Dhatki language

Dhatki (धाटकी; ڍاٽڪي), also known as Dhatti (धाटी; ڍاٽي), Thari (थारी; ٿَري), is a Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in Tharparkar and Umerkot districts of Sindh, in the Barmer district of Rajasthan.

Speakers

Dhatki/Dhatti is considered either related to Sindhi, or Rajasthani (Marwari). Dhatki dialects are divided into two groups Western Dhatki and Eastern Dhatki. Western Dhatki is spoken in Tharparkar, Pakistan while Eastern Dhatki is spoken along Indo-Pakistan border in Jaisalmer and Barmer districts of India. Dhatki dialects and their names are based on the regions in Tharpakar which Include: Muhrano and Samroti etc.

Speakers of the Dhatki language can be ethnically Rajasthani, Thari, Sindhi and Gujarati, the Dhatki language unites these ethnically diverse groups under one mother tongue and under one umbrella. Some Dhatki-speaking communities migrated to India in 1947 after the independence and continued to do so in small numbers after that date, but the great majority of Dhatki speakers still reside in Pakistan. Dhatki/Dhati is spoken by these communities:

The majority speakers of Dhatki language live in Umerkot District and Tharparkar District in Sindh, Pakistan. 60% of the language's speakers are Muslims, 35% are Hindu and the remaining 5% practice traditional folk religions.

Phonology

Dhatki has implosive consonants, unlike other closely related Rajasthani languages but like the neighbouring (but more distantly related) Sindhi language. It is likely that these consonants developed in the language from contact with more culturally dominant Sindhi speakers. Aside from this, its phonology is much like other Indo-Aryan languages:

1. Marginal and non-universal phonemes are in parentheses. is lateral for some speakers (Masica 1991:98).
2. is post-velar.

Dhakti has a fairly standard set of vowels for an Indo-Aryan language: [ə aː ɪ iː ʊ (sometimes: u) uː eː oː ɛː ɔː]. The vowel ʊ may be realized as a short u and the vowel ɪ may be realized as a short i. The vowel ɛː is often realized as the diphthong əiː based and context or as an æː based on the speaker's accent. The vowel ɔː is often realized as the diphthong əuː based and context. Nazalized vowels occur word finally in Dhakti, they are: [ĩː ẽː ɛ̃ː ɑ̃ː ɔ̃ː õː ũː].

Samples

A few of the typical sentences in Dhatki are:

• "What are you doing?", "I am reading this Page.",
• "What is your name?",
• "I have to eat" (Literally translates to "I have to eat roti).
• "where are you going? "Nowhere.",
• "How are you?". "I am Fine",

{Tu Kun aheen?}-"who are you?"

References