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GUJARATI

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 712 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GUJARATI and See also:

RAJASTHANI, the names of two members of the western sub-See also:group of the Intermediate Group of Indo-See also:Aryan See also:languages (q.v.). The remaining member of this sub-group is See also:Panjabi or Punjabi (see See also:HINDOSTANI). In 1901 the speakers of those now dealt with numbered: Gujarati, 9,439,925, and Rajasthani, 10,917,71 2. The two languages are closely connected and might almost be termed co-dialects of the same See also:form of speech. Together they occupy an almost square See also:block of See also:country, some 400 M. broad, reaching from near See also:Agra and See also:Delhi on the See also:river See also:Jumna to the Arabian See also:Sea. Gujarati (properly Gujarati) is spoken in See also:Gujarat, the See also:northern maritime See also:province of the Bombay See also:Presidency, and also in See also:Baroda and the native states adjoining. Rajasthani (properly Rajasthani, from " Rajasthan," the native name for See also:Rajputana) is spoken in Rajputana and the adjoining parts of Central See also:India. In the articles INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES and See also:PRAKRIT the See also:history of the earlier stages of the Indo-Aryan vernaculars is given at some length. It is there shown that, from the most See also:ancient times, there were two See also:main See also:groups of these forms of speech—one, the See also:language of the Midland, spoken in the country near the Gangetic See also:Doab, and the other, the so-called " See also:Outer See also:Band," containing the Midland on three sides, See also:west, See also:north and See also:south. The country to the west and south-west of the Midland, in which this outer group of languages was spoken, included the See also:modern See also:Punjab, Rajputana and Gujarat. In See also:process of See also:time the See also:population of the Midland See also:expanded and carried its language to its new homes. It occupied the eastern and central Punjab, and the mixed (or " intermediate ") language which there See also:grew up became the modern Panjabi.

To the west it spread into Rajputana, till its progress was stopped by the See also:

Indian See also:desert, and in Rajputana another intermediate language took rise and became Rajasthani. As elsewhere explained, the language-See also:wave of the Midland exercised less and less See also:influence as it travelled farther from its See also:home, so that, while in eastern Rajputana the See also:local See also:dialect is now almost a pure midland speech, in the west there are many evident traces of the old outer language still surviving. To the south-west of Rajputana there was no desert to stop the wave of Midland expansion, which therefore rolled on unobstructed into Gujarat, where it reached the sea. Here the survivals of the old outer language are stronger still. The old outer Prakrit of north Gujarat was known as " Saurastri," while the Prakrit of the Midland invaders was called " Sauraseni," and we, may therefore describe Gujarati as being an intermediate language derived (as explained in the articles PRAKRIT) from a mixture of the Apabhramsa forms of Saurastri and Sauraseni, in which the latter predominated. It will be observed that, at the See also:present See also:day, Gujarati breaks the continuity of the outer band of Indo-Aryan languages. To its north it has See also:Sindhi and to its south See also:Marathi, both outer languages with which it has only a slight connexion. On the other See also:hand, on the See also:east and north-east it has Rajasthani, into which it merges so gradually and imperceptibly that at the conventional border-See also:line, in the See also:state of See also:Palanpur, the inhabitants of Rajputana say that the local dialect is a form of Gujarati, while the inhabitants of Gujarat say that it is Rajasthani. Gujarati has no important local dialects, but there is consider-able variation in the speeches of different classes of the See also:corn-Language. munity. See also:Parsees and Mussulmans (when the latter use the language--as a See also:rule the Gujarat Mussulmans speak Hindostani) have some striking peculiarities of See also:pronunciation, the most noticeable of which is the disregard by the latter of the distinction between cerebral and dental letters. The uneducated See also:Hindus do not pronounce the language in the same way as their betters, and this difference is accentuated in northern Gujarat, where the See also:lower classes substitute e for i, c for k, ch for kh, s for c and ch, h for s, and drop h as readily as any See also:cockney. There is also (as in the See also:case of the Mussulmans) a tendency to confuse cerebral and dental consonants, tc substitute r See also:ford and 1, to See also:double medial consonants, and to pronounce the See also:letter a as a, something like the a in " all." The See also:Bhils of the hills east of Gujarat also speak a See also:rude Gujarati, with See also:special See also:dialectic peculiarities of their own, probably due to" the fact that the tribes are of See also:Dravidian origin.

These Bhil peculiarities arg further mixed with corruptions of Marathi idioms in See also:

Nimar and See also:Khandesh, where we have almost a new language. Rajasthani has numerous dialects, each state claiming one or more of its own. Thus, in the state of See also:Jaipur there have been catalogued no less than ten dialects among about 1,688,000 See also:people. All Rajasthani dialects can, however, be easily classed in four well-defined groups, a north-eastern, a See also:southern, awestern and an east-central. The north-eastern (Mewati) is that form of Rajasthani which is merging into the Western See also:Hindi of the Midland. It is a mixed form of speech, and need not detain us further. Similarly, the southern (Malvi) is much mixed with the neighbouring Bundeli form of Western Hindi. The western (lNiarwari) spoken in Marwar and its neighbourhood, and the east-central (Jaipuri) spoken in Jaipur and its See also:neighbour-See also:hood, may be taken as the typical Rajasthani dialects. In the following paragraphs we shall therefore confine ourselves to Gujarati, Marwari and Jaipuri. We know more about the ancient history of Gujarati than we do about that of any other Indo-Aryan language. The one native See also:grammar of Apabhrath a Prakrit which we possess in a printed edition, was written by Hemacandra (12th See also:century A.D.), who lived in what is now north Gujarat, and who naturally described most fully the particular See also:vernacular with which he was personally See also:familiar. It was known as the Nagara Apabhramsa, closely connected (as above explained) with Sauraseni, and was so named after the Nagara Brahmans of the locality.

These men carried on the tradition of learning inherited from Hemacandra, and we see Gujarati almost in the See also:

act of taking See also:birth in a See also:work called the Mugdhavabodhamauktika, written by one of them only two See also:hundred years after his See also:death. Formal Gujarati literature is said to commence with the poet Narsingh See also:Meta in the 15th century. Rajasthani literature has received but small See also:attention from See also:European or native scholars, and we are as yet unable to say how far back the language goes. Both Gujarati and Rajasthani are usually written in current scripts related to the well-known Nagari See also:alphabet (see See also:SANSKRIT). The form employed in Rajputana is known all over northern India as the " Mahajani " alphabet, being used by bankers or Mahajans, most of whom are Marwaris. It is noteworthy as possessing two distinct characters for d and The Gujarati See also:character closely resembles the Kaithi character of northern India (see BIaARI). The Nagari character is also freely used in Rajputana, and to a less extent in Gujarat, where it is employed by the Nagara Brahmans, who claim that their tribe has given the alphabet its name. In the following description of the main features of our two languages, the reader is presumed to be familiar with the leading facts stated in the articles INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES and PRAKRIT. The See also:article HINDOSTANI may also be perused with See also:advantage. (Abbreviations. Skr. =Sanskrit.

Pr. = Prakrit. Ap. = Apabh- ramsa. G. =Gujarati. R. =Rajasthani. H. =See also:

Hind ostani.) Vocabulary.—The vocabulary of both Gujarat and Rajasthani is very See also:free from tatsama words. The See also:great See also:mass of both vocabularies is tadbhava (see INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES). Rajputana was from an See also:early See also:period brought into See also:close contact with the See also:Mogul See also:court at Agra and Delhi, and even in the 13th century A.D. See also:official documents of the Raj put princes contained many borrowed See also:Persian and Arabic words.

Gujarati, under the influence of the learned Nagara Brahmans, has perhaps more tatsama words than Rajasthani, but their employment is not excessive. On the other hand, Parsees and Mussulmans employ Persian and Arabic words with great freedom; while, owing to its maritime connexions, the language has also borrowed occasional words from other parts of See also:

Asia and from See also:Europe. This is specially marked in the See also:strange dialect of the See also:Kathiawar boatmen who travel all over the See also:world as lascars on the great See also:steam-See also:ships. Their language is a mixture of Hindostani and Gujarati with a heterogeneous vocabulary. See also:Phonetics.—With a few exceptions to be mentioned below, the See also:sound-See also:system of the two languages is the same as that of Sanskrit, and is represented in the same manner in the See also:Roman character (see SANSKRIT). The simplest method for considering the subject in regard to Gujarati is to compare it with the phonetical system of Hindostani (q.v.). As a rule, Rajasthani closely follows Gujarati and need not be referred to except in special cases. G. invariably simplifies a medial Pr. double consonant, lengthening the preceding vowel in See also:compensation. Thus Skr. mraksanam, Ap. makkhanu, H. makkhan, but G. makhan, See also:butter. In H. this rule is generally observed, but in G. it is universal, while, on the other hand, in Panjabi the double consonant is never simplified, but is retained as in Ap. In G. (and sometimes in R.) when a is followed by h it is changed to e, as in H. shahr, G.

Seller, a See also:

city. As in other outer languages H. ai and au are usually represented by a See also:short e and by d (sounded like the a in " all ") respectively. Thus H. bailha. G. betho, seated; H. cautha, G. cdtho (written cotho), See also:fourth. In R. this e is often further weakened to the sound of a in " See also:man," a See also:change which is also See also:common in See also:Bengali. Many words which have i in H. have a in G. and R., thus, H. liklze, G. lakhe, he writes; H. din, G. and R. See also:dan, a day. Similarly we have a for u, as in H. turn, G., R. lame, you. In colloquial G. a often becomes d, and i becomes e; thus, pdni for pani, See also:water; mares for maxis, I shall strike. As in most Indo-Aryan vernaculars an a after an accented syllable is very lightly pronounced, and is here represented by a small a above the line. The Vedic cerebral l and the cerebral n are very common as medial letters in both G. and R. (both being unknown to See also:literary H.). The rule is, as elsewhere in western and southern intermediate and outer languages, that when n and l represent a double nn (or nn) or a double ll in Pr. they are dental, but when they represent single medial letters they are cerebralized.

Thus Ap. sonnau, G. sonu, See also:

gold; Ap. ghanaa, G. ghania, dense; Ap. callai, G. See also:cilia, he goes; Ap. calai, G. care, he moves. In northern G. and in some See also:caste dialects dental and cerebral letters are absolutely interchangeable, as in (Mirada or dahada, a day; to or tit, See also:thou; didho or didho, given. In G. and R. medial d is pronounced as a rough cerebral y, and is then so transcribed. We have seen that in the Marwari alphabet there are actually distinct letters for these two sounds. In colloquial G. c and ch are yronounced s, especially in the north, as in pas for pac, five; See also:playa for puchyO, he asked. Similarly, in the north, j and jh become z, as in zad for jhad, a See also:tree. In some localities (as in Marathi) we have is and dz for these sounds, as in Tsarotar (name of a See also:tract of country) for Caroler. On the other hand, k, kh and g, especially when preceded or followed by i, e or y, become in the north c, ch and j respectively; thus, dicaro for dikaro, a son; chetar for khetar, a See also:field ; lajyo for lagyo, begun. A similar change is found in dialectic Marathi, and is, of course, one of the commonplaces of the See also:philology of the See also:Romance languages. The sibilants s and s are colloquially pronounced h (as in several outer languages), especially in the north. Thus deli for See also:des, a country; ha formk, what ; hamajavyo for samajavyo, he explained. An See also:original aspirate is, however, often dropped, as in 'u` for hk, I ; 'See also:ate for bathe, on the hand.

See also:

Standard G. is at the same time fond of pronouncing an h where it is not written, as in ame, we, pronounced ahme. In other respects both G. and R. closely agree in their phonetical systems with the Apabhrarii§a. form of Sauraseni Prakrit from which the Midland language is derived. Declension.—Gujarati agrees with Marathi (an outer language) as against Hindostani in retaining the neuter gender of Sanskrit and Prakrit. Moreover, the neuter gender is often employed to indicate Iiving beings of which the See also:sex is uncertain, as in the case of dikaru, a See also:child, compared with di/era, a son, and dikari, a daughter. In R. there are only sporadic instances of the neuter, which grow more and more rare as we approach the Midland. Nouns in both G. and R. may be weak or strong as is fully explained in the article HINDOST.iNI. We have there seen that the strong form of masculine nouns in Western Hindi generally ends in au, the a of words like the Hindostani ghara, a See also:horse, being an See also:accident due to the fact that the Hindostani dialect of Western Hindi borrows this termination from Panjabi. G. and R. follow Western Hindi, for their masculine strong forms end in o. Feminine strong forms end in ias elsewhere. Neuter strong forms in G. end in u, derived as follows: Skr, svarnakam, Ap. sonnau", G. sonu`, gold. As an example of the three genders of the same word we may take G. chokaro (masc.), a boy; chok'ri (See also:fern.); a girl; chokaru (neut.), a child. See also:Long forms corresponding to the Eastern Hindi ghorawa, a horse, are not much used, but we not infrequently meet another long form made by suffixing the pleonastic termination do or ro (fern. di or ri; G. neut. du" orruu) which is directly descended from the Ap. pleonastic termination dau, dai, daft.

We come across this most often in R., where it is used conternptuously, as in Turuk-ro, a Turk. In the article HINDOSTANI it is shown that all the oblique cases of each number in Sanskrit and Prakrit became melted down in the modern languages into one See also:

general oblique case, which, in the See also:Mid-See also:land, is derived in the singular from the Ap.termination -hior -hi,and that even this has survived only in the case of strong masculine nouns; thus, ghara, obl. ghare. In G. and R. this same termination has also survived, but for all nouns as the case sign of the See also:agent and locative cases. The general oblique case is the same as the nominative, except in the case of strong masculine and neuter nouns in o and a respectively, where it ends in a, not C. This a-termination is characteristic of the outer band of languages, and is one of the sur vivals already referred to. It is derived from the Apabhrariisa genitive form in -aha, corresponding to the Magadhi Pr. (an outer Prakrit) termination -aha. Thus, G. chokaro, a son; chokaru", a child; obl. sing. chokard. In G. the nominative and oblique plural for all nouns are formed by adding o to the oblique form singular, but in the neuter strong forms the oblique singular is nasalized. The real plural is the same in form as the oblique singular in the case of masculines, and as a nasalized oblique singular in the case of neuter strong forms, as inother modern Indo-Aryan vernaculars, and the added o is a further plural termination (making a double plural, exactly as it does in the Ardhamagadhi Prakrit putta-o, sons) which is often dropped. The nasalization of the strong neuter plurals is inherited from Ap., in which the neuter nom. plural of such nouns ended in -era In R. the nominative plural of masculine nouns is the same in form as the oblique case singular, and the oblique plural ends in ¢-. The feminine has ¢i both in the nominative and in the oblique plural.

These are all explained in the article HINDOSTANI. We thus get the following paradigms of the declension of nouns. The general oblique case can be employed for any case except the nominative, but, in See also:

order to define the meaning, it is customary to add postpositions as in Hindostani. These are: Genitive. See also:Dative. See also:Ablative. Locative. Gujarati . no ne thi ma Rajasthani rO, kb nai, rai, kai su mad The suffix no of the genitive is believed to be a contraction of Jana, which is found in old Gujarati See also:poetry, and which, under the form tanas in Sanskrit and tanaii in Apabhrariisa, mean " belonging to." It is an See also:adjective, and agrees in gender, number and case with the thing possessed. Thus, See also:raja-no dikaro, the See also:king's son; rajd-ni dikari, the king's daughter; raja-nu ghar, the king's See also:house; raja-na dikara-ne, to the king's son (nil is in the oblique case masculine to agree with dik'ra) ; raja-ne ghare, in the king's house. The ro and ko of R. are similarly treated, but, of course, have no neuter. The dative postpositions are simply locatives of the genitive ones, as in all modern Indo-Aryan languages (see HINDOSTANI). Thi, the See also:post-position of the G. ablative, is connected with thawuk, to be, one of the verbs substantive in that language.

The ablative suffix is made in this way in many modern Indo-Aryan languages (e.g. Bengali, q.v.). It means literally " having been " and is to be ultimately referred to the Sanskrit See also:

root, stha, stand. The derivation of the other postpositions is discussed in the article HINDOSTANI. Strong adjectives agree with the nouns they qualify in gender, number and case, as in the examples of the genitive above. Weak adjectives are immutable. Pronouns closely agree with those found in Hindostani In the table on following See also:page we give the first two See also:personal pronouns, and the See also:demonstrative pronoun " this." Similarly are formed the remaining pronouns, viz. G. a, R. u, he, that; G. te, R. so (obi. sing. li), that; G. je, R. jo, who; G. kdn (obl. See also:ban, ko, or ke), R. kun (obi. kun), who?; G. sua, R. See also:hai,what ?; G., R. kai, anyone, someone, kai anything, something. G. has two other demonstratives, See also:polo and olyo, both meaning " that." The derivation of these and of Ca has been discussed without any decisive result. The See also:rest are explained in the article HINDOSTANI. The Apabhramsa. Gujarati.

Rajasthani. Strong Noun Masc. See also:

ghat/ au ghodo ghodo " A horse." Sing. Nom. ghodaaha ghoda ghoda Obl. glzodaahi ghodo, ghodae ghodai Ag.-Loc. ghodad ghoda-o ghoda Plur. Nom. ghodaaha ghoda-o ghoda Obl. ghodaahi ghoda-o-e ghoda Ag.-Loc. sonnau sonu" ghodi Strong Noun Neut. sonnaaha See also:song ghodi " Gold." Sing. Nom. son?zaahi sane, sonde ghodi Obl. sonnaai sane ghodya Ag.-Loc. sonzzaaha sons-o ghodya Plur. Nom. sonnaah't See also:sand-o-e ghodya` Obl. ghodia ghodi ghar Ag.-Loc. ghocliahi ghodi ghar Strong Noun Fem. gizodiae ghodie gharai " A See also:mare." Sing. Nom. ghodia-o ghodi-o ghar Obl. ghodiahu ghodi-o ghara° Ag.-Loc. ghodiah% ghodi-o-e ghara Plur. Nom. gharu (neut.) ghar See also:bat Obl. gharaha ghar bat Ag.-Loc. gharahi ghare bat Weak Noun Masc. or Neut. gharai ghar-o bata " A house." Sing. Nom. gharaha ghar-O bats Obl. gharahi ghar-o-e bald Ag.-Loc. valid See also:watt Plur. Nom. vattahi wat Obl. vattae wate Ag.-Loc. vatta-o wat-o Weak Noun See also:Ferri. vattahu See also:writ-5 " A word." Sing. Nom. vattahi wat-o-e Obl. Ag.-Loc.

Plur. Nom. Obl. Ag.-Loc. Apabhrariisa. Gujarati. Rajasthani. I Nom. See also:

hat hl hu, mhu, See also:mai Obl. See also:mar, mahu, majjhu ma, maj ma, mha, mu MY maharau metro maro, mharo WE Nom. amhe ame mhe Obl. amhahei am-o ma' OUR amharau amaro mha-ro, rnha-ko THOU Nom. See also:tuba" to ta Obl.

End of Article: GUJARATI

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