Garhwali (, , in native pronunciation) is an Indo-Aryan language of the Central Pahari subgroup. It is primarily spoken by over million Garhwali people in the Garhwal division of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand in the Indian Himalayas.
Garhwali has a number of regional dialects. It is not an endangered language (Ethnologue lists it as "vigorous"), it is nonetheless designated as "vulnerable" in UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, which indicates that the language requires consistent conservation efforts.
Names Ethnologue has catalogued alternate names by which Garhwali is known such as Gadhavali, Gadhawala, Gadwahi, Gashwali, Girwali, Godauli, Gorwali, Gurvali, and Pahari Garhwali. These alternate names of the language may have come from the speakers having more than one name for their language, or variant Romanisations of what is essentially the same name. Gadwallis schollar Gadwall's Kukareithi use Gadwallis or Gaddish for all literary & legal purpose.
Geographical distribution Garhwali is spoken primarily by people in Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts of Garhwal division in the state of Uttarakhand. Garhwali is also spoken by Garhwali migrants to other parts of India including Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Chandigarh.
+According To 2011 CensusStatePopulationDelhi71,476Uttar Pradesh22,914Maharashtra14,401Haryana12,207Chandigarh8,265Punjab 7,338 Madhya Pradesh4,859Himachal Pradesh4,229Rajasthan4,080Jammu and Kashmir 1,544 According to the 2001 Census of Languages in India, there were 2,267,314 Garhwali language speakers. As per the latest 2011 Census of Languages in India, there are an estimated 2,482,089 speakers, and as of 2022, Ethnologue uses the same estimate. There are 2,322,406 speakers in Uttarakhand, while there are 159,683 speakers outside Uttarakhand of which half or more live near the National Capital Region.
History
Historically, in the Middle Indo-Aryan period there were a variety of languages called Prakrits. Of these, Khas Prakrit is believed to be the source of Garhwali.
The earliest form of Garhwali can be traced to the 10th century, found in numismatics, royal seals, inscriptional writings on copper plates and temple stones containing royal orders and grants. One example is the temple grant inscription of King Jagatpal at Dev Prayag in . Most Garhwali literature is preserved in folk form, passed down orally. However, since the 18th century, Garhwali has developed a literary tradition. Until the 17th century, Garhwal was always a sovereign nation under the Garhwali Kings. Naturally, Garhwali was the official language of the Garhwal Kingdom.
Audio recordings The earliest known audio recordings of Garhwali language were done in the monumental Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) led by George Abraham Grierson, a member of the Indian Civil Service and a linguist. LSI documented more than 300 spoken Indian languages and recorded voices and written forms between 1894 and 1928. Garhwali language was featured in Part IV - 'Pahari Languages & Gujuri' of Volume IX - 'Indo-Aryan Languages, Central Group' published in 1916 by Grierson. Recordings include the Parable of the Prodigal Son and of a well-known folk-tale: the fable of the Bundle of Sticks in Garhwali.
Sub-languages and dialects
+Sub-languages and dialectsNameRegionRemarksSrinagariyaSrinagar and surrounding areasRegarded as the standard. Also the preferred one of SalaniMalla, Talla & Ganga SalanPractically the same as Srinagaria but more poetic.Rathwali (Rathi)Raath,Devalgarh, parts of PaliIt is the language of the KhasiyasLobhyaLobha Patti, Patti Palla Genwar of PaliClosely resembles Rathi but very feminine soundChandpuryaChandpur Pargana of Chamoli(In Karanprayag,Gauchar and Narayanbagar block)This dialect was used during the initial period of the Panwar of Garhwal. BadhaniBadhan Pargana(Dewal,Tharali,Narayanbagar block of Chamoli).The most prominent dialect of Chamoli, in which many folk songs are sung, is spoken in the Badhan Pargana of Chamoli district, with a sweet and feminine sound, and in some of its more remote areas, words similar to those of the Kumaoni language can be heard. DasolyaDasoli Pargana and some part of Kapiri Pargana and Painkhand. A very vivid dialect of Garhwali, which use gender neutral feminine verbs, this dialect shows a good influence of some ancient language on it, along with a slight influence of Rongpa language and it also have a lot of local variation of verbs and grammar.Majh KumaiyaPindar paar badhan(Himni to Badhan Garhi), Malla Katyur, Talla DanpurTransitional between Garhwali and Kumaoni. It is also known as Doosanji in AlmoraGangadiUttarkashi, Dunda, Chinyalisaur and parts of Bhatwari.Transitional between Tehriyali and Rawanlti. Close to TehriyaliRanwaltiBarkot, Purola and Parts of Mori.Spoken in Rawain valley of Uttarkashi. Transitional between Mahasu Pahari and GarhwaliNagpuriyaRudraprayag and Chamoli Nagpur Pargana, ( Malla and Talla Nagpur)The most poetic dialect of Garhwali language,very well structured and Masculine sound.TehriyaliChamba, New Tehri, Ghansyali Mostly spoken dialect of Garhwali and very similar to standard form of Garhwali, SrinagariaGangpariyaLambgaon, Jakhnidhar, PratapnagarSpoken in North of Bhagirathi valley of pratapnagar areaJaunpuriNainbag, Kyari, Thatyur, Mussourie, DhanaultiTransitional between Tehriyali and Jaunsari BhattianiSurrounding pattis and villages in Tehri belt, Bhatgaon Area
Pronouns Nominative Oblique Reflexive Possessive determiner Possessive pronoun 1st pers. sing. मी/मि/मिग मिखण/मिथै/म्यवूं म्यारू म्यारू 2nd pers. sing./pl. (तु/त्वे ,त्व्वुinf), (थांउ f /तीमी sf) (तुम्सणी/तुम्थै,inf), (थांऊ f /तुम्सणी/तुम्थै sf) (त्यारू inf), (तुम्हरु sf /थांउझु f) (तुम्सणी sf), (तुम्हरो sf /थांउझु f) 3rd pers. sing. व, वे, ए, सि, वीँ, वे, ए, से वीँ, वे, ए, से वीँ, वे, ए, से 1st pers. pl. आमि, आम्सणी/आम्थै हम्रो हमारो 3rd pers. pl. तौंल, श्या, सी तौं तौं तौं
Cases
Translation (English)Standard (Written) Standard (Spoken : Fluent) Standard (Spoken–Variant) Lectal (literary) Nominative न, ल Vocative Hey हो हो हो हो Accusativeto सणि, मु अःण्, उँ सणि, हणि, थणि, झणि, खणि, अणि, अ:णि, मु, उ, म् थइँ, थइ, तइ, तै, ते, खइँ, कइँ, कइ, कै, के Instrumental by न अँ न, न्, अँ च, स Dative I for खुणि क्वँ खुणि, कुणि, कुइँ, क्विं, क्वँ कुतइ, कुतै Dative IIfor the sake of बाना बाँ बाना, बान, बान्, बाँ वास्ता, वात्ता, अत्ता, खातिर, लइ, ले, लिज्या, Ablative From बटि ( बट़् बटि, बट, बऱि, बऱ्, बट़ि, बट़् बटिन, बटिग, न, च, चला Genitive Of स्य, स्यु, स्यि, स्या स्य ह्य, अ/आ, इ/ई, उ/ऊ, ए/ऐ, ओ/औ रु, रि, रा, कु, कि, का LocativeOnto, on, into, in उन्दु(onto), फुण्डु(on), इन्दु (into), पेटु (in) उँ, पुँ, इँ, प्य्ट़् उन्दु, उन्द, उन्, उँ, फुण्डु, फुण्ड, फुण्, फुन्, पुन्, पुँ, इन्दु, इन्द, इन्, इँ, पेटु, प्याट्, प्य्ट, प्यट़् N/A
Numerals Number NumeralWrittenIAST 0 ० सुन्ने sunne 1 १ यऽक yak 2 २ दुई / द्वी duī 3 ३ तीन tīn 4 ४ चार cār 5 ५ पाँच pā̃c or pā̃ 6 ६ छॉ / छै chŏ 7 ७ सात sāt 8 ੮ आठ āṭh9९नउ / नौnaü
Verb conjugation Conjugation of the verb दॆख्ण (deykhna) "to look", in all three tenses in Garhwali.
Present tense singular plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
Past tense singular plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
Future tense singular plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
Phonology There are many differences from Hindi and other Indic languages, for example in the palatal approximant , or the presence of a retroflex lateral . Garhwali also has different allophones.
Vowels
Monophthongs There are many theories used to explain how many monophthongs are used in the Garhwali language. The Non-Garhwali Indian scholars with some Garhwali scholars (who believe Garhwali is a dialect of Hindi) who follow Common Hindustani phonology argue that there are eight vowels found within the language: ə, ɪ, ʊ, ɑ, i, u, e, o. A Garhwali language scholar Mr. Bhishma Kukreti argues that /ɑ/ is not present in the language instead of it long schwa i.e. /ə:/ is used. Although it can be accepted that southern Garhwali dialects have uses of /ɑ/ instead /ə:/. If we follow his rule of vowel length we found that there are five vowels found in Garhwali. Three are ə, ɪ, ʊ with long forms /ə:/, /ɪ:/, /ʊ:/. The other two are /o/ & /e/ with no vowel length. But there are thirteen vowels founded by Mr. Anoop Chandra Chandola as follows /ə/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/, /ɑ/, /i/, /y/, /u/, /e/, /o/, /æ/, /ɨ/, /ɔ/, /ɯ//. His arguments can be accepted as universal (also /ɑ/ which is used only in Southern dialects but borrowed to Standard dialect for distinction purposes) . But Bhishma Kukreti's argument about vowel length is also accepted. Hence we concluded that Garhwali (Standard Garhwali in this mean) has thirteen vowels (/ə/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/, /ɑ/, /i/, /y/, /u/, /e/, /o/, /æ/, /ɨ/, /ɔ/, /ɯ/) where three has vowel length (/ə:/, /ɪ:/, /ʊ:/).
The newer studies (by Gadwall's Kukareithi) reveals a slightly different but easier classification of Gaddish vowels. He writes, "There is no doubt that Gaddish is developed in a very complex and crucial way. It (Gaddish) has taken a lot of elements of all the Indo-European languages. [...] As it comes to vowels, Gaddish has variety of vowels & allo-vowels as well. But my classification of Gaddish vowels is need of time for making Gaddish a standard one."
Gaddish is only language having voiceless vowels. Kukareithi orders Gaddish vowelic alphabets as: a, i, e, u, o.
Most of the time all vowels when coming at the beginning of the word are pronounced voiceless. This is a characteristic of Vadic lects retained in Standard Gaddish and its western dialects. But developed into a:, i:, u: (voiced) in Standard Sanskrit. In Gaddish, y is voiceless counterpart of "i & e" & w is counterpart of "u & o". ** Although few dialects has no such behaviour regarding gone voiceless when the vowel comes at the beginning. It can happen at any position of vowel. When it comes to long pronunciation of vowels they again behave like Vadic vowels did. Vowel 'a' pronounced "a:", vowel 'i' as "i:", vowel 'u' as "u:", vowel 'e' as "ay" & vowel 'o' as "aw". When the vowels used at any point except beginning or end, pronounced as usual i.e. short sounded. It means 'a' as अ, 'i' as, 'u' as, 'e' as, 'o' as.
+Monophthongs of Garhwali Front Central Back short long short long Close, , , Close-mid Open-mid Open
Diphthongs There are diphthongs in the language which makes the words distinctive than other. However diphthongs vary dialect by dialect. Diphthongs (IPA) Example (IPA) Glos उइ /ui/ कुइ /kui/ anybody इउ /iu/ जिउ /ʤiu/ Heart, mind आइ /ai/ बकाइ /bəkɑi/ After-all, besides अइ /əi/ बकइ /bəkəi/ Balance आउ /au/ बचाउ /bəʧau/ Save (verb) अउ /əu/ बचउ /bəʧəu/ Safety
Triphthongs are less commonly found in the language. The most common word where a triphthong may occur is ह्वाउन [English: may be] /hɯɔʊn/ (in standard Garhwali) or /hɯaʊn/ (in some dialects). However many speakers can't realize the presence of triphthongs. Other triphthongs might be discovered if more academic research were done on the language.
Consonants Bilabial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Post-alv./Palatal Velar Glottal Nasal Stop/Affricate ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ Fricative Approximant Trill
Tenuis consonants