Rawat

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A language of India

ISO 639-3
jnl
Alternate Names
Ban Manus, Ban Rauts, Bhulla, Dzanggali, Jangali, Janggali, Jhangar, Raji, Raut
Population

670 (1998).

Location

Uttarakhand, Pithoragarh district, north of Askot Maila, 9 villages.

Language Maps
Language Status

7 (Shifting).

Classification
Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Western Tibeto-Burman, Himalayan, Central Himalayan, Raute-Raji
Dialects

None known. Extensive borrowing from areal Indo-Aryan (Kumaoni, Nepali) languages (2011 J. Fortier). Very similar to Raute [rau] and Raji [rji].

Typology

SOV; postpositions; genitives, articles, adjectives, numerals before noun heads; noun heads both initial and final; no noun classes or genders; content q-word initial; maximum number of suffixes 3; affixes indicate case of noun phrases; verb affixation marks person and number; passives; causatives; comparatives; CV, CVC; nontonal.

Language Use

All speakers use a highly mixed variety. Home, religion. Negative attitudes. Due to poor socio-economic status, miniscule number of speakers, fewer domains of language use, attitude of the dominant group and lack of initiative from the state, Rawat is quickly assimilating into Kumaoni [kfy] (Rastogi 2006).

Language Development
Literacy rate in L1: Below 1%. Younger generation taking interest in literacy.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Rawat
Writing

Devanagari script [Deva].

Other Comments

A Scheduled Tribe. Government-given ethnonym: Raji now accepted by the people. Many Indo-Aryan loans. Raute are found in Kumaon where they are known as Raji (Gurung 1997). Traditional religion.