Bagri language


Bagri is an Indo-Aryan language of Rajasthani languages group that takes its name from the Bagar tract region of Northwestern India in the states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana. It is closely related to other Rajasthanic languages and Haryanvi with SOV word order. The most striking phonological feature of Bagri is the presence of three lexical tones: high, mid, and low, akin to Rajasthani, Haryanvi, and Punjabi. Bagri is a language of earlier Bikaner state which included district Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Churu, Bikaner of Rajasthan and Sirsa, Hisar, Fazilka at a point in time.
The speakers are mostly in India, with a minority of them in Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar areas in modern day Pakistan. According to the 2011 census of India, there are 234,227 speakers of Bagri in Rajasthan and 1,656,588 speakers of Bagri in Punjab and Haryana.
However, reported speaker numbers for Rajasthani languages, including Bagri, can be misleading due to classification practices in the Indian census.
None of the Rajasthani languages—including major varieties such as Marwari, Mewari, Dhundhari, Hadauti, Malvi, and Bagri—possess official status in India. They are not recognized in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, nor do they hold the position of an official language at the state or national level. Hindi serves as the official language of Rajasthan.
In the Census of India, most speakers of Rajasthani varieties are categorized under the broader "Hindi" umbrella as mother tongues. This practice groups numerous distinct Indo-Aryan languages and dialects spoken in Rajasthan with Hindi, resulting in an underrepresentation of the actual number of Rajasthani language users.

Geographical distribution

StatesDistricts and tehsils
Rajasthan
Punjab
  • Abohar & Fazilka tehsils of Fazilka district,
  • Southern villages of Muktsar district.
    • Haryana
  • Sirsa district,
  • Fatehabad district upto the Ghaggar River,
  • Barwala, Adampur and Hisar tehsils of Hisar district.
  • Siwani and western part Loharu of Bhiwani district
  • Badhra tehsil of Charkhi Dadri district

    • Features

    Phonology

    Bagri distinguishes 31 consonants including a retroflex series, 10 vowels, 2 diphthongs, and 3 tones.
    /ɳ/, /ɭ/ and /ɽ/ do not occur word initially.
    FrontCentralBack
    Closeiː ⟨ī⟩uː ⟨ū⟩
    Near-closeɪ ⟨i⟩ʊ ⟨u⟩
    Close-mideː ⟨e⟩ə ⟨a⟩oː ⟨o⟩
    Open-midɛː ⟨ai⟩ɔː ⟨au⟩
    Openaː ⟨ā⟩

    All vowels have their nasalised counterpart, marked with ◌̃.
    Bagri has 3 tones in a similar way to the Punjabi language. A rising-falling tone ◌́,  a rising tone ◌̀, and an unmarked mid tone.

    Declension

    • There are two numbers: singular and plural.
    • Two genders: masculine and feminine.
    • Three cases: simple, oblique, and vocative. Case marking is partly inflectional and partly postpositional.
    • Nouns are declined according to their final segments.
    • All pronouns are inflected for number and case but gender is distinguished only in the third person singular pronouns.
    • The third person pronouns are distinguished on the proximity/remoteness dimension in each gender.
    • Adjectives are of two types: either ending in /-o/ or not.
    • Cardinal numbers up to ten are infected.
    • Both present and past participles function as adjectives.

      Verbs

    • There are three tenses and four moods.

      Syntax

    • Sentence types are of traditional nature.
    • Coordination and subordination are very important in complex sentences.
    • Parallel lexicon are existing and are very important from sociolinguistic point of view.

      Samples

    Official status

    Bagari is language of Bagar region of Rajasthan extended to some parts of Punjab and Haryana and Pakistan also. Bagri is spoken by Kumawats, Jats, Rajputs, Bagri Kumhars, Suthar, Meghwal, Chamars and others casts residing there. Bagri derives its roots from Marwari when bhati dynasty ruled over the region from Bhatner, modern day Hanumangarh which is epicentre of Bagri language.
    Bagri culture is also same in this region.

    Work on Bagri