Rajasthani languages
Rajasthani languages are a branch of Western Indo-Aryan languages. It is spoken primarily in Rajasthan and Malwa, and adjacent areas of Haryana, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in India. There are also speakers in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh. Rajasthani is also spoken to a lesser extent in Nepal where it is spoken by 25,394 people according to the 2011 Census of Nepal.[3]
For other uses, see Rajasthani (disambiguation).Rājasthānī
The term Rajasthani is also used to refer to a literary language mostly based on Marwari.[4]: 441
Geographical distribution[edit]
Most of the Rajasthani languages are chiefly spoken in the state of Rajasthan but are also spoken in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. Rajasthani languages are also spoken in the Bahawalpur and Multan sectors of the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Tharparkar district of Sindh. It merges with Riasti and Saraiki in Bahawalpur and Multan areas, respectively. Many linguists (Shackle, 1976 and Gusain, 2000) agree that it shares many phonological (implosives), morphological (future tense marker and negation) and syntactic features with Riasti and Saraiki. A distribution of the geographical area can be found in 'Linguistic Survey of India' by George A. Grierson.
Speakers[edit]
Standard Rajasthani or Standard Marwari, a version of Rajasthani, the common lingua franca of Rajasthani people and is spoken by over 25 million people (2011) in different parts of Rajasthan.[5] It has to be taken into consideration, however, that some speakers of Standard Marwari are conflated with Hindi speakers in the census. Marwari, the most spoken Rajasthani language with approximately 8 million speakers[5] situated in the historic Marwar region of western Rajasthan.
Official status[edit]
George Abraham Grierson (1908) was the first scholar who gave the designation 'Rajasthani' to the language, which was earlier known through its various dialects.
India's National Academy of Literature, the Sahitya Akademi,[12] and University Grants Commission recognize Rajasthani as a distinct language, and it is taught as such in Bikaner's Maharaja Ganga Singh University, Jaipur's University of Rajasthan, Jodhpur's Jai Narain Vyas University, Kota's Vardhaman Mahaveer Open University and Udaipur's Mohanlal Sukhadia University. The state Board of Secondary Education included Rajasthani in its course of studies, and it has been an optional subject since 1973. National recognition has lagged, however.[13]
In 2003, the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly passed a unanimous resolution to insert recognition of Rajasthani into the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.[14] In May 2015, a senior member of the pressure group Rajasthani Bhasha Manyata Samiti said at a New Delhi press conference: "Twelve years have passed, but there has absolutely been no forward movement."[15]
All 25 Members of Parliament elected from Rajasthan state,[15] as well as former Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje Scindia,[16] have also voiced support for official recognition of the language.[17]
In 2019 Rajasthan Government included Rajasthani as a language subject in state's open school system.[18]
A committee was formed by the Government in March 2023 to make Rajasthani an official language of the state after huge protests by the youths of Rajasthani Yuva Samiti[19][20][21]
Linguists and their work and year: [Note: Works concerned only with linguistics, not with literature]
Media[edit]
First news paper published in Rajasthani was Rajputana Gazette published from Ajmer in 1885. First film made in Rajasthani was Nazrana in 1942. Stage app is first OTT plateform in Rajasthani and Haryanvi and Gangaur TV is the first TV chennal in Rajasthani.[70][71] All India Radio air and publish news in Rajasthani language[72]