Garhwali language
Garhwali is an Indo-Aryan language of the Central Pahari subgroup. It is primarily spoken by over million Garhwali people in the Garhwal division of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand in the Indian Himalayas.
Garhwali has a number of regional dialects. It is not an endangered language, it is nonetheless designated as "vulnerable" in UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, which indicates that the language requires consistent conservation efforts.
Names
Ethnologue has catalogued alternate names by which Garhwali is known such as Gadhavali, Gadhawala, Gadwahi, Gashwali, Girwali, Godauli, Gorwali, Gurvali, and Pahari Garhwali. These alternate names of the language may have come from the speakers having more than one name for their language, or variant Romanisations of what is essentially the same name. Gadwallis schollar Gadwall's Kukareithi use Gadwallis or Gaddish for all literary & legal purpose.Geographical distribution
Garhwali is spoken primarily by people in Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts of Garhwal division in the state of Uttarakhand. Garhwali is also spoken by Garhwali migrants to other parts of India including Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Chandigarh.According to 2011 official government census there are 159,683 Garhwali speaking Migrants people lives in Different Parts of India outside of Uttarakhand.With almost Half or more than Half of them Lives near National Capital Region of India.
Garhwali Speaking People in Different Parts of India
According to the 2001 Census of Languages in India, there were 22,67,314 Garhwali language speakers. As per the latest 2011 Census of Languages in India, there are an estimated 24,82,089 speakers, and as of 2022, Ethnologue uses the same estimate. Within Uttarakhand State 23,22,406 people Speaks Garhwali and outside Uttarakhand 1,59,683.History
Historically, in the Middle Indo-Aryan period there were a variety of languages called Prakrits. Of these, Khas Prakrit is believed to be the source of Garhwali.The earliest form of Garhwali can be traced to the 10th century, found in numismatics, royal seals, inscriptional writings on copper plates and temple stones containing royal orders and grants. One example is the temple grant inscription of King Jagatpal at Dev Prayag in. Most Garhwali literature is preserved in folk form, passed down orally. However, since the 18th century, Garhwali has developed a literary tradition. Until the 17th century, Garhwal was always a sovereign nation under the Garhwali Kings. Naturally, Garhwali was the official language of the Garhwal Kingdom.
Audio recordings
The earliest known audio recordings of Garhwali language were done in the monumental Linguistic Survey of India led by George Abraham Grierson, a member of the Indian Civil Service and a linguist. LSI documented more than 300 spoken Indian languages and recorded voices and written forms between 1894 and 1928. Garhwali language was featured in Part IV - 'Pahari Languages & Gujuri' of Volume IX - 'Indo-Aryan Languages, Central Group' published in 1916 by Grierson. Recordings include the Parable of the Prodigal Son and of a well-known folk-tale: the fable of the Bundle of Sticks in Garhwali.Sub-languages and dialects
Pronouns
Cases
| Translation | Standard | Standard | Standard | Lectal | |
| Nominative | न, ल | - | |||
| Vocative | Hey | हो | हो | हो | हो |
| Accusative | to | सणि, मु | अःण्, उँ | सणि, हणि, थणि, झणि, खणि, अणि, अ:णि, मु, उ, म् | थइँ, थइ, तइ, तै, ते, खइँ, कइँ, कइ, कै, के |
| Instrumental | by | न | अँ | न, न्, अँ | च, स |
| Dative I | for | खुणि | क्वँ | खुणि, कुणि, कुइँ, क्विं, क्वँ | कुतइ, कुतै |
| Dative II | for the sake of | बाना | बाँ | बाना, बान, बान्, बाँ | वास्ता, वात्ता, अत्ता, खातिर, लइ, ले, लिज्या, |
| Ablative | From | बटि, फुण्डु, इन्दु, पेटु | उँ, पुँ, इँ, प्य्ट़् | उन्दु, उन्द, उन्, उँ, फुण्डु, फुण्ड, फुण्, फुन्, पुन्, पुँ, इन्दु, इन्द, इन्, इँ, पेटु, प्याट्, प्य्ट, प्यट़् | N/A |
Numerals
Verb conjugation
of the verb दॆख्ण "to look", in all three tenses in Garhwali.Present tense
Past tense
Future tense
Phonology
There are many differences from Hindi and other Indic languages, for example in the palatal approximant, or the presence of a retroflex lateral. Garhwali also has different allophones.Vowels
Monophthongs
There are many theories used to explain how many monophthongs are used in the Garhwali language. The Non-Garhwali Indian scholars with some Garhwali scholars who follow Common Hindustani phonology argue that there are eight vowels found within the language: ə, ɪ, ʊ, ɑ, i, u, e, o. A Garhwali language scholar Mr. Bhishma Kukreti argues that /ɑ/ is not present in the language instead of it long schwa i.e. /ə:/ is used. Although it can be accepted that southern Garhwali dialects have uses of /ɑ/ instead /ə:/. If we follow his rule of vowel length we found that there are five vowels found in Garhwali. Three are ə, ɪ, ʊ with long forms /ə:/, /ɪ:/, /ʊ:/. The other two are /o/ & /e/ with no vowel length. But there are thirteen vowels founded by Mr. Anoop Chandra Chandola as follows /ə/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/, /ɑ/, /i/, /y/, /u/, /e/, /o/, /æ/, /ɨ/, /ɔ/, /ɯ//. His arguments can be accepted as universal . But Bhishma Kukreti's argument about vowel length is also accepted. Hence we concluded that Garhwali has thirteen vowels where three has vowel length.The newer studies reveals a slightly different but easier classification of Gaddish vowels. He writes, "There is no doubt that Gaddish is developed in a very complex and crucial way. It has taken a lot of elements of all the Indo-European languages. As it comes to vowels, Gaddish has variety of vowels & allo-vowels as well. But my classification of Gaddish vowels is need of time for making Gaddish a standard one."
Gaddish is only language having voiceless vowels. Kukareithi orders Gaddish vowelic alphabets as :- a, i, e, u, o.
- Most of the time all vowels when coming at the beginning of the word are pronounced voiceless. This is a characteristic of Vadic lects retained in Standard Gaddish and its western dialects. But developed into a:, i:, u: in Standard Sanskrit. In Gaddish, y is voiceless counterpart of "i & e" & w is counterpart of "u & o". ** Although few dialects has no such behaviour regarding gone voiceless when the vowel comes at the beginning. It can happen at any position of vowel.
- When it comes to long pronunciation of vowels they again behave like Vadic vowels did. Vowel 'a' pronounced "a:", vowel 'i' as "i:", vowel 'u' as "u:", vowel 'e' as "ay" & vowel 'o' as "aw".
- When the vowels used at any point except beginning or end, pronounced as usual i.e. short sounded. It means 'a' as अ, 'i' as, 'u' as, 'e' as, 'o' as.
Diphthongs
| Diphthongs | Example | Glos |
| उइ /ui/ | कुइ /kui/ | anybody |
| इउ /iu/ | जिउ /ʤiu/ | Heart, mind |
| आइ /ai/ | बकाइ /bəkɑi/ | After-all, besides |
| अइ /əi/ | बकइ /bəkəi/ | Balance |
| आउ /au/ | बचाउ /bəʧau/ | Save |
| अउ /əu/ | बचउ /bəʧəu/ | Safty |
Triphthongs are less commonly found in the language. The most common word where a triphthong may occur is ह्वाउन /hɯɔʊn/ or /hɯaʊn/. However many speakers can't realize the presence of triphthongs. Other triphthongs might be discovered if more academic research were done on the language.
Consonants
Tenuis consonants
Aspirated consonants
य्, र्, ल्, ळ्, व्, स् and the nasal consonants have no aspirated consonantal sound.| Alphabet / | Phoneme / | Example / | Hindustani language alternate of the word |
| ख /kʰə/ | ख् /kʰ/ | खार्यु /kʰɔryʊ/ | नीरा, पर्याप्त, खासा |
| घ /gʰə/ | घ् /gʱ/ | घंघतौळ /gʱɔŋgtoɭə/ | दुविधा |
| छ /tʃʰə/ | छ् /tʃʰ/ | छज्जा /tʃʰəʤə/ | ओलती, छज्जा |
| झ /dʒʰə/ | झ् /dʒʱ/ | झसक्याण /dʒʱəskæɳ/ | डर जाना |
| थ /tʰə/ | थ् /tʰ/ | थुँथुरु /tʰɯ~tʊr/ | ठोड़ी |
| ध /dʰə/ | ध् /dʱ/ | धागु /dʱɔgʊ/ | धागा |
| ठ /ʈʰə/ | ठ् /ʈʰ/ | ठुङ्गार /ʈʰɯɳʌr/ | स्नैक्स्, नमकीन |
| ढ /ɖʰə/ | ढ् /ɖʱ/ | ढिकणु /ɖʱikəɳʊ/ | ओढने की चादर |
| फ /pʰə/ | फ् /pʰ/ | फुकाण /pʰʊkaɳ/ | नाश |
| भ /bʰə/ | भ् /bʱ/ | भौळ or भ्वळ /bʱɔɭə/ | कल |