Domari language
Encyclopedia
Domari is an Indo-Aryan
language, spoken by the Dom people
across the Middle East
, mainly in Iran
and Egypt
, but significant numbers of speakers are also found in India
where they are known as Domba
.
Domari is also known as "Middle Eastern Romani", "Tsigene", "Luti", or "Mehtar". Dialects in include
Some dialects may be highly divergent and not mutually intelligible.
, the two languages having split after the departure from the Indian subcontinent, but more recent research suggests that the differences between them are significant enough to treat them as two separate languages within the Central zone (Hindustani
) group of languages. The Dom and the Rom are therefore likely to be descendants of two different migration waves out of India, separated by several centuries.
There are nevertheless remarkable similarities between the two beyond their shared Central zone Indic origin, indicating a period of shared history as itinerant populations in the Middle East. These include shared archaisms that have been lost in the Central Indo-Aryan languages over the millennium since Dom/Rom emigration, a series of innovations connecting them with the Northwestern zone group, indicating their route of migration out of India, and finally a number of radical syntactical changes due to superstrate influence of Middle Eastern languages, including Persian
, Arabic
and Byzantine Greek.
, it is occasionally written using the Arabic script and has many Arabic
and Persian
loanwords.http://www.domresearchcenter.com/journal/12/lebanon.html
The best known variety of Domari is Palestinian Domari, also known as "Syrian Gypsy", the dialect of the Dom community of Jerusalem , which had been described by R.A. S. Macalister as early as during the 1910s
.
Further descriptive work was done by Yaron Matras (1996)http://romani.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/downloads/2/Matras_Domari_ELL2.pdf. Palestinian Domari is an endangered language, with less than 200 speakers, the majority of the 1,200 members of the Jerusalem Domari community being native speakers of Palestinian Arabic.
SIL Ethnologue breaks down the populations of speakers of the individual Domari dialect as follows:
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages constitutes a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family...
language, spoken by the Dom people
Dom people
The Dom of the Middle East are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group. Some authors relate them to the Domba people of India.- Culture :...
across the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, mainly in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, but significant numbers of speakers are also found in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
where they are known as Domba
Domba
The Domba or Dom are an ethnic or social group, or groups, scattered across India. They are usually segregated from the mainstream community as outcastes.The Domba are sometimes also called "Chandala". Both terms also came to be used in the sense of "outcaste" in general...
.
Domari is also known as "Middle Eastern Romani", "Tsigene", "Luti", or "Mehtar". Dialects in include
- Nawari in SyriaSyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, LebanonLebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Palestinian TerritoriesPalestinian territoriesThe Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
and EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. - Kurbati (Ghorbati) in Syria and western Iran
- Helebi in Egypt and Libya
- Karachi (GarachiGarachiThe Garachi , also spelled Karachi or Karaci, are a group of Romani people living in Azerbaijan. Little research has been done on the Garachi, and most of what is known about them is based on the works of the 19th-century Russian scholars Kerope Patkanov and Jean-Marie Chopin.It is noteworthy that...
) in northern Turkey, northern Iran, the Caucasus and southern Russia - Marashi in Turkey
- LyuliLyuliLyuli are a subgroup of the Dom people living in Central Asia, primarily Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.Lyuli speak a Lyuli dialect of the Domari language....
and Maznoug in Uzbekistan and Asian Russia - Barake in Syria
- Churi-Wali in Afghanistan
- Domaki and Wogri-Boli in India
Some dialects may be highly divergent and not mutually intelligible.
Domari and Romani language
Domari was once thought to be the "sister language" of RomaniRomani language
Romani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is any of several languages of the Romani people. They are Indic, sometimes classified in the "Central" or "Northwestern" zone, and sometimes treated as a branch of their own....
, the two languages having split after the departure from the Indian subcontinent, but more recent research suggests that the differences between them are significant enough to treat them as two separate languages within the Central zone (Hindustani
Hindustani language
Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is also known as Hindustani , and historically, as Hindavi or Rekhta...
) group of languages. The Dom and the Rom are therefore likely to be descendants of two different migration waves out of India, separated by several centuries.
There are nevertheless remarkable similarities between the two beyond their shared Central zone Indic origin, indicating a period of shared history as itinerant populations in the Middle East. These include shared archaisms that have been lost in the Central Indo-Aryan languages over the millennium since Dom/Rom emigration, a series of innovations connecting them with the Northwestern zone group, indicating their route of migration out of India, and finally a number of radical syntactical changes due to superstrate influence of Middle Eastern languages, including Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, Arabic
Arabic languages
The Arabic language family consists of*Classical Arabic and its descendants, including** Modern Standard Arabic and colloquial varieties of Arabic **The various Judeo-Arabic languages **Maltese...
and Byzantine Greek.
Language grouping
There is no standard written form of Domari. In the Arab worldArab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
, it is occasionally written using the Arabic script and has many Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
and Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
loanwords.http://www.domresearchcenter.com/journal/12/lebanon.html
The best known variety of Domari is Palestinian Domari, also known as "Syrian Gypsy", the dialect of the Dom community of Jerusalem , which had been described by R.A. S. Macalister as early as during the 1910s
1910s
File:1910s montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Model T Ford is introduced and becomes widespread; The sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic causes the deaths of nearly 1,500 people and attracts global and historical attention; Title bar: All the events below are part of World War I ; French Army lookout...
.
Further descriptive work was done by Yaron Matras (1996)http://romani.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/downloads/2/Matras_Domari_ELL2.pdf. Palestinian Domari is an endangered language, with less than 200 speakers, the majority of the 1,200 members of the Jerusalem Domari community being native speakers of Palestinian Arabic.
SIL Ethnologue breaks down the populations of speakers of the individual Domari dialect as follows:
- IranLanguages of IranDifferent publications have reported different statistics for the languages of Iran; There have been some limited census taken in Iran in 2001, 1991, 1986 and 1949-1954.The following are the languages with the greatest number of speakers :...
: 1.34 million speakers (2000 WCD), including a number of widely divergent dialects (Kurbati and Luli in western Iran, Karachi in northern Iran, besides Qinati, Yürük, Koli, Maznoug and Nawar) - EgyptLanguages of EgyptThere are a number of languages spoken in Egypt, but Egyptian Arabic is by far the most widely spoken in the country.- Official language :The official language of Egypt is the literary Arabic and is used in most written media. Egyptian Arabic is the commonly spoken language, and is occasionally...
: 0.23 million speakers (2004), Ghagar (Nawar) mainly in Dakahlia GovernorateDakahlia GovernorateDakahlia Governorate is an Egyptian governorate lying north east of Cairo. Its area is about 3,500 km² and it has a population of about 5 million. The capital is Mansoura.-Overview:...
, northern Egypt, besides Helebi. The language is in the process of being marginalized by Egyptian ArabicEgyptian ArabicEgyptian Arabic is the language spoken by contemporary Egyptians.It is more commonly known locally as the Egyptian colloquial language or Egyptian dialect .... - IndiaLanguages of IndiaThe languages of India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-European languages—Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian languages...
: 0.2 million speakers (2000 WCD), consisting of speakers of the DombaDombaThe Domba or Dom are an ethnic or social group, or groups, scattered across India. They are usually segregated from the mainstream community as outcastes.The Domba are sometimes also called "Chandala". Both terms also came to be used in the sense of "outcaste" in general...
and Wogri-Boli dialects mostly in BiharBiharBihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
, AssamAssamAssam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
, West BengalWest BengalWest Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, Uttar PradeshUttar PradeshUttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
, PunjabPunjab (India)Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
, Madhya PradeshMadhya PradeshMadhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
, Jammu and KashmirJammu and KashmirJammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...
and OrissaOrissaOrissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
. In Bihar strongly assimilated to Bhojpuri - LibyaLanguages of LibyaThe de facto official language of Libya is Modern Standard Arabic. The majority of the population, about 95%, has one of the many varieties of Arabic as native language, most prominently Libyan Arabic, but also Egyptian Arabic, Moroccan Arabic and other varieties.- Minority languages :Besides...
: 32,000 speakers (2000 WCD) of the Helebi dialect - TurkeyLanguages of TurkeyThe official language of Turkey is Turkish though Ethnologue lists many minority languages some of which are spoken by large numbers of people.According to Article 42 of the Constitution of Turkey:...
: 28,000 speakers (2000 WCD), mainly western Turkey, Karachi, Beludji and Marashi dialects. Note that Turkey also has significant Romani populations, and estimates regarding gypsies in Turkey often conflate the two groups (Gunnemark and Kenrick 1985). - IraqLanguages of IraqThere are a number of languages spoken in Iraq, but Iraqi Arabic is by far the most widely spoken in the country.-Contemporary languages:Arabic is the majority language, Kurdish is spoken by approximately 20%, South Azeri is spoken by 5% - 10% of people, the Ethnic Turcomans, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic...
: 23,000 speakers (2000 WCD) known as ZottZottZott is the Arabic term for gypsies.The Zott were musicians who migrated in great numbers from India to Sassanid Persia under Behram Gour....
. - Jordan: 5,000 speakers (2000 WCD), Nawar, Kurbat and Barake dialects.
- Lebanon: 7,500 speakers reported in 1932.
- Syria: 10,000 speakers reported in 1961, Nawari, Kurbat and Barake dialects
- IsraelLanguages of IsraelThe Israeli population is a linguistically and culturally diverse community. The 15th edition of Ethnologue lists spoken in local communities. The main language used for communication among Israeli citizens is Modern Hebrew, a language that emerged in the late 19th century, based on different...
and Palestinian TerritoriesPalestinian territoriesThe Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
: 2000 speakers reported by Matras (1997), in rapid decline. Mostly in Jerusalem, but also in Bir ZeitBir ZeitBirzeit is a Palestinian town near Ramallah in the central West Bank. Its population in the 2007 census was 4529...
and GazaGazaGaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
. Vocabulary is strongly influenced by Arabic and by Iranian languages. - RussiaLanguages of RussiaOf all the languages of Russia, Russian is the only official language. 27 different languages are considered official languages in various regions of Russia, along with Russian. There are over 100 minority languages spoken in Russia today.-History:...
: Karachi dialect in the Caucasus, Luli and Maznoug dialects in Central Asia - Uzbekistan: Luli and Maznoug dialects
- SudanLanguages of SudanSudan is a multilingual country dominated by Sudanese Arabic. In the 2005 constitution of the Republic of Sudan, the official languages of Sudan are literary Arabic and English.-Languages:Approximately 70 languages are native to Sudan....
: Halabi and Ghajar clans
Further reading
- Matras Y. (1999). "The state of present-day Domari in Jerusalem." Mediterranean Language Review 11, 1–58.
- Matras Y. (2002). Romani: a linguistic introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
External links
- Windfuhr Gernot L. Gypsy ii. Gypsy Dialects in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition. 2002.
- Description of Domari from the Romani Project
- Learning Domari - from the Dom Research Centre
- More Information and Official Website of the Dom People