Bhili (Bhili: ), , is a Western
Indo-Aryan language
The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pa ...
spoken in west-central
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
, in the states of
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...
,
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...
,
Maharashtra, and
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital city, capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar, and Rewa, India, Rewa being the othe ...
. Other names for the language include Bhagoria and Bhilboli; several varieties are called Garasia. Bhili is a member of the
Bhil languages
The Bhil languages are a group of Indo-Aryan languages spoken by around 10.4 million Bhils in western and central India as of 2011. They constitute the primary languages of the southern Aravalli Range in Rajasthan and the western Satpura Rang ...
, which are related to
Gujarati and
Rajasthani. The language is written using the
Devanagari
Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the a ...
script.

Bhili has no official status in India.
Phonology
Consonants
* may also be heard as in free variation.
* occurs in loanwords from Persian and Hindi.
* is heard as an allophone of preceding .
Vowels
* Vowels can also be heard as .
* is borrowed from Hindi.
* may also be heard as in final position.
*
Further reading
* Bodhankar, Anantrao. ''Bhillori (Bhilli) – English Dictionary''. Pune: Tribal Research & Training Institute, 2002.
* Jungblut, L. ''A Short Bhili Grammar of Jhabua State and Adjoining Territories''. S.l: s.n, 1937.
* Thompson, Charles S. ''Rudiments of the Bhili Language''. Ahmedabad
ndia United Printing Press, 1895.
See also
*
Languages of India
Languages spoken in India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-European languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians, both families together are sometimes known ...
*
Languages with official status in India
There is no national language in India. However, article 343(1) of the Indian constitution specifically mentions that, "The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official ...
*
List of Indian languages by total speakers
India is home to several hundred languages. Most Indians speak a language belonging to the families of the Indo-Aryan branch of Indo-European (c. 77%), the Dravidian (c. 20.61%), the Austroasiatic ( Munda) (c. 1.2%), or the Sino-Tibetan (c. ...
References
Western Indo-Aryan languages
Languages of India
Languages of Madhya Pradesh
Languages of Rajasthan
Bhil
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