Collegevidya at 16:53, 14 January 2026

2026-01-14T16:53:33Z

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{{Short description|Phonology of the Konkani language of India}}
{{main|Konkani language}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2017}}

'''Konkani'''<ref group="note" >'''Disambiguation''': Konkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north and river Kali to the south, the north–south length being approx. {{convert|700|km|mi|abbr=on}} and east–west breadth about {{convert|50|km|mi|abbr=on}}, going to around {{convert|100|km|mi|abbr=on}} in some places. A major part of Konkan is in Maharashtra and most people in the area speak some dialects of [[Marathi language|Marathi]]. But the language spoken in [[Goa]] and further south in [[Karavali|coastal Karnataka]] and in some parts of [[North Malabar|northern Kerala]] has its distinct features, and is rightly identified as a separate language called Konkani and whose phonology is within the purview of this article.</ref> is a southern [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan language]] belonging to the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] family of languages spoken in the [[Konkan]] coastal region of India. It has approximately 3.6 million speakers.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

Konkani is the official language of the Indian state of [[Goa]] and a minority language in the [[Marathi-Konkani languages|Konkan Division of Maharashtra state]], and the Malabar Coast of Karnataka and Kerala states, where [[Konkani people|Konkani speakers]] emigrated during the [[Bahmani Sultanate|Bahmani]], [[Maratha Empire|Maratha]], and [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] conquests. It is also one of the [[Languages with official status in India|official languages of India]].{{cn|date=March 2024}}

This article is restricted to Konkani dialects spoken in the states of Goa, [[Karnataka]], and [[Kerala]], where the largest number of Konkani speakers are found.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

==Structure==

===Introduction===
====Dialects====

The Goan standard dialect of Konkani, the Antruz dialect{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}, is based on Goan Hindu Konkani which was originally the speech of the Hindus from the ''Novas Conquistas'',<ref group="note" >'''New Conquests''': Areas conquered by the Portuguese in the latter half of the eighteenth century</ref> but it is now spoken by Hindus all over Goa with minor variations. It is also spoken by the Christians of the New Conquests who form a small percentage of the [[Goan Christian]]s. The vast majority of Goan Christians live in areas called the ''Velhas Conquistas''.<ref group="note" >'''Old Conquests''': Areas conquered by the Portuguese in the first half of the sixteenth century</ref> Their speech varies considerably from the speech of the Goan Hindus. They also speak two considerably different dialects: Bardes Christian dialect, spoken in Bardes and Tiswadi which form the northern part of the Old Conquests and Saxtti Christian dialect, spoken in Sashti and Mormugao which form the southern part of the Old Conquests. However, these two dialects have certain common features which can be referred to as Goan Christian Konkani features. The major Konkani dialects of Karnataka are the [[Southern Saraswat Konkani|Saraswat]] dialect, spoken by the Saraswat Brahmins of the coastal districts of Karnataka, and Karnataka Christian dialect, spoken by Christians in the coastal districts of Karnataka. The Saraswats and Christians of Karnataka also speak considerably different dialects since they came to Karnataka from different parts of Goa and at different times. The Saraswats came from southern Old Conquests (Sashti and Mormugao)<ref name="Kapoor">{{cite book | title=The Indian encyclopaedia: biographical, historical, religious, administrative, ethnological, commercial and scientific. Volume 5 | author=Subodh Kapoor | year=2002 | publisher=Genesis Publishing Pvt Ltd | location=Coimbatore | pages=1489 | isbn=81-7755-257-0}}</ref> in the sixteenth century because of Portuguese religious persecution. The Christians came in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries mainly from Bardes and Tiswadi.

====Writings and Scripts====

A good number of writings are available in four of the dialects mentioned above: Goa Hindu, Bardes Christian, Canara Christian and Canara Saraswat. The Canara Saraswat dialect includes the speech of the Gaud Saraswats as well as that of the Chitrapur Saraswats as the differences between these two varieties of speech are minor. Sashti Christians generally use the Bardes dialect for writing. The Goan Hindus use the Devanagari script in their writings but the Goan Christians use the Roman script. The Saraswats of Karnataka use the Devanagari script in the North Canara district but the Kannada script in Udupi and South Canara . The Canara Christians use the Kannada script.<ref name="Kurzon ">{{cite book | title=Where East looks West: success in English in Goa and on the Konkan Coast | url=https://archive.org/details/whereeastlookswe00kurz | url-access=limited | author=Dennis Kurzon | year=2004 | publisher=Multilingual Matters | location=UK | pages=[https://archive.org/details/whereeastlookswe00kurz/page/n105 92] | isbn=1-85359-674-4}}</ref> The Devanagari script has been promulgated as the official script for Konkani in Goa.

===Vowel Rounding in Christian Dialects===

In the Christian dialects (Bardes Christian and Saxtti Christian), there are fewer vowel phonemes as the vowel '''ə''' has merged with '''o'''.
See table below:

{| class="wikitable"
! Bardes Christian !! Sashti Christian !! Standard Konkani !! Glossary
|-
| dhor || dhor || dhər || Hold
|-
| koḷo || koḷo || kəḷo || Bud
|}
{{cn|date=March 2024}}

==See also==
*[[Konkani script]]
*[[Konkani language]]
*[[Konkani Language Agitation]]

;Footnotes
<references group="note" />

;Citations
{{Reflist}}

{{Konkani language topics}}
{{language phonologies}}

[[Category:Konkani]]
[[Category:Indo-Aryan phonologies]]

Konkani phonology - Revision history

Collegevidya at 16:53, 14 January 2026