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branch
and Lahnda and Sindhi of North-Western group. Besides it has some shared
innovations exclusively with Panjabi and its dialects. For example Gojri,
Panjabi, Lahnda and Sindhi preserve short vowels attested by OIA and MIA
stages and Gojri, Panjabi and Lahnda share the retention of the double
consonants which have been simplified in Sindhi. Thus Gojri, Lahnda and
Panjabi share this archaic feature. Another feature VNC(vl.)®VNC(vd.)
i.e. a nasal followed by voiceless consonant becoming voiced is a shared
innovation in Gojri, Panjabi, Lahnda, Sindhi and Western Pahari marks at
some point the interaction of these languages. But Gojri and Panjabi share
the development of tones independent of other languages (so far known and
studied) mark a period of common development of these languages. The
source of the tone development in these two speeches is yet to be
finalized. Gojri shares the chnage of v to b with Eastern Rajasthani,
Hindi, Western Pahari and other dialects. Gojri shares most of the
phonological features with various geographically contiguous languages.
But when morphological features are compared it shared many features with
Rajashani dialects especially with Eastern Rajasthani. It cannot be just
accidental or due to borrowing because Gojri now in spoken in an area
quite distant from Rajasthan where Rajasthani languages are spoken. Thus
the similarities of morphological features between Gojri and Rajasthani
ascerntain that at some point in history the speakers of Gojri and
Rajasthani must be together. Since Gojri still preserves some archaic
features mark that it split from old Rajasthani before the new Rajasthani
dialects emerged.
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Tessitory 13 demonstrates that double
consonants of the Apabhra śa
a are simplified in old western Rajasthani
and the preceding vowel is generally lengthened mark the 14th and 15th
century Rajasthani. It marks its split before this period. If we take the
total features in view then we may place it between Panjabi and Rajasthani.
Another fact is established by its morphological resemblance with
Rajasthani that morphological features change slower than phonological
ones. Ant the phonological change such as development of tones etc. have
to be ascribed due to the contact with the neighboring dialects and may
be treated as a case of convergence.
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This grammar is based on the data collected from the places falling in
Suran Valley area namely Kalai and Shindra (Tehsil Haveli), Ha i
and Lasana villages (Tehsil Mendhar) of Poonch district. The data were
collected between July-September 1973 and April-June 1975.
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13 Tessitory, L.P., ‘Notes on the Grammar of
Old Western Rajasthani’ Indian Antiquary, 1914.
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