfect	-akawatˀ	-akawan
Past Inanimate	(-lakˀ)	–

		singular	dual	plural
1st person	exclusive	-ɲ(iɲ)	-liɲ	-lɛ
	inclusive		-laŋ	-bon
2nd person		-m	-ben	-pɛ
3rd person		-e	-kin	-ko

Transitive verbs with pronominal objects take infixed object markers.

		singular	dual	plural
1st person	exclusive	-iɲ-	-liɲ-	-lɛ-
	inclusive		-laŋ-	-bon-
2nd person		-me-	-ben-	-pɛ-
3rd person		-e-	-kin-	-ko-

In applicative constructions, inanimate objects are marked with a pronominal suffix, a checked -kˀ.

Transitive verbs may form agreements with non-arguments/outside/indirect objects. To denote inalienable possession of the concerned indirect object, prefix -t- is attached to the applicative forms of the pronouns; otherwise it is marked in the noun phrase and functions as an attribute.

In specific contexts nowadays, Santali speakers have been increasingly using the pronominal duals to express honorific in a generalised sense to show respect to the addressed interactants, such as senior, highly-regarded, or unfamiliar persons.^[61][62]

Two verbs mena ("to be") and hena ("to have") have irregular templates. The subject pronominal marker, instead of being an enclitic form, appears as a suffix in the slot where the object marker normally would be placed. All constructions involving these two verbs are conjugated in the middle voice to express existence, possession, and location.^[58]

In Santali as well as Kherwarian languages, the pronominal subject markers are mobile clitics that may encompass the whole clause. In most of the cases, except the stems mena and hena mentioned above, the pronominal subject clitics have two placements: (1) attach to the word preceding the verb stem, or, (2), enclitic to the final position of the verbal complex:

(1) X=S Verb

(2) X verb=S

According to MacPhail (1957), (1) occurs more frequently than (2).^[63]

Indexing arguments in Santali is essentially intertwined with the distinction of animacy of arguments. Distinction between animate/inanimate is not marked on nouns at all, but is conveyed through morphosyntax, such as in genitive and locative cases and verbal agreement. That is, if an argument of the verb does not belong to the animate noun class, the verb will not index that argument. Inanimate entities such as flower, tree, rice, book, food,... and objects that cannot move by themselves like vehicles (eg. motorbike, car, aeroplane) are never indexed by the verb. However, there are some notable exceptions of inanimate objects that are significant ('sun', 'moon', 'star') or culturally important ('doll') are considered animate in Santali:

Likewise, 'Government' is also considered a single body of animate entities and is marked with third person singular. Even mushroom, thorn being pricked, puff-ball, earwax are perceived as animate and are indexed by pronominal markers as such, showing the unpredictability of the Santali animacy-based indexation system.^[64]

In negative formations, the negation particle may show indexation of an inanimate subject, while other Kherwarian languages suppress it.

As described by Ghosh (2008), there are no specific markers for the imperative series. However, in the affirmative imperative, the indicative/finite marker -a is replaced by second person markers. In the negative imperative, verb (TAM/person-syntagma) takes -a while the imperative subject marker moves to the enclitic position behind the negative particle, right before the verb (See ##Negation).

Any finite predicates will attach -a, except the imperative and in the subordinate clause. This suffix marks the predicate an indicative (real, default, narrative) mood.^[65]

There are two causative markers: a- and -otʃo. -otʃo is attached on every type of verb stems, and a- is restricted to two transitive verbs jɔm ('eat') and ɲu ('drink').^[66]

While both the causative and the permissive share the same suffix -oco, the permissive is different as an applicative marker is combined with the causative morpheme, resulting in the shift of the concerned person from the accusative to the dative position.

Infix -pV- turns transitive and ditransitive verb roots into reciprocal meaning, but in many verbs it also conveys that the action is done together by two participants.^[67]

dal ('beat') > dapal ('beat each other')

landa ('laugh') > lapanda ('laugh together')

The benefactive for transitive and ditransitive stems is -ka in Northern Santali dialect and -ka-k in Southern Santali. In Southern Santali, if the object is animate, the last -k will be replaced by pronominal clitics. All benefactive stems are conjugated with active TAM markers.^[67]

tɔl ('bind') > tɔlka ('to bind for somebody')

Transitive verbs and a limited number of intransitive and intransitive-transitive verb roots will take -jɔn to form the Medio-passive voice.^[68]

Transitive roots, transitive-intransitive roots, and causative stems will take -ok to derive passive stems. In the transitive-intransitive roots, it denotes the prominence of transitivity. Attaching it to transitive verbs will create reflexivity.^[68]

ɲɛl ('see') > ɲɛlok ('be seen') (passive)

ranoco ('cause to medicate') > ranocok ('be caused to medicate') (causative > passive)

mak ('cut') > makok ('cut oneself') (reflexive)

The intransitive applicative TAM set is also interpreted as expressing reflexivity and used to emphasise the action directed toward the subject themselves.

Noun incorporation is not a feature of Santali.^[69]

In daily speeches, nominal roots can be found functioning as verbs with appropriate inflection. The verbalisation of nominals extends to interrogatives and indefinites. Adjectives that are derived from nominals can take inflection as well as person indexation, too.^[58]

Two or more verbs and modifiers can combine together to derive a compound verb. Normally they are combinations of two transitive verbs or two intransitive verbs and limited numbers of transitive+intransitive and intransitive+transitive combinations.^[69]

Complex predicates are pervasive in Munda clause structure. Simple verbs like go, become, finish, come, try,... are often employed as auxiliary verbs (v2 in South Asian linguistics) to add or embolden modality, aktionsart, and orientations to the predicates. In Santali, there are univerbated auxiliary constructions to mark many functions. One example show below, the verb gɔt ("pluck") is often used as auxiliary verb to denote telicity, that is, a quick, sudden, or intense action.^[70] Santali AVCs exhibit split-doubled pattern: the lexical verb may index the object argument, and the auxiliary verb may index the subject argument.^[71]

Some auxiliary constructions may exhibit behaviours of compound verbs. Two most common used auxiliary verbs in Santali are daɽe ("can") and lega ("try"). The first one is often combined with an active applicative suffix, while the latter mostly found with the middle TAMs.^[70]

There are three particles in Santali used to express negation: baŋ, ɔhɔ and alo. baŋ and ba (shortened form) are the negatives for interrogative and declarative sentences; ɔhɔ is the emphatic negative of declarative sentences; alo is the prohibitive negative in the imperative. These negation particles will take away the subject marker from the verb.^[72]

Santali is strictly head-last. Simple noun phrases in Santali would have the following typical structure:^[73]

(DEMONSTRATIVE) (QUANTIFIER) (ADJECTIVE) (ADJECTIVE) NOUN

Example: noa əɖi maraŋ bir (that very big forest) "very big forest"

Santali person indexation clearly shows that it follows the nominative-accusative alignment: the subject pronominal clitic agrees with the person/number of the nominative argument; the object pronominal infix agrees with the person/number of the accusative argument.^[58] But there are no markings featured on NPs whatsoever to show their relation:

Thus, word order may be used to determine which constituent part of the non-verbal elements is the subject argument or accusative/object argument. Usually, the unmarked word order is SOV. However, Santali word order is highly influenced by context, discourse, and pragmatism. If the S/A is considered less topical than the O/P, then the word order would be reduced to OV. The sentence would be shrunk down further if no argument is deemed topical.^[11] Some can argue that then the pronominal clitics representing arguments in NPs, perhaps, should be considered the arguments themselves.

The default word order of INTRANSITIVE, MONOVALENT sentence is SV, though notice that it can be reduced if the subject is not a matter of topic or focus.

Coordinative particles are employed in Santali complex sentence structure for various conjunctive, disjunctive, and adversative functions.^[74]

Complex sentence coordinators
	Particle	Translation	Note
Conjunctive	ar	and	operates within the sentence
	adɔ	thereupon	operate across sentences
	khan	then
Disjunctive	sɛ	or
	baŋkhan	otherwise
Adversative	mɛnkhan	but	also denotes switch reference
	bɔrɔŋ	rather
	bitʃkom	rather (L)
	hutkə	then	used in conditional sentences to introduce the apodosis, in which the protasis is supposed not to have been realized, and therefore, the apodosis would not have occurred.
Conclusive	baŋma	"that is to say, namely"

In subordinating clauses, there are the uses of converb katɛ, ablative khɔn, place marker ʈhɛn, temporal khan, and purposive jɛmon available to link the subordinates with the narrative clauses.^[75]

Indefinite pronouns jãhã ("any") and jãhãe ("anyone") are used to link relative clauses. The choice of which particle should be used primarily depends on the semantics and animacy of the referred argument.^[76]

In daily conversations, Santali speakers generally employ high percentages of words of native Austroasiatic/Munda/Santali origins, compared to other Munda languages such as Kharia and Juang. Loan words, mostly borrowed from Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Nepali, Oriya and even English may account for almost 20% of the lexemes of daily needs. Younger generation who have opportunities to engage in higher education tend to be more accustomed with lexical influence from neighbouring languages as well as English.^[77]

• Languages of India
• Languages with official status in India
• List of Indian languages by total speakers
• National Translation Mission
• Santali Wikipedia
• Ol Chiki script

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• Bodding, Paul O. (1929). A Santal dictionary. Oslo: J. Dybwad.
• A. R. Campbell (1899). A Santali-English dictionary. Santal Mission Press.
• English-Santali/Santali-English dictionaries
• Macphail, R. M. (1964). An Introduction to Santali, Parts I & II. Benagaria: The Santali Literature Board, Santali Christian Council.
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• Bodding, Paul O. 1929/1952. A Santal Grammar for the Beginners, Benagaria: Santal Mission of the Northern Churches (1st edition, 1929).
• Cole, F. T. (1896). Santạli primer. Manbhum: Santal Mission Press.
• Macphail, R. M. (1953) An Introduction to Santali. Firma KLM Private Ltd.
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• Philips, Jeremiah. (1845) A Santali Primer. Calcutta: School Book Society.
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• Pandit Raghunath Murmu (1925) ronor: Mayurbhanj, Odisha Publisher ASECA, Mayurbhanj
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• OLAC resources in and about the Santali language
• OLAC resources in and about the Mahali language
• RWAAI Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage
• Santali language in RWAAI Digital Archive