People's Linguistic Survey of India: Volume 6: Part 2: The Languages of Bihar

Contents: Foreword. Part I: Scheduled Languages. 1. Hindi. 2. Maithili. 3. Nepali—Samar Sinha and Balaram Pandey. 4. Santali. 5. Urdu—Ehtisham Akhtar (Translated by Vibha S. Chauhan). Part II: Non-Scheduled Languages. 6. Angika—Ramesh Mohan Sharma ‘Atmavishwas’ (Translated by Prashant Mishra). 7. Bajjika. 8. Bhojpuri—Vibha S. Chauhan. 9. Magadhi/Magahi. 10. Surjapuri—Vibha S. Chauhan. Part III: Tribal Languages. 11. Asuri—Vibha S. Chauhan. 12. Birhor—Vibha S. Chauhan. 13. Ho—Damyanti Sinku. 14. Korwa—Hari Oraon. 15. Kurukh/Kudukh—Hari Oraon and Shanti Khalkho. 16. Mal Pahariya. 17. Mundari—Bisheshwar Munda and Birendra Kumar Soy. Bibliography. Index.

Bihar is one of the larger, more populous states in what is popularly known as the ‘Hindi belt’ of India. There is close contact between the languages of Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha as there has always been an intermingling of culture, language and literature among these states. This has significantly enhanced the linguistic diversity of Bihar. This volume of the People’s Linguistic Survey of India, The Languages of Bihar (volume six, part two), discusses the Tribal, Scheduled and Non-Scheduled languages spoken in the state, with special emphasis on the tribal languages.