Nagpuri language

Nagpuri
Sadani, Sadri
Native to	India
Region	West Central Chota Nagpur (Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Bihar)
Ethnicity	Nagpuria
Native speakers	5.1 million (2011 census)[1][2][3] L2 speakers: 7.0 million (2007)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Eastern Bihari Sadanic Nagpuri
Writing system	Devanagari Kaithi (historical)
Official status
Official language in	India Jharkhand[4] (additional)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: sck – Sadri sdr – Oraon Sadri
Glottolog	sada1242
Nagpuri-speaking region in India

Nagpuri (also known as Sadri) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Bihar. It is primarily spoken in the west and central Chota Nagpur plateau region.^[2][5][6]

It is native language of the Sadan, the Indo-Aryan ethnic group of Chota Nagpur plateau.^[6] In addition to native speakers, it is also used as lingua franca by many tribal groups such as Kurukh, a Dravidian ethnic group and Kharia, Munda, the Austro-asiatic ethnic groups and a number of speakers of these tribal groups have adopted it as their first language.^[6] It is also used as a lingua franca among Tea-garden community of Assam, West Bengal and Bangladesh who were taken as a labourers to work in tea gardens during British Period.^[6][1] According to the 2011 Census, It is spoken by 5.1 million people as first language. Around 7 million speak it as their second language based on study in 2007.^[2]

Etymology[]

The language is known as Sadani, the native language of Sadan, the Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Chotanagpur. In present, the Sadani also referred to closely related Indo-Aryan languages of Jharkhand such as Nagpuri, Panchpargania, Kurmali and Khortha. In literary tradition, the language is known as Nagpuri.^[7] The speaker of the language are known as Nagpuria.^[8] The name Nagpur is the region ruled by Nagvanshi, named as Chutia Nagpur by British to distinguish it from Nagpur of Maharashtra.^[9] The origin of Sadani/Sadri and other related terms is somewhat obscure. Probably the term Sadan derive from nisaada, referring to an ethnic group of North India.^[6]

Nagpuri language writers are in favour of using Nagpuri as the name of the language. There is an opposition against the use of the word Sadri and giving two name Sadan/Sadri and Nagpuria to single language in the upcoming Indian census. According to them the name of language is Nagpuri and the native speaker of the language are known as Nagpuria. British also written grammar using name Nagpuri in 1906 and Nagpuri is official name of the language in Jhakhand.^[8][10][11]

History[]

There are different opinion among linguist about origin of Nagpuri language. According to Peter Shanti Navrangi, Nagpuriya Sadani or Nagpuri has originated from ancient Prakrit. According to professor Keshri Kumar Singh, Nagpuri is an Apabhramsha and descendant of Magadhi Prakrit in his book "Nagpuri bhasa ebam Sahitya". According to Dr. Shravan Kumar Goswami, Nagpuri had evolved from Ardhamagadhi Prakrit.^[12] According to him Nagpuri might have originated between 8th to 11th century and developed into a full fledged language between 14th to 15th century. According to Yogendra Nath Tiwari, Nagpuri is an ancient language was in existence before Chotanagpur or Jharkhand started to known as Nagpur. It evolved from Jharkhand Prakrit. Several similarities found between words of Hindi, Nagpuri, Apabrahmsa, Prakrit and Sanskrit.^[5]

Nagpuri language was court language of Nagvanshi dynasty and official language of Chotanagpur till British rule. Various literature have been composed from 17th century. In 1903, Sir George Abraham Grierson had classified Nagpuri as Nagpuria dialect of Bhojpuri language in his Survey "Linguistic Survey of India".

1903 Linguistic map of East Chota Nagpur, by G.A. Grierson

Nagpuri have been placed in Bihari group of Indo-Aryan language.^[6][13] Recent study demonstrate that Indo-Aryan languages of Chota Nagpur plateau called Sadani languages are distinct languages and are closely related to each other than any other languages. Nagpuri language spoken in different districts such as Ranchi, Gumla, Simdega and Garhwa varies with each other.^[7]

Geographical Distribution[]

Nagpuri language is mainly spoken in western Chota Nagpur Plateau region in following, details geographical distribution of language is tabulated below;

It is also spoken by some Tea garden community in Tea garden area of Bangladesh, West Bengal and Assam who were taken as labourer to work in Tea garden during British Rule.^[3]

Script[]

The early inscription found in the region are in Brahmi script. The Saridkel Brahmi Inscription from Khunti district is from 3rd century BCE. Several inscription of forts, temples and land grants found from 9th century such as from Mahamaya temple of Hapamuni built by Gajghat Rai, Nagfeni, Navratangarh fort of Gumla district, Boreya and Jagannath temple of Ranchi. Some Buddhist inscription are undated such as from Khalari and Jonha Falls.^[14] Inscription of modern period are in Devnagari script. Nagpuri poetry have been written in Devnagari and Kaithi script during 17th century.^[15] In present mostly Devnagari script is used in literature.^[5]

Status[]

Historically Nagpuri was language and lingua-franca in the region. It was court language during reign of Nagvanshi dynasty.^[15] Nagpuri is accorded as additional official language in Indian state of Jharkhand.^[4] There is demand to include Nagpuri in Eighth schedule.^[16][17][18] Some academics oppose inclusion of Hindi dialects in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution as full-fledged Indian languages. According to them recognition of Hindi dialects as separate languages would deprive Hindi of millions of its speakers and eventually no Hindi will be left.^[19]

Literature[]

Nagpuri language is rich in folk tales, folk songs and riddles. Literature in the Nagpuri language started around 17th century. The Nagvanshi king Raghunath Shah and King of Ramgarh, Dalel Singh were poet. These poems were composed in Devnagari script and Kaithi script.^[15][20] Some Nagpuri peots were Hanuman Singh, Jaigovind Mishra, Barju Ram Pathak, Ghasi Ram Mahli, Das Mahli, Mahant Ghasi and Kanchan.^[21] "Nagvanshavali",, written by Beniram Mehta is a historical work in the nagpuri language. Great poet Ghasi Ram Mahli wrote several works including "Nagvanashavali", "Durgasaptasati", "Barahamasa", "Vivha Parichhan" etc. There were also great writers like Pradumn Das and Rudra Singh.^[22] It is believed that, the prose writing in nagpuri language started by Christian missionaries. E.H.Whitley wrote Notes on the Ganwari dialect of Lohardaga, Chhota Nagpur in 1896, which considered the start of writing prose in nagpuri language.^[23] Some Nagpuri language writers and poet in modern period are Praful Kumar Rai, Sahani Upendra Pal Singh, Shiv Avtar Choudhary, Lal Ranvijay Nath Shahdeo, Bisheshwar Prasad Keshari and Girdhari Ram Gonjhu.^[12]

Nagpuri, taught at Ranchi University and other universities of Jharkhand.^[24] Monthly Nagpuri magazines Gotiya and Johar Sahiya have been published in Ranchi.^[25][26] Several magazines have been also published in Assam, West Bengal's Tarai and Dooars district.^[27][3]

Author and Work[]

Some poets, writers and their works in nagpuri language are as follows:^[23]

Phonology[]

Consonants[]

• [ɳ] occurs from Sanskrit loanwords, or as realizations of /n/.
• /h/ can be voiced as [ɦ] when between vowels.
• /ɖ, ɖʱ/ can be heard as taps [ɽ, ɽʱ] when in word-medial position.
• /ɾ/ can also be heard as retroflex [ɽ] when after back vowels.

Vowels[]

• /i/ can be heard as [i̞] or [ɪ], in short, closed, non-final syllables in free variation.
• /ɛ, ɛː/ can be heard as more close [e, eː] in free variation within word-final syllables.
• /a/ can be heard as front [a] or central [ä] in free variation.
• /ʌ, ʌː/ is heard as more rounded [ʌ̹, ʌ̹] when after bilabial consonants, as [ʌ̞] when in short syllables, and as [ə, əː] when the final syllable contains an /i/, or when following a /ɖ/ or /ɾ/.
• /ɔ, ɔː/ can be heard as [o, oː] in free variation.^[28]

• [əɪ̯] is a realization of /ʌi̯/.

Vocabulary[]

Similarities between words[]

There are similarities between words of Nagpuri, Hindi, Apabhramsha, Prakrit and Sanskrit which are given in below table.^[5]

Tenses[]

Magadhi, Nagpuri and Jharkhand Prakrit, use “la” in the past tense, “ta” in the present tense and “ma” in the future tense. The words are given below in the table.^[5]

Relationship[]

Below are some words of relationship in Nagpuri in the table.^[5]

Words[]

Below are some words of daily use in Nagpuri, Hindi and English in the table.^[5]

Sample phrases[]

Alternate names[]

Alternate names of language include: Sadani, Sadana, Sadati, Sadari, Sadhan, Sadna, Sadrik, Santri, Siddri, Sradri, Sadhari, Sadan, Nagpuria, Chota Nagpuri, Dikku Kaji, Gawari, Ganwari, Goari, Gauuari, Jharkhandhi.^[29][30][31]

See also[]

• Nagpuri culture
• Nagpuri cinema

References[]