Bazigar language
Bazigar | |
---|---|
Native to | India |
Region | Punjab and neighbouring states |
Ethnicity | Bazigar |
Native speakers | (58,000 cited 1981 census)[1] |
Indo-European
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | bfr |
Glottolog | bazi1237 |
The Bazigar, Goaar, or Guar, language is spoken by the Bazigar ethnic group[2] of north-western India who are found primarily in Punjab, but also in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan.[3]
It is apparently an
Background
The Bazigar claim descent from the
The ethnic Bazigar are estimated at half a million in Punjab,[11] but the language is not spoken by all. The younger generation are shifting to the regional languages,[12] for example Schreffler reports that people younger than 30 prefer to use the regional language with one another, and speak Bazigar only with older people.[13]
The language is also known as Guar boli,[14] or goāroṅ ri bolī "Guars' speech", after the name that the community uses for itself.[15] Bazigar has no written literature.[13]
Additionally, the Bazigar have an artificial
Linguistic characteristics
Bazigar has an almost identical phonology to Punjabi except for the presence of the voiceless palatal fricative /ç/ and the absence of the voiceless glottal fricative /h/. Words with initial /h/ in Punjabi correspond to words with a tone in Bazigar. There are differences from Punjabi in the vocabulary and the morphology, notably in the absence of a vowel feminine ending (e.g. /buɖʱ/ 'old woman'), and there are similarities to Hindi and Western Rajasthani, for example the
Phonology
Vowels
Front-Central | Near-back/Back
| |
---|---|---|
Close | iː | uː |
Near-close | ɪ | ʊ |
Close-mid | eː | oː |
Mid | ə | |
Open-mid | ɛː | ɔː |
Open | aː |
Consonants
Labial | Dental/ | Retroflex
|
Post-alv. | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal
|
m | n
|
ɳ | ɲ | ŋ | |||
Stop /
Affricate
|
tenuis | p | t̪
|
ʈ | t͡ʃ | k | q | |
aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | ʈʰ | t͡ʃʰ | kʰ | |||
voiced | b | d̪
|
ɖ | d͡ʒ | ɡ | |||
Fricative
|
voiceless | f | s | ʃ | ç | x | ||
voiced | z | ɣ | ||||||
Rhotic | r
|
ɽ | ||||||
Approximant
|
ʋ | l
|
ɭ | j |
See also
- Lambadi language, spoken by the Banjara
References
- ^ Bazigar at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Schreffler (2011) argues that they are a distinct ethnic group. Singh (2010) regards them as a branch of the Banjara, whereas Ibbetson claimed at the end of the 19th century that they are merely an occupational group.
- ^ Schreffler 2011, p. 222.
- ^ "Bazigar | Ethnologue Free".
- ^ Schreffler 2011, pp. 225–26.
- ^ Deb 1987, p. 17.
- ^ "Bazigar | Ethnologue". 2013-03-28. Archived from the original on 2013-03-28. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
- ^ Deb 1987, pp. 10, 17; Schreffler 2011, p. 220.
- ^ Deb 1987; Schreffler 2011.
- ^ Schreffler 2011, p. 223.
- ^ Deb 1987, p. 10.
- ^ Singh 2016, p. 116.
- ^ a b c Schreffler 2011, p. 225.
- ^ Singh 2010, p. 31.
- ^ Schreffler 2011, pp. 218, 225.
- ^ Schreffler 2011, p. 226.
- ^ https://punjab.global.ucsb.edu/sites/secure.lsit.ucsb.edu.gisp.d7_sp/files/sitefiles/journals/volume18/8_Bazigar_article.pdf
Bibliography
- Deb, P. C. (1987). Bazigars of Punjab: A Socio-economic Study. Delhi: Mittal Publications.
- Schreffler, Gibb (2011). "The Bazigar (Goaar) People and Their Performing Arts" (PDF). Journal of Punjab Studies. 18 (1&2).
- Singh, Birinder Pal, ed. (2010). "Criminal" Tribes of Punjab: A Social-anthropological Inquiry. Routledge. ISBN 9780415551472.
- Singh, Gurpeet (2016). "Bazigari". In Devy, Ganesh; Koul, Omkar N.; Bhat, Roop Krishen (eds.). The Languages of Punjab. People's Linguistic Survey of India. Vol. 24. Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan. pp. 116–20. ISBN 978-8125062400.
Further reading
- Kaur, Navneet (2004–2005). Linguistic Analysis of the Language of Bazigar Community (Mphil) (in Punjabi). Punjabi University, Patiala.
- Christian evangelistic audio materials in Bazigar: Good News and Words of Life