Sarazi language

Sarazi or Sirazi (also spelled Siraji) is an Indo-Aryan language of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is native to the Saraz region, a hilly area taking up the northern half of Doda district and parts of neighbouring Ramban and Kishtwar districts.[1]

Sarazi
साराज़ी سرازی
Native toJammu and Kashmir
RegionDoda district
EthnicitySarazi
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
Glottologsira1264

Sarazi is spoken as a first language by 46,000 people (as of 2001),[1] primarily Hindus, but it is also used as a lingua franca of the Saraz region and so is also spoken as a second language by Muslims, most of whom are native speakers of Kashmiri.[2]

Sarazi has similarities both to Kashmiri, and to neighbouring Western Pahari languages like Bhaderwahi, though it is nowadays most often classified with the latter. Various local names for the language, which may represent distinct dialects, include Bhagwali, Deswali, and Korarwali.[3]

Sarazi is not often used in writing, but when written, the default choice for a script falls on Perso-Arabic. The Latin script is also common, whereas Devanagari and the historical Takri script are encountered occasionally.[1]

Classification

In the early 20th century, G.A. Grierson observed the similarities with both Kashmiri and with Western Pahari languages, and while noting that Sarazi can almost equally well be classified with either of the two, nonetheless opted to treat it as a dialect of Kashmiri on the basis of shared features in the verbal paradigm and elsewhere.[4]

Although Sarazi is still sometimes perceived as a Kashmiri dialect,[5] recent studies have generally placed it as a member of the Western Pahari group.[6] This further corresponds with the speakers' own perceptions, who do not see their language as related to Kashmiri,[7] and who consider themselves Pahari rather than Kashmiri.[8]

An alternative proposal has seen the language as intermediate between the two groups but independent of either.[9] It has also been conjectured that the language could have originally arisen as a creole.[10]

References
  1. Ashiqehind 2018.
  2. Mahajan 2018; Ashiqehind 2018. Some Muslim communities are speakers of Gojri or Watali.
  3. Parihar & Dwivedi 2019, p. 4.
  4. Grierson 1919, p. 433.
  5. Wali & Koul 1996, p. xii; a recent example is in Bhat & Niaz 2014, p. 292.
  6. Kaul 2006, pp. 158–166; Ashiqehind 2018, "Sarazi should be classed as a Western Pahari language. It would still make a very aberrant member of the group."
  7. Mahajan 2018.
  8. Kaul 2006, p. 163.
  9. This is the proposal by Varma (1939, pp. 88–89), according to whom the characteristics of Dardic and Pahari "have so deeply penetrated the grammatical structure of the dialect that it must be called as fundamentally Dardo-Pahāṛī". This was criticised by Kaul (2006).
  10. Koul & Schmidt 1983, p. 10.

Bibliography
  • Ashiqehind, Vikalp (2018). "Sarazi: Endangered Language of the Chenab Valley". Sahapedia.
  • Bhat, Shabir Ahmad; Niaz, Sahar (2014). "Siraji". In Devy, G. N.; Koul, Omkar N. (eds.). The Languages of Jammu & Kashmir. People's linguistic survey of India. 12. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan. pp. 291–302. ISBN 978-81-250-5516-7.
  • Grierson, George A. (1919). Linguistic Survey of India. Volume VIII, Part 2, Indo-Aryan family. North-western group. Specimens of the Dardic or Piśācha languages (including Kāshmiri). Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. pp. 432–57.
  • Kaul, Pritam Krishen (2006). Pahāṛi and Other Tribal Dialects of Jammu. 1. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers. ISBN 8178541017.
  • Koul, Omkar N.; Schmidt, Ruth Laila (1983). Kashmiri : a sociolinguistic survey. Patiala: Indian Institute of Language Studies.
  • Mahajan, Chakraverti (2018). "Saraz and Sarazi: Situating a Language and Linguistic Zone in Jammu and Kashmir". Sahapedia.
  • Parihar, Ravi; Dwivedi, Amitabh Vikram (2019). A grammar of Sarazi. Languages of the world. Materials. Muenchen: Lincom GmbH. ISBN 978-3-86288-982-2.
  • Varma, Siddeshwar (1939). "Indian Dialects in Phonetic Transcription. I: Dardo-Pahāṛi". Indian Linguistics. 7 (2): 88–97.
  • Wali, Kashi; Koul, Omkar N. (1996). Kashmiri : a cognitive-descriptive grammar. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-05868-6.
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