Memoni language
Memoni language is the language of Memon people historically associated with Kathiawar (Modern Gujarat State, India). Memon people is a subgroup or an ethnic group that originated in North Western India. After the Indian partition in 1947, Memon people of the Kathiawar region in modern Guajarat state, India migrated to neighboring states, cities and towns within India, but large number of Memons settled in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Malawi, Kenya and even United States and Canada since the independence in 1947.
| Memoni | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Pakistan, India |
| Region | Sindh |
| Ethnicity | Memon |
Native speakers | 1.8 Million (2014)[1] |
| Arabic script, Gujarati script, Urdu script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mby |
| Glottolog | memo1238[2] |
History
The true origin of the Memoni language is still debated among the historians of the region. Memon people speak the language in different styles or accent due to the influence of other languages in areas of settlement. Basically Memoni language is the mixture of Sindhi, Kutchi and Gujarati Languages. Memoni language does not have its alphabetical system of reading and writing, nor having its literature and dictionary. But the language is spoken and inherited by the generations of the Memon people. Due to this reason, Memoni language is differentiated among the speakers in the Memon community. Lately, Haji Mohammed Husein Abdel Kareem Nagani invented the alphabet of Memon language to bring the Memoni language to its highest standard like other major languages in the world.[3]
The Memon community is generally divided into three major subgroups such as Kathiawari Memons (Speak the Memoni language) Sindhi Memons (Speak the Sindhi language) and Kutchi Memons (Speak the Kutchi language). Memons originating in Kathiawar region are simply called Kathiawari Memons and they speak the Memoni language. Memon people from this particular region were largely Muslims that followed the Hanafi Islam.
Sindhi and Kutchi languages are spoken by both Muslims and non-Muslims, in contrast to the Memoni language, which is exclusively spoken by Memons of Kathiawar origin, who are almost entirely Muslims.
In stress, intonation, and everyday speech, Memoni is very similar to Sindhi or Kutchi, but it borrows extensively from Gujarati, Hindustani and Arabic language. Like most languages of the Indian subcontinent the sentence structure of Memoni generally follows subject–object–verb order.[4] Especially in Pakistan, Memoni language has adopted many Urdu words and phrases. Even between different villages of Kathiawar, variations arose.
Nouns
The most nouns has a grammatical gender, either masculine or feminine and often have singular and plural forms. The Memons borrow vast majorities of the nouns from Hindustani (mixture of Urdu & Hindi) languages and lately extensive use of English vocabulary.
Example
| English | Memoni | Sindhi | Kutchi | Gujarati | Hindi/Urdu | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vegetables | bakalo (m) | bhaji | saag bhaji ( bhakalo ) | Shaak bhaji | sabzi(f) sabzia | |
| bed | Palang (m) | Palang (m)/ Khata (f) | Khatlo/Palang | Khatlo | chaarpaee/ Palang (f) | |
| mirror | aariso (m) aarisa (p) / Aaino | aarsi (f) / aaino (m) | aariso | aarisa (m) | aaena (m) | ? |
| door | dervazo (m) dervazaa (p) (Kamaar - Room Doors) | darwazo | darvajo | darwajo | dervaza (m) dervazey (p) | |
| man | marhu (m) marhu (p) | maanhu | maru | manas/purush | admi (m) admion (p) | |
| boy | chhokro (m) chokraa (p) | chhokro (m) chokraa (p) | chhokro | choro/chokra | ladka (m) ladke (p) | |
| girl | chhokree (f) chokriyun (p) | chhokree (f) chokryiun (p) | chhokree | chokri (f) chokriun | ladki (f) ladkian (p) | |
| woman also wife | bairee (f) bairiyun (p) | mayee (f) mayuun (p) | bairi | bairi/patni/wavh | aurat (f) auratayn (p) | |
Articles and determiner
There is no equivalent for the definite article ‘the’, and the indefinite article ‘a’ is further inflected as masculine or feminine with its object.
Pronouns
The subject pronouns second person(s) ‘You’ is expressed two different ways; one is the polite form ‘aaen’ (cognate with ‘avheen’ in standard Sindhi) used for respect generally for a stranger, elderly and well respected persons including parents and relatives and the second ‘tu’ (the same as in standard Sindhi) is informal and used among close friends and when addressing subordinates. The object, possessive and reflexive pronouns are often inflected for masculine and feminine and must agree with its object.
See Urdu Pronouns
Example
| English | Memoni | Sindhi | Kutchi | Gujarati |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | aaun | aaun/Maan | aaun | hun |
| We | asaan | asaan/paan | asaan/paan | ame |
| You (polite) singular or
plural |
aaen | tawhan/awheen | aaen | tamey |
| you (informal or intimate) | tu | tu/tun | tu | tu |
In most Indic languages the third person such as, he, she, it and they and the demonstrative pronouns this, these, that, those same pronouns are used and they are divided into two categories; one for a near object or person and the other for a far object or person.
Example 2
| English | Memoni | Sindhi | Kutchi | Gujrati |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| She, He, it, they, this, these (near) | ee / hee | hee | hee | aa |
| She, He, it, they, that, those (far) | ou / hoo | hou, hooa, hoo | hoo | pela |
No significant differences are among the object, possessive and reflexive pronouns. In addition these pronouns are further inflected for masculine and feminine and must agree to the object (noun, pronouns, adjective and adverbs).
Verbs
The verbs generally conjugated (in form, according to many factors, including its tense, aspect, mood and voice. It also agree with the person, gender, and/or number of some of its arguments (subject, object, etc.). The verb generally appears at the end of the sentence.
Adjectives
Like English, the position of the adjectives nearly always appears immediately before the noun and they are modified and often inflected for masculine and feminine and must be agree to the noun that follows. The proposition generally comes after a noun or a verb.
Script
In the past there was some attempt to write the Memoni dialect using Gujarati and later in Urdu script with little success. Lately,some attempt has been made to write Memoni using the Latin script.
References
- Feb 14, Mohammed Wajihuddin | TNN |; 2014; Ist, 04:31. "Memon association to congregate today | Mumbai News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2020-06-09.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
- Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Memoni". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/155700/MWS-honors-inventor-of-Memon-language-alphabets
- Memoni Language Project
External links
Reference: Origin of Memoni Language a Memoni Language Project by Siddique Katiya