UpdateBot at 11:52, 18 April 2022

2022-04-18T11:52:33Z

New page

{{Short description|Indo-Aryan language spoken in India}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Bazigar
|states=[[India]]
|region= [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] and neighbouring states
|ethnicity=[[Bazigar]]
|speakers=58,000
|date=1981 census
|ref=e18
|familycolor=Indo-European
|fam2=[[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
|fam3=[[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]]
|fam4=(unclassified)
|iso3=bfr
|glotto=bazi1237
|glottorefname=Bazigar
}}
[[File:WIKITONGUES- Jaswant speaking Bazigar.webm|thumb|A native Bazigar speaker.]]
The '''Bazigar''', '''Goaar''', or '''Guar''', language is spoken by the [[Bazigar]] ethnic group<ref>{{harvtxt|Schreffler|2011}} argues that they are a distinct ethnic group. {{harvtxt|Singh|2010}} regards them as a branch of the [[Banjara]], whereas Ibbetson claimed at the end of the 19th century that they are merely an occupational group.</ref> of north-western India who are found primarily in [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], but also in [[Haryana]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[Delhi]], [[Chandigarh]], [[Himachal Pradesh]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] and [[Rajasthan]].{{sfn|Schreffler|2011|p=222}}

It is apparently an [[Indo-Aryan language]], even though [[Ethnologue]] classifies it as [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian]], and [[Glottolog]] has labelled it "unclassifiable". Schreffler argues that it compares well with the Western [[Rajasthani dialects]] as well as with [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] (with which it is not mutually intelligible),{{sfn|Schreffler|2011|pp=225–26}} while Deb notes its resemblance to [[Bagri language|Bagri]].{{sfn|Deb|1987|p=17}}

== Background ==
The Bazigar claim descent from the [[Rajputs]] of Rajasthan and relate how they started spreading around the end of the 18th century.<ref>{{harvnb|Deb|1987|pp=10, 17}}; {{harvnb|Schreffler|2011|p=220}}.</ref>
Initially nomadic and with a traditional occupation involving acrobatics and performance arts, they are now largely settled and mostly engaged in agricultural and other forms of labour.<ref>{{harvnb|Deb|1987}}; {{harvnb|Schreffler|2011}}.</ref> Several of the major Bazigar groups currently found in Indian Punjab migrated at the time of [[Partition of India|Partition]] in 1947 from Western Punjab (now in Pakistan), where they had started settling earlier in the century.{{sfn|Schreffler|2011|p=223}}

The ethnic Bazigar are estimated at half a million in Punjab,{{sfn|Deb|1987|p=10}} but the language is not spoken by all. The younger generation are [[language shift|shifting]] to the regional languages,{{sfn|Singh|2016|p=116}} for example Schreffler reports that people younger than 30 prefer to use the regional language with one another, and speak Bazigar only with older people.{{sfn|Schreffler|2011|p=225}}

The language is also known as ''Guar boli'',{{sfn|Singh|2010|p=31}} or ''goāroṅ ri bolī'' "Guars' speech", after the name that the community uses for itself.{{sfn|Schreffler|2011|pp=218, 225}} Bazigar has no written literature.{{sfn|Schreffler|2011|p=225}}

Additionally, the Bazigar have an artificial [[Argot|secret language]] which they use when they do not want to be understood by outsiders. They call it ''Parsi'' or ''Pashto'' (not to be confused with the [[Farsi]] and [[Pashto]] languages).{{sfn|Schreffler|2011|p=226}}

== Linguistic characteristics ==
Bazigar has an almost identical phonology to Punjabi except for the presence of the [[voiceless palatal fricative]] {{IPA|/ç/}} and the absence of the [[voiceless glottal fricative]] {{IPA|/h/}}. Words with initial {{IPA|/h/}} in Punjabi correspond to words with a tone in Bazigar. There are differences from Punjabi in the vocabulary and the morphology, notably in the absence of a vowel feminine ending (e.g. {{IPA|/buɖʱ/}} 'old woman'), and there are similarities to Hindi and Western Rajasthani, for example the
[[genitive]] marker {{IPA|/ro/}} and the [[dative]] marker {{IPA|/ne/}}.{{sfn|Schreffler|2011|p=225}}

== See also ==
* [[Lambadi language]], spoken by the Banjara

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
*{{Cite book| last = Deb| first = P. C.| date = 1987| title = Bazigars of Punjab: A Socio-economic Study| publisher = Mittal Publications| location = Delhi}}
*{{cite journal| last = Schreffler| first = Gibb | date = 2011 | title = The Bazigar (Goaar) People and Their Performing Art | journal = Journal of Punjab Studies| volume = 18| number = 1&2| url = https://punjab.global.ucsb.edu/sites/secure.lsit.ucsb.edu.gisp.d7_sp/files/sitefiles/journals/volume18/8_Bazigar_article.pdf}}
*{{cite book| editor-last = Singh| editor-first = Birinder Pal| year = 2010| title = "Criminal" Tribes of Punjab: A Social-anthropological Inquiry| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 9780415551472}}
*{{cite book| last = Singh | first = Gurpeet| year = 2016| chapter = Bazigari| pages = 116–20| title = The Languages of Punjab | editor-last1= Devy| editor-first1 = Ganesh| editor-last2= Koul| editor-first2 = Omkar N.| editor-last3= Bhat| editor-first3 = Roop Krishen| series = People's Linguistic Survey of India| volume = 24| number = 2 | place = Hyderabad| publisher = Orient Blackswan| isbn = 978-8125062400}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite thesis|title=Linguistic Analysis of the Language of Bazigar Community| language = Punjabi| last = Kaur| first = Navneet| type = Mphil| year = 2004–2005| institution = Punjabi University, Patiala}}
* Christian evangelistic audio materials in Bazigar: [http://globalrecordings.net/en/program/C62008 Good News] and [http://globalrecordings.net/en/program/C62006 Words of Life]

{{Indo-Aryan languages}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Unclassified Indo-Aryan languages]]
[[Category:Languages of India]]

Bazigar language - Revision history

UpdateBot at 11:52, 18 April 2022