Magahi language explained

Magahi
Also Known As:Magadhi
Imagealt:Magahi
States:India and Nepal
Region:Magadh (southern Bihar, northern Jharkhand, and northwestern West Bengal),[1] [2] [3] Terai region of Eastern Nepal
Ethnicity:Magahi
Speakers:12.6 million
Date:2011 census
Speakers2:(additional speakers counted under Hindi)
Ref:[4] [5]
Minority:
Ancestor:Magadhi Prakrit
Ancestor2:Magadhan Apabhraṃśa
Ancestor3:Abahattha
Familycolor:Indo-European
Fam2:Indo-Iranian
Fam3:Indo-Aryan
Fam4:Eastern Zone (Magadhan)
Fam5:Bihari
Dia1:Southern Magahi
Dia2:Northern Magahi
Dia3:Central Magahi
Dia4:Khortha
Dia5:Kurmali or Panchpargania
Script:Devanagari (official)
Kaithi (formerly)
Iso2:mag
Iso3:mag
Glotto:maga1260
Glottorefname:Magahi
Map:Magahi map.png

Magahi, also known as Magadhi, is a Indo-Aryan language spoken in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal states of eastern India,[7] [8] and in the Terai of Nepal.[9] Magadhi Prakrit was the ancestor of Magahi, from which the latter's name derives.[10]

It has a very rich and old tradition of folk songs and stories. It is spoken in approx eleven districts of Bihar (Gaya, Bhagalpur, Patna, Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Nalanda, Sheikhpura, Nawada, Lakhisarai, Arwal,Jamui), eight districts of Jharkhand (Hazaribag, Palamu, Chatra, Koderma, Jamtara, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Giridih) and in West Bengal's Malda district.[11] There are around 20,700,000 speakers of Magahi, including 12 million Magahi speakers and 8 million Khortha speakers, which is considered a dialect of Magahi.[4]

Magahi derived from the ancient Magadhi Prakrit, which was created in the ancient kingdom of Magadha, the core of which was the area south of the Ganges and east of Son River.

Though the number of speakers in Magahi is about 12.6 million, it has not been constitutionally recognised in India. In Bihar, Hindi is the language used for educational and official matters.[12] Magahi was legally absorbed under Hindi in the 1961 Census.[13]

History

See also: Magadhi Prakrit, Pali and Sadri language.

The ancestor of Magahi, Magadhi Prakrit, formed in the Indian subcontinent. These regions were part of the ancient kingdom of Magadha, the core of which was the area of Bihar south of the river Ganga.

The name Magahi is directly derived from the word Magadhi, and many educated speakers of Magahi prefer the name "Magadhi" over Magahi for the modern language.[14]

The development of the Magahi language into its current form is unknown. However, linguists have concluded that Magahi along with Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Maithili and Oriya originated from the Magadhi Prakrit during the 8th to 11th centuries. These different but sister dialects differentiated themselves and took their own course of growth and development. But it is not certain when exactly it took place. It was probably such an unidentified period during which modern Indian languages begin to take modern shape. By the end of the 12th century, the development of Apabhramsa reached its climax. Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Assamese, Oriya, Maithili and other modern languages took definite shape in their literary writings in the beginning of the 14th century. The distinct shape of Magadhi can be seen in the Dohakosha written by Sarahapa and Kauhapa.

Magadhi had a setback due to the transition period of the Magadha administration.[15] Traditionally, strolling bards recite long epic poems in this dialect, and it was because of this that the word "Magadhi" came to mean "a bard". Devanagari is the most widely used script in present times, while Bengali and Odia scripts are also used in some regions and Magahi's old script was Kaithi script. The pronunciation in Magahi is not as broad as in Maithili and there are a number of verbal forms for each person.[16] Historically, Magahi had no famous written literature. There are many popular songs throughout the area in which the language is spoken, and strolling bards recite various long epic poems which are known more or less over the whole of Northern India. In Magahi speaking area, folk singers sing a good number of ballads. The introduction of Urdu meant a setback to local languages as its Persian script was alien to local people.

The first success in spreading Hindi occurred in Bihar in 1881, when Hindi displaced Urdu as the official language of the province. After independence, Hindi was given the sole official status through the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950[17] ignoring the state's own languages.

Phonology

Consonants

LabialDental/
Alveolar
RetroflexPost-alv./
Palatal
VelarGlottal
Nasalpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Stop/
Affricate
pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Fricativepronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Approximantpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
pronounced as /ink/
Tappronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Highpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Midpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Lowpronounced as /ink/
Diphthongspronounced as /əi/pronounced as /əu/

Speakers of Magahi

There are several dialects of Magahi. It is spoken in the area which formed the core of the ancient kingdom of Magadha - the modern districts of Patna, Nalanda, Gaya, Jehanabad, Arwal, Aurangabad, Lakhisarai, Sheikhpura and Nawada. Magahi is bounded on the north by the various forms of Maithili spoken in Mithila across the Ganga. On the west it is bounded by the Bhojpuri, On the northeast it is bounded by Angika. A blend of Magahi known as Khortha is spoken by non-tribal populace in North Chotanagpur division of Jharkhand which comprises districts of Bokaro, Chatra, Dhanbad, Giridih, Hazaribagh, Koderma and Ramgarh. People of Southern Bihar and Northern Jharkhand are mostly speakers of Magahi.[20] Magahi is also spoken in Malda district of West Bengal.[7] [8] According to 2011 Census, there were approximately 20.7 million Magahi speakers.[5] Apart from India it is spoken in various districts of south eastern Nepal.[21]

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Magahi or Magadhi. Grierson. G.A.. Internet Archive. 1927.
  2. Web site: Magahi. Omniglot.
  3. Web site: Magahi and Magadh: Language and the People. Atreya. Lata. Global Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences.
  4. Web site: Magahi. ethnologue.
  5. Web site: Scheduled Languages in descending order of speaker's strength - 2011. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 29 June 2018.
  6. Web site: झारखंड : रघुवर कैबिनेट से मगही, भोजपुरी, मैथिली व अंगिका को द्वितीय भाषा का दर्जा . Prabhat Khabar. 21 March 2018 . 17 November 2018 . hi.
  7. Book: Magahī Phonology: A Descriptive Study . 4 November 2018. 6. 9788180695254 . Prasad . Saryoo . 2008 . Concept Publishing Company .
  8. Book: Language, Religion and Politics in North India . 4 November 2018. 93. 9780595343942 . Brass . Paul R. . 2005 . iUniverse .
  9. Book: Magahi. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Eberhard. David M.. Simons. Gary F.. Fennig. Charles D.. 2021. SIL International. Dallas, Texas. Twenty-fourth. 29 April 2021. subscription.
  10. Web site: How a Bihari lost his mother tongue to Hindi. 22 September 2017. It is considered as a dialect of Hindi continuum.
  11. Book: Frawley, William. International Encyclopedia of Linguistics: 4-Volume Set. 8 November 2018. Oxford University Press, USA. 9780195139778. en. May 2003.
  12. Web site: History of Indian Languages . Diehardindian.com . 29 February 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120226234832/http://www.diehardindian.com/demogrph/moredemo/histlang.htm . 26 February 2012 .
  13. Verma . Mahandra K. . Language Endangerment and Indian languages : An exploration and a critique . 2001 . Linguistic Structure and Language Dynamics in South Asia . 9788120817654 .
  14. Jain Dhanesh, Cardona George, The Indo-Aryan Languages, pp449
  15. Maitra Asim, Magahi Culture, Cosmo Publications, New Delhi (1983), pp. 64
  16. Web site: Maithili and Magahi. 10 January 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20120723144641/http://bihar.ws/info/Bihari-Languages/Maithili-and-Magahi.html. 23 July 2012. dead.
  17. [Paul Brass|Brass Paul R.]
  18. Book: Sinha, Anil Chandra . Phonology and morphology of a Magahi dialect . Poona: Deccan College . 1966.
  19. Book: Verma, Sheela . Magahi . London: London & New York: Routledge. . 2003 . In George Cardona and Dhanesh Jain (eds.), The Indo-Aryan Languages . 498–514.
  20. Verma, Sheela (2003). "Magahi". In Jain Dhanesh, Cardona George, The Indo-Aryan Languages. London: Routledge.
  21. Web site: 2011 Nepal Census, Social Characteristics Tables . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20230314170005/https://cbs.gov.np/wp-content/upLoads/2018/12/Volume05Part02.pdf . 14 March 2023 . 15 September 2019.