Gujarati language

Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily in the Indian state of Gujarat, but also in neighboring Pakistan. It is the 26th most widely spoken language in the world and official language of Gujarat. With over 55 million speakers, it is one of the major languages of India. Gujarati is mostly written in the Gujarati script, which is derived from the Devanagari script and is used to write several other Indian languages as well.

Gujarati
ગુજરાતી गुजराती
Gujarātī
"Gujarati" in Gujarati script.
Pronunciation	[ɡudʒəˈɾɑːt̪i]
Native to	India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Pakistan
Region	Gujarat (India) Sindh (Pakistan)
Ethnicity	Gujaratis
Native speakers	49 million (2007)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Western[2] Gujarati languages Gujarati
Early forms	Old Gujarati Middle Gujarati
Writing system	Gujarati alphabet (Brahmic) Gujarati Braille Arabic script Devanagari (historical)
Official status
Official language in	Gujarat (India)[3] Daman and Diu (India) Dadra and Nagar Haveli (India) Maharashtra (India)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	gu
ISO 639-2	guj
ISO 639-3	guj
Glottolog	guja1252
Linguasphere	59-AAF-h
Distribution of native Gujarati speakers in India

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Constitutionally recognised languages of India
Category
Scheduled Languages
A Assamese B Bengali Bodo D Dogri G Gujarati H Hindi K Kannada Kashmiri Konkani M Maithili Malayalam Marathi Meitei (Manipuri) N Nepali O Odia (Oriya) P Punjabi S Sanskrit Santali Sindhi T Tamil Telugu U Urdu
Related
Official languages of India Languages with official status in India

Spoken Gujarati

Gujarati has a rich cultural heritage and is used in literature, poetry, songs, and everyday communication. The language has a long history, with some of its earliest literature dating back to the 12th century. It has also been influenced by several other languages, including Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian, which has resulted in a unique and diverse vocabulary. Gujarati is an important language for the business community in India and is widely used in trade and commerce. It is also used in education and the media, making it a key component of the cultural identity of the people of Gujarat.

Dialects

The Gujarati language has four main dialects. Surati stands among four major dialects along with Charotari, and Pattani, and Saurashtari.^[4][5]

Surati

Mainly spoken in Surat and southern Gujarat. Source speakers use this dialect through their distinctive speech patterns and relaxed speech functions. It is named after Surat district in southern Gujarat.^[6]

Charotari

Charotari also known as Bhili Charotari, is mainly spoken in the Anand and Kheda districts of central Gujarat, and this area is known as Charotar. Some rural parts of the Charotar region maintain archaic phonetic elements.^[6]

Patani

The speakers of Patani are found mainly in Banaskantha and Patan, which are located in north Gujarat. The dialect got its name from Patan city in Gujarat.^[7]

Saurashtri

Saurashtri, which is also known as Kathiawadi, serves as the primary dialect for the Kathiawar peninsula found within the Saurashtra region. The dialect has a strong consonant system that creates exclaiming vowel tones. Rajasthani dialects have a major influence on dialect. Saurashtri has four additional subdialects.^[5]

1. Gohilawadi

1. Halari

1. Sorathi

1. Jhalawadi

Other

The Bhil, Jain and Parsi communities speak their own varieties of the Gujarati language.^[4]

Parsi Gujarati

Parsi Gujarati is a Standard dialect of Gujarati and mainly spoken by Parsis in Gujarat and Mumbai. The language contains expressions from both Persian and ancient Gujarati languages.^[8]

Kutchi

Kutchi is a primary dialect of both Hindu Bhatias and Muslim trading communities of Kutch. The differences between Kutchi and Gujarati remain uncertain because they exhibits different grammatical patterns and lexicon. Sindhi influences the language, which contains distinguished phonetic characteristics that include implosive consonant sounds.^[9]