Marathi language
Language
name=Marathi | nativename=मराठी ' | states=India | region=Maharashtra, parts of Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Israel | speakers=70 million native speakers
20 million second language speakers | rank=13"17 (native); in a near tie with Korean, Vietnamese, Telugu and Tamil | familycolor=Indo-European | fam2=Indo-Iranian | fam3=Indo-Aryan | fam4=Central zone | script=Devanagari script | nation=Maharashtra State, India | iso2=mar|iso3=mar|notice=Indic}}
Marathi (मराठी ') 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 is at least one thousand years old, and derives its grammar and syntax from the older Sanskrit. The Marathi language is also known as Maharashtri, Maharathi, Malhatee or Marthi.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" (meaning - Built by Chavandaraja, the king), 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 (Dile - given), Gahille (Ghetale - taken).
Scholars believe that Marathi descended from Maharashtri Prakrit and was the official language of the Satavahana empire during its early periods. With the patronage of the Satavahana empire based at Pratishthana (now Paithan), Maharashtri became the most widespread Prakrit language of its time, and was also dominant amongst the three Dramatic Prakrits (Sauraseni and Magadhi being the other two). The Marathi spoken under the Yadavas (1180 – 1320) had many words borrowed from Telugu and Kannada. 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. Maharashtri slowly evolved into Marathi over the course of the 15th and 16th centuries CE.
Marathi came into prominence during the reign of Chhatrapati Shivaji (1630 – 1680) who led the Marathas in an independence struggle against the Muslim sultans of Bijapur and later the Mughal empire. The Marathas later established a loose-knit empire which extended north to Delhi, east to Orissa, and south to Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu (excluding the Kingdom of Mysore that successfully kept Maratha advances at bay).
At present, Marathi is spoken extensively in the state of Maharashtra, as well as in the neighboring states. There are active film and music industries in Marathi, as well as an active set of Marathi writers and poets. The Maharashtrian diaspora has spread the language around the world. Presently it is one of the official languages of India.DialectsHistorically, the major dialect divisions have been:
* Ahirani (spoken in the Khandesh region)
* Manadeshi
* Varhadi
Other dialects in Marathi include:
* Dangii (spoken near the Maharashtra-Gujarat border)
* Judæo-Marathi (spoken by the Bene Israel Jews)
* Mālvani (spoken in southern Konkan near Malvan)
* Varhādi or Vaidarbhi (spoken in the Vidarbha region)
Lesser known dialects in Marathi include:
* Wadvali (This dialect may not be named thus though, but was primarily spoken by Wadvals which essentially means agricultural plot owners, of the Naigaon, Vasai region . This language is preserved by Roman Catholics native to this region and is also spoken by the Hindus. But due to external influence ordinary Marathi is now more popular among the Hindus)
* Samavedi (spoken in the interiors of Nala Sopara and Virar region to the north of Bombay in the Vasai Taluka, Thane District of Maharashtra. The name of this language correctly suggests that its origins lie with the Samavedi Brahmins native to this region. Again this language too finds more loyalty among the Roman Catholic converts native to this region. This dialect is very different from the other Marathi dialects spoken in other regions of Maharashtra, but resembles Wadvali very closely.)
Although it is debated whether Konkani is a separate language or a dialect of Marathi, it is very similar to Marathi.
In Marathi, the retroflex lateral approximant (IPA: []) is common, while in the Varhadii dialect, it corresponds to the palatal approximant y (IPA: [j]), 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.
Other dialects of Marathi include 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 (also Bhavsar Marathi) is also spoken by many Marathi people in South India. Standard Marathi is based on the dialect spoken by the Brahmins of the Pune region.Geographic distributionMarathi is mainly spoken in Maharashtra and to a good 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 City of Vadodara in a state of Gujarat has a sizable population of Marathi speaking community.Official statusMarathi serves as an official language of Maharashtra; the State of Goa also recognizes Marathi as an official language along with Konkani. The Constitution of India recognizes it as one of the twenty-two official languages of the country.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 | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Alveopalatal | Velar | Glottal | Voiceless
stops |
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Voiced
stops |
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Voiceless
fricatives | | | | | | | |
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| Nasals |
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| Liquids |
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Vowels | Central | Back | | High | | | |
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| Mid | | |
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| Low | | | |
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See Devanagari script
Marathi 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.VowelsLike 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. | आ | इ | ई | उ | ऊ | ए | ऐ | " | " | अं | अः | ऋ | ॠ | ऌ | ॡ |
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| Roman | a | aa | i | ii | u | uu | e | ai | o | au | aṃ | aḥ | ru | Ru | lru | lRuu | | IPA | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
ConsonantsThe 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.| क ¦¦ ख | ग | घ | ङ |
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| k | | kh | | g | | gh | | ng
| | च ¦¦ छ | ज | झ | ञ |
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| ch | | chh | | j | | jh or z | | ñ
| | ट ¦¦ ठ | ड | ढ | ण |
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| ṭ | | ṭh | | ḍ | | ḍh | | ṇ
| | त ¦¦ थ | द | ध | न |
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| t | | th | | d | | dh | | n
| | प ¦¦ फ | ब | भ | म |
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p
/p/ | ph | | b
/b/ | bh | | m
/m/ | | य ¦¦ र | ल | व |
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| y | | r
/r/ | l
/l/ | v
/v/ | | श ¦¦ ष | स | ह |
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| sh | | sh | | s
/s/ | h
| | ळ ¦¦ क्ष | ज्ञ | |
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| ḷ | | ksh | | dny | | | |
The combination of the vowels with the k series| Script ¦¦ width="125"|Pronunciation (IPA) | | क | | | का | | | कि | | | की | | | कु | | | कू | | | क | | | कै | | | को | | | कौ | | | कं | | | कः | |
Consonant clustersWhen two or more consecutive consonants are followed by a vowel then a jodakshar (consonant cluster) is formed. Some examples of consonant clusters are shown below:
tyaache - त्याचे
prastaav - प्रस्ताव
vidya - विद्या
myaan - म्यान
tvaraa- त्वरा
mahattva- महत्त्व
phakt - फॅक्ट
baahulyaa - बाहुल्या
Marathi has a few consonant clusters that are rarely seen in the world's languages, including the so-called "nasal aspirates" (ṇh, nh, and mh) and liquid aspirates (rh, lh, and vh). Some examples are given below.
kaṇheri
nhaaṇ "bath"
mhaṇun "because"
tarhaa
kolhaa
kevhaa "when"
Before the use of the printing press, writers in Marathi used a different script called the Modi script -- a cursive script designed for minimising the lifting of pen from paper while writing. However, with the advent of large-scale printing, Modi script fell into disuse, as it proved very difficult for type-setting. (See External Links). The courts in the olden days also used Persian-influenced scripts under the influence of Muslim and Maratha rulers.Marathi grammar is somewhat like that of other Indo-Aryan languages such as Hindi and Sanskrit. 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.GenderUnlike its related languages, Marathi preserves all three grammatical genders (Linga) from Sanskrit.
* Pullinga (masculine) पुल्लिंग
* Strilinga (feminine) स्त्रिलिंग
* Napumsaklinga (neuter) नपुंसकलिंग
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.VoicesThere are three grammatical voices (Prayog) 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"PronounsThere are three grammatical persons (Purushh) in Marathi.
* Pratham purushh (First person)
** mi "I"
** aamhi "we" excluding the listener (exclusive "we")
** aapan "we" including the listener (inclusive "we")
* Dwitiya purushh (Second person)
** tuu "you"
** tumhi "you" (plural or formal).
* Trutiya purushh (Third person)
** to "he"
** tii "she"
** te "it"
** te "they" (masculine) or "he" (formal)
** tyaa "they" (feminine)
** tii "they" (neuter)Parts of speechMarathi words can be classified in any of the following parts:
# Naam (noun)# Vishesh Naam (proper noun)# Sarva naam (pronoun)# VisheshaN (adjective)# Kriya VisheshaN (adverb)# Kriyapad (verb)# Avyay#* Ubhayanvayi Avyay#* Shabd Yogi Avyay#* Keval Prayogi AvyaySentence structureThe usual word order in a sentence is Subject Object Verb (SOV); however, because of the extensive declension and conjugation patterns, order can be changed for stess purposes without a loss in meaning (unlike English).Nominal inflectionMarathi 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 ghoṛaa ("horse") gets transformed into ghauṛyaa- when the suffix -var ("on") is attached to it to form ghauṛyaavar ("on the horse").Along with Sanskrit derivatives, Marathi uses a number of modified Urdu, Persian and Arabic words, because of the extensive influence of Muslim and Maratha rulers.Word originsMarathi has borrowed and given words from/to Sanskrit, Kannada, Tamil, 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" (native Marathi lekhaṇii), "shirt" (sadaraa), "fan" (pankhaa), and "glass" (pelaa).Forming Complex WordsMarathi uses many morphological processes to join words together, forming complex words. These processes are traditionally referred to as sandhi (from Sanskrit, "combination"). For example, ati + uttam gives the word atyuttam.
Another method of combining words is referred to as samaas (from Sanskrit, "margin"). 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 ("salt-bread"), udyog-patii ("businessman"), ashṭa-bhujaa ("eight-hands", name of a Hindu goddess), and so on. There are different names given to each type of samaas.Counting systemLike 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 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4. They are paava, ardhaa, and pauṇa respectively. For most fractions greater than 1, the prefixes savvaa-, saaḍe-, paavaṇe- are used. There are special names for 1.5 (diiḍ) and 2.5 ('aḍich').
The powers of ten are as follows:
*100: she (or shambhara)
*1,000: hajaara (or sahastra)
*100,000: laakha (or laksha)
*10,000,000: koṭi
*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 ¦¦ width="150"|Transliteration | Meaning | | नमस्कार | Namaskaar. | Hi/Hello | | तुम्ही कसे आहात? | Tumhii kase aahaat? | How do you do? | | तू कसा आहेस? | Tuu kasaa aahes? | How are you (to a male)? | | तू कशी आहेस? | Tuu kashii aahes? | How are you (to a female)? | | आपण कसे आहात? | Aapan kase aahaat? | How are you (formal)? | | तुम्हाला भेटून आनंद झाला | Tumhaalaa bheṭuun aanand jhaalaa. | Pleased to meet you. | | पुन्हा भेटू | Punhaa bheṭuu. | Goodbye. ("We will meet again") | | धन्यवाद | Dhanyavaad. | Thank you. | | हो | Ho. | Yes. | | नाही | Naahii. | No. | | नको | Nako. | No, thank you. | | किती? | Kitii? | How much?/How many? | | कुठे? | Kuṭhe? | Where? | | कसे? | Kase? | How? | | केव्हा? | Kevhaa? | When? | | कोण? | Koṇ? | Who? | | काय? | Kaay? | What? | |
* Marathi literature
* Languages of India
* List of national languages of India
* List of Indian languages by total speakers
* Wikipedia in Marathi
* Marathi culture & language
*Learn to speak Marathi
*Marathi Translation
*Marathi Word Processor
*Ethnologue report for Marathi
*Marathi and Maharashtra related resources
*Modi Script online
*Marathi documents and
*links
*Microsoft and Indian Languages
*Marathi a reference* 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 etc.
* 3 - 'jAhirAt' can be an original Marathi word, since 'jAhir karaNe' is phrase used in marathi for 'to announce'.
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