Jeseri (, also known as Dweep Bhasha) is a

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

, spoken in the Union Territory of

Lakshadweep Lakshadweep () is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands divided into three island subgroups: the Amindivi Islands in the north, the Laccadive Islands (separated from Amindivi roughly by the 11th parallel north), and th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The word 'Jeseri' derives from

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

word 'Jazari' (جزري) which means 'Islander' or 'of island'. It is spoken on the islands of

Chetlat Chetlat Island is a coral island belonging to the Amindivi Subgroup of islands of the Lakshadweep archipelago in India. It has a distance of west of the city of Kochi. History Local history says that islanders were cruelly treated by Portugu ...

Bitra Bitra, also known as Bitrā Par, is a coral atoll belonging to the Amindivi Subgroup of islands of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India. It is west of the city of Kochi. History Prior to the 20th century, ...

Kiltan Kiltan or Kilthān Island is a coral island belonging to the Amindivi Subgroup of islands of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India. It is at a distance of 291 km away from Kannur, 303 km away from Kozhikode, and west of the ci ...

Kadmat Kadmat Island, also known as Cardamom Island, is a coral island belonging to the Amindivi subgroup of islands of the Lakshadweep archipelago in India. Measuring in length, the island has a lagoon with a width of covering an area of . The ecol ...

, Amini,

Kavaratti Kavaratti (, ) is the capital of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India. Kavaratti is a census town as well as the name of the atoll upon which the town stands. It is well known for its pristine white sand beaches and calm lagoons, which m ...

Androth Andrott Island, () also known as Androth, is a small inhabited island in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, a group of 36 coral islands scattered in the Arabian Sea off the western coast of India. It has a distance of west of the city of K ...

Agatti Agatti Island () is a 7.6 km long island, situated on a coral atoll called Agatti atoll in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, India. It is west of the city of Kochi. Geography Agatti is located about 364 km off Kannur, 394 km ...

, and

Kalpeni Kalpeni is an inhabited Atoll in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, India. It has a distance of west of the city of Kochi. Geography Kalpeni is west from the port of Kochi and lies south of Andrott and to the NNE of Minicoy, with the br ...

, in the archipelago of

. Each of these islands has its own dialect. The dialects are similar to

Arabi Malayalam Arabi Malayalam (also called Mappila Malayalam and Moplah Malayalam) is the traditional Dravidian languages, Dravidian language of the Mappila, Mappila Muslim community. It is spoken by several thousand people, predominantly in the Malabar ...

, a traditional dialect spoken by the

Mappila Malabar Muslims or Muslim Mappilas are members of the Muslim community found predominantly in Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands in Southern India. The term Mappila (Ma-Pilla) is used to describe Malabar Muslims in Northern Kerala. Muslims sh ...

community of

Malabar Coast The Malabar Coast () is the southwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. It generally refers to the West Coast of India, western coastline of India stretching from Konkan to Kanyakumari. Geographically, it comprises one of the wettest regio ...

.Subramoniam, V. I. (1997). ''Dravidian Encyclopaedia''. Vol. 3, Language and literature. Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): International School of Dravidian Linguistics. pp. 508-09

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Phonology

The phonology is similar to the Mainland dialect of

Old Malayalam Old Malayalam, or Early Malayalam, the inscriptional variety found in Kerala from ''c.'' mid-9th to ''c.'' 13th century CE, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam language. The language was employed in several administrative records and tran ...

, but with certain notable differences. The initial short vowels, especially 'u', may fall away. For example: rangi (Mal. urangi) - slept, lakka (Mal. ulakka) - pestle. As for the consonants, the following differences are notable: # Initial ch in Mainland Malayalam, becomes sh: sholli (Mal.(old) cholli) - said. # Initial p in Mainland Malayalam, becomes f: fenn (Mal. pennu) - girl. # Initial v in Mainland Malayalam, becomes b: buli/ bili (Mal. vili) - call.

Grammar

The grammar shows similarities to Mainland

Nouns

Case endings

The case endings for nouns and pronouns are generally as follows: * Nominative: nil; * Accusative: a, na * Genitive: aa, naa, thaa; * Dative: kk, n, oon; * Communicative: oda, aa kooda, naa kooda; * Instrumental: aa kond, naa kond; * Locative: nd, naa ul, l (only in traces); * Ablative: nd; * Vocative: e, aa;

Pronouns

* thaan: self;

Verbs

The conjugations of verbs are similar to Mainland

. The verb 'kaanu' - meaning 'see', the same as in Mainland

, is illustrated here. There are three simple tenses. # Present: suffix added is nna (mostly nda); so kaanunna/kaanunda - sees, is seeing. # Past: the stem of the verb may change as in Mainland Malayalam. For 'kaanu', past is kanda - saw. # Future: the suffix added is 'um'. So, kaanum - will see. The negatives of these tenses show some differences: # For present tense, the negative is formed by adding vela (ppela for some verbs) to the stem. Not only that, a present negative may also function as a future negative. So, kaanuvela - is not seeing, does not see, will not see. # For past tense, the negative is formed by suffixing ela to the past stem. So, kandela - did not see, has not seen. # For the future tense, the old Malayalam poetic suffix 'aa' may be used (kaanaa). The interrogative forms are made by suffixing 'aa' with some changes effected. So, kaanundyaa (does/do ... see?) for kaanunda (sees), kandyaa (did ... see?) for kanda (saw), and kaanumaa/kaanunaa/kaanungaa (will ... see?) for kaanum (will see).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jasri Language Languages of India Dravidian languages Lakshadweep Arabi Malayalam