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Ethnologue > Web version > Country index > Asia > India > Santali

Santali

A language of India

ISO 639-3: sat

Population	5,960,000 in India (1997). Population total all countries: 6,170,900.
Region	Bihar, Bhagalpur, Munger districts; Jharkhand, Manbhum, Hazaribagh districts, Orissa, Balasore District; West Bengal, Birbhum, Bankura districts; Assam; Mizoram; Tripura. Also in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal.
Alternate names	Har, Hor, Samtali, Sandal, Sangtal, Santal, Santhali, Santhiali, Satar, Sentali, Sonthal
Dialects	Karmali (Khole), Kamari-Santali, Lohari-Santali, Manjhi, Paharia. Similar to Ho [hoc], Mundari [unr], Munda [unx].
Classification	Austro-Asiatic, Munda, North Munda, Kherwari, Santali
Language use	Official language.
Language development	Literacy rate in L1: 10%–30%. Literacy rate in L2: 25%–50%. Taught in primary schools. Magazines. Radio programs. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible: 1914–2005.
Writing system	Bengali script. Devanagari script. Latin script, used in Bangladesh. Ol Chiki (Ol Cemet’, Ol, Santali) script. Oriya script.
Comments	A Scheduled Tribe. Agriculturalists; laborers. Hindu, traditional religion.

Also spoken in:

Bangladesh

Language name	Santali
Population	157,000 in Bangladesh (Johnstone and Mandryk 2001).
Language map	Bangladesh
Alternate names	Har, Hor, Sandal, Sangtal, Santal, Santhali, Satar, Sonthal
Dialects	Santali, Mahali (Mahle).
Language use	Home, village, church, market. All ages. Positive attitude.
Language development	Literacy rate in L1: 50%.

Nepal

Language name	Santali
Population	40,300 in Nepal (2001 census), decreasing. Ethnic population: 42,698.
Region	Koshi zone, Morang and Sunsari districts; Mechi zone, Jhapa District.
Language map	Eastern Nepal, reference number 91
Alternate names	Har, Hor, Sainti, Sandal, Sangtal, Santal, Santhal, Santhali, Satar, Sentali, Sonthal
Language use	1,339 L2 Satar speakers; 559 L2 Santhal speakers (1991 census). Also use Maithili [mai] or Nepali [nep].
Language development	Literacy rate in L1: Few. Literacy rate in L2: 10%.
Comments	An official nationality. Hunter-gatherers; agriculturalists. Traditional religion, Christian.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

KIM, Amy; KIM, Seung, authors. 2010. "The Santali cluster in Bangladesh: a sociolinguistic survey."  

NEUKOM, Lukas, author. 2000. "Argument marking in Santali."