Kutchi language

Kutchi
કચ્છી / کچھی Kachhi
Spoken in	India, Trinidad And Tobago Also UK, USA, Kenya, Tanzania ( Some Parts Of Guyana) and others.
Native speakers	866,000 [1]  (date missing)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Northwestern Zone Sindhi Kutchi
Writing system	Arabic script, Gujarati script
Official status
Regulated by	No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kfr
This page contains Indic text. Without rendering support you may see irregular vowel positioning and a lack of conjuncts. More...

Kachhi (also spelt Cutchi, Kutchhi or Kachchhi, (Gujarati: કચ્છી, Sindhi: ڪڇي, Hindi: कच्छी , Urdu: کچھی) is an Indo-Aryan Language spoken in the Kutch region of the Indian state of Gujarat as well as in Sindh.

Closely related languages

Kachhi is related to Sindhi, spoken in neighboring Sindh, Pakistan and parts of India, and Gujarati, because the Kutch District is geographically between Sindh and Gujarat.

Kachhi is often thought to be a mixture of Sindhi, Gujarati and Rajasthani. Its lexical content shows the very large extent to which the language is a complex combination of Sindhi and Gujarati. It is likely that such linguistic similarities are the result of migrations over the centuries across the desert stretching from present-day Sindh to Saurashtra and Kutchh to the east, and Rajasthan.

Most Kachhis living in India are bilingual or trilingual, due to exposure to closely related neighbouring languages such as Gujarati. Many Pakistanis are also bilingual or trilingual; many residents of Karachi speak Kutchi. Kutchi can not be written in Urdu script but it can be written in Sindhi or Gujarati scripts.

In addition, Kutchi is also understood by speakers of the Memoni dialect, spoken by individual belonging to the Memoni ethnicity within Pakistan and India, so much so that they could have an entire conversation with only a few words of difference.

Common words and phrases

There are distinct regional accents and variations in grammar. As in many languages spoken along Asian trade routes, there is substantial borrowing from Persian and Arabic -- words like "duniya" (world), and "naseeb" (fate), are routinely used by many speakers of Kachhi. Many Kachhi speakers also speak Gujarati as a separate language, especially as it is the language in which Kachhi speakers customarily write. Kachhi speakers' Gujarati accent and usage tends towards standard forms that any Gujarati speaker would be able to understand.

To give an indication of dialects and regional variations, the Sindhi question "Kithe vino ta?" (where are you going?) would be posed in Kutchhi as "Kidaa vano ta?"

The following words are commonly used by Hindu individuals of descending from the Kutch rural area of Gujarat, India, who, especially if in east Africa, reject Kutchhi. These are colloquial forms of general Gujarati phrases that are often used in daily conversation in villages, particularly of the Kutchi predominance and are Gujaratisized versions of Kutchi words. An example of such follows:

Haiyo/chhadyo hane (Gujarati Bas chhodo have : now drop it)

Achato/Venato ( Gujarati - Aawun' chhun' / Jaaun' chhun' : I am coming / going)

Kichri Khaayo ta? (Gujarati - Kichri khaao chho? : Do you eat Kichri?)

Writing system

Kachhi is normally written using a modified version of the Gujarāti script. Many books and magazines are published the language using the modified Gujarāti script, including Vadhod ("Inquiry"). Kachhi is also written in the Devanagari script by some speakers. In earlier times it was written in Khojki script, which is now extinct. Recently, Dr Rajul Shah, an ayurvedic doctor, psychologist and a graphologist has created a script to use for the language. [2][3][4] Many people in the area feel that the Dholavira script is their Kutchi heritage and believe it may have been used to write their language.

There are examples of the Kutchi script in the Kutch Museum that is believed to be now extinct.

Famous Kutchi speakers

• Great Revolutionary, Freedom Fighter and founder of non cooperation movement Pandit Shyamji Krishna Verma
• Fahmida Mirza, first female Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan.
• Famous music duo Kalyanjibhai Anandjibhai
• Bollywood Choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant
• Disco Dandia founder Babla
• Music director Viju Shah
• Keshav Dutia
• Bollywood Director and Producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah
• Salim Merchant
• Shekhar from the music duo Vishal-Shekhar

See also

• Kutchi Memon
• Memoni language
• Oswal
• Bhatia
• Lohana
• Lohani (Pashtun)
• Khojki
• Nagar
• Rajgor Brahmin

External links

• Portal for All Kachchhis
• Kutchchhi And Halai Family Members
• Ethnologue report on Kutchi
• Gujarāti script, used to write Kutchi
• Cutchi Memons
• Kutchhi Portal