Memoni language
Encyclopedia
The Memoni language is the language of Memons historically associated with Kathiawar
, in West India
, a Memon subgroup. Many Memons have settled in Karachi
, Sindh
, Pakistan
since the independence in 1947. One of the most acclaimed nations in Pakistan for having business mentality, memons are gaining their influence in many parts all across the globe.
Generally, the language is divided into three main categories: Kathiawadi Memoni, Sindhi Memoni, Kutchi Memoni. However, due to the presence of a subcategory named 'Kathiawadi Memons', the first category is simply called Memons. These types of memons hold the highest population of all three, and therefore, they are mistakenly considered as only type of memons. These types of memons have more influence of Gujarati
and Sanskirat in their language due to their origins in Gujrat, a state of India that was highly populated with Hindi speaking people. These people are mostly Muslims (and mosly Sunni, Hanafi), who migrated from Sindh to these regions several centuries ago.
Sindhi and Kutchi Memoni are spoken by both Muslims and non-Muslims.
In stress, intonation, and everyday speech, Memoni is very similar to Sindhi, but it borrowes extensively from Gujarati
, Hindustani
and lately English
. Like most languages of the Indian subcontinent
the sentence structure
of Memoni generally follows subject–object–verb order. In Pakistan
, Memoni has adopted many Urdu words and phrases.
, either masculine or feminine and often have singular and plural
forms. The Memons borrow vast majorities of the nouns from Hindustani
(mixture of Urdu & Hindi) languages and lately extensive use of English vocabulary.
second person
(s) ‘You’ is expressed two different ways; one is the polite form ‘aaen’ used for respect generally for a stranger, elderly and well respected persons including parents and relatives and the second ‘tu’ is informal and used among close friends and when addressing subordinates. The object
, possessive and reflexive
pronouns are often inflected
for masculine and feminine
and must agree with its object.
See Urdu Pronouns
In most Indic
languages the third person
such as, he, she, it and they and the demonstrative
pronouns this, these, that, those same pronouns are used and they are divided into two categories; one for a near object or person and the other for a far object or person.
No significant differences are among the object, possessive
and reflexive
pronouns. In addition these pronouns are further inflected for masculine and feminine and must agree to the object (noun, pronouns, adjective and adverbs).
Kathiawar
Kathiawar or Kathiawad is a peninsula in western India, which is part of the Saurashtra region on the Arabian Sea coast of Gujarat state. It is bounded on the north by the great wetland of the Rann of Kutch, on the northwest by the Gulf of Kutch, on the west and south by the Arabian Sea, and on...
, in West India
West India
West India or the Western region of India consists of the states of Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra, along with the Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. It is highly industrialized, with a large urban population. Most of Western India was part of the Maratha Empire before...
, a Memon subgroup. Many Memons have settled in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
, Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
since the independence in 1947. One of the most acclaimed nations in Pakistan for having business mentality, memons are gaining their influence in many parts all across the globe.
Language
The true origin of the language is still debated among the historians of the regions. However, it is common to believe that memoni language actually originated as a dialect of Sindhi language. Within the language itself, there are currently many different dialects, some having more influence of one language, and others having that of others. The language has not been organized greatly, hence, neither having its alphabetical system of reading and writing, nor having its literature and dictionary. This is one of the reasons the disorientation among the speakers themselves for deciding which words are better for what, as there is a wide variety of vocabulary available to all.Generally, the language is divided into three main categories: Kathiawadi Memoni, Sindhi Memoni, Kutchi Memoni. However, due to the presence of a subcategory named 'Kathiawadi Memons', the first category is simply called Memons. These types of memons hold the highest population of all three, and therefore, they are mistakenly considered as only type of memons. These types of memons have more influence of Gujarati
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...
and Sanskirat in their language due to their origins in Gujrat, a state of India that was highly populated with Hindi speaking people. These people are mostly Muslims (and mosly Sunni, Hanafi), who migrated from Sindh to these regions several centuries ago.
Sindhi and Kutchi Memoni are spoken by both Muslims and non-Muslims.
In stress, intonation, and everyday speech, Memoni is very similar to Sindhi, but it borrowes extensively from Gujarati
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...
, 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...
and lately English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Like most languages of the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
the sentence structure
Sentence (linguistics)
In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...
of Memoni generally follows subject–object–verb order. In Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Memoni has adopted many Urdu words and phrases.
Nouns
The most nouns has a grammatical genderGrammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
, either masculine or feminine and often have singular and plural
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
forms. The Memons borrow vast majorities of the nouns from 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...
(mixture of Urdu & Hindi) languages and lately extensive use of English vocabulary.
Example
| English | Memoni | Sindhi | Kutchi | Gujarati | Hindi/Urdu | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vegetables | bakaala (m)s/p/Sabji | bhaji | saag bhaji ( bhakalo ) | Sabji | sabzi(f) sabzia | |
| bed | Palang (m) | Handh | Khatlo/Palang | Khatlo | chaarpaee (f) | |
| mirror | aariso (m) aarisa (p) / Aaino | aarsi | aariso | aarisa (m) | aaena (m) | ? |
| door | dervajo (m) dervajaa (p) | darwazo | darvajo | darwazo | dervaza (m) dervazey (p) | |
| man | maru (m) maruu (p) | maanhu | maru | manas/purush | admi (m) admion (p) | |
| boy | chhokro (m) chokraa (p) | chhokro (m) chokraa (p) | chhokro | choro/chokra | larka (m) larkay (p) | |
| girl | chhokree (f) chokriun (p) | chhokree (f) chokriun (p) | chhokree | chokri (f) chokriun | lerki (f) lerkiain (p) | |
| woman also wife | byree (f) byreeun (p) | mayee (f) mayuun (p) | bairi | bairi/patni/wavh | aurat (f) aurtein (p) | |
Articles and determine
The is no equivalency for the definite article ‘the’ and indefinite article ‘a’ is further inflected with masculine or feminine with its object.Pronouns
The subject pronounsSubjective (grammar)
In linguistics, a subjective pronoun is a personal pronoun that is used as the subject of a sentence. Subjective pronouns are usually in the nominative case for languages with a nominative–accusative alignment pattern....
second person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
(s) ‘You’ is expressed two different ways; one is the polite form ‘aaen’ used for respect generally for a stranger, elderly and well respected persons including parents and relatives and the second ‘tu’ is informal and used among close friends and when addressing subordinates. The object
Object (grammar)
An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what or whom the verb is acting upon...
, possessive and reflexive
Reflexive pronoun
A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that is preceded by the noun, adjective, adverb or pronoun to which it refers within the same clause. In generative grammar, a reflexive pronoun is an anaphor that must be bound by its antecedent...
pronouns are often inflected
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
for masculine and feminine
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
and must agree with its object.
See Urdu Pronouns
Example
| English | Memoni | Sindhi | Kutchi | Gujrati |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | aaun | aaun | aaun | hoN |
| We | asaan | asaan/paan | asaan/paan | ha.may |
| You (polite) singular or plural |
aaen | tawhan/awheen | aaen | te.may |
| you (informal or intimate) | tu | tu/tun | tu | tu |
In most Indic
Indic
Indic can refer to:* Indo-Aryan languages* Indic scripts* Related to the Indian Subcontinent* of or related to India ; see Indica...
languages the third person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
such as, he, she, it and they and the demonstrative
Demonstrative
In linguistics, demonstratives are deictic words that indicate which entities a speaker refers to and distinguishes those entities from others...
pronouns this, these, that, those same pronouns are used and they are divided into two categories; one for a near object or person and the other for a far object or person.
Example 2
| English | Memoni | Sindhi | Kutchi | Gujrati |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| She, He, it, they, this, these (near) | ee / hee | hee | hee | aa |
| She, He, it, they, that, those (far) | ou / hoo | hou | hoo | pela |
No significant differences are among the object, possessive
Possessive pronoun
A possessive pronoun is a part of speech that substitutes for a noun phrase that begins with a possessive determiner . For example, in the sentence These glasses are mine, not yours, the words mine and yours are possessive pronouns and stand for my glasses and your glasses, respectively...
and reflexive
Reflexive pronoun
A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that is preceded by the noun, adjective, adverb or pronoun to which it refers within the same clause. In generative grammar, a reflexive pronoun is an anaphor that must be bound by its antecedent...
pronouns. In addition these pronouns are further inflected for masculine and feminine and must agree to the object (noun, pronouns, adjective and adverbs).