 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Magahi language" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(March 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Magahi | |
|---|---|
| Magadhi | |
| |
 The word "Magahi" written in Devanagari script | |
| Native to | India andNepal |
| Region | Magadha (southernBihar, northernJharkhand, and northwesternWest Bengal),[1][2][3]Terai region of EasternNepal |
| Ethnicity | Magahi |
Native speakers | 12.7 million (2011 census)[4][5] (additional speakers counted under Hindi) |
Early forms | |
| Dialects |
|
| Devanagari Kaithi (formerly) Bengali (historically in Manbhum and Hazaribagh)[6] | |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | mag |
| ISO 639-3 | mag |
| Glottolog | maga1260 |
 Magahi speaking region | |
Magahi (𑂧𑂏𑂯𑂲), also known asMagadhi (𑂧𑂏𑂡𑂲), is anIndo-Aryan language spoken inBihar,Jharkhand, and parts ofWest Bengal andOdisha ineastern India,[8][9] and in theTerai region ofNepal.[10]Magadhi Prakrit was the ancestor of Magahi, from which the latter's name derives.[11]
It has a very rich and old tradition of folk songs and stories. It is spoken in approximately twelve districts ofBihar (Gaya,Patna,Jehanabad,Aurangabad,Nalanda,Sheikhpura,Nawada,Lakhisarai,Arwal,Jamui and in some parts of Banka), twelve districts ofJharkhand (Hazaribag,Palamu,Chatra,Koderma,Jamtara,Bokaro,Dhanbad,Giridih, Deoghar, Garhwa, Latehar, Chatra) and inWest Bengal'sMalda district.[12]
Magahi derived from the ancientMagadhi Prakrit, which was created in the ancient kingdom ofMagadha, the core of which was the area south of theGanges and east ofSon River.
Though the number of speakers in Magahi is about 12.7 million, it has not been constitutionally recognised in India. In Bihar, Hindi is the language used for educational and official matters.[13] Magahi was legally absorbed under Hindi in the 1961 Census.[14][15]
The ancestor of Magahi,Magadhi Prakrit, formed in the Indian subcontinent. These regions were part of the ancient kingdom ofMagadha, the core of which was the area ofBihar south of the riverGanga.
The nameMagahi is directly derived from the word Magadhi.[16]
The development of the Magahi language into its current form is unknown. However, according to linguists, Magahi along withAssamese,Bengali,Bhojpuri,Maithili andOdia originated from the Magadhi Prakrit during the 8th to 11th centuries. These different, but sister dialects differentiated themselves and took their own course of growth and development. But it is not certain when exactly it took place. It was probably such an unidentified period during which modern Indian languages begin to take modern shape. By the end of the 12th century, the development ofApabhramsa reached its climax. The distinct shape of Magadhi can be seen in theDohakosha written by Sarahapa and Kauhapa.
Magadhi had a setback due to the transition period of the Magadha administration.[17] Traditionally, strolling bards recite long epic poems in this dialect, and it was because of this that the word "Magadhi" came to mean "a bard".Devanagari is the most widely used script in present times, whileBengali andOdia scripts are also used in some regions and Magahi's old script was Kaithi script.[18][19] The pronunciation in Magahi is not as broad as in Maithili and there are a number of verbal forms for each person.[20] Historically, Magahi had no famous written literature. There are many popular songs throughout the area in which the language is spoken, and strolling bards recite various long epic poems which are known more or less over the whole of Northern India. In the Magahi speaking area, folk singers sing a good number of ballads.
The first success in spreading Hindi occurred in Bihar in 1881, when Hindi displacedUrdu as the official language of the province. After independence, Hindi was given the sole official status through the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950,[21] ignoring the state's own languages.
There are several dialects of Magahi. It is spoken in the area which formed the core of the ancient kingdom ofMagadha - the modern districts ofPatna,Nalanda,Gaya,Jehanabad,Arwal,Aurangabad,Lakhisarai,Sheikhpura andNawada. Magahi is bounded on the north byMaithili spoken inMithila across the Ganga. On the west it is bounded by theBhojpuri and on the northeast it is bounded byAngika. A blend ofMagahi known asKhortha is spoken by non-tribal populace inNorth Chotanagpur division ofJharkhand which comprises districts ofBokaro,Chatra,Palamu,Dhanbad,Giridih,Hazaribagh,Koderma andRamgarh. People of Southern Bihar and Northern Jharkhand are mostly speakers of Magahi.[22] Magahi is also spoken inMalda district ofWest Bengal.[8][9][23] According to 2011 Census, there were approximately 12.7 million Magahi speakers.[5] Apart from India it is spoken in various districts of south easternNepal.[24]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Low | aː | ||
| Diphthongs | əi | əu | |
Some common kinship terms:
| Sr. No. | Magahi Word | IPA Pronunciation | English Word |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | बाप | [baːp] | Father |
| 2 | माई | [maː.i] | Mother |
| 3 | लइका | [lə.ɪ.kaː] | Son |
| 4 | लइकी | [lə.ɪ.kiː] | Daughter |
| 5 | भइया | [bʰə.jaː] | Elder Brother |
| 6 | भौजी | [bʰəʊ.dʒiː] | Sister-in-law (brother's wife) |
| 7 | दीदी | [diː.diː] | Elder Sister |
| 8 | बहिनिया | [bə.hi.ni.jaː] | Younger Sister |
| 9 | दादा | [daː.daː] | Paternal Grandfather |
| 10 | दादी | [daː.diː] | Paternal Grandmother |
| 11 | नाना | [naː.naː] | Maternal Grandfather |
| 12 | नानी | [naː.niː] | Maternal Grandmother |
| 13 | मरद | [mə.rəd] | Husband |
| 14 | मेहरारू | [me.hə.raː.ruː] | Wife |
| 15 | सास | [saːs] | Mother-in-law |
| 16 | ससुर | [sə.suɾ] | Father-in-law |
| 17 | देबर | [de.bəɾ] | Brother-in-law (husband's younger brother) |
| 18 | जेठ | [dʒeʈʰ] | Husband’s Elder Brother |
| 19 | ननद | [nənəd] | Husband’s Sister |
| 20 | बहू | [bə.huː] | Daughter-in-law |
| 22 | चाचा | [tʃaː.tʃaː] | Paternal Uncle (Younger) |
| 24 | चाची | [tʃaː.tʃiː] | Aunt (Younger Uncle's Wife) |
| 25 | मामा | [maː.maː] | Maternal Uncle |
| 26 | मामी | [maː.miː] | Maternal Uncle’s Wife |
| 27 | मौसी | [məʊ.siː] | Maternal Aunt |
| 28 | मौसा | [məʊ.saː] | Maternal Aunt’s Husband |
| 29 | फूफी | [pʰuː.pʰiː] | Paternal Aunt |
| 30 | फूफा | [pʰuː.pʰaː] | Paternal Aunt’s Husband |
| 31 | भतीजा | [bʰə.t̪iː.dʒaː] | Nephew |
| 32 | भतीजी | [bʰə.t̪iː.dʒiː] | Niece |
In one sense, Magahi is written in four scripts, Devanagari, Kaithi, and also Bangla and Oriya. Bangla and Oriya scripts are employed in writing the forms of eastern Magahi current in the Manbhum area, such as Purulia but also in the southeastern part of the Hazaribagh district that borders on the Manbhum region. The Oriya script is used, expectedly, in areas where it coexists with Oriya, such as Mayurbhanj.
Aryani (1965), on the basis of several data, estimated the number of Magahi speakers at approximately 9,900,000 for 1951. Surprisingly enough, the 1971 census figures show only 6,638,495 speakers for Magahi. This discrepancy can be understood in the context of the socio-linguistic phenomenon of educated urban speakers naming their language of schooling, Hindi, as their mother-tongue. Obviously, the number of Magahi speakers did not really decline between 1951 and 1971 but was simply swallowed up by the census figures for Hindi.
Hindi is the formal language of the region, used in schools and law courts. Magahi today employs the Devanagari script borrowed directly from Hindi in place of the Kaithi script used earlier.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
