The Bazigar, Goaar, or Guar, language is spoken by the Bazigar ethnic group[1] of north-western India who are found primarily in Punjab, but also in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan.Template:Sfn
It is apparently an Indo-Aryan language, even though Ethnologue classifies it as Dravidian, and Glottolog has labelled it "unclassifiable". Schreffler argues that it compares well with the Western Rajasthani dialects as well as with Punjabi (with which it is not mutually intelligible),Template:Sfn while Deb notes its resemblance to Bagri.Template:Sfn
Background
The Bazigar claim descent from the Rajputs of Rajasthan and relate how they started spreading around the end of the 18th century.[2] 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.[3] Several of the major Bazigar groups currently found in Indian Punjab migrated at the time of Partition in 1947 from Western Punjab (now in Pakistan), where they had started settling earlier in the century.Template:Sfn
The ethnic Bazigar are estimated at half a million in Punjab,Template:Sfn but the language is not spoken by all. The younger generation are shifting to the regional languages,Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn
The language is also known as Guar boli,Template:Sfn or goāroṅ ri bolī "Guars' speech", after the name that the community uses for itself.Template:Sfn Bazigar has no written literature.Template:Sfn
Additionally, the Bazigar have an artificial 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).Template:Sfn
Linguistic characteristics
Bazigar has an almost identical phonology to Punjabi except for the presence of the voiceless palatal fricative Template:IPA and the absence of the voiceless glottal fricative Template:IPA. Words with initial Template:IPA 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. Template:IPA 'old woman'), and there are similarities to Hindi and Western Rajasthani, for example the genitive marker Template:IPA and the dative marker Template:IPA.Template:Sfn
See also
- Lambadi language, spoken by the Banjara
References
- ↑ Template:Harvtxt argues that they are a distinct ethnic group. Template:Harvtxt 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.
- ↑ Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvnb.
- ↑ Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvnb.
Bibliography
- Bazigars of Punjab: A Socio-economic Study{{#if:Deb|, Deb}. Mittal Publications(1987)
- The Bazigar (Goaar) People and Their Performing Art. Journal of Punjab Studies({Template:Date).
- "Criminal" Tribes of Punjab: A Social-anthropological Inquiry{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(2010). ISBN 9780415551472
- The Languages of Punjab{{#if:Singh|, Singh}. Orient Blackswan(2016). ISBN 978-8125062400
Further reading
- Template:Cite thesis
- Christian evangelistic audio materials in Bazigar: Good News and Words of Life