Friday, February 11, 2011

The Dogri Language - by Ved Kumari Ghai Part-2



The Dogri Language
- by Ved Kumari Ghai Part-2





LINGUISTIC CHARACTERISTICS

Some prominent phonological features of Dogri are-
a. Initial v, y are changes to b, J.
b. Ch generally changes into S.
c. Voived aspirates of Hindi-gh, Jh, dh, bh, are changed to unvoiced and voiced mutes with tones.
d. Velar and palatal nasals occur initially also nur (grapes) nana child).
e. Nasalization is phonemic ja, jan.
f. Vowel length and consonant length are phonemic.
g. As stress and tone go together, tone only can be regarded phonemic la (to place), la (to take down), la (to shake).
h. There is free variation between s and s', sirak, sirak.
i. Syllabic system of Dogri does not possess CVCCVCV (bajjara), CVCVCCV (Kapatta), CVCVCV (Cdlaki)
The main morphological characteristics of Dogri are
a. Preference for passive voice constructions mere sa nei Janoda (I can not go).
b. The use of ha, tha, a, hi, he, thi, the etc. for the expressions was/were.
c. The conjugation of the auxiliary verb in accordance with the gender of the subject unlike Punjabi where it remains unchanged.
e.g. Punjabi: Raja ge da si.
                   The king had gone
Dogri: Raja ge da ha.
Punjabi: Rdni gei di si.
The queeen had gone
Dogri: Ram gei di hi.
d. The use of additional vowel i in the past verbal forms like turi gea, sunilea. (Had gone, had heard).
e. The special pronominal forms like tugi (to you), migi (to me).
f,  Post positions like Kanne (with) kasa (from).
g. Special liking for forms ending in u e.g. cacu (father), kurtu (shirt), manu (human being).
h. Verb stems made with er, e.g. khaderana (to make stand), baderana (to give bath).

On analysing the phonology, the grammar and the vocabulary of Dogri, one can observe easily that Dogri like many other modern Indian languages has a very strong Sanskrit base. Sanskrit words have been received in Dogri either in pure form (Tatsama) or with some phonetic changes (Tadbhava). Even some Vedic words which are not preserved in classical Sanskrit are preserved in a slightly changed form in Dogri. Thus the word Sosa used for summer season occurs in Vajasaneyi Samhita and this has been preserved in Dogri in the form Soha. The Vedic word Budhna is preserved in Dogri in the form Bunna. Sanskrit words are mostly used in Dogri conversation at the time of religious functions and social functions having a touch of religion. While worshipping girls in Devi Pujana the term kanjaka is used which is derived from Sanskrit kanyaka but the pure form kanya is used in marriage ceremony. Many pure Sanskrit words like agnihotra, kusa, jala, diksa, kalaga, puspa, asana, daksind, kunda, tapa samadhi, vidya, brahma, jiva, atma are used in religious and philosophical talk. Like many other modern Indian languages Dogri uses pure Sanskrit terminology in the fields of grammar, poetics and philosophy.

As regards tadbhava words from Sanskrit, Dogri has thousands of such words with regular phonetic changes which prove its close relationship with Sanskrit, Hindi, Punjabi etc. The following lists of words prove this:

I. Dogri has a tendency to drop the initial vowel of Sanskrit and Hindi words which are not monosyllabic:

Sanskrit/Hindi
English
Dogri
ananda
joy
nanda
anartha
calamity
nartha
adhina
dependent
dhina
akala
famine
kala
adhyaya
chapter
dhya

II. Initial y, v of Sanskrit words are changed into j and b. This change occurs after a prefix also:

Sanskrit/Hindi 
Dogri
nirvaha 
narbah
vistara 
bastara
vasanta 
basanta
vidyut 
bijja
vela 
beta
vilapa 
balapa
vedana 
bedana
visvasa 
bisvasa
vicitra 
bacittara
viyoga 
bajoga
vipat 
bipat
yasa 
jasa
yogi 
jogi
yajna 
jagga
yukti 
jugat
yatra 
jatra


III. Medial y, u are generally changed to i, u and assimilated with other vowels:

Sanskrit/Hindi 
Dogri
nayana 
nain
vinayaka 
banaik
lavana 
luna
bhavana 
bhauna

IV. The sound y occuring between two a sounds disappears:

Sanskrit/Hindi 
Dogri
Himalaya 
Himala
Sivalaya 
Sivala
niscaya 
nisca
samsaya 
saimsa

V. Two consonants are often assimilated just as in Prakrit and Punjabi.

Sanskrit/Hindi 
Dogri/Punjabi
bhakta 
bhatta
tattua 
tatta
satya 
sacca
sarpa 
sappa
karma 
kamma
carma 
camma
sapta 
satta
lagna 
lagga
phalguna 
phaggana

VI. Cerebral s is changed to kh or s in Dogri.

Sanskrit/Hindi 
Dogri
Varsa 
barakha
dhanus 
dhanakha
nisiddha 
nikhiddha
rasi 
rasa
nasa 
nasa
sita 
sita
sabda 
sadda

VII. The sound ksa is changed to kha as in Punjabi and sometimes to cha as in Kashmiri.

Sanskrit/Hindi 
Dogri
ksina 
khina
aksata 
akhata
ksatriya 
khatri
yaksa 
jakkha
ksal 
chal
kaksa 
kacha
laksmi 
lachmi
naksatra 
nakhattar/nachattar
draksa 
dakha

VIII. Dogri is nearer to Sanskrit in preservation of sound r than other languages like Hindi.

Sanskrit
Dogri
Hindi
patra
pattar
patta
nidra
nidar
nida
ksetra
khettar
kheta
grama
gra
gava


IX. Initial voiced aspirates of Sanskrit/Hindi words are devoiced and deaspirated in Dogri. This deaspiration gives low tone to the following vowel. In medial and final position the voiced aspirate does not lose voice but is deaspirated. If it is followed by a stressed vowel, the vowel gets low tone but if it is preceeded by a stressed vowel, the vowel gets high tone. Similar changes occur in the case of aspirate h also.

Sanskrit/Hindi
English
Dogri
bhara
weight
para
svabhava
nature
suba
labha
profit
laba
hasa
laugh
asa


Thus Dogri language is closely related to other IndoAryan languages. The literature of Dogri has witnessed a remarkable growth during the past fifty years. Sahitya Akademi has recognized Dogri as a modern literary language and awarded prizes to many Dogri writers. Dogri is studied in schools, colleges and the University of Jammu at undergraduate and post-graduate levels. There is a great demand for its inclusion in the eighth schedule so that it gets proper opportunities for further growth and development.

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