#Bharatiya Bhashavali - Languages of India

(under construction)



The Languages of India are categorically - Covergium / Continuum / Sprachabund - yet such classification has as yet not occurred. Thus the Languages of India have as yet only been classified according to the standard Classification system - which is inadequate in classifying the Languages of India.
I am not a linguist and therefore cannot reclassify the Languages of India according to the Convergium system. Thus what is presented here is not a reclassification of Languages - it is a external perspective based on the study of peoples, history and geography.

Many terms/names and ideas in this section are divergent from the "available varieties of/or commonly termed" names/terms, the reason for which are usually explained. Since I am Not a Linguist, the study is not based exclusively on Language, rather on a combination of : Statistics, Comparison through Audio Language Samples, Geography, History, Political History. 

Since I am not a Linguist this presentation is to have defects, nor is it intended not to - rather the purpose is to reevaluate the current presentations, which I consider (though not a Linguist) not without inconsistencies, inadequacies or unnecessary defects. A most glaring practical example would be : Bengali is the "common name" of a Language, but the 100 million people who are said to speak such a language, call their language "Bangla" and cannot even pronounce the word Bengali. While the Linguists will continue rightly studying languages - I consider the "People" who speak the Languages as the jury of this presentation (and not the Languages themselves).
I also think that the European System of Linguistic Classification/Presentation is "insufficient" in the study of India Languages (and likely elsewhere) in that while it classifies languages according to the "most prominent influence", it does not indicate what the secondary influences are, which may originally have been the prominent one and/or are necessary in the description of India languages. Grierson himself acknowledged the difficulty in "classification" due to the combination of various languages. Thus I make a call for a new generation of Linguists to revise/redescribe/reclassify the Languages of India.
I acknowledge ethnologue.com as a primary reference, though I consider neither the Maps nor the text on this page as copied nor derivatives. I also consider the content on ethnologue.com as having inaccuracies.



Bharatiya Bhasha Pakshavali - Language Zones of India

This is My Own Concept of Zoning of Languages in India. It is Country Centric, not the usual language family based. It essentially only differs from the common zoning classification - in the Central Zone.


Eastern Zone / Purva Mahamandal / Magadhi Mahamandal
Related languages with the central influence being Magadhi (Prakrit) of the Magadha empire for long the capital of Bharat.
Western Zone / Paschima Mahamandal / Gurjari Mahamandal
Gujarati and Rajasthani - both related to ancient Gurjar (Apabhramsa) language. Rajasthani is Gurjar (Apabhramsa) in contact with (Hindi) branches of Shuraseni (Prakrit) (North-Central Zone).
Central Zone / Madhya Mahamandal / Hindi-Marathi Mahamandal
Central Indian Languages. Hindi Dialects Derivatives of Shauraseni (Prakrit) in the North Half and Marathi - the South half. Both are Junction languages - All the other Zones are Not. Marathi is the Junction between all the Languages Zones, in particular between the Southern Zone and the Zones of the North and has much in common with Hindi in the North - though a totally different language. Hindi itself is influenced towards and by the East and West Zones.  This Zone can be divided into North Central Zone and South Central Zone.
Southern Zone / Dakshina Mahamandal / Dravida Mahamandal
Related Languages of Southern India, sometimes called Dravidian Languages.
Northern Zone / Uttara Mahamandal / Pahari Mahamandal
Pahari Languages of the Himalaya; some are heavily influenced by Hindi.

Bharatiya Bhasha Samtanaavali - Primary India Language Continuums 

Hindi Bhasha Samtanam 
Pahari Bhasha Samtanam

This group is being called Magadhi as that’s the original/ancient name of this Language Group and of the Region. Though Bihar and Bihari are nice names - of British invention (due to excavating many Buddhist Vihara in the Region), the words have come to carry other negative connotations in modern times.

Bharatiya Bhashavali - Languages of India


The White Lines demark dialects of the Language, though Hindi Dialects are marked in color.
While building this map the Languages and Dialects are together, which would later be 2 maps of Languages and Languages and Dialects. There is also no way to organize and depict the layers correctly in the present map.







Bhota (Tibetan) Language Family

Ladakhi – Bhota (Tibetan) with influence of the Pahari and Kāśa language families.

Dialects : in the regions of Zanskar, Lahul, Spiti, and Kinnaur.

Balti - Influence of Shina (Kāśa)

Dialects :  Purig/Purik – name for Balti people/Balti dialect of areas that ended up on Indian side since 1947.

Kāśa Language Family

Shina - spoken by the Darad of the Gilgit region. 

Kashmiri - the confluence of Kāśa, Pahari and other India languages.
Dialects : Kishtwari-Kashmiri (different than Kishtwari-Pahari). Kashmiri influenced by Kishtwari-Pahari. (see Kishtwari-Pahari for detail).

<

Bharatiya Hindi Bhasha



Hindi Zones


This is essentially my own idea, based upon “Mutual Intelligibility of (Verbal Language Samples of) Languages in the Extended Hindi Zone”. Those whom have studied the various Classification of Indian Languages made till present - may understand the need for new classifications. For an explanation of the concept - see the next section below of "Hindi and Language Zones"

Central Hindi / Sauraseni Hindi – Influenced by Gurjari (not Hindi) via Rajasthani (Hindi)

Eastern Hindi / Ardha Magadhi Hindi – the combination of Sauraseni (Hindi) and Magadhi (not Hindi).

Western Hindi / Rajasthani Hindi – the Combination of Sauraseni (Hindi) and Gurjari (not Hindi)

Sauraseni, Magadhi and Ardha Magadhi are the names of predecessor ancient mother languages. The name Rajasthani is not.

Other Notes :

It may be noted since the time of the original European linguists, Sauraseni has been ridiculously overstressed “as a Dramatic Prakrit”. Though while it was used for certain characters in ancient Dramatic writings, which have come down to the present – that is not its known practical identity.









Hindi and Language Zones


Annotations

Hindi Zone - the primary languages are mutually intelligible Hindi - Dialects. It is the Northern part of the Central Zone on the Map.Extended Hindi Zone - Hindustani as a Primary or Secondary Language, but Not the exclusive nor native language.
Hindi Division Line - dividing Eastern (Magadhi influenced) Hindi and Western (Gurjari influenced) Hindi
Mixed Zone - Mixed Area between Hindi Dialects and Tribal Languages. Contact area between all the Zones (except Northern).

Malvi

Of important note is Linguists have neglected the Malvi of the Khichiwara plateau and Vidisha plains – because Grierson 100 years ago did the same (and another survey has not occurred since). Though he did note the number of Malvi speakers in these regions : the Gwalior agency was recorded as having 1 million Bundeli speakers and 400,000 Malvi speakers. The Malvi speakers are specified as being “directly to the North of the Bhopal agency till the Shahabad pargana of Kota”. This is equivalent to the Vidisha Plains, and the Khichiwara / Guna-Ashoknagar plateau. The latter is standard Malva Region while the Vidisha Plains are known to be a mixture of Malva and Bundela. The Khilchi peoples inhabit and ruled the Khichiwara Plateau and thus the dialect spoken there is “Khichwari Malvi”