DougHuonDeKermad at 23:28, 24 February 2026

2026-02-24T23:28:44Z

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{{Short description|Indo-Aryan language of India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Dhatki
| nativename = ڍاٽڪي Dhatki ڍاٽي Dhatti ٿَري Thari
| states = [[Pakistan]] ([[Tharparkar]] and [[Umerkot District|Umerkot]] districts of [[Sindh]]) 
[[India]] ([[Jaisalmer district|Jaisalmer]] and [[Barmer district]]s of [[Rajasthan]])
| speakers = {{sigfig|1816400|2}}
| date = 2024
| ref = e28
| ethnicity = [[Thari people|Tharis]]
| familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2 = [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
| fam3 = [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]]
| fam4 = [[Western Indo-Aryan languages|Western]]
| fam5 = [[Sindhi languages|Sindhic]] or [[Rajasthani language|Rajasthani]]
| fam6 =
| script = [[Arabic script]], [[Devanagari]],{{citation needed|date=September 2025}} [[Mahajani]]{{citation needed|date=September 2025}}
| iso3 = mki
| glotto = dhat1238
| glottorefname = Dhatki
| notice = IPA
| image = Dhatki_language.png
| imagecaption = The word Dhatki written in the Sindhi alphabet (top) and the Devanagari script (bottom)
| map = File:The_dialects_of_Sindhi_language.png
| mapcaption = Dhatki language map in blue
}}

'''Dhatki''' (धाटकी; ڍاٽڪي), also known as '''Dhatti''' (धाटी; ڍاٽي), '''Thari''' (थारी; ٿَري), is a [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan language]] of the [[Indo-European language]] family. It is mainly spoken in [[Tharparkar]] and [[Umerkot District|Umerkot]] districts of [[Sindh]], in the [[Barmer district]] of [[Rajasthan]].

==Speakers==
Dhatki/Dhatti is considered either related to [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]], or [[Marwari language|Rajasthani (Marwari)]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Linguistic Survey of India |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/books/lsi/lsi.php?volume=8-1&pages=600#page/156/mode/1up |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=dsal.uchicago.edu |quote=To sum up, we have in Southwest Marwar-Mallani and in the Thar or Dhat of Thar and Parkar and of Jaisalmer a number of forms of speech, all mixtures of Marwari and Sindhi in varying proportions. They may be considered either as dialects of Sindhi, or as dialects of Marwari.}}</ref> Dhatki dialects are divided into two groups Western Dhatki and Eastern Dhatki. Western Dhatki is spoken in Tharparkar, [[Pakistan]] while Eastern Dhatki is spoken along Indo-Pakistan border in [[Jaisalmer]] and [[Barmer district|Barmer]] districts of India. Dhatki dialects and their names are based on the regions in Tharpakar which Include: Muhrano and Samroti etc.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Laghari |first=Inayat Hussain |date=December 2005 |title=Dhataki (Thari) language is sub dialect of Sindhi language. |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282661124 |website=ResearchGate}}</ref>

Speakers of the Dhatki language can be ethnically Rajasthani, Thari, Sindhi and Gujarati, the Dhatki language unites these ethnically diverse groups under one mother tongue and under one umbrella. Some Dhatki-speaking communities migrated to [[India]] in 1947 after the independence and continued to do so in small numbers after that date, but the great majority of Dhatki speakers still reside in [[Pakistan]].<ref name=":0" /> Dhatki/Dhati is spoken by these communities:
{{columns-list|colwidth=35em|
* [[Thari people|The Tharis]]
* [[Pushkarna Brahmins]]
* [[Kumhar|Kunbhar]]
* [[Maheshwaris]]
* [[Rajputs]]
* [[Rajpurohit]]
* [[Charan]]
* [[Sodha]]
* [[Khatri]]
* [[Malhi (Jat clan)|Malhi]]
* [[Suthar]]
* [[Bajeer]]
* [[Sunar|Sonara]]
* [[Meghwal]]
* [[Bhil|Bheel]]
* [[Harijan]]
* [[Garasia|Garasiya]]
* [[Manganiar]]
}}

The majority speakers of Dhatki language live in [[Umerkot District]] and [[Tharparkar District]] in [[Sindh]], [[Pakistan]]. 60% of the language's speakers are Muslims, 35% are Hindu and the remaining 5% practice traditional folk religions.

==Phonology==
Dhatki has [[implosive]] consonants, unlike other closely related Rajasthani languages but like the neighbouring (but more distantly related) [[Sindhi language]]. It is likely that these consonants developed in the language from contact with more culturally dominant Sindhi speakers. Aside from this, its phonology is much like other Indo-Aryan languages:

{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+ Dhakti consonants
|-
! colspan="2" |
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]/ [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan=2| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPAlink|m}}
| {{IPAlink|n}}
| {{IPAplink|ɳ}}1
|({{IPAlink|ɲ}})1
|({{IPAlink|ŋ}})1
|
|
|-
! rowspan=4| [[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]/ [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
! [[voicelessness|voiceless]]
| {{IPAlink|p}}
| {{IPAlink|t̪}}
| {{IPAlink|ʈ}}
| {{IPAlink|tʃ}}
| {{IPAlink|k}}
| ({{IPAlink|q}})1
|
|-
! [[voicelessness|voiceless]] [[aspirated consonant|aspirated]]
| {{IPAlink|pʰ}}
| {{IPAlink|t̪ʰ}}
| {{IPAlink|ʈʰ}}
| {{IPAlink|tʃʰ}}
| {{IPAlink|kʰ}}
|
|
|-
! [[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]
| {{IPAlink|b}}
| {{IPAlink|d̪}}
| {{IPAlink|ɖ}}
| {{IPAlink|dʒ}}
| {{IPAlink|ɡ}}
|
|
|-
! [[voice (phonetics)|voiced]] [[aspirated consonant|aspirated]]
| {{IPAlink|bʱ}}
| {{IPAlink|d̪ʱ}}
| {{IPAlink|ɖʱ}}
| {{IPAlink|dʒʱ}}
| {{IPAlink|ɡʱ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan=1| [[Implosive consonant|Implosive]]
! [[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]
|{{IPAlink|ɓ}}
|{{IPAlink|ɗ}}
|
|{{IPAlink|ʄ}}
|{{IPAlink|ɠ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan=2| [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! [[voicelessness|voiceless]]
| {{IPAlink|f}}
| {{IPAlink|s}}
| {{IPAplink|ʂ}}1
| {{IPAlink|ʃ}}
| {{IPAplink|x}}1
|
|
|-
! [[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]
|
| {{IPAlink|z}}
|
|
| ({{IPAlink|ɣ}})1,2
|
| {{IPAlink|ɦ}}
|-
! rowspan=2| [[Flap consonant|Flap]]
! plain
|
| {{IPAlink|ɾ}}
| {{IPAplink|ɽ}}1
|
|
|
|
|-
! [[voice (phonetics)|voiced]] [[aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]]
|
|
| ({{IPAlink|ɽʱ}})1
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan=2| [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| {{IPAlink|ʋ}}
| {{IPAlink|l}}
| {{IPAlink|ɭ}}
| {{IPAlink|j}}
|
|
|
|}
;Notes
# Marginal and non-universal phonemes are in parentheses. {{IPA|/ɽ/}} is lateral {{IPAblink|ɺ̢}} for some speakers (Masica 1991:98).
# {{IPA|/ɣ/}} is [[Voiced velar fricative|post-velar]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Kachru |first=Yamuna |author-link=Yamuna Kachru |year=2006 |title=Hindi |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |isbn=90-272-3812-X |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ooH5VfLTQEQC |page=20}}</ref>

Dhakti has a fairly standard set of vowels for an Indo-Aryan language: [ə aː ɪ iː ʊ (sometimes: u) uː eː oː ɛː ɔː]. The vowel ''ʊ'' may be realized as a short ''u'' and the vowel ''ɪ'' may be realized as a short ''i''. The vowel ''ɛː'' is often realized as the diphthong ''əiː'' based and context or as an ''æː'' based on the speaker's accent. The vowel ''ɔː'' is often realized as the diphthong ''əuː'' based and context. Nazalized vowels occur word finally in Dhakti, they are: [ĩː ẽː ɛ̃ː ɑ̃ː ɔ̃ː õː ũː].

==Samples==
A few of the typical sentences in Dhatki are:
* {{IPA|[tu ki karen to?]}} "What are you doing?", {{IPA|[Hoon Ayye page parhan pio]}} "I am reading this Page.",
* {{IPA|[tayo naam ki aheyy?]}} "What is your name?",
* {{IPA|[mina roti khani aheyy]}} "I have to eat" ''(Literally translates to "I have to eat [[roti]])''.
* {{IPA|[tu kith jaeen to?]}} "where are you going? {{IPA|[Kithe Konhi]}} "Nowhere.",
* {{IPA|[tu kein aheen?]}} "How are you?". {{IPA|[Hoon Theek Ahan]}} "I am Fine",
{Tu Kun aheen?}-"who are you?"
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!English
!Dhatki
!Sindhi
!Marwari
|-
|I
|Hu(n)
|Ma(n)/Aao(n)
|Mai(n)
|-
|You (informal)
|Tu(n)
|Tu(n)
|Tu
|-
|My
|Mahyo/Mahajo
|Munjo
|Mahro
|-
|Your
|Tahyo/Tahajo
|Tunjo
|Tharo
|-
|What
|Ki
|Chha
|Kaain
|-
|Name
|Naam
|Nav/Nalo
|Naam
|-
|To look
|Jovan/Disan
|Disan
|Jovan
|-
|Go
|Ja
|Wanj
|Jawo
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}{{Incubator|mki}}{{Indo-Aryan languages}}
{{Languages of Pakistan}}

[[Category:Languages of Rajasthan]]
[[Category:Languages of Sindh]]
[[Category:Dialects of Sindhi]]
[[Category:Languages written in Devanagari]]
[[Category:Thari people]]
[[Category:Rajasthani languages]]

Dhatki language - Revision history

DougHuonDeKermad at 23:28, 24 February 2026