Marwari

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A language of Pakistan

ISO 639-3
mve
Alternate Names
Jaiselmer, Marawar, Marwari Bhil, Marwari Meghwar, Merwari, Rajasthani
Population

220,000. 100,000 Northern Marwari, 120,000 or more Southern Marwari (1998). The latter 100,000 Marwari Bhil, 10,000 Marwari Meghwar, 12,000 to 13,000 Marwari Bhat.

Location

Northern Marwari dialect: south Punjab and north Sindh, north of Dadu and Nawabshah; Southern Marwari: Sindh and south Punjab provinces, between Tando Mohammed Khan and Tando Ghulam Ali south, Dadu and Nawabshab north.

Language Maps
Language Status

4 (Educational).

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Central zone, Rajasthani, Marwari
Dialects

Marwari Bhat, Marwari Bhil, Marwari Meghwar, Northern Marwari, Southern Marwari. Northern and Southern Marwari mutually inherently intelligible. Lexical similarity: 79%–83% with Dhatki [mki], 87% between Southern and Northern Marwari, 78% with Marwari Meghwar and Marwari Bhat dialects.

Language Use

One sweeper community of 10,000–100,000 identifies itself as Marwari, but is undergoing rapid shift to Urdu [urd]. Marwari is not usually written. Speakers are moderately bilingual in Sindhi [snd], educated speakers also use Sindhi and Urdu [urd]. Hindi [hin] is literary language in Rajasthan.

Language Development
Literacy rate in L1: Below 1%. Literacy rate in L2: Below 5% in Sindhi or Urdu. Newspapers. Bible portions: 1969–1991.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Marwari
Writing
Arabic script, Nastaliq and Naskh styles.
Other Comments

‘Rajasthani’ is a linguistic cover term for a group of languages. Speakers tend to be urban and educated. Northern Bhil tribes: Marwari-Thori, Gulguli, Shikari, Jogi, Sochi. Hindu, Muslim, Christian.