Surgujia dialect explained

Surgujia
Nativename:सरगुजिया
States:India
Region:Chhattisgarh
Speakers:1,738,256
Date:2011 census
Ref:[1]
Familycolor:Indo-European
Fam2:Indo-Iranian
Fam3:Indo-Aryan
Fam4:Central
Fam5:Eastern Hindi
Fam6:Chhattisgarhi
Script:Devanagari
Iso3:sgj
Glotto:surg1246
Glottorefname:Surgujia

Surgujia is an Indo-Aryan language variety spoken in Chhattisgarh. It belongs to the Eastern Hindi group. It is considered as a dialect of Chattisgarhi language.

Speakers

Surgujia is primarily spoken in Surguja, Jashpur, and Koriya districts of Chhattisgarh; and to a lesser extent in Raigarh and Korba.

Speakers of Surgujia have often been conflated with those of Chhattisgarhi. Furthermore, as is the case with many Hindi languages and other regional languages, Surgujia has often been subsumed under the all-encompassing bracket of Standard Hindi due to erroneous, arbitrary or politically-motivated categorisation.

Classification

It was previously regarded by many as a dialect of Chhattisgarhi, and was designated as such by the linguist George A. Grierson in his comprehensive Linguistic Survey of India.[2] [3] Indeed, Surgujia possesses a lexical similarity of 71%-76% with Chhattisgarhi, according to Ethnologue.[4] In recent times, however, Surgujia has come to be recognised as a distinct dialect.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Censusindia.gov.in. 2018-07-07.
  2. Web site: The Record News. Dsal.uchicago.edu. 22 December 2018.
  3. Web site: Archived copy . www-01.sil.org . 17 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140907020315/http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/cr_files/2011-166_sgj.pdf . 7 September 2014 . dead.
  4. Web site: Surgujia. Ethnologue.com. 22 December 2018.