Bagri language

language
name=Bagri
nativename=बागड़ी
familycolor=Indo-European
states=Rajasthan (India)
speakers= 5 million (approx.)
fam2=Indo-Iranian
fam3=Indo-Aryan
fam4=Central Indo-Aryan
fam5=Rajasthani
iso3=bgq

Bagri (बागड़ी) is a dialect of Rajasthani language of the Indo-Aryan family. It is spoken by about five million speakers in Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar districts of Rajasthan, Sirsa and Hissar districts of Haryana, Firozepur and Muktsar districts of Punjab of India and Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar areas of Punjab of Pakistan. Bagri is a typical Indo-Aryan language having SOV word order. The most prominent phonological feature of Bagri is the presence of three lexical tones: high, level, and low. The Bagri language has a very high 65% lexical similarity with Haryanvi.

Sub-dialects

Some major varieties of Bagri are:
*Bahawalpur-Riasti boli
*Abohar-Fazilka boli
*Suratgarh-Anupgarh boli
*Sangria-Ellenabad-Sirsa boli
*Nohar-Bhadra boli
*Pallu-Rawatsar boli

Linguistic Features

*There are 31 consonants, 10 vowels, 2 diphthongs, and 3 tones.
*Retroflexion is an important feature.
*There are two numbers--singular and plural.
*Two genders--masculine and feminine.
*Three cases--simple, oblique, and vocative.Case marking is partly inflectional and partly postpositional.
*Nouns are declined according to their final segments.
*All pronouns are inflected for number and case but gender is distinguished only in the third person singular pronouns.
*The third person pronouns are distinguished on the proximity/remoteness dimension in each gender.
*Adjectives are of two types--either ending in /-o/ or not.
*Cardinal numbers up to ten are inflected.
*Both present and past participles function as adjectives.
*There are three tenses and four moods in Bagri.
*Sentence types are of traditional nature.
*Coordination and subordination are very important in complex sentences.
*Parallel lexicon are existing and are very important from sociolinguistic point of view.

Language samples

*इन्नै आ तनै सलिमों दिखाऊं
*क्यामी राफ चोड़ी करै है रे?
*क्यूकर है ?
*गोळालाठी लगाणी पड़सी तेरै
*टींगर जे तेरै फिन्च्यां मैं लट्ठ प्या दियो नी तो मोरिया ही बोलसी.
*टींगर टीटणं नां मार.
*ढूँगा करै मतिरिया सा.
*तन्नै कुचरणीं ही लेणीं है के ?
*तेरै बळत के है ?
*धापली मोतीड़ै सामैं अंग्रेजी कोनी बोल सकै नी.
*नास में आन्गळी ना ले
*बातां गा पीसा लागै.
*सत्संग मैं घाघरियो ना झड़का
*सलिमों देखण चालसी के ?

Work on Bagri

*Grierson, G. A. 1908. (Reprint 1968). Linguistic Survey of India. Volume IX, Part II. New Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass
*Gusain, Lakhan. 1994. Reflexives in Bagri. M.Phil. dissertation. New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University
*Gusain, Lakhan. 1999. A Descriptive Grammar of Bagri. Ph.D. dissertation. New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University
*Gusain, Lakhan. 2000a. Limitations of Literacy in Bagri. Nicholas Ostler & Blair Rudes (eds.). Endangered Languages and Literacy. Proceedings of the Fourth FEL Conference. University of North Carolina, Charlotte, 21-24 September, 2000
*Gusain, Lakhan. 2000b. Bagri. Munich: Lincom Europa (Languages of the World/Materials, 384)
*Gusain, Lakhan. 2008. Bagri Learners' Reference Grammar. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Northside Publishers
*Wilson, J. 1883. Sirsa Settlement Report. Chandigarh: Government Press

External links

*Rajasthani language
*List of winners of Sahitya Akademi Awards for writing in Rajasthani language
*List of Rajasthani poets
* [http://www.bastigiri.org/crs Centre for Rajasthani Studies]
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90927 Ethnologue Report for Rajasthani]
* [http://www.bastigiri.org/lakhan/rajbiblio.html Rajasthani Bibliography]
* [http://www.jatland.com/home/Rajasthani_Language Online Rajasthani-English Dictionary]
*List of Indian poets#Rajasthani