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SOCIOLINGUISTICS AND PHONOLOGY
OF KANAUJI
Pankaj Dwivedi1 and Somdev Kar2
1 Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore1 Central
Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore
2 Indian Institute of Technology Ropar
International Conference on Hindi Studies
September 16-18, 2016
INALCO, Paris, France
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INTRODUCTION TO KANAUJI
Ethnologue code: bjj
Possible spellings: Kanauji, Kannauji, Kanaoji
Estimated no. of speakers: Six million (60,000,00)
Possible varieties:
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a. Standard Kanauji or Kanauji Proper (bjj-kan)
b. Tirhari (bjj-tir)
c. Transitional Kanauji dialects (bjj-tra)
Language Classification:
Indo-European> Indo-Iranian> Indo-Aryan> Central
zone>
Western Hindi> Brij Bhasha-Kanauji> Kanauji>
Tirhari
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WHERE IS IT SPOKEN?IC
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In following districts of
Uttar Pradesh:
Auraiya, Etawah,
Farrukhabad, Hardoi,
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Farrukhabad, Hardoi,
Kanauj, Kanpur,
Mainpuri, Pilibhit and
Shahjahanpur
3Variety spoken in Kannauj and Farrukhabad is considered
as being standard
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EARLIER WORKS
By 17th century authors, from Tikampur(Tikawanpur) town of
Kanpur district, such asChintamani Tripathi, Matiram Tripathi,
BhushanTripathi and Nilkanth Tripathi (see Keay 1933;Upadhyaya
1934)
Till date major work on overview of Kanauji isLinguistic Survey
of India conducted by George A.Grierson from 1894 to 1928
From the perspective of linguistics, A Grammar of
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From the perspective of linguistics, A Grammar ofModern Hindi by
S. H. Kellog, published in the year1876 by A. M. PRES. Mission
Press
Some other authors (see Tiwari 1960; Jaiswal 1962;Saksena 1971;
Beams 1974; Hopper 1977; Shapiro1989; Hook 1991; Masica 1993 and
Kachru 2006 )have talked about Kanauji, while working
onneighbouring dialects of Hindi such as Awadhi andBundeli.
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CURRENT STATUS
Despite of being mother tongue of millions, Kanuaji
has a very low identity with no official status or
proposed preservation plans
Due to heavy confluence of about a dozen of
dialects, position of Kanauji, in its original form
and as a native dialect of the people, has been
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and as a native dialect of the people, has been
significantly challenged
In urban areas, Kanauji has almost been replaced
with Kanpuria Hindi and Standard Hindi, while in
rural areas, Kanauji still functions as a mode of
oral communication5
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ENDANGERMENTIC
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Ethnologue (2013):
Kanauji falls in the
category 6b-7 of the
EGIDS scale, which
reads language in
question is in trouble
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question is in trouble
and intergenerational
transmission of the
language is in the
process of being
broken.
It is possible that revitalization efforts could
restore transmission of the language in the home.
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FIELDWORK
A research fieldtrip to 15 villages of the Kanauji
speaking Kanpur region was conducted
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FIELDWORKIC
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Male Female Age Education Bilingualism
57 23
About 80 informants were surveyed during the fieldtrip. Relevant
details
regarding are presented here:-
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35 15 12-25 years10th-
undergraduate
Hindi-Kanauji
unavoidably mixed.
Hindi is highly
dominant.
17 5 30-45 yearsIlliterate to
undergraduate
Kanauji is little
dominant
5 3 50-65Mostly
Illiterate
Kanauji is more
dominant
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ATTITUDE TOWARDS KANAUJI
Most of the school or university-going students dont even
know the name Kanauji. LOW IDENTITY
No informant knew of any published work such as books,
dictionaries, newspaper or some classical literature in
Kanauji
Parents dont want their children to learn Kanauji.
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INTERGENERATIONAL TRANMISSION BROKEN
Intra- and intergroup communication is also done only in
Standard Hindi (12-25 age group).
Kanauji mixed with Hindi could be used by some youths with
their
parents, grandparents or another older family members .
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OBSERVATION: ATTITUDE TOWARDS KANAUJI
Among youths/young people, Kanauji is sometimes used to
look down upon or to make fun of someone, or to act funny,
and illiterate. LOW PRESTIGE
Some youths (educated ones) admitted that despite of
knowing Kanauji, they feel ashamed of using it in front of
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outsiders. NEGATIVE ATTITUDE
No school/college allows Kanauji as a medium of instruction
in classes. INSTITUTIONAL APATHY
Informants in 10-35 Age group believe that use of standard
Hindi
rather than Kanauji is more suitable while interacting with
doctor,
teachers, village head, policeman etc. 10
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EXAMPLE DATA: AGE GROUP 50- 65
Recording Reference No. 121215-03
, ! , +, (/)
pipa ldo dud kyar. dusr kno admi hwat to pk keba h a. k n rki, k
k pkkl lines . pipa ao
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ba h a. k n rki, k k pkkl lines . pipa ao bi ma sare ka pko. t ,
isn tre ka lo a
Can of milk was loaded. If there was someone other than you, he
would run away. No one would dare stop thinking that something
could have caught him. raised the can of milk and turned him down
to earth. Then, stand (of bicycle) went down. 11
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EXAMPLE DATA: AGE GROUP 12- 25
Recording Reference No.
*** *** 2 34 *** *** , , *** 3 ,
hmar nam *** *** h. hmar mmmi ka nam *** *** h. papa ka nam h
dipk mra. hmare pos me dadI
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h. papa ka nam h dipk mra. hmare pos me dadIdkan krtI h. Babu bi
dkan me rhte h. r *** didIpls me nkri krtI h.
I am *** ***. My mothers name is *** *** and Fathers name is ***
***. Grandmother runs a shop in neighborhood and grandfather also
contributes in it. Sister *** has a job in police. 12
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EXAMPLE DATA: AGE GROUP 30- 45
Recording Reference No. 121214-02
8 " ... [[[[eeeett tt tt ttaaaa kamkamkamkam krekrekrekre
dwdwdwdw. ett ett ett ettiiii tnharitnharitnharitnhari pnpnpnpn
ddddeheeheeheehe dwdwdwdw. sat sat sat sat salsalsalsal
hoehoehoehoe pawpawpawpawtttt . bi do reni tl rhi h sme db je tid a
to hmarahmarahmarahmara dma tkraja. hhhh sasasasasasasasa kakakaka
pppp walawalawalawala lrkalrkalrkalrka aeaeaeae. nit nit nit
nituuuu kakakaka dandandandantttt hhhh. db sne talu kija
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ja. hhhh sasasasasasasasa kakakaka pppp walawalawalawala
lrkalrkalrkalrka aeaeaeae. nit nit nit nituuuu kakakaka
dandandandantttt hhhh. db sne talu kijato hmnehmnehmnehmne kah pa t
h a je. dma me t h a lekn hohohoho kutkutkutkut]]]]
please do this much favour to me. It will remind me of
you. I have been teaching for seven years. My mind went
blank when I came across this thing in the current training
programme. He (the trainer) comes from Sasa (name of
another village) and knows Neetu (a persons name). Until he
started, I knew it as I read about it somewhere. It was in
my
mind. But then, may be something 13
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LEXICAL SIMILARITY
Lewis, Simons and Fennig (2013)
Lexical similarity between Kanauji and Hindi is
about 83%-94%.
However, it is not clear which variety of the
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However, it is not clear which variety of the
Kanauji is mentioned there.
It is further claimed that 84%-97% similarity is
found between all varieties of Kanauji
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LEXICAL SIMILARITY WITH HINDI
WordsWordsWordsWords HindiHindiHindiHindi
KanaujiKanaujiKanaujiKanauji
Finger .li ..ri
Eye k .ki
White .la .r
Twenty one ik.kis e.ks
How k.se k.se
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Twenty one ik.kis e.ks
How k.se k.se
Farms ket ket/ketwa
Kitchen ul.ha ulh
Peel l.ka k.la/ bok.la
Gods dev.ta de.ta
Marriage bjah baw/bjaw
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PHONEMIC INVENTORY: CONSONANTS
Segment IPA Symbol No.
Plosives /p/,/p/; /b/, /b/; /t/,/t h /; /d/,/dh /; //,//;
//, //; /k/, k/; //, //16
Nasal /m/, /n/, // 3
Fricative /s/, /h/ 2
Affricates //, //; //, //
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Affricates //, //; //, // 4
Laterals /l/ 1
Semi-
Vowels(// or /w/), /j/ 2
Trill /r/ 1
Tap/Flap //, // 2
Total 31 16
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PHONEMIC INVENTORY: VOWELS
VowelsVowelsVowelsVowels iiii eeee aaaa
Nasal
vowelsi
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vowels
Vowels u o
Nasal
vowels
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CLUSTERS
Basic words recorded during fieldwork (Dwivedi &
Kar, 2016) : Spontaneous speech
Basic words list : 772 words
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Total words 772
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Words with final clusters 9
Words with initial clusters 27
Words with medial clusters 192
Words with unbroken medial cluster 1
Words with no clusters 543
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SYLLABLE STRUCTURE
Kanauji is a CVC type language.
Kanauji of Kanpur permits all four CV, CVC, VC
and V types of syllables.
A consonant + a semivowel (C+w/j) type of clusters
are allowed in initial position to some extent.
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Clusters are more restricted in the coda position.
Medial clusters in the words usually belong to two
different adjacent syllables, i.e.,
Coda of the preceding syllable and Onset of the
following one.
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REDUPLICATION
Kanauji exhibits five types of eco-reduplicative
patterns 1) dropping of initial consonant 2) vowel
raising 3) vowel lowering 4) total reduplication 5)
fixed segmentism
Example: kp cloth : kp-p clothes etc.
hai elephant : hai- ai elephant etc.
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ha i elephant : hai- a i elephant etc.
koi barn : koi-oi barn etc.Example: ka cut : ka-ku cut
mar kill : mar-mur kill and kill like
Example: ku beat ku-kat beat and beat like
bul forget : bul -bal forget and like20
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CONT
Example: be sit : be - be while sitting
lt walk : lt - lt while walking
Example: ki eye : ki - wki eye and near by
alu potato : alu-walu potato and etc.
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alu potato : alu-walu potato and etc.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
o Authors acknowledge the kind support of their
language consultants during data collection.
o Pankaj Dwivedi acknowledges Indian Institute of
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o Pankaj Dwivedi acknowledges Indian Institute of
Technology Ropar for providing fellowship and
funds for fieldwork and purchase of required
equipments such as Olympus LS-100 96kHz/24
PCM linear recorder and Tripods.
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REFERENCES
Dwivedi, P & Kar, S. (2016). Kanauji of Kanpur: A brief
overview. Acta Linguistica Asiatica .Vol 6, No. 1, 101-119.
Grierson, G. A. (eds.). (1916). Linguistic survey of India.
Vol. 9. Kolkata: Superintendent Government Printing.
Hook, P. E. (1991). The emergence of perfective aspect in
Indo-Aryan languages. In Elizabeth C. Traugott & Bernd
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Indo-Aryan languages. In Elizabeth C. Traugott & Bernd
Heine (eds.) Approaches to grammaticalization, 2, 5989.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing
Hopper, P. J. (eds.). (1977). Studies in descriptive and
historical linguistics: Festschrift for Winfred P. Lehmann.
Vol. 4. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Jaiswal, M. P. (1962). A linguistic study of Bundeli (Vol.
8).
Brill Archive. 23
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Keay, F. E. (1920). A history of Hindi literature. Mysore
City: Wesleyan Press
Masica, C. P. (1993). The Indo-Aryan languages.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Saksena, B. (1971). Evolution of Awadhi: A branch of
Hindi. Vol. 12. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publisher.
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REFERENCES
Hindi. Vol. 12. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publisher.
Tiwari, U. (1960). The origin and development of Bhojpuri.
Kolkata. The Asiatic Society
Upadhyaya, A. S. (1934). The origin and growth of Hindi
language and its literature. Patna: Patna University.
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THANK YOU
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