A Sociolinguistic Study of Bareli/Pauri and Related Languages

DigitalResources Electronic Survey Report 2018-011 A Sociolinguistic Study of Bareli/Pauri and Related Languages Vinod Wilson Varkey and Kishore Kumar Vunnamatla A Sociolinguistic Study of Bareli/Pauri and Related Languages Vinod Wilson Varkey and Kishore Kumar Vunnamatla SIL International® 2018 SIL Electronic Survey Report 2018-011, August 2018 © 2018 SIL International® All rights reserved Data and materials collected by researchers in an era before documentation of permission was standardized may be included in this publication. SIL makes diligent efforts to identify and acknowledge sources and to obtain appropriate permissions wherever possible, acting in good faith and on the best information available at the time of publication. Abstract This report describes a sociolinguistic study of the languages spoken by the Barela/Paura, Bhilala and Bhil people, living in the border districts of southwest Madhya Pradesh and northwest Maharashtra. The main focus is placed on the Barelas/Pauras. The project began in July 1998 with two weeks of background research and reviewing previous survey reports. The fieldwork was carried out in the period from September to December 1998 at over 20 locations. The report first describes the geography of the area in which the survey was conducted and the people groups who speak the Bareli/Pauri language. The similarity between dialects of the language was assessed through a lexical similarity comparison. Intelligibility testing was likewise conducted. Conclusions about the linguistic similarity of dialects are given in section 2 of the report. Bilingualism in Hindi, Nimadi and Ahirani were assessed and conclusions are drawn in section 3. Questionnaires were conducted to assess language vitality. These are reported in section 4. The findings of the survey are summarised in section 5 of the report, which then concludes with recommendations about language development among the Barela/Paura people. (This survey report written some time ago deserves to be made available even at this late date. Conditions were such that it was not published when originally written. The reader is cautioned that more recent research may be available. Historical data are quite valuable as a basis for longitudinal analysis and help us understand both the trajectory and pace of change as compared with more recent studies.—Editor) Contents Tables Maps Abbreviations 1 Introduction 1.1 Geography 1.2 People and language 1.2.1 Barelas/Pauras 1.2.2 Bhilalas 1.2.3 Bhils 1.3 Literacy and language development 1.4 Previous survey 1.5 Purpose and goals 2 Dialect areas 2.1 Lexical similarity comparison 2.1.1 Procedures 2.1.2 Site selection 2.2 Intelligibility testing 2.2.1 Procedures 2.2.2 Site selection 2.2.3 Results and analysis 2.1.3 Results and analysis 2.3 Perceptions of linguistic similarity and purity 2.3.1 Procedures 2.3.2 Results 3 Bilingualism 3.1 Bilingualism in Hindi 3.1.1 Procedures 3.1.2 Bilingualism in Hindi among Rathwi-speaking Barelas of Upla village 3.1.3 Bilingualism in Hindi among Palya speakers of Choutharya village 3.2 Bilingualism in Nimadi 3.2.1 Bilingualism in Nimadi among Rathwi speakers of Budi village 3.2.2 Bilingualism in Nimadi among Palya speakers of Choutharya village 3.3 Bilingualism in Ahirani 3.3.1 Bilingualism in Ahirani among Barli speakers of Umrani village 3.3.2 Bilingualism in Ahirani among Rathwi speakers of Dhaudivhir village 3.4 Bilingualism in Marathi 4 Language use, attitudes and vitality 4.1 Procedures 4.2 LUAV questions and the rationale behind them 4.2.1 Language use questions 4.2.2 Language attitudes and vitality questions 4.3 Questionnaire results among Rathwi-speaking people 4.3.1 Results among the Rathwa Barelas of Borali 4.3.2 Results among the Rathwa Pauras of Dhaudivhir 4.4 Questionnaire results among Barli-speaking people 4.4.1 Results among the Barlas of Vadfallia and Umrani 4.5 Questionnaire results among Palya-speaking people 4.5.1 Results among the Palyas of Choutharya iii iv 5 Summary of findings 5.1 Dialect area study 5.1.1 Lexical similarity 5.1.2 Dialect intelligibility 5.1.3 Integration of lexical similarity and dialect intelligibility results 5.2 Bilingualism study 5.2.1 Bilingualism in Hindi 5.2.2 Bilingualism in Nimadi 5.2.3 Bilingualism in Ahirani 5.2.4 Bilingualism in Marathi 5.3 Language use, attitudes and vitality 5.3.1 Among Rathwa Barelas/Pauras 5.3.2 Among Barlas 5.3.3 Among Palyas 6 Recommendations 6.1 For language development 6.2 For literacy 6.3 For further survey Appendix A: Maps Appendix B: International Phonetic Alphabet Appendix C: Wordlists Appendix D: Recorded Text Testing Appendix E: Sentence Repetition Testing Appendix F: Questionnaires References Tables Table 1. Tahsils covered in this survey Table 2 Summary of people groups covered in this survey Table 3. List of tahsils where Barelas/Pauras are concentrated Table 4. Summary of various subgroups of Barelas/Pauras and Bhilalas Table 5. List of tahsils where Bhilalas are found Table 6. Tribal literacy percentages in the survey area Table 7. Previous sociolinguistic surveys relevant to the present survey area Table 8. Speech variety, location and origin of wordlists utilised in this project Table 9 Lexical similarity percentages of all speech varieties compared Table 10. Primary clusters with ranges of shared lexical similarity Table 11. Wordlists in secondary clusters with ranges of shared lexical similarity Table 12. Lexical similarity matrix of all Bhilali wordlists Table 13. Lexical similarity matrix of wordlists from Jhabua district and adjacent areas Table 14. Name, location and origin of stories utilised in this project Table 15. Recorded text test (RTT) stories played, and results Table 16. Relationship between test averages and standard deviation Table 17. SRT scores and equivalent RPE levels Table 18. Population figures of Upla village Table 19. Demographic profile of Upla village Table 20. Hindi SRT results among Rathwi speakers of Upla village Table 21. Population figures of Choutharya village Table 22. Demographic profile of Choutharya village Table 23. Hindi SRT results among Palya speakers of Choutharya village Table 24. Groupwise results of Nimadi bilingualism RTT among Rathwi speakers of Budi village Table 25. Groupwise results of Nimadi bilingualism RTT among Palya speakers of Choutharya village Table 26. Male and female, educated and uneducated Table 27. Questionnaire sites and the dialects represented Table 28. Demographic summary of questionnaire subjects at Borali Table 29. Domains of language use for Borali subjects Table 30. Languages used for intergroup communication by Borali subjects Table 31. Demographic summary of questionnaire subjects at Dhaudivhir Table 32. Domains of language use for Dhaudivhir subjects Table 33. Demographic summary of questionnaire subjects at Vadfallia and Umrani Table 34. Domains of language use for Vadfallia and Umrani subjects Table 35. Languages used for intergroup communication by Vadfallia and Umrani subjects Table 36. Demographic summary of questionnaire subjects at Choutharya Table 37. Domains of language use for Choutharya Palya subjects Table 38. Languages used for intergroup communication by Choutharya subjects Maps (see Appendix A) Map 1. Bareli survey area Map 2. Districts and district headquarters Map 3. Distribution of people groups Map 4. Wordlist sites Map 5. Recorded text testing (RTT) sites Map 6. Questionnaire and sentence repetition test (SRT) sites v Abbreviations GJ Gujarat MP Madhya Pradesh MS Maharashtra OBC Other Backward Caste SC Scheduled Caste ST Scheduled Tribe vi 1 Introduction 1.1 Geography This sociolinguistic study focuses on the languages spoken by some of the tribal groups, including the Barela, Bhilala and Bhil, living in the border districts of southwest Madhya Pradesh and northwest Maharashtra. This area is part of a larger region called “Bhilanchal” or “Bhil country”, in western India. In Maharashtra, the region the researchers surveyed is normally called Khandesh and consists of Dhule, Nandurbar1, north Nasik and Jalgaon districts. In Madhya Pradesh, the area researched is generally called “Nimad” and consists of Khargone, Barwani2 , Khandwa districts and the southern part of Dhar district. Our study also extends to the southern regions of the Jhabua and Dewas districts of Madhya Pradesh. The people groups and language groups in a total of nine districts studied in the course of the survey are shown on maps 1 and 2. The tahsils included in the scope of this survey are listed in table 1. This includes all the tahsils of Barwani and Khargone district, where most of the work was concentrated. Some of the bigger tahsils are subdivided into more than one development block and the names of these are shown in parentheses. In the case of other tahsils, the block name is the same as the tahsil name. The survey area is bounded by Gujarat (Baroda and Bharuch districts) on the west, by the Tapti River (also called “the Tapi”) on the south and by the Malva Plateau on the north (Indore and Dewas districts of Madhya Pradesh). The eastern boundary coincides with the eastern end of Nimad (Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh). A good part of the survey area is hilly and forested. The entire Satpura Mountain Range falls in this region. The Narmada River flows through the northern part of the region where there are more plains. Other small rivers that water the region are the Umri and Aner in Maharashtra (tributaries of the Tapti) and the Goyi, Veda and Chhotatava in Madhya Pradesh (tributaries of the Narmada). These natural

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