The Abujmaria Alphabet

Q: What is the Abujmaria language?

Abujmaria [1] (ISO 639-3: abj, also known as Abuj Maria) is a Central Dravidian language variety spoken by the Maria Gondi people in the Abujhmar Hills of Narayanpur district, Chhattisgarh, India. The CIIL documents Abujmaria within the South-Central (Gondi-Kui) branch of the Dravidian family, alongside Gondi, Muria, Koya, and other related languages. The term "Abujmaria" combines "Abuj" (from Abujhmar) with "Maria" (the name of the people), distinguishing this community from the Hill Maria and Bison-Horn Maria groups.

Q: Where is Abujmaria spoken?

Abujmaria [1] is spoken in the Abujhmar Hills of Narayanpur district, Chhattisgarh — one of India's most densely forested and historically remote regions. The Abujhmar Hills form part of the larger Bastar region. The geographic isolation of the area — with few roads and historically limited outside access — has preserved the Maria Gondi community and their Abujmaria language in ways that more accessible Gondi-speaking areas have not experienced. The Endangered Languages Project [2] records Abujmaria speaker communities as concentrated in this remote forested region.

Q: Is Abujmaria related to Gondi?

Abujmaria [1] is closely related to Gondi and belongs to the same South-Central Dravidian subgroup. Linguists treat Abujmaria as a distinct dialect or language variety within the broader Gondi dialect continuum, which also includes Muria, Koya, and other varieties. The degree of mutual intelligibility between Abujmaria and other Gondi varieties varies — the geographic isolation of the Abujhmar Hills has produced phonological and lexical distinctions. The CIIL assigns Abujmaria a separate ISO 639-3 code (abj) to acknowledge its distinctiveness from standard Gondi (ISO 639-3: gon).

Q: Is Abujmaria an endangered language?

Abujmaria [2] is classified as an endangered language by the Endangered Languages Project. While the geographic isolation of the Abujhmar Hills has historically protected the language from rapid assimilation, increasing connectivity, government programmes, and migration patterns are creating new pressures on the Abujmaria language and community. The CIIL [1] documents Abujmaria as part of its effort to preserve endangered Indian languages through linguistic description and documentation.

Q: What phonological features does Abujmaria have?

Abujmaria [1] has a 10-vowel system with five short/long pairs (a/aa, i/ii, u/uu, e/ee, o/oo) and 21 consonants. The consonant inventory includes the Dravidian retroflex series (ṭ, ḍ, ṇ, ḷ), a velar nasal (ŋ), and palatal affricates (c, j). These features are shared with other South-Central Dravidian languages like Gondi, Koya, and Muria. The retroflex consonants are a defining feature inherited from Proto-Dravidian, distinguishing Dravidian languages from the surrounding Indo-Aryan languages of central India.

Q: What script is used for Abujmaria?

Abujmaria [1] has no traditional indigenous writing system. Academic and CIIL documentation uses Latin-script transcription with IPA diacritics for retroflex consonants (ṭ, ḍ, ṇ, ḷ). In formal contexts, Devanagari script is sometimes used, as Chhattisgarh uses Devanagari for Hindi and Chhattisgarhi. Some community literacy materials use Gondi scripts — Masaram Gondi (now in Unicode) and Gunjala Gondi are the main candidates. CIIL uses standardised Latin transcription in its scientific documentation of Abujmaria phonology, grammar, and vocabulary.

Q: Who are the Maria Gondi people?

The Maria Gondi [1] are a major community within the broader Gondi people, one of India's largest tribal groups. "Maria" refers to the Gondi people of the Bastar-Abujhmar region. The Maria Gondi are subdivided into groups including the Abuj Maria (of the Abujhmar Hills), the Hill Maria, and the Bison-Horn Maria — each with distinct cultural traditions and geographic territories. The Abuj Maria specifically inhabit the Abujhmar Hills of Narayanpur district. The CIIL documents this community as speakers of the Abujmaria language variety, which has developed distinct features through centuries of geographic isolation.

Q: Is Abujmaria part of the Dravidian family?

Abujmaria [1] is firmly part of the Dravidian language family, specifically the South-Central (Gondi-Kui) subgroup. The Dravidian family is one of the world's major language families, spoken primarily in South Asia. The family has four main branches: South Dravidian (Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada), Central Dravidian (Gondi, Koya), North Dravidian (Kurukh, Malto, Brahui), and a few smaller branches. Abujmaria, as a Gondi variety, belongs to the Central Dravidian branch. The Endangered Languages Project [2] records Abujmaria as a Dravidian language of the Gondi subgroup spoken in the tribal belt of central India.

Abujmaria Alphabet at a Glance

Abujmaria ^[1] (also known as Abuj Maria; ISO 639-3: abj) is a Central Dravidian language variety spoken by the Maria Gondi people of the Abujhmar Hills in Chhattisgarh, India. The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) documents Abujmaria as a distinct variety within the Gondi group, belonging to the South-Central (Gondi-Kui) branch of the Dravidian family
The Abujhmar Hills ^[1] (also Abujhmarh or Abuymarh) form one of India's most remote and forested regions, spanning the Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh. This geographic isolation has preserved the Maria Gondi culture and language, resulting in an Abujmaria dialect that retains features distinct from other Gondi varieties spoken in less isolated regions
The Endangered Languages Project ^[2] records Abujmaria as an endangered language, with the speaker community inhabiting the densely forested Abujhmar Hills. The area's historical inaccessibility — long making it a de facto autonomous region — has paradoxically both protected and isolated the Abujmaria language and community
Abujmaria's position ^[1] within the Gondi dialect continuum places it in the South-Central Dravidian subgroup alongside Gondi proper, Koya, and Muria. All these varieties share a common Gondi ancestry, but Abujmaria has developed distinct phonological and lexical features due to the geographic and social isolation of the Abujhmar Hills community
Abujmaria phonology ^[1] features the standard Dravidian retroflex consonants (ṭ, ḍ, ṇ, ḷ) and a ten-vowel system with short/long distinctions (a/aa, i/ii, u/uu, e/ee, o/oo). The language also features a velar nasal (ŋ) and dental/retroflex stop oppositions characteristic of South-Central Dravidian languages
CIIL Mysore ^[1] and the Endangered Languages Project ^[2] document Abujmaria as a Central Dravidian language of the Maria Gondi people of the Abujhmar Hills, Chhattisgarh, India

Abujmaria (ISO 639-3: abj) is a Central Dravidian language variety spoken by the Maria Gondi people in the Abujhmar Hills of Chhattisgarh, India. The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) ^[1] documents Abujmaria within the South-Central (Gondi-Kui) branch of the Dravidian family. The Endangered Languages Project ^[2] records Abujmaria as an endangered language of one of India's most remote and forested regions — a linguistic treasure of the Abujhmar Hills.

[a]

[aa]

[i]

[ii]

[u]

[uu]

[e]

[ee]

[o]

[oo]

[a]

Short open central vowel, as in "cut"

[aa]

Long open central vowel, as in "father"

[i]

Short close front vowel, as in "sit"

[ii]

Long close front vowel, as in "see"

[u]

Short close back vowel, as in "put"

[uu]

Long close back vowel, as in "moon"

[e]

Short mid front vowel, as in "bed"

[ee]

Long mid front vowel, as in "day"

[o]

Short mid back vowel, as in "hot"

[oo]

Long mid back vowel, as in "go"

[p]

[b]

[t]

[d]

ṭ

[tt]

ḍ

[dd]

[k]

[g]

[ch]

[j]

[m]

[n]

ṇ

[nn]

[ng]

[r]

[l]

ḷ

[ll]

[y]

[v]

[s]

[h]

[p]

Voiceless bilabial stop, as in "put"

[b]

Voiced bilabial stop, as in "bat"

[t]

Dental voiceless stop

[d]

Dental voiced stop

ṭ

[tt]

Retroflex voiceless stop — tip of tongue curled back

ḍ

[dd]

Retroflex voiced stop — tip of tongue curled back

[k]

Voiceless velar stop, as in "skip"

[g]

Voiced velar stop, as in "go"

[ch]

Voiceless palatal affricate, as in "church"

[j]

Voiced palatal affricate, as in "judge"

[m]

Bilabial nasal, as in "man"

[n]

Alveolar nasal, as in "net"

ṇ

[nn]

Retroflex nasal — tip of tongue curled back

[ng]

Velar nasal, as in "sing"

[r]

Alveolar flap or trill

[l]

Lateral approximant, as in "let"

ḷ

[ll]

Retroflex lateral approximant

[y]

Palatal approximant, as in "yes"

[v]

Labiodental approximant

[s]

Voiceless alveolar fricative, as in "sun"

[h]

Voiceless glottal fricative, as in "hat"

[length mark]

[nasalisation]

[glottal stop]

[pause]

‖

[long pause]

[poora]

[mond]

[rend]

[muund]

[naalu]

[saay]

[saari]

[elu]

[ettu]

[tombar]

[poora]

Zero — used with Arabic numerals in Abujmaria written texts

[mond]

One — first number in the Abujmaria counting system

[rend]

Two

[muund]

Three

[naalu]

Four

[saay]

Five

[saari]

Six

[elu]

Seven

[ettu]

Eight

[tombar]

Nine

[a]

[aa]

[b]

[ch]

[d]

ḍ

[dd]

[e]

[ee]

[g]

[h]

[i]

[ii]

[j]

[k]

[l]

ḷ

[ll]

[m]

[n]

ṇ

[nn]

[ng]

[o]

[oo]

[p]

[r]

[s]

[t]

ṭ

[tt]

[u]

[uu]

[v]

[y]

Expand All Collapse All

What is the Abujmaria language?

Where is Abujmaria spoken?

Is Abujmaria related to Gondi?

Is Abujmaria an endangered language?

What phonological features does Abujmaria have?

What script is used for Abujmaria?

Who are the Maria Gondi people?

Is Abujmaria part of the Dravidian family?

References:

[1] Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru, India (Ministry of Education, Government of India). "Abujmaria Language" — CIIL documents Abujmaria (ISO 639-3: abj), a South-Central Dravidian language of the Abujhmaria Gond tribal people of the Abujhmar hills, Narayanpur district, Chhattisgarh, India. Abujmaria is a Gondi-branch Dravidian language closely related to Maria Gondi. Retrieved from Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL)
[2] Endangered Languages Project, Google.org. "Abujmaria Language" — the Endangered Languages Project records Abujmaria (ISO 639-3: abj), a South-Central Dravidian language of the Abujhmaria Gond people of the Abujhmar hills (Narayanpur district, Chhattisgarh). Retrieved from Endangered Languages Project