Table Of ContentA DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR OF BAGRI
Thesis submitted to lawaharlal Nehru University
in fulfilment oft he requirements for
the award of the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
LAKHAN GUSAIN
/.
CENTRE OF LINGUISTiCS AND ENGLISH
SCHOOL OF LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE STUDIES
JAW AHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY
NEW DELHl- 110067
INDIA
1999
CENTRE OF LINGUISTICS & ENGLISH
SCHOOL OF LANGUAGE, LITERATURE & CULTURE STUDIES
\ijCllb"!cYilcYi ~ R1~ClR1~If1~
JA W AHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY
NEW DELHI-II 0067 INDIA
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that this thesis entitled, ' A Descriptive Grammar of Bagri'
submitted by Lakhan Gusain, Centre of Linguistics & English, School of
Language,Literature & Culture Studies, lawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy is an original work and has
not been submitted previously for any other degree of any university, This may
be placed before the examiners for evaluation for the award of the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy ,
.....
tZ1~?-G-P
Prof. Anvita Abbi ~'?o-f. H. C;-:Narang
(Chairperson)
P(Sfu(PDerrv)i~o~~lta Abbi
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CONTENTS
Aclmowledgement
Abbreviations ii
Mall 1 : India: Bagri Speaking Area in Rajasthan, Ib
Haryana and Punjab
Map 2 : Dialects of Rajasthani 2b
Map 3 : Bagri Speaking Area 4b
Chapter 1: Introduction 1-13
Chapter 2: . Syntax 14-80
2.1 Sentence Types 14
.,
2.2 Direct Speech and Indirect Speech 27
2.3 Subordination 29
2.4 Coordination 39
2.5 Negation 45
2.6 Anaphora 50
2.7 Reflexives 53
2.8 Reciprocals 59
2.9 Comparisons 61
2.10 Equatives 65
2.11 Possessive 67
2.12 Emphasis 70
2.13 Particles 77
Chapter 3: Morphology 81-164
3.1 Inflectional Morphology 81
3.2 Derivational Morphology 137
3.3 Compounding 157
3.4 Reduplication 158
Chapter 4: Phonology 165-198
4.1 Phonological Units ( Segmental) 165
4.2 Phonotactics 182
4.3 Suprasegmentals 195
Chapter 5: Lexiconl 199-218
5.1 Structural Semantic Fields 199
5.2 Basic Vocabulary 210
Chapter 6: Language contact, change and borrowing 219':226
6.1 Language Contact 219
6.2 Language Change 221
6.3 Borrowing 224
Chapter 7: Conclusion 227-235
Bibliography 236-245
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am deeply indebted to my supervisor Prof. Anvita Abbi for her kind love,
inspiration and assistance in the completion of this thesis.
At this occasion, I pay my best regard to Prof. R.S. Gupta, R.N. Lakhotia,·
Dr. L.M. Singhvi, Dr. Kiran Nohata, Prof. Shaktidan Kavia and Yogeshwar
Sharma for guidance and assistance.
I
I am deeply grateful to Shaleena and Vijay Poltia who helped me in the
completion of this thesis. In no words, I can express my debt to them.
Special acknowledgement to my friends Subhash, Dalbir, BalVailt, Ajit,
Vinod and Shambu.
Grateful acknowledgement are due University Grants Commission for
providing me Research Fellowship.
At last, but not the least I wish to recall my intonnants for Bagri from
Rajasthan, Haryana ·and Punjab.
Special thanks to my family members.
--
~~~
(LAKHAN GUSAIN)
List of Abbreviations
1 - 1st person
2 -2nd person
3 - 3rd person
abl. - ablative
acc. - accusative
aux. - auxilliary
cor. - correlative marker
cp. - conjunctive participle
dat. - dative
def. - definite adjective
Eve. - explicator compound verb
emph - emphatic
erg. - ergative
f - feminine
fut. - future tense
gen. - genitive
h - honorific
Imp. - imperative
inst. - instrumental
loc. - locative
m - masculine
mk. - marker
nom. - nominative case
obI. - oblique case
p - plural
poss. - possessive
ppl. - participle
prst - preseilt tense
pst. - past tense
refl. - reflexive
reI. - relative marker
reclpr. - reciprocal
s - singular
sbjt. - subjunctive imperative
ii
CHAPTER-l
INTRODUCTION
1.1 RAJASTHANl: DIALECTS AND CLASSIFICATION
The present work is a grammatical description of Bagri, a dialect of Rajasthani which
is a member of Indo-Aryan language family. Bagri is spoken in northern-Rajasthan
and its adjacent areas of Haryan~ and Punjab ( Map-I). It is also reported to be
spoken in Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar areas of Punjab in Pakistan.
In the past, the constituent regions of the present Rajasthan were known by
different names. Many a times due to change in their rulers, the boundaries of the
separate regions also changed. The northern of these regions was known as Jangal,
the eastern· as Matsya, the southern as Medpat, Wagad, Pragvat, Malaw and
Gurjratra, the western as Maru, Mad, Vall, Travani, the south eastern as Sivi and the
central part as Arbud and Sapadlaksha.
The current name Rajasthanl was introduced by Colonel Tod in 1829 and it
gradually replaced the old name 'Rajputana' given by George Thomas in 1800.
Through the course of time the name Rajasthan got established mainly after the' State
Reorganization' on 1s t November, 1956 and consequently, the dialects spoken in this
state were called as the 'varieties' ofRajasthani (Map-2).
1 Colonel Tad (182 9)Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Part I. Calcutta: Indian Antiquary
MAP-I: INDIA: BAGRI SPEAKING AREA IN RAJASTHAN, HARY ANA AND PUNJAB
lb
Hist9rically, Gujarati and Rajasthani were developed from Gurjari
Apabhramsa around 11th century A.D. Up to the fifteenth century, Rajasthani and
Gujarati shared common literature. The literature of the early period (1050-1450
A.D.) is thus a common heritage ( Munshi, 1935) of both the languages - Gujarati
and Rajasthani. During the first half of the fifteenth century, both these languages
began their independent growth, and consequently the modern Rajasthani came into
being (Fig.l). The development of literature in Dingal style of Rajasthani begins from
1050 A.D. with Prithviraj Ras02
.
Though, Rajasthani is not _enlisted in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution
and is still considered as one of the 48 dialects of Hindi,3 yet its popularity and status
are remarkable from the literary and linguistic points of view. Rajasthani is spoken by
27,405,537 speakers, that is more than fifty percent of the total population of
Rajasthan, comprising its eight dialects plus 13,328,581 spea~ers of Rajasthani(?)
according to the 1991 Census. Rajasthani language, literature and culture have an
independent tendency of development.
There are eight dialects of Rajasthani (Map 2), with their respective speakers
in braces according to the Census ofIndia 1991, these are: Bagri(593, 730) spoken in
Hanumangarh and Ganganagar districts of Rajasthan and adjoining sections of
Haryana and Punjab; Shekhawati{970,413) in Sikar and Jhunjhunu area;
Mewati(102,916) in Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur area; Marwari(4,673,276) in
Jodhpur, Bikaner, laisalmer, Barmer, ChufU, Nagaur, Ajmer, Pali districts;
Me\~i!J:iC?J 14,622) in Udaipur, Rajsamand area; Dhundhari(965,006) in Jaipur,
2 Mahcshwari, H. L. (1960) Rajasthani Bhasha AUf Sahitya (vs. 1500-1650) Calcutta: Adhunik
3 Census of India (1991) Languages part, Annexure-I, New Delhi: Government oflndia Press
2
MarwariC 4,673,276)
MAP-2: DIALECTS OF RAJASTHANI
(~ith their respective speakers in braces according to the Census of India 1991)
2b
Sawai Marlhopur, Tonk reglOn; HarautiC1.235,252) in Kota, Bundi, lhalawar
districts; and Wagri(1.420,051) in Chittorgarh, Banswara and Dungarpur region. Out
of these eight dialects, Marwari is considered a dominant and 'standard' variety of
Rajasthani as a high variety of literature and a lot of work in grammar and dictionary
have been written in this dialect.
It is believed that when Aryans settled in Panchnad, their language at that time
was Vedic Sanskrit and the changed form of literary Vedic Sanskrit was called
Sanskrit. The languages in use among the common masses were known as Prakrits.
There were two categories of Prakrits : First Prakrits and Second Prakrits. Pali and
Ardha-Magadhi represented the First Prakrits whereas Saurseni, Magadhi and
Maharashtri represented the Second Prakrits. With the course of time Apabhramsas
were developed from the Prakrits. There are known to be twenty seven varieties of
Apabhramsas.
According to Dr. Grierson, Nagar Apabhramsa dominated Gujarat-Rajasthan
area; whereas, Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji called the same as Saurseni Apabhramsa
that was spoken in lower Rajasthan and upper Gujarat area. K.M.Munshi said, it was
Gurjari or the Apabhramsa of Gurjar Desh that was spoken in this area. The latter
view seems more appropriate as majority of modern linguists supports this view.
Gurjari Apabhramsa was spoken in the Gujarat-Rajasthan area. With the course of
time Gurjari Apabhramsa gave birth to Gujarati and Rajasthani around eleventh
century A.D. Thereafter, Rajasthani started separating from Gujarati in the fifteenth
century and finally developed independently having its literary form known as Dingal.
3
