Santali is a language in the Munda subfamily of Austro-Asiatic, related to Ho and Mundari. It is spoken by about six million people in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan . Most of its speakers live in India, in the states of Jharkhand, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Tripura, and West Bengal. It has its own alphabet, known as Ol Chiki, but literacy is very low, between 10 and 30%. Santali is spoken by the Santals.

Further reading

• Hembram, P. C. (2002). Santhali, a natural language. New Delhi: U. Hembram.
• Minegishi, M., & Murmu, G. (2001). Santali basic lexicon with grammatical notes. T?ky?: Institute for the Languages and Cultures of Asia and Afurica, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. ISBN 4872977912
• Newberry, J. (2000). North Munda dialects: Mundari, Santali, Bhumia. Victoria, B.C.: J. Newberry. ISBN 0921599684
• Murmu, G., & Das, A. K. (1998). Bibliography, Santali literature. Calcutta: Biswajnan. ISBN 8175250801
• Ghosh, A. (1994). Santali: a look into Santal morphology. New Delhi: Gyan Pub. House. ISBN 8121204518
• Chakrabarti, B. (1992). A comparative study of Santali and Bengali. Calcutta: K.P. Bagchi & Co. ISBN 8170741289
• Mitra, P. C. (1988). Santhali, the base of world languages. Calcutta: Firma KLM.
• Bodding, P. O. (1929). A Santal dictionary. Oslo: J. Dybwad.

See also

• Languages of India
• List of national languages of India
• List of Indian languages by total speakers
• Paul Olaf Bodding
• Byomkes Chakrabarti

External links

• Ethnologue report on Santali
• "We Santhals" web site
• English-Santali/Santali-English dictionaries

br:Santaleg da:Santali de:Santali eo:Santala lingvo fr:Santâlî hi:?????? ml:??????? ja:????? no:Santali pt:Língua santali ru:??????? sr:??????? ????? sh:Santali jezik fi:Santalin kieli zh:????