Gujarati language
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Gujarati (ગુજરાતી, also sometimes Gujrati) is a language native to the state of Gujarat in western India. It is an Indo-European language, of the Indo-Aryan family, spoken by about 46 million people worldwide, making it the 23rd most spoken language in the world. Of these, roughly 45.5 million reside in India, 150,000 in Uganda, 250,000 in Tanzania, 50,000 in Kenya and roughly 100,000 in Pakistan. Gujarati is the chief language of India's Gujarat state, as well as the adjacent union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. A considerable population of Gujarati speakers exists in North America and the United Kingdom as well. In the United Kingdom, Leicester (Midlands) and Wembley (North London) are two areas popular with Gujaratis. And in America, states such as New Jersey, New York, California, and Texas are quite popular with Gujaratis. Due to the sheer number of Gujarati population spread around the world, right from Africa, Middle-East to the UK and the United States, they are sometimes jokingly called Non-Resident Gujarati (NRG) rather than the official-term Non-Resident Indian (NRI). Gujarati is one of the 14 official regional languages of India. Gujarati was the mother-toungue of both Mohandas K. Gandhi, the "father of India" and Quaid-e Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the "father of Pakistan".
| Gujarati (ગુજરાતી) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | India, Tanzania, Kenya, Pakistan |
| Region: | Asia, Africa |
| Total speakers: | 46 million |
| Ranking: | 22 |
| Genetic classification: | Indo-European
Indo-Iranian |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | Gujarat |
| Regulated by: | Language Academy |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | gu |
| ISO 639-2 | guj |
| SIL | GJR |
| See also: Language – List of languages | |
| Contents |
History
The history of the language can be traced back to 12th c. CE. A formal grammar of the precursor of this language was written by Jain monk and eminent scholar Hemachandra-charya in the reign of Rajput king Siddharaj Jayasinh of Anhilwara (Patan). This was called Apabhransa grammar, signifying a language which is a corrupted form of languages like Sanskrit and Ardha-magadhi. The earliest literature in the language survives in oral tradition and can be traced to two stalwarts, the Krishna devotee and great egalitarian Narasinh Mehta (later a source of inspiration to Mahatma Gandhi) dated to be in the 17th century. The story of Narasinh Mehta himself was composed as a long narrative ballad by Premananda, accorded the title "maha-kavi" or great poet by modern historians of the language. His date is perhaps late 17th century. Other than this a large number of poets flourished during what is now characterised as the bhakti or devotional movement in Hinduism, a movement of the masses to liberate the religion from entrenched priesthood.
Premananda was a "vyakhyan-kar", a traveling story teller, who narrated his subject in song form and then perhaps elaborated on the lines in prose. His style was so fluent that the long poems running into hundreds of lines were memorised by the people and are still sung during the morning routines. In this sense the oral tradition of the much more ancient Vedas was clearly continuing in India till late. Premananda's famous poetry-stories deal with epic themes couched in stories of mythical kings, and the puranas. He also wrote a drama based on Narasinh Mehta's life capturing his simplicity and his disregard for worldly divisions of caste and class.
Modern exploration into Gujarat and its language is credited to British administrator Alexander Kinloch Forbes. During the nineteenth century at a time when the British rule was more consolidatory and progressive this gentleman explored much of the previous thousand years of the history of the land and compiled a large number of manuscripts. The learned body devoted to Gujarati language is named after him, Farbas Gujarati Sabha with headquarters in Mumbai.
Geographic distribution
Official Status
It is officially recognized in the state of Gujarat, India.
Dialects
As with most languages, there are regional dialects which differ in some minor regard.
Some of them are listed below along with subdivisions.
- Standard Gujarati
- Saurashtra Standard
- Nagari
- Bombay Gujarati
- Patnuli
- Ahmedabad city
- Gamadia
- Gramya
- Surati
- Anawla
- Brathela
- Eastern Broach Gujarati
- Charotari
- Patidari
- Vadodari
- Ahmedabad Gamadia
- Patani
- Parsi
- Kathiyawadi
- Jhalawadi
- Sorathi
- Holadi
- Gohilwadi
- Bhavnagari
- Kharwa
- Kakari
- Tarimuki
- Ghisadi
Derived languages
Kutchhy
Sounds
Grammar
Vocabulary
The Gujarati spoken today takes considerable vocabulary from Persian due to the more than five centuries of the rule of Sultan kings who were Muslim. These words occur mostly in reference to worldly and secular matters. The other elements of the language however draw quite a lot on the native tribes of the specific region, as listed above under Dialects.
Also due to centuries of trade with European countries such as Portugal and England, many, many words in Gujarati are naturally the same as Portuguese and English.
Writing system
It is written in Gujarati script, an abugida very similar to Devanagari (the script used for Sanskrit and Hindi), but without the line at the top of the letters and a few other differences.
External links
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- Ramayana - Gujarati translation of Ramcharitmanas (http://www.swargarohan.org/ramayana/ramcharitmanas.htm)
- Saral Gita - Gujarati translation of Bhagavad Gita with mp3 audio for select chapters (http://www.SaralGita.com)
- Gujarati translation of Vishnu Sahastranam (http://www.swargarohan.org/vishnu-sahasranama/main.htm)
- Shiv Mahimna Stotra - Gujarati translation with mp3 audio (http://www.swargarohan.org/prabhu/bhajans/shiv-mahimna-stotra.htm)
- Gujarati bhajans, stotra, Aarti & Stuti (http://www.swargarohan.org/bhajans.htm)
- Collection of Gujrati poems (http://www.swargarohan.org/kavita.htm)
- Free Gujarati Tutorial - Learn Gujarati (http://utopianvision.co.uk)
- Gujarati Language and Literature (http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/gujarati/)
- Gujarati Wiktionary (http://gu.wiktionary.org)
- Gujarati Editor (http://www.geocities.com/matthewblackwell/gujaratiEditor.html)da:Gujarati
de:Gudscharati es:Idioma gujarati fr:Gujarâtî gu:ગુજરાતી hi:गुजराती id:Bahasa Gujarati