Marwari language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Marwari language (also variously Marvari, Marwadi, Marvadi) is spoken in the Indian state of Rajasthan, but is also found in the neighboring state of Gujarat and in Eastern Pakistan. With some 13.2 million speakers (as of 1997, ca. 13 million in India and 200,000 in Pakistan) it is the largest of the Marwari subgroup of the "Rajasthani cluster" of Western dialects of Hindustani.

It is written with the Devanagari script, as is Hindi. Marwari currently has no official status as a language of education and government. There has been a push in the recent past for the national government to recognize this language and give it a scheduled status. The state of Rajasthan recognizes Rajasthani as a language.

In Pakistan, there are two varieties of Marwari. They may or may not be close enough to Indian Marwari to be considered the same language.

The Marwari language was used in the recent Indian movie, Paheli, where it was mixed with Hindi so it is understandable to the main stream audience. Marwari is still spoken widely in and around Jodhpur. Closely related languages to Marwari in the Rajasthani cluster are: Shekhawati, Hadoti, Dundhari, Mewari, Brij, Bagri, Wagri, Mewati, and others. There are ongoing efforts to identify and classify this language cluster and the language differences.

[edit] History

Marwari as a written language has a 1500 year history.

[edit] Classification and related languages

[edit] Geographical distribution

Dark green indicates Marwari speaking home area in Rajasthan, light green indicates additional dialect areas where speakers identify their language as Marwari.

Marwari is primarily spoken in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Marwari speakers have dispersed widly through out India and other countries but are found most notably in the neighboring state of Gujarat and in Eastern Pakistan. With some 13.2 million speakers (as of 1997, ca. 13 million in India and 200,000 in Pakistan) it is the largest of the Marwari subgroup of the "Rajasthani cluster" of western dialects of Hindi.

[edit] Phonology

It shares a 50%-65% lexical similarity with Hindi (this is based on a Swadesh 210 word list comparison). Marwari has many cognate words with Hindi. Notable phonetic correspondences include /s/ in Hindi with /h/ in Marwari. For example /sona/ 'gold' (Hindi) and /hono/ 'gold' (Marwari). /h/ sometimes elides. There are also a variety of vowel changes. Most of the pronouns and interrogatives are, however, distinct from those of Hindi.

[edit] Grammar

Marwari has a very similar grammar to that of Hindi. Its primary sentence structure is SOV (Subject, Object, Verb).

[edit] Vocabulary

[edit] Writing system

Marwari had two scripts before the present devanagri script. The script presently is a modified form of the one used for Hindi with the most notable difference being the addition of a retroflex lateral "ळ". This character is found in sanscrict but not in Hindi. Some publications in Marwari also use some other characters in substitution for accepted letters.

[edit] References

• Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/.
• Lakhan Gusain (2004). Marwari. Munich: Lincom Europa (LW/M 427)

[edit] See also

• Marwaris
• Marwar
• Shekhawati
• Languages of India
• List of national languages of India
• List of Indian languages by total speakers
• Rajasthani language

[edit] External links

• Ethnologue Language Family Trees
• Basic phrases in Marwari language
• Ethnologue report for Marwari
• Ethnologue report for Shekhawati
• Online Rajasthani-English Dictionary