ISO 639-2 mwr Dialects Jogi language | Native speakers 22 million | |
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ISO 639-3 mwr – inclusive codeIndividual codes:dhd – Dhundarirwr – Marwari (India)mve – Marwari (Pakistan)wry – Merwarimtr – Mewariswv – Shekhawatihoj – Harautigig – Goariaggg – Gurgula Glottolog Noneraja1256 (scattered in Rajasthani) | ||
Marwari language
Marwari (Mārwāṛī; also rendered Marwadi, Marvadi) is a Rajasthani language spoken in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Marwari is also found in the neighboring state of Gujarat and Haryana and in Eastern Pakistan. With some 20 million or so speakers (ca. 2001), it is one of the largest varieties of Rajasthani. Most speakers live in Rajasthan, with a quarter million in Sindh and a tenth that number in Nepal. There are two dozen dialects of Marwari.
Contents
- Marwari language
- History
- Geographical distribution
- Phonology
- Morphology
- Vocabulary
- Writing system
- References
Marwari is popularly written in Devanagari script, as is Hindi, Marathi, Nepali and Sanskrit; although it was historically written in Mahajani. 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. Marwari speakers are concentrated in Sindh. In Pakistan, Marwari is generally written using a modified version of the Arabic Alphabet.
Marwari is still spoken widely in and around Bikaner. There are ongoing efforts to identify and classify this language cluster and the language differences.
History
It is said that Marwari and Gujarati evolved from Gujjar Bhakha or Maru-Gurjar, language of the Gurjars. Formal grammar of Rajasthani was written by Jain monk and eminent Gujarati scholar Hemachandra Suri.
Geographical distribution
Marwari is primarily spoken in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Marwari speakers have dispersed widely throughout India and other countries but are found most notably in the neighboring state of Gujarat and in Eastern Pakistan. Speakers are also found in Bhopal. With some 13.2 million speakers (in 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.
There are several dialects: Thaḷī (spoken in eastern Jaisalmer district and northwestern Jodhpur district), Bāgṛī (near Haryana), Bhitrauti, Sirohī, Godwārī.
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.
Morphology
Marwari language has a structure that is quite similar to Hindi. Its primary word order is subject–object–verb. Most of the pronouns and interrogatives used in Marwari are distinct from those used in Hindi. At least Marwari proper and Harauti have a clusivity distinction.
Vocabulary
Marwari Vocabulary is somewhat similar to other Western Indo-Aryan languages, especially Rajasthani and Gujarati, however, elements of grammar and basic terminology differ enough to significantly impede mutually intelligibility. In addition, Marwari uses many words found in Sanskrit (the ancestor of most North Indian languages) which are not found in Hindi.
Writing system
Marwari is generally written in the Devanagari script, although the Mahajani script is traditionally associated with the language. Traditionally it was written in Mahajani script (which does not have vowels, only consonants). In Pakistan it is written in the Perso-Arabic script with modifications. Historical Marwari orthography for Devanagari uses other characters in place of standard Devanagari letters.