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 neighbouring state of Gujarat and Haryana, Eastern Pakistan and some migrant communities in Nepal. With some 7.8 million or so speakers (ce. 2011), 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.

Marwari
मारवाड़ी/مارواڑی‎
Native to	India
Region	Marwar
Ethnicity	Marwari
Native speakers	7.8 million, partial count (2011 census)[1] (additional speakers counted under Hindi)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Western[2] Rajasthani–Marwari Marwari
Writing system	Devanagari, Perso-Arabic
Language codes
ISO 639-2	mwr
ISO 639-3	mwr – inclusive code Individual codes: dhd – Dhundari rwr – Marwari (India) mve – Marwari (Pakistan) wry – Merwari mtr – Mewari swv – Shekhawati hoj – Harauti gig – Goaria ggg – Gurgula
Glottolog	None raja1256  scattered in Rajasthani[3]
Dark green indicates primary Marwari-speaking region, light green indicates additional dialect areas who count themselves as Marwari

Marwari is popularly written in Devanagari script, as is Hindi, Marathi, Nepali and Sanskrit; although it was historically written in Mahajani, it is still written in the Perso-Arabic script by the Marwari minority in Eastern Pakistan (the standard/western Naskh script variant is used in Sindh Province, and the eastern Nastalik variant is used in Punjab Province), where it has educational status but where it is rapidly shifting to Urdu.[4]

Indian Marwari has no official status in the government in India and is not used as a language of education. Marwari is still spoken widely in and around Bikaner and Jodhpur.

History

It is believed that Marwari and Gujarati evolved from Gujjar Bhakha or Maru-Gurjar, language of the Gurjars.[5] Formal grammar of Gurjar Apabhraṃśa 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 neighbouring state of Gujarat and in Eastern Pakistan. Speakers are also found in Bhopal. With around 7.9 million speakers in India according to the 2001 census.[6] There are several dialects: Thaḷī (spoken in eastern Jaisalmer district and northwestern Jodhpur district), Bāgṛī (near Haryana), Bhitrauti, Sirohī, Godwārī.[7]

Lexis

Indian Marwari [rwr] in Rajasthan shares a 50%–65% lexical similarity with Hindi (this is based on a Swadesh 210 word list comparison). It 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).

Pakistani Marwari [mve] shares 87% lexical similarity between its Southern subdialects in Sindh (Utradi, Jaxorati, and Larecha) and Northern subdialects in Punjab (Uganyo, Bhattipo, and Khadali), 79%–83% with Dhakti [mki], and 78% with Meghwar and Bhat Marwari dialects. Mutual intelligibility of Pakistani Marwari [mve] with Indian Marwari [rwr] is decreasing due to the rapid shift of active speakers in Pakistan to Urdu, their use of the Arabic script and different sources of support medias, and their separation from Indian Marwaris, even if there are some educational efforts to keep it active (but absence of official recognition by Pakistani or provincial government level). Many words have been borrowed from other Pakistani languages.[4]

Merwari [wry] shares 82%–97% intelligibility of Pakistani Marwari [mve], with 60%–73% lexical similarity between Merwari varieties in Ajmer and Nagaur districts, but only 58%–80% with Shekhawati [swv], 49%–74% with Indian Marwari [rwr], 44%–70% with Godwari [gdx], 54%–72% with Mewari [mtr], 62%–70% with Dhundari [dhd], 57%–67% with Haroti [hoj]. Unlike Pakistani Marwari [mve], the use of Merwari remains vigorous, even if its most educated speakers also proficiently speak Hindi [hin].[8]

Phonology

/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 languages have a structure that is quite similar to Hindustani (Hindi or Urdu). Their primary word order is subject–object–verb[9][10][11][12][13] 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 in their plural pronouns.

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 mutual 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. 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.[14]

See also

• Lambadi
• List of Indian languages by total speakers
• Marwari Muslims
• Marwari people
• Shekhawati

References

• Lakhan Gusain (2004). Marwari. Munich: Lincom Europa (LW/M 427)

1. "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011". www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
2. Ernst Kausen, 2006. Die Klassifikation der indogermanischen Sprachen (Microsoft Word, 133 KB)
3. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Rajasthani". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
4. "Pakistani Marwari". Ethnologue. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
5. Ajay Mitra Shastri; R. K. Sharma; Devendra Handa (2005). Revealing India's past: recent trends in art and archaeology. Aryan Books International. p. 227. ISBN 978-81-7305-287-3. It is an established fact that during 10th-11th century.....Interestingly the language was known as the Gujjar Bhakha..
6. "Census of India Website : Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India". censusindia.gov.in.
7. Masica, Colin P. (1991). The Indo-Aryan languages. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge University Press. pp. 12, 444. ISBN 978-0-521-23420-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
8. "Merwari". Ethnologue. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
9. "Indian Marwari". Ethnologue. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
10. "Dhundari". Ethnologue. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
11. "Shekhawati". Ethnologue. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
12. "Mewari". Ethnologue. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
13. "Haroti". Ethnologue. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
14. Pandey, Anshuman. 2010. Proposal to Encode the Marwari Letter DDA for Devanagari

External links

• Hanvant's Rajasthani Dictionary