Kavita Rastogi

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Language Shift and Maintenance in Uttarakhand, a Hilly State of India

IGI Global eBooks, Apr 1, 2022

Several lesser known and tribal languages of India are rapidly choosing to shift to local and off... more Several lesser known and tribal languages of India are rapidly choosing to shift to local and official languages in educational, social, and even personal domains. This preference of the ‘other' language is aided by social, political, and economic factors that often devise the ‘other' as dominant. This chapter looks at the extent of language shift with respect to two communities living in the state of Uttarakhand in India and speaking respectively named endangered languages, Jad and Raji, in the light of these factors. The authors examine how language contact that is causal in language shift is changing their linguistic make up. In the Jad community, Hindi and Garhwali are the major dominating languages, and their presence can be seen in all the domains (100% in education, 35% in religious activities, and even 25% at home). In the Raji community, the usurping languages are Kumaoni and Hindi, and their presence in education is 100%, in religious activities is 45%, and 35% at the home front.

How Important is the Community? (An evaluation of Raji Revitalization Program

(Proceedings of the National Conference on the Approaches and Methodologies for the study of Indigenous and Endangered Languages, held on 04 February 2018, at National Law University, Sector-14, Dwarka, New Delhi, India), 2018

Raji (Banrawat) is a little-known tribal community which resides in ten small hamlets in the stat... more Raji (Banrawat) is a little-known tribal community which resides in ten small hamlets in the state of Uttarakhand. They were located in India for the first time in 1823.Presently their population is around 732 in all the eleven villages and they are slowly assimilating into the local Kumauni rural society. Sir George Grierson, in his book 'Linguistic Survey of India' had named their language as 'janggali' and grouped it with Tibeto-Burman. Dr Suniti Kumar Chatterjee also supported his claim. Many researchers have been talking about the Munda sub stratum in the Tibeto-Burman languages of Uttarakhand. Sharma S.R. (1987) and Sharma D.D. (1994) have suggested that the linguistic components of Raji language were paleo-linguistic relics of some of the Munda dialects, which, in the ancient past were spoken in the Himalayan region. Since last fifteen years or so the researcher has been working with this tribal community. After accessing the linguistic situation of this group, she had chalked out a revitalization program for their language. The objective of this presentation is to underline the role of community in revitalization program. The researcher will discuss the following points in detail • Raji community and their language: an introduction • Revitalization efforts • Evaluation • Future Plans

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Verb Morphology in Raji 1

, Language Vitality in South Asia, ed. by Fatihi, A.R., Department of Linguistics, AMU, Aligarh, 2009

The verb is considered the most important element in sentence structure. It not only governs all ... more

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Verb Morphology in Raji 1

The verb is considered the most important element in sentence structure. It not only governs all ... more The verb is considered the most important element in sentence structure. It not only governs all the grammatical elements but also determines the semantic and syntactic nature of the sentence. It has more grammatical categories than any other class of words. It gives all the relevant information regarding the (a) participants of an event, (b) the location of an event on a linear time scale, (c) the temporal structure of an event, (d) the actuality of an event and (e) evidentiality of an event (Abbi:2001). The purpose of the present presentation is to describe and analyze this important word class of Raji language, spoken by Rajis (a.k.a Banarawat, Banmanus, Vanrawat, Jaggali) a small scale forest dwelling society of the hilly region of Uttarakhand, India. Little is known about their language which is grouped with Vayu, Chepang, Magar etc. by Hale in 1982.Some earlier Linguists like Shobha Ram Sharma and D. D. Sharma have suggested that Raji is a linguistic "relic" of some of the Munda dialect. Recently, Van Driem proposed to include this within Magaric branch. In my earlier works (Rastogi 2001:2002) I have tried to establish that though Raji belongs to Tibeto-Burman family yet long contact with the Indo-Aryan languages has affected its vocabulary as well as its grammar.

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Raji Orthography Development

Himalayan Linguistics vol 14.2.ISSN:1544-7502, 2015

Raji is a little known tribal community whose descendants are the prehistoric Kiratas. They live ... more Raji is a little known tribal community whose descendants are the prehistoric Kiratas. They live in dense forests far away from the surrounding Kumauni villages of Pithoragarh district. In 2001 census their population was reported to be 680 in all the nine villages. Sir George Grierson, in his book 'Linguistic Survey of India' had named this language as 'janggali which has only spoken form. Following the framework established by Wurm and the stages of threatenedness discussed in Fishman's GIDS Raji can be assessed as 'potentially endangered and at stage 6,(language) which means the language is at risk.' While chalking out a revitalization programme for this oral language I realized the need of orthography development for this language. It is an established fact that Orthography gives stability to a language and not only conserves it but also helps in the standardization process. So after preparing a small grammar book, with the help of collected phonological and grammatical material of Raji the next important task before me was to develop an orthography system. The present paper focuses on the early stages of orthography development for this previously undocumented indigenous language.

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Language Contact: A Case Study of Raji 1

Naplese Linguistics, 2015

Languages have natural tendency to merge when they are in contact. Historically, every language m... more Languages have natural tendency to merge when they are in contact. Historically, every language must have undergone a certain amount of influence from its neighbors. Sometimes languages mingle so much that a new speech form evolves and one is not able to make out the original form of language. The impact of close contact on the structure of language is easier to discern in some languages and more diffuse in others. Raji (Banrawat) is a little-known tribal community which resides in ten small hamlets in the state of Uttarakhand. They were located in India for the first time in 1823.Presently their population is around 732 in all the ten villages. It may be pointed out that for the last seventy years or so the Rajis are in continuous contact with completely unrelated linguistic stock, i.e. Kumauni the language of the linguistically richer and economically prosperous neighbors and Hindi-the language of school teachers and Government servants who visit Raji hamlets to monitor developmental schemes by the state government for their welfare. The present study aims to discuss the effects of language contact on this endangered language. It will primarily comment on language contact and the genetic position of Raji on the basis of collected data by the researcher herself.

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K Rastogi Role of L L

Vaak Manthan vol 3_Issue -2, 2018

Raji (Banrawat) is a little known tribal community which resides in ten small hamlets in the stat... more Raji (Banrawat) is a little known tribal community which resides in ten small hamlets in the state of Uttarakhand .They were located in India for the first time in 1823.Presently their population is around 732 in all the ten villages and they are slowly assimilating into the local Kumauni rural society. Sir George Grierson, in his book ‘Linguistic Survey of India’ had named their language as ‘janggali and grouped it with Tibeto-Burman. Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji also supported his claim. Many researchers have been talking about the Munda sub stratum in the Tibeto- Burman languages of Uttarakhand. Sharma S.R. (1987) and Sharma D.D. (1994) have suggested that the linguistic components of Raji language were paleo-linguistic relics of some of the Munda dialects, which, in the ancient past were spoken in the Himalayan region. In my previous works (Rastogi: 2002; 2012) I have tried to establish that though this indigenous language belongs to Central Himalayish branch of Tibeto-Burman family yet long contact with Indo- Aryan languages like Kumauni and Hindi has not only affected its vocabulary but also its grammar.
Since last 15years I have been working with this tribal community and trying to revitalize its language. Language revitalization applies a situation where people start using a language again as the language of the home and in particular speak it to new born children after a period of decreased usage. It must be remembered that the language revitalization requires tackling problems on many fronts and its different approaches depend upon the present status and unique local condition of the language.
The term Linguistic Landscape was defined by Landry and Bourhis as, “The language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings combine to form the linguistic landscape of a given territory, region or urban agglomeration.” Widening its scope Shohamy and Gorter stated “…language in the environment, words and images displayed and exposed in public spaces”.
The purpose of the present paper is to explore how the language in the environment is creating psychological pressure on this tribal community and how the linguistic landscape of the region is creating a hurdle in the revitalization process of RAJI language.

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Linguistic acculturation among Rajis= L'acculturation linguistique chez les Rajis

Psycho-lingua, 2000

This paper on 'Linguistic' highlights the consequences of intermingling of two cultures... more This paper on 'Linguistic' highlights the consequences of intermingling of two cultures and resulting into Linguistic Acculturation' among Raji Tribe of North-East India. Intermingling of two cultures results into emergence of a new culture which hardly inherits their traditional identity. ...

A sociolinguistic study of Raji

Man and Life, 2000

India presents a plethora of pluralities and diversities reflected not only in its ecological and... more India presents a plethora of pluralities and diversities reflected not only in its ecological and geo-physical features but also in its races, castes, tribes, dialects, and languages. The linguistic diversity manifests itself in the classification of the languages and dialects of India into four groups- Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Munda, and Sino-Tibetan. Some patches of this vast Indian linguistic expanse marked by opulent heterogeneity remain to be charted. One such linguistic patch is the Raji or Rawati language spoken by the Raji community presently inhabiting the submontane region of the district of Pithoragarh in Uttaranchal. This paper aims to present some of the sociolinguistic characteristics of this language that observed by me during the fieldwork.

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UC Santa Barbara Himalayan Linguistics Title Raji Orthography Development Permalink Publication Date Raji Orthography Development

Raji is a little known tribal community whose descendants are the prehistoric Kiratas. They live ... more Raji is a little known tribal community whose descendants are the prehistoric Kiratas. They live in dense forests far away from the surrounding Kumauni villages of Pithoragarh district. In 2001 Census their population was reported to be 732 in all the ten villages. Sir George Grierson, in his book 'Linguistic Survey of India' had named this language as 'janggali' which has only spoken form. Following the framework established by Wurm and the stages of threatenedness discussed in Fishman's GIDS (1991) Raji can be assessed as "potentially endangered and at stage 6, language which means the language is at risk." While chalking out a revitalization programme for this oral language I realized the need of orthography development for this language. It is an established fact that Orthography gives stability to a language and not only conserves it but also helps in the standardization process. So after preparing a small grammar book, with the help of collected p...

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Raji: language of a vanishing Himalayan tribe

Linguistics of the TIbeto-Burman Area, 2002

Sister Languages? Comparative Phonology of Two Himalayan Languages

Nepalese linguistics, 2004

... Correspondance to: [email protected] 2) University of Lucknow 2 The following acronyms are us... more

Raji Orthography Development

Himalayan Linguistics, 2015

Raji is a little known tribal community whose descendants are the prehistoric Kiratas. They live ... more Raji is a little known tribal community whose descendants are the prehistoric Kiratas. They live in dense forests far away from the surrounding Kumauni villages of Pithoragarh district. In 2001 Census their population was reported to be 732 in all the ten villages. Sir George Grierson, in his book 'Linguistic Survey of India' had named this language as 'janggali' which has only spoken form. Following the framework established by Wurm and the stages of threatenedness discussed in Fishman's GIDS (1991) Raji can be assessed as "potentially endangered and at stage 6, language which means the language is at risk." While chalking out a revitalization programme for this oral language I realized the need of orthography development for this language. It is an established fact that Orthography gives stability to a language and not only conserves it but also helps in the standardization process. So after preparing a small grammar book, with the help of collected p...

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A sociolinguistic study of Raji/Rawati language

The Covid Pandemic: Response of the Raji Revitalization Programmes

Raji is a little known tribal community that resides in twelve geographically scattered hamlets i... more Raji is a little known tribal community that resides in twelve geographically scattered hamlets in the state of Uttarakhand, India. According to 2011 Census, their total population is 732. Their language belongs to Tibeto-Burman family. Since, last twenty years or so the author has been working with this group and trying to document, preserve and revitalize their language and culture. Language revitalization requires tackling problems on many fronts and its different approaches depend upon the unique local conditions of the speech community. The author is trying to develop a new revitalization model called 'South Asian Model of Language Revitalization'. This paper discusses the Response of the Raji Revitalization Program towards the present pandemic and sheds light upon the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Raji community and the status of their language.

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Hindi-English kinship terms : A contrastive study

Every language has different sets of names to denote relationships among kins. These names are ca... more Every language has different sets of names to denote relationships among kins. These names are called kinship terms. In popular parlance they are merely tools of identifiction but for linguists they are heavily loaded with cultural contexts. The present paper tries to analyse Hindi-English kinship terms with a view to underscoring those points of contrasts that more often than not create problems in translation.

Language choice in cross-cultural communication in context to Hindi advertisements

The issue of language choice plays a key role in the process of cross-cultural communications. Ad... more The issue of language choice plays a key role in the process of cross-cultural communications. Advertising has become a part of our life and has a multidimensional impact on its different aspects. In this study, about 150 advertisements were collected and their material was divided into three groups - phonological, lexical and sentential. It is concluded that in the language of Hindi advertising the convergent style is more favourably perceived than literary Hindi and the messages in these style attracts more business.

Linguistic acculturation among Rajis

This paper on 'Linguistic' highlights the consequences of intermingling of two cultures a... more This paper on 'Linguistic' highlights the consequences of intermingling of two cultures and resulting into Linguistic Acculturation' among Raji Tribe of North-East India. Intermingling of two cultures results into emergence of a new culture which hardly inherits their traditional identity. Thus loss of cultural identity and acquisition of 'Linguistic Acculturation' present problems of Transformation and Adaptation of a new culture. The nature and kind of change incorporated by them have been described in this paper. With special reference to Linguistics-Fusion of Raji-Kumauni cultural elements yielding new Linguistic Expressions.

Language shift: A case study of Raji

L'A. montre a travers cet article les problemes de changement de langue et exemplifie ce phen... more L'A. montre a travers cet article les problemes de changement de langue et exemplifie ce phenomene avec l'exemple du raji en Inde. A cet effet, il dresse la liste des conditions generales d'apparitions de ce changement linguistique (pays multi-culturel instable,...) et decrit le processus qui mene a la mort d'une langue. Ensuite, l'article porte son attention sur les problemes particuliers des changements de code et de melange des langues et etudie le cas particulier du raji. L'A. montre alors les influences subies par cette langue, le declin progressif de son utilisation dans certains domaines et souligne que si elle se maintient encore, il n'est pas possible de determiner combien de temps elle resistera.

Contrastive study of Hindi and English from various points of negativization

L'A. s'interesse dans cette etude contrastive entre anglais et hindi, aux similarites et ... more L'A. s'interesse dans cette etude contrastive entre anglais et hindi, aux similarites et differences dans la facon d'aborder la negation dans les structures de ces deux langues. Le but enonce est de faciliter la comprehension, pour l'apprenant anglais d'hindi, des modes d'expression de la negation. L'A. constate alors au vu des differences constatees (au niveau de la presentation et du nombre de formes, au niveau morphologique), qu'avec un peu de pratique, un locuteur anglais peut apprendre facilement la structure negative en hindi.

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