Encyclopedia
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Maharashtrian people of western
India. It serves as the official language of the state of
Maharashtra, with roughly ninety million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi ranks 4th in
India according to the number of speakers as their primary language.
Marathi is at least one thousand years old, and derives its grammar and syntax from Pali and Prakrit. The Marathi language is also known as
Maharashtri,
Maharathi,
Malhatee or
Marthi.
An annual literary event called 'Maharashtra Sahitya Sammelan' is held since 1930. Some of the peculiar features of Marathi linguistic culture include Marathi Drama, with its unique flavour of 'Sangeet Natak', scholarly discourses called 'Vasant Vyakhyanmala', Marathi folk dance called 'Lavani', and annually published magazines called 'Diwali Ank.'
Geographic distribution
Marathi is primarily spoken in Maharashtra and to a fair extent in the neighboring states of
Gujarat,
Madhya Pradesh,
Goa,
Karnataka and
Andhra Pradesh. The Ethnologue states that Marathi is also spoken in
Israel and
Mauritius. The cities of
Baroda in
Gujarat, Indore and
Gwalior in
Madhya Pradesh also have sizable Marathi speaking communities.
Official Status
Marathi serves as an official language of
Maharashtra; the State of
Goa also recognizes Marathi as an official language in addition to Konkani. The
Constitution of India recognizes Marathi as one of the country's twenty-two official languages.
In addition to universities in Maharashtra, universities at Baroda , Osmania , and Panjim all have special departments for higher studies in Marathi Linguistics
History
This section gives a brief overview. For a detailed panorama, refer to the article
Marathi literature.
Pre-13th Century A.D.
There is no unanimity amongst scholars about the origin and antiquity of the language. The earliest known written form is on the copper plate of Vijayaditya found in Satara, dated 739 CE. The stone inscription at the feet of Shravanabelgola Gomateshwar - whose first line reads as "Chavundarajen Karaviyalen" , is another old specimen, constructed in 983 CE. Also, an interesting couplet is found in the Jain monk Udyotan Suri's 'Kuvalayamala' in the 8th century, referring to a bazaar where the Marhattes speak
Dinnale ,
Gahille .
Scholars believe that Marathi descended from Maharashtri Prakrit which was the official language of the
Satavahana empire during its early periods. With the patronage of the Satavahana empire based at Pratishthana , Maharashtri became the most widespread Prakrit language of its time, and was also dominant amongst the three Dramatic Prakrits . A version of Maharashtri, Jaina Maharashtri, was used in part of the
Jain canon.
The most famous literature in Maharashtri is the Gathasaptashathi, an anthology of poems collected by the Satavahana Emperor Hala 150BC. Reference Book 1.
13th Century A.D. to 1905 A.D.
In period of 'Devgiri' Yadava's Maharashtri slowly evolved into Marathi over the course of the
13th and
16th centuries CE.The early saint-poets were Chakradhar Swami ,Mahanubhav Sect who wrote "Lila Charitra" in Marathi for the first time ,Mukundaraj who wrote VivekasindhuDnyaneshwar
- They were followed by the Warkari saint-poet Eknath *Maratha Period
Since 1630 Marathi Language regained its prominence with rise of a its own loose-nit
Maratha empire during begining with the reign of
Chhatrapati Shivaji subsequent rulers extended north to
Delhi, east to
Orissa, and south to
Thanjavur in
Tamil Nadu.This excursions by Marathas helped spread of Marathi in broader geological regions.Politicaly 17th Century was too hectic and war ridden for the region.Then Saint
Samarth Ramdas wrtings lead the poetic literature.By late 18th Century Maratha Empires India wide influence went on decline.
In the 18th century, some well-known works like Yatharthadeepika by Vaman Pandit Naladamayanti Swayamvara by Raghunath Pandit Pandava Pratap, Harivijay, Ramvijay by Shridhar Pandit and Mahabharata by Moropanta were produced.
The period of the late nineteenth century in Maharashtra is the period of colonial modernity. Like the corresponding periods in the other Indian languages, this was the period dominated by the English educated intellectuals. It was the age of prose and reason. It was the period of reformist diadicticism and a great intellectual ferment.
The first English Book was translated in Marathi in 1817. The first Marathi newspaper started in 1835,newspapers provided a platform for sharing literary views.Many books on social reforms were written. Marathi at this time was efficiently aided by Marathi Drama. Here, there also was a different genre called 'Sangit Natya' or Musicals.
20th Century to Present
- Details:Marathi literature
First half of 20th century was marked by new enthusiasm in literary pursuits, socio-political activism helped achieve major milestones in wealth of Marathi Literature Drama Music and Film.
Post Indian Independence Marathi got status of Scheduled language on national level also.
By 1st May 1960 Maharashtra State emerged reorganised on linguistic lines adding Vidarbha and Marathwada region in its fold and bringing major chunks of Marathi population bringing socio-politicaly together. With the state and cultural protection, Marathi Language made great strides by 1990s .
In present scenario while literary contribution goes on;post 1990s Indian strides in global IT market, fast techno-educational growth and widening economic opportunities has ensured continuance of English Language in Indian context also. By year 2000 Government of Maharashtra decided to implement in schools
English language along with Marathi even at the early age of 6 years. This aspect makes many Marathi Quarters concerned.
At the same time spread spoken Marathi Language beyond its regular boundaries is increased with ever increasing it's elite well-educated Maharashtrian diaspora globally
Dialects of Marathi language
- Standard Marathi is based on dialects used by academic people,the print media and is influenced by educated elite of the Pune region.Maharashtra Sahity Parishad is apex guiding body of literary institutions of Marathi Language.Time to time MSP helps out in discourses over various aspects of Marathi Language and in framing rules whenever called for.
Historically, the major dialect divisions have been:
Ahirani
- Ahirani is spoken in the Khandesh North Maharashtara region.
Ahirani is a
language today spoken in the
Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Dhule and Nashik districts of
Maharashtra, India. It is further divided into dialects, such as Chalisgaon, Malegaon and Dhule group. Amalner is considered the cultural capital of
Khandesh.
Borrowing & bending the words from
Hindi,
Marathi and Gujarati, Ahirani has created its own words which are never found in these languages. Ahirani is basically in colloquial form and uses the
Devnagari script for its writing.
Khandeshi
Khandeshi is spoken in East Khandesh specifically in Yawal and Raver Talukas.
Bahinabai Chaudhari is well known poet in Khandeshi, the study of her literature is studied and included in Marathi language. It is often misquoted that Bahinabai as ahirani poet.
Varhadi
In Marathi, the retroflex lateral approximant
is common, while in the Varhadii dialect, it corresponds to the
palatal approximant
y , making this dialect quite distinct. Such phonetic shifts are common in spoken Marathi, and as such, the spoken dialects vary from one region of Maharashtra to another.
Konkani
- While lately Indian Union has included Konkani as one of 22 Scheduled Language,In Maharashtra Konkani is officialy considered as part and parcel of Marathi Language and Culture.[While in Goa and other states in their geographic parts prefer to consider their version of Konkani as a separate language].Treated as a separate Language or a dialect of Marathi,In Maharashtra, Konkani is very simillar to Marathi in respect of vocabulary and grammer and differs in accent.Most of konkani people in Maharashtra as per their needs, speak and write fluent Marathi also..Reference Book 1.
Manadeshi
Others
Other dialects in Marathi include:
- Dangii
- Judæo-Marathi
- Malvani
Lesser known dialects in Marathi
- Both Wadvali and Samavedi have relatively higher proportion of words borrowed from Portuguese as compared to ordinary Marathi, because of direct influence of the Portuguese who colonized this region till 1739.
- Other dialects of Marathi include Dakshini,Deshi,Thanjavur Marathi and Namdev Marathi, spoken by a many South Indians. This dialect evolved from the time of occupation of the Marathas in the Thanjavur in southern Tamil Nadu. It has speakers in parts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
- Namdev Marathi is also spoken by many Marathi people in South India.
Other Languages Having Considerable Marathi Influence
- Dakhini and Hyderabadi Urdu spoken in Hyderabad and some parts of Deccan are considerably influenced by Marathi. The grammar of Hyderabadi Urdu is loaned from Marathi itself. In fact, it is also called a creole between Marathi and Urdu with some Telugu loan words.
Sounds
The phoneme inventory of Marathi is similar to that of many other Indic languages. An
IPA chart of all contrastive sounds in Marathi is provided below.
Consonants| | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Alveopalatal | Velar | Glottal |
Voiceless
stops | | | | | | | | Voiced
stops | | | | | | | | Voiceless
fricatives | | | | | | | | Nasals | | | | | | | | | Liquids | | | | | | | |
Vowels| | Front | Central | Back |
High | | | | Mid | | | | Low | | | | |
Writing system
See Devanagari scriptMarathi is written in the
Devanagari script, an alphasyllabary or abugida consisting of 16
vowel letters and 36 consonant letters making a total of 52 letters. It is written from left to right.
Vowels
Like other alphasyllabaries, Devanagari writes out syllables by adding vowel diacritics to consonant bases. The table below includes all the vowel symbols used in Marathi, along with a transliteration of each sound into the
Roman alphabet and
IPA.
| Orthography | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ?? | ?? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
|---|
| Roman | a | aa | i | ii | u | uu | e | ai | o | au | am | aha | ru | Ru | lru | lRuu |
IPA | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Consonants
The table below includes all the consonant bases onto which vowel diacritics are placed. The lack of a vowel diacritic can either indicate the lack of a vowel, or the existence of the default, or "inherent", vowel, which in the case of Marathi is the schwa.
| ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
|---|
| | | | | | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
|---|
| | | or z
| | | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
|---|
| | | | | | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
|---|
| | | | | | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
|---|
p
/p/ | | b
/b/ | | m
/m/ | | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
|---|
| r
/r/ | l
/l/ | v
/v/ | | | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
|---|
> | | s
/s/ | | | | ? | ??? | ??? | | |
|---|
| | | | | |
The combination of the vowels with the k series
| Script | Pronunciation |
|---|
? | | ?? | | ?? | | ?? | | ?? | | ?? | | ? | | ?? | | ?? | | ?? | | ?? | | ?? | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Consonant clusters
When two or more consecutive consonants are followed by a vowel then a
jodakshar is formed. Some examples of consonant clusters are shown below:
- ?????? - tyaache
- ???????? - prastaav
- ?????? - vidya
- ????? - myaan
- ????? -tvaraa
- ???????-mahattva
- ????-phakt
- ????????-baahulyaa
Marathi has a few consonant clusters that are rarely seen in the world's languages, including the so-called "nasal aspirates" and liquid aspirates . Some examples are given below.
- ??????? - ka?heri "A shrub known for flowers"
- ?????? - mha?un -"because"
- ????? - tarhaa- "Different way of behaving"
Modi script
Marathi was written in Modi script-- a cursive script designed for minimising the lifting of pen from paper while writing in the ancient times.All writings of Maratha empire is in Modi script. However, with the advent of large-scale printing, Modi script fell into disuse, as it proved very difficult for type-setting.However,with the curiosity of youngsters and availability of Modi fonts,the script is far from being vanished. . The courts in the olden days also used Persian-influenced scripts under the influence of
Muslim and Maratha rulers.
Grammar
Marathi grammar shares similarities with other Indo-Aryan languages such as
Sanskrit and
Hindi .The first modern book exclusively on Marathi Grammar was printed in 1805 by 'William Kerry'.. Sanskrit Grammar used to be referred more till late stages of Marathi Language.
Contemporary Grammar
The contemporary gramatical rules described by Maharashtra Sahitya Parishadand endorsed by the Government of Maharashtra are supposed to take precedence in standard written Marathi. These rules are described in
Marathi Grammar, written by Mo.Ra.WaLimbe, among the most circulated and widely referred to in schools and colleges.
Sanskrit Influence
Traditions of Marathi Linguistics and above mentioned rules give special status to 'Tatsam' words borrowed from Sanskrit Language.This special status expects the rules for 'Tatsam' words be followed as of Sanskrit Grammer.While this supports Marathi Langauge with a larger treasure of Sanskrit words to cope up with demands of new technical words whenever needed;maintains influence over Marathi.
An unusual feature of Marathi, as compared to other
Indo-European languages, is that it displays the inclusive and exclusive we feature, that is common to the Dravidian languages, Rajasthani, and Gujarati.
Gender
Unlike its related languages, Marathi preserves all three grammatical genders from Sanskrit.
- Pullinga ????????
- Strilinga ??????????
- Napumsaklinga ??????????
Masculine proper nouns usually end in the short vowels
a or
u while feminine proper nouns tend to end with the long vowels
aa,
ii or
uu.
Voices
There are three grammatical voices in Marathi.
- Kartarii prayog refers to a sentence construction in which the verb changes according to the subject, which is comparable to the active voice in English.
- Raam mhanato "Raam says", Raam aambaa khaato "Raam eats a mango"
- Karmanii prayog refers to a sentence construction in which the verb changes according to the object, which is like the passive voice in English.
- Raamaane aambaa khallaa "The mango was eaten by Raam", Raamaane saangitale "It was told by Ram"
- Bhaave prayog refers to a sentence construction in which the verb does not change according to either the subject or the object. This is used for imperatives.
- Maajha nirop tyaala jaaun saang "Give my message to him"
Pronouns
There are three grammatical persons in Marathi.
- Pratham purushh
- mi "I"
- aamhi "we" excluding the listener
- aapan "we" including the listener
- Dwitiya purushh
- tuu "you"
- tumhi "you"
- aapan
- Trutiya purushh
- to "he"
- tii "she"
- te "it"
- te "they" or "he"
- tyaa "they"
- tii "they"
Parts of speech
Marathi words can be classified in any of the following parts:
- Naam
- Vishesh Naam
- Sarva naam
- VisheshaN
- Kriya VisheshaN
- Kriyapad
- Avyay
- Ubhayanvayi Avyay
- Shabd Yogi Avyay
- Keval Prayogi Avyay
Sentence structure
The usual word order in a sentence is Subject Object Verb ; however, because of the extensive declension and conjugation patterns, order can be changed for stess purposes without a loss in meaning .
Nominal inflection
Marathi is a highly inflected language, like the other ancient Indo-Europeanlanguages such as its own mother
Sanskrit. While English uses prepositions, in Marathi, such functions are indicated through the use of case-suffixes. These are referred to as
vibhaktii pratyay. There are eight such
vibhaktii in Marathi. The form of the original word changes when such a suffix is to be attached to the word, and the new, modified root is referred to as
saamaanya ruup of the original word. For example, the word
gho?aa gets transformed into
ghau?yaa- when the suffix
-var is attached to it to form
ghau?yaavar .
Vocabulary
- Before making additions in this section about words please discuss at Discussion Page
Sharing of linguistic resourses with other languages
Over a period of many centuries Marathi language and people came in touch with many other languages and dialects. The primary influence of Prakrit, Maharashtri, Apbhramsha and
Sanskrit is understandable.
While Marathi has shared both directions, vocabulary and grammar with languages like Indian Dravidian languages, and also a few foreign languages like
Farsi,
Arabic,
English and a little from
Portuguese.
While recent genome studies suggest some amount of political and trade relations between the Indian subcontinent and East Africa, Middle East, Central Asia over a millenium, these studies are still not conclusive about exact effect on linguistcs.
Words From Foreign Languages
- Usage of punctuation various marks was one of majior contribution to indic script. Previously due to Sanskritised Poetry texts were more and thier punctuation requirements may have been less
Word Formation and Origin
- This section to be devided and merged with preceding section.
Marathi has borrowed and given words from/to
Sanskrit,
Hindi,
Urdu,
Arabic,
Persian, and
Portuguese.
- Khurchii "chair" is derived from Arabic kursi
- Jaahiraat "advertisement" is derived from Persian zaahiraat See Note 1
- Shiphaaras "recommendation" is derived from Persian sifarish
- Marjii "wish" is derived from Persian "marzi"
- Batataa "potato", is derived from Portuguese
- Ananas "pineapple", is derived from Portuguese See Note 2
- Niga "looking after" is derived from Persian nîgâh "sight-vision"
A lot of English words are commonly used in conversation, and are considered to be totally assimilated into the Marathi vocabulary. These include "pen" , "shirt" .
Forming Complex Words
Marathi uses many morphological processes to join words together, forming complex words. These processes are traditionally referred to as
sandhi . For example,
ati +
uttam gives the word
atyuttam.
Another method of combining words is referred to as
samaas . There are no reliable rules to follow to make a
samaas. When the second word starts with a consonant, a
sandhi can not be formed, but a
samaas can be formed. For example,
miith-bhaakar ,
udyog-patii ,
ash?a-bhujaa , and so on. There are different names given to each type of
samaas.
Counting system
Like many other languages, Marathi uses distinct names for the numbers 1 to 20 and each multiple of 10, and composite ones for those greater than 20.
As with other Indic languages, there are distinct names for the fractions ¼, ½, and ¾. They are
paava,
ardhaa, and
pau?a respectively. For most fractions greater than 1, the prefixes
savvaa-,
saa?e-,
paava?e- are used. There are special names for 1.5 and 2.5 .
The powers of ten are as follows:
- 100: she
- 1,000: hajaara
- 100,000: laakha
- 10,000,000: kotti
- 1,000,000,000: abja
- 10,000,000,000: kharva
- 100,000,000,000: nikharva
- 100,000,000,000,000,000: parardha
A positive integer is read by breaking it up from the tens digit leftwards, into parts each containing two digits, the only exception being the hundreds place containing only one digit instead of two. For example, 1,234,567 is read as '12 laksha 34 hajaara 5 she 67.
Some short phrases
| Words/phrases | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|
?????? | Namste. | Hi/Hello | ??????? | Namaskaar. | Hi/Hello | ?????? ??? ????? | Tumhii kase aahaat? | How do you do? | ?? ??? ????? | Tuu kasaa aahes? | How are you ? | ?? ??? ????? | Tuu kashii aahes? | How are you ? | ??? ??? ????? | Aapan kase aahaat? | How are you ? | ???????? ????? ???? ???? | Tumhaalaa bhe?uun aanand jhaalaa. | Pleased to meet you. | ?????? ???? | Punhaa bhe?uu. | Goodbye. | ??????? | Dhanyavaad. | Thank you. | ?? | Ho. | Yes. | ???? | Naahii. | No. | ??? | Nako. | No, thank you. | ????? | Kitii? | How much?/How many? | ????? | Ku?he? | Where? | ???? | Kase? | How? | ??????? | Kevhaa? | When? | ???? | Ko?? | Who? | ???? | Kaay? | What? |
See also
- Marathi literature
- Languages of India
- List of national languages of India
- List of Indian languages by total speakers
-
Refference Publications
- "Aapalaa Maharashtra Parampara va Pragati"-A Government of Maharashtra Publication.
- MARATHI: THE LANGUAGE AND ITS LINGUISTIC TRADITIONS-By Prabhakar Machwe, INDIAN and FOREIGN REVIEW, 15 MARCH, 1985.
- 'Atyavashyak Marathi Vyakaran' By late Dr.Vi.la.Vardhe
- 'Marathi Vyakaran' By late Mr. Moreshvar Sakharam More.
- 'Marathi Vishwakosh,Khand 12 .Maharashtra Rajya Vishwakosh Nirmiti Mandal,Mumbai
Reference links
Notes
- 1 - 'Zahiraat' looks like an Arabic word. The persian word for advertisement is 'Agahi'
- 2 - 'Ananas' is also used in many other European languages like Italian, Russian, German etc.
- 3 - 'jAhirAt' can be an original Marathi word, since 'jAhir karaNe' is phrase used in marathi for 'to announce'.
