Kutchi Language

Kutchi (; કચ્છી, , ڪڇّي, ) or Kachhi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Kutch region of Gujarat, and some parts of Rajasthan, India and Sindh, Pakistan. The Jadeja rulers of Cutch and Rajputs of Kutch, speak Kutchi language. Apart from Rajputs, Kutchi Jains, Kutchi Lohana, Kutchi Rabari, Sidis of Kutch even today use Kutchi in their home as language of communication.

Influences from other languages

Some scholars have considered Kutchi to be a dialect of Sindhi, but the two languages are quite distinct from one another. Over time, it has borrowed vocabulary from Gujarati. The variety of Kutchi spoken in Sindh and in the Banni region of Kutch is more similar to the Lari dialect of Sindhi, whereas the Kutchi spoken in the eastern parts of Kutch has more Gujarati influence, and is slowly becoming more similar to Gujarati.

Most Kutchis living in India are bilingual or trilingual, due to exposure to closely related neighbouring languages such as Gujarati. Many Pakistani Kutchis are also bilingual or trilingual; many residents of Karachi speak Kutchi. Its differences from neighbouring languages are more pronounced in its spoken varieties, but it has many loans from Gujarati, Marwari (a major western Rajasthani language) and Hindi-Urdu as well. Kutchi-speakers are often part of the Charans, Jadeja, Bhanushalis, Lohanas, Brahmins (Rajgor), Meghwals, Visa Oswal and Dasa Osval (Oshwal) Jains, Ismaili Khojas and followers of the Satpanth, Bhatias, Rabaris, Muslim Kutchi Khatris, the Muslim Rajput-Rayma, or Kutchi Memons.

During the British reign, many traders and families of the Kutchi communities left the Indian subcontinent and settled in regions of East Africa such as Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire/Congo, and even as far south as South Africa. The landing point of entry into Africa was in Zanzibar, a trading post of goods between India and East Africa in the late 1800s. Kutchi communities in this region often integrated Swahili words and phrases into their language, producing a creole language called Kutchi-Swahili.

Phonology

Consonants

Kutchi, like other Sindhi languages, has a series of implosive consonants. However, its inventory is incomplete; only the bilabial and retroflex implosives are present and contrastive.

Vowels

Kutchi has a 10-vowel system similar to Sindhi and other New Indo-Aryan languages. The vowels /ɪ, ʊ, ə/ are phonetically short.

Common words and phrases

There are distinct regional accents and variations in grammar. As in many languages spoken along Asian trade routes. Many Kutchi speakers also speak Gujarati as a separate language, especially as it is the language in which Kutchi speakers customarily write. Kutchi speakers' Gujarati accent and usage tends towards standard forms that any Gujarati speaker would be able to understand.

The following words are commonly used by Hindu individuals descending from the Kutch rural area of Gujarat, India, who, especially if in east Africa, reject Kutchi. These are colloquial forms of general Gujarati phrases that are often used in daily conversation in villages, particularly of Kutchi predominance, and are Gujaratisized versions of Kutchi words. Kutchi is also very close to Sindhi and Gujarati due to historical, cultural and geographic influences. These relationships are evident in the following examples:

Note: Bracketed texts indicate nasal or strong sounds

Writing system

Kutchi is normally written using a modified version of the Gujarati script. Many books and magazines are published in the language using the modified Gujarati script, including ''Vadhod'' ("Inquiry"). In parts of Pakistan, the modified Perso-Arabic script is used instead. In earlier times it was written in the Khudabadi and Khojki scripts, the latter of which is now extinct. Additionally, there may have been a Kutchi script, samples of which may be in the Kutch Museum. Below is a table of how different Kutchi words can be written in different scripts:

One of the issues confronting research into the Kutchi is the inaccessibility of information about the language. The Kutchi Language Online website (now archived) maintains a list of Kutchi vocabulary words, which can be accessed through their website. Dr Rajul Shah, an ayurvedic doctor, psychologist and a graphologist has created a script to use for the language.

Kutchi people

See also

* Kutchi cinema
* Kutchi Memon
* Memoni language
* Oswal
* Bhatia
* Lohana
* Khojki
* Bhanushali
* Patidar
* Meghwal

Notes

References

Sources

*

External links

*

Suvichar Ki Dayri

{{Indo-Aryan languages

Culture of Kutch
Languages of Gujarat
Languages of Sindh
Western Indo-Aryan languages