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Domari language

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Domari
Native toIran, Turkey, Egypt, India, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan and Morocco
Native speakers
3,952,810, of which 2,280,000 in Egypt and 1,340,000 in Iran[1] Note that Ethnologue estimates usually refer to people who are regarded in the Middle East as 'Gypsies', irrespective of whether there is any evidence of the actual langauge that they speak. Thus there is no attestation at all of any speakers of Domari in Egypt or in Iran (see Matras 2012). (2006)
Language codes
ISO 639-3rmt

Domari is an Indo-Aryan language, spoken by the Dom people across the Middle East, North Africa, Caucasus, Central Asia and India. The language is known to be spoken among Dom people in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iraq, Palestine/Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Syria and Lebanon. The other Indo-Aryan language still spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan is Zargari Romani, a variety of European Romani. Domari is one of the most conservative modern Indo-Aryan languages. In the Hunza valley in the north of Pakistan there is a population called the Ḍum, who are also metalworkers and musicians, and who speak a Central Indic (i.e. not a local) language. Based on the systematicity of sound changes attested in these languages, we know with a fair degree of certainty that these names all derive from the Indian term ḍom.[1]

Domari is also known as "Middle Eastern Romani", "Tsigene", "Luti", or "Mehtar". Dialects include:

Some dialects may be highly divergent and not mutually intelligible.

Domari and Romani language

Domari was once thought to be the "sister language" of Romani, the two languages having split after the departure from the Indian subcontinent, but more recent research suggests that the differences between them are significant enough to treat them as two separate languages within the Central zone (Hindustani) group of languages. The Dom and the Rom are therefore likely to be descendants of two different migration waves out of India, separated by several centuries.[3][4]

There are nevertheless remarkable similarities between the two beyond their shared Central zone Indic origin, indicating a period of shared history as itinerant populations in the Middle East. These include shared archaisms that have been lost in the Central Indo-Aryan languages over the millennium since Dom/Rom emigration, a series of innovations connecting them with the Northwestern zone group, indicating their route of migration out of India, and finally a number of radical syntactical changes due to superstrate influence of Middle Eastern languages, including Persian, Arabic and Byzantine Greek.

Language grouping

There is no standard written form of Domari. In the Arab world, it is occasionally written using the Arabic script and has many Arabic and Persian loanwords.[2]

The best known variety of Domari is Palestinian Domari, also known as "Syrian Gypsy", the dialect of the Dom community of Jerusalem, which had been described by R.A. S. Macalister as early as during the 1910s.

Further descriptive work was done by Yaron Matras (1996)[3]. Palestinian Domari is an endangered language, with less than 200 speakers, the majority of the 1,200 members of the Jerusalem Domari community being native speakers of Palestinian Arabic.

The following table presents the numerals in the Romani, Domari and Lomavren languages, with the corresponding terms in Sanskrit, Hindi, Odia, and Sinhala to demonstrate the similarities.[5] Note that the Romani numerals 7 through 9 have been borrowed from Greek.

Languages
Numbers
 Romani Domari Lomavren Sanskrit Hindi Odia Sinhala
1 ekh, jekh yika yak, yek éka ēk ēkå eka
2 duj dī lui dvá dō dui deka
3 trin tærən tərin trí tīn tini thuna/thri
4 štar štar išdör catvā́raḥ cār cāri hathara/sathara
5 pandž pandž pendž páñca pā̃c pāñcå paha
6 šov šaš šeš ṣáṭ chaḥ chåå haya/saya   
7 ifta xaut haft saptá sāt sātå hata/satha
8 oxto xaišt hašt aṣṭá āṭh āṭhå ata
9 inja na nu náva nau nåå nawaya
10 deš des las dáśa das dåśå dahaya
20 biš wīs vist viṃśatí bīs kōṛiē wissa
100 šel saj saj śatá sau såhē siiya/shathakaya

SIL Ethnologue breaks down the populations of speakers of the individual Domari dialect as follows:

  • Iran: 1.34 million speakers (2000 WCD), including a number of widely divergent dialects (Kurbati and Luli in western Iran, Karachi in northern Iran, besides Qinati, Yürük, Koli, Maznoug and Nawar)
  • Egypt: 0.23 million speakers (2004), Ghagar (Nawar) mainly in Dakahlia Governorate, northern Egypt, besides Helebi. The language is in the process of being marginalized by Egyptian Arabic
  • India: 0.2 million speakers (2000 WCD), consisting of speakers of the Domba and Wogri-Boli dialects mostly in Bihar, Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Orissa. In Bihar strongly assimilated to Bhojpuri
  • Libya: 32,000 speakers (2000 WCD) of the Helebi and Ghagar (Nawar) dialect. The language is in the process of being marginalized by Libyan Arabic.
  • Tunisia: 30,000 speakers (2000 WCD) of the Helebi and Ghagar (Nawar) dialect. The language is in the process of being marginalized by Tunisian Arabic.
  • Algeria: 30,000 speakers (2000 WCD) of the Helebi and Ghagar (Nawar) dialect. The language is in the process of being marginalized by Algerian Arabic.
  • Morocco: 30,000 speakers (2000 WCD) of the Helebi and Ghagar (Nawar) dialect. The language is in the process of being marginalized by Moroccan Arabic.
  • Turkey: 28,000 speakers (2000 WCD), mainly western Turkey, Karachi, Beludji and Marashi dialects. Note that Turkey also has significant Romani populations, and estimates regarding gypsies in Turkey often conflate the two groups (Gunnemark and Kenrick 1985). The language is in the process of being marginalized by Turkish.
  • Iraq: 23,000 speakers (2000 WCD) known as Zott. The language is in the process of being marginalized by Iraqi Arabic.
  • Syria: 10,000 speakers reported in 1961, Nawari, Kurbat and Barake dialects. The language is in the process of being marginalized by Syrian Arabic.
  • Jordan: 8,000 speakers (2000 WCD), Nawar, Kurbat and Barake dialects. The language is in the process of being marginalized by Jordanian Arabic.
  • Lebanon: 7,000 speakers reported in 1932. The language is in the process of being marginalized by Lebanese Arabic.
  • Israel and Palestinian Territories: 2000 speakers reported by Matras (1997), in rapid decline. Mostly in Jerusalem, but also in Bir Zeit and Gaza. Vocabulary is strongly influenced by Arabic and by Iranian languages. The language is in the process of being marginalized by Palestinian Arabic.
  • Russia: Karachi dialect in the Caucasus, Luli and Maznoug dialects in Central Asia. The language is in the process of being marginalized by Russian.
  • Uzbekistan: Luli and Maznoug dialects
  • Sudan: Halabi and Ghajar (Nawar) clans. The language is in the process of being marginalized by Sudanese Arabic.

References

  1. ^ http://romani.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/whatis/language/origins.shtml
  2. ^ http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3458001552.html
  3. ^ What is Domari?, retrieved 2008-07-23
  4. ^ ON ROMANI ORIGINS AND IDENTITY, retrieved 2008-07-23
  5. ^ Hancock, Ian (2007). "On Romani Origins and Identity". RADOC.net. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17.

Further reading

  • Matras Y. (1999). "The state of present-day Domari in Jerusalem." Mediterranean Language Review 11, 1–58.
  • Matras Y. (2002). Romani: a linguistic introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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