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 and in 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 Dhatki are ethnically Rajasthanis, Sindhis and Gujaratis, Dhatki language unite these people as a mother tongue 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:

Dhakti consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAplink1	(Template:IPAlink)1	(Template:IPAlink)1
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	(Template:IPAlink)1
	voiceless aspirated	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	voiced	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	voiced aspirated	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Implosive	voiced	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Fricative	voiceless	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAplink1	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAplink1
	voiced		Template:IPAlink			(Template:IPAlink)1,2		Template:IPAlink
Flap	plain		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAplink1
	voiced aspirated			(Template:IPAlink)1
Approximant		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink

Notes

1. Marginal and non-universal phonemes are in parentheses. is lateral Template:IPAblink 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?"

English	Dhatki	Sindhi	Marwari
I	Hu(n)	Ma(n)/Aao(n)	Mai(n)
You (informal)	Tu(n)	Tu(n)	Tu
My	Mahyo/Mahajo	Munjo	Mahro
Your	Tahyo/Tahajo	Tunjo	Tharo
What	Ki	Chha	Kaain
Name	Naam	Nav/Nalo	Naam
To look	Jovan/Disan	Disan	Jovan
Go	Ja	Wanj	Jawo

Writing System

The language uses two major writing systems. In India, the Devanagari script (which is also used for Marwari, Hindi and many other north Indian languages) is employed; whereas is in Pakistan, the Sindhi script is used. Some mercantile families, particularly on the Indian side of the border use their own scripts, usually variations of the Mahajani script.