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.