Chhattisgarhi language

Chhattisgarhi
छत्तीसगढ़ी
Spoken in	India
Region	Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa
Native speakers	11 million  (no date)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan East Central Zone Chhattisgarhi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	hne
Linguasphere	59-AAF-ta

Chhattisgarhi (Devanagari:छत्तीसगढ़ी) is the official language in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh and has approximately 11.5 million speakers.^[1] It is an Indo-European dialect/language with heavy presence of vocabulary and linguistic features from Munda and Dravidian languages. Chhattisgarhi has been known by name Khaltahi to surrounding Hill-people and by name Laria to Sambalpuri and Oriya speakers.

The speakers are concentrated in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh and in adjacent areas of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Jharkhand.

Chhattisgarhi cultural and political movements, with origins going back to the 1920s, affirmed Chhattisgarhi cultural and linguistic identity and sought greater autonomy within India. This came about in 2000 when 16 districts of the state of Madhya Pradesh became the new state of Chhattisgarh.

Classification

Chhattisgarhi is most closely related to Bagheli and Awadhi (Avadhi), and these languages are classified in the East Central Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages, the Indian branch of the Indo-European language family.

According to the Indian Government, Chhattisgarhi is an eastern dialect of Hindi, although it is considered by some linguists to be distinct enough from Hindi to constitute a separate language. Chhattisgarhi has several identified dialects of its own, in addition to Chhattisgarhi Proper: Baighani, Bhulia, Binjhwari, Kalanga, Kavardi, Khairagarhi, Sadri Korwa, and Surgujia.

Writing

Chhattisgarhi, like Hindi, is written using the Devanagari script.

See also

• Languages of India
• Languages with official status in India
• List of Indian languages by total speakers

Sources

• G. A. Zograph: Languages of South Asia, 1960 (translated by G.L. Campbell, 1982), Routledge, London.
• "Chhattisgarhi. A language of India". Ethnologue. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=hne. Retrieved 3 September 2010. 

References

1. ^ Chhattisgarhi

• C. K. Chandrakar, "Chhattisgarhi Shabadkosh"
• C. K. Chandrakar, "Manak Chhattisgarhi Vyakaran"
• C. K. Chandrakar, "Chhattisgarhi Muhawara Kosh"

External links

• Entry for Chhattisgarhi at Rosetta Project