The Korkus have a language of their own which belongs to the Kolarian
or Munda sub-family. Dr. Grierson says of it: "The Munda, sometimes
called the Kolarian family, is probably the older branch of the
Dravido-Munda languages. It exhibits the characteristics of an
agglutinative language to an extraordinarily complete degree." In
the Central Provinces nearly 90 per cent of Korkus were returned
as speaking their own language in 1911. Mr. Crosthwaite remarks:
"The language is in a state of decay and transition, and Hindi and
Marathi terms have crept into its vocabulary. But very few Gondi words
have been adopted. A grammar of the Korku language by Drake has been
printed at the Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta."