Gujarati language

Gujarati (also sometimes Gujerati) 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. 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. The two most common surnames among Gujarati speakers are Shah and Patel; the latter surname has gained an alternate meaning in the United States, as many bearers of the name own and operate mostly small and medium-sized motels throughout the country; indeed, some estimates suggest that more than half of all such establishments in America not affiliated with major chains are owned and/or managed by Gujaratis, many of them surnamed Patel. {| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width="300"\n! colspan="2" bgcolor="#DDDDDD" style="font-size:120%"|Gujarati (ગુજરાતી)\n|-\n| valign="top"|Spoken in:\n|India, Tanzania, Kenya, Pakistan\n|-\n| valign="top"|Region:\n|Asia, Africa\n|-\n| valign="top"|Total speakers:\n|46 Million\n|-\n| valign="top"|Ranking:\n|See [1]\n|-\n| valign="top"|Genetic
classification:\n|Indo-European
\n Indo-Iranian
\n  Indo-Aryan
\n   Western Indo-Aryan
\n    Gujarati\n|-\n! colspan="2" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"|Official status\n|-\n| valign="top"|Official language of:\n| valign="top"|Gujarat\n|-\n| valign="top"|Regulated by:\n| valign="top"|Language Academy\n|-\n! colspan="2" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"|Language codes\n|-\n|ISO 639-1||gu\n|-\n|ISO 639-2(B)||guj\n|-\n|SIL||GJR\n|}

Table of contents

1 History 2 Classification 3 Geographic distribution 3.1 Official Status 3.2 Dialects 3.3 Derived Languages 4 Sounds 5 Grammar 6 Vocabulary 7 Writing system 8 External link

History

The history of the language can be traced back to 12th c. CE. A formal\ngrammar of the precursor of this language was written by Jain monk\nand eminent scholar Hemachandra-charya in the reign of Rajput king\nSiddharaj Jayasinh of Patan. This was called Apabhransa grammar, signifying\na language which is a corrupted form of languages like Sanskrit and \nArdha-magadhi. The earliest literature in the language survives in oral\ntradition and can be traced to two stalwarts, the Krishna devotee and \ngreat egalitarian Narasinh Mehta (later a source of inspiration to \nMahatma Gandhi) dated to be in the 17th century. The story of \nNarasinh Mehta himself was composed as a long narrative ballad by\nPremananda, accorded the title "maha-kavi" or great poet by modern\nhistorians of the language. His date is perhaps late 17th century.\nOther than this a large number of poets flourished during what is\nnow characterised as the bhakti or devotional movement in\nHinduism, a movement of the masses to liberate the religion from\nentrenched priesthood. Premananda was a "vyakhyan-kar", a traveling story teller, who\nnarrated his subject in song form and then perhaps elaborated\non the lines in prose. His style was so fluent that the long\npoems running into hundreds of lines were memorised by the people\nand are still sung during the morning routines.\nIn this sense the oral tradition of the much more ancient Vedas\nwas clearly continuing in India till late. Premananda's famous\npoetry-stories deal with epic themes couched in stories of\nmythical kings, and the puranas. He also wrote a drama based on \nNarasinh Mehta's life capturing his simplicity and his disregard\nfor worldly divisions of caste and class. Modern exploration into Gujarat and its language is credited to\nBritish administrator Alexander Kinloch Forbes. During the nineteenth century at a time when the British rule was more consolidatory and progressive\nthis gentleman explored much of the previous thousand years of\nthe history of the land and compiled a large number of manuscripts.\nThe learned body devoted to Gujarati language is named after him,\nFarbas Gujarati Sabha with headquarters in Mumbai.

Classification

\nGujarati is a language belonging to the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European languages.

Geographic distribution

Official Status

\nIt is officially recognized in the state of Gujarat, India.

Dialects

\nAs with most languages, there are regional dialects which differ in some minor regard. Some of them are listed below along with subdivisions.

• Standard Gujarati\n**Saurashtra Standard\n**Nagari\n**Bombay Gujarati\n**Patnuli
• Gamadia\n**Gramya\n**Surati \n**Anawla\n**Brathela\n**Eastern Broach Gujarati\n**Charotari\n**Patidari\n**Vadodari\n**Ahmedabad Gamadia\n**Patani
• Parsi
• Kathiyawadi\n**Jhalawadi\n**Sorathi\n**Holadi\n**Gohilwadi\n**Bhavnagari
• Kharwa
• Kakari
• Tarimuki\n**Ghisadi

Derived Languages

Sounds

Grammar

Vocabulary

The Gujarati spoken today takes considerable vocabulary from\nPersian due to the more than five centuries of the rule of Sultan \nkings who were Muslim.\nThese words occur mostly in reference to worldly and secular\nmatters. The other elements of the language however draw quite\na lot on the native tribes of the specific region, as listed above\nunder Dialects. \n

Writing system

\nIt 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. \n

External link

\n*Gujarati Language and Literature Category:Indo-Aryan languages \n\n