LWM 435: Dhundhari

Dhundhari

Lakhan Gusain
Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC

This is a comprehensive linguistic study of Dhundhari, a dialect of Rajasthani language of Indo-Aryan family, spoken by about nine million persons in Jaipur, Dausa, Tonk, Ajmer, Karauli and Sawai Madhopur districts of Rajasthan. It was first surveyed upon by G. Macliester who published specimens of fifteen varieties of Dhundhari spoken in the territory of the former state of Jaipur in 1898. It has SOV word order, and the typical feature of the language is /chE/ which is used as an auxiliary verb or copula.

This grammar includes four chapters including a sample text. Consonants, vowels, diphthongs and suprasegmentals of Dhundhari are discussed in the chapter of phonology. There are two numbers, two genders, and three cases. The nouns are declined according to their final segments. Case marking is postpositional. All pronouns are inflected for number and case. The third person pronouns are distinguished on the proximity/remoteness dimension in each gender. Adjectives end either in /-o/ or not. There are three tenses and four moods. There is no difference in active and passive voice. Participles function as adjectives. Cardinal numbers up to ten are inflected. Sentence types are of traditional nature. Complex sentences are analyzed including coordination and subordination. Particles are discussed in syntax.

ISBN 9783895867392. Languages of the World/Materials 435. 88pp. 2015.