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Ethnologue > Web version > Country index > Asia > Pakistan > Marwari

Marwari

A language of Pakistan

ISO 639-3: mve

Population  220,000. 100,000 Northern Marwari, 120,000 or more Southern Marwari (1998). The latter 100,000 Marwari Bhil, 10,000 Marwari Meghwar, 12,000–13,000 Marwari Bhat.
Region  Northern Marwari in south Punjab and north Sindh, north of Dadu and Nawabshah; Southern Marwari in Sindh and south Punjab provinces, between Tando Mohammed Khan and Tando Ghulam Ali to the south, Dadu and Nawabshab to the north.
Language map  Southern Pakistan
Alternate names   Jaiselmer, Marawar, Marwari Bhil, Marwari Meghwar, Merwari, Rajasthani
Dialects  Northern Marwari, Southern Marwari, Marwari Bhil, Marwari Meghwar, Marwari Bhat. 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.
Classification  Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Central zone, Rajasthani, Marwari
A member of macrolanguage Marwari [mwr] (India).
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. Also use Sindhi [snd], Urdu, or Hindi.
Language development  Literacy rate in L1: Below 1%. Literacy rate in L2: Below 5% in Sindhi or Urdu. Newspapers. Bible portions: 1969–1991.
Writing system  Arabic script, Nastaliq style. Arabic script, Naskh style.
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.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

HALLBERG, Calinda E.; O'LEARY, Clare F.; RENSCH, Calvin R., authors. 1992. Hindko and Gujari.  Available online

JEFFERY, David, author. 1992. Null pronominals in Marwari Bhil.