Chitpavani Konkani (Karnataka)

Chitpavani is a dialect of the Konkani language (and it is not a dialect of Marathi) as spoken by the Chitpavan community. Chitpavans, as they are known today, evolved as a community in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, India. This region lies on the western coast of the country. From their original land of Ratnagiri, they have spread to many parts of the world. Chitpavans speak a peculiar dialect called Chitpavani, which was spoken in the district until the 1950s, but as time went on, people adopted Marathi as their language. As of now, this language is almost extinct from the Konkan region, with the exception of a very few old people in some remote villages in the district who can still speak this dialect. Chitpavans who migrated to Goa and the Dakshin Kannada district of Karnataka about 300 years ago have still maintained Chitpavani language in their homes.

Chitpavani is classified as a dialect of the Konkani- Goan language and is a transitional dialect between Konkani (spoken in North Konkan) and Konkani Goan.

Nowadays efforts are being made to revive this language through various forums such as internet groups on Orkut, Yahoo and also through various Chitpavan Mandals in Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka.

Some Words from Chitpavani language

Chitpavani	Roman Transliteration	English Meaning
चेड	ched	girl
बोड्यो	boDyo	boy
कें	ke(n)	where
कितां	kitaa(n)	what
सां	saa(n)	am (I)
में	me(n)	I
विन्चां	vilchaa(n)	just before sunset
नय	nay	river
थेयलां	theyalaa(n)	put (past tense)
घेव्नी	ghevnee	(after) taking
येचां-	yechaa(n	coming
हाड	haaD	bring
ओखद	okhad	medicine
चखोट	chakhoT	good
पेख	pekh	stop
आत्वार	aatvaar	kitchen
नाकां	naakaa(n)	don't want
यठां	yaaThaa(n)	here
कई	kaee	when
बोलसें	bolase(n)	speaks
आडस	aadas	very good

See also

• Malvani Konkani
• Konkani Language
• Ratnagiri District
• Sindhudurg District

External links

• http://konkanionline.blogspot.com/
• http://chitpavani.webs.com/