Hijra Farsi

Last updated
Hijra Farsi
Koti Farsi
Native to India, Pakistan
Native speakers
unknown (2017)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None (mis)
Glottolog None

Hijra Farsi is a secret language spoken by South-Asian Hijra and Kothi (also Koti) communities. Hijras are a marginalized transgender community that lives in sequestered groups in many cities of India and Pakistan. The language, also known as Koti Farsi, is spoken by the Hijra community throughout Pakistan and North India. Despite what its name suggests, the language is based on Hindustani rather than Farsi. [2] The sentence structure is similar to Urdu, but noticeable distinctions exist. [3] Hijra Farsi is mainly spoken by Muslim Hijras; Hindu Hijras speak the Gupti language and its regional dialects. [4]

Contents

Even though the language is not actually based on Persian (Farsi), the hijras consider the language to be related to the language of the Mughal Empire, which they associate with the origin of Hijra identity. Hijra Farsi is most similar to Hindi, but is not intelligible to Hindi speakers due to distinctive intonation and a large amount of distinctive vocabulary. [2]

After the partition of India, the language has come to include words of local languages including Punjabi, Saraiki, Sindhi and other languages.

History

Hijra Farsi has no documented history, but linguist and anthropologist Kira Hall has found indications of its existence from the early 1800s. Hijras enjoyed a high status during the Mughal empire, which may be the reason why the language is named after 'Farsi' despite its dissimilarity with Persian. With the fall of the Mughal empire and start of British colonial rule, eunuchs were pushed into a more marginalized position. Colonial laws criminalized their choice of dress, as well as the public dancing they regularly engaged in. The crackdown caused hijras to become protective of their language, which then evolved into a survival tool. [5]

That the language is still in use may have to do with the fact that the community continues to be persecuted in independent India. "Seventy-four percent of the Hijra community has suffered violence and harassment,” says Simran Shaikh, who works with Alliance India, an NGO that works on AIDS prevention. [6]

Community-building tool

Hijra Farsi began and has continued as a learned, as opposed to a mother, tongue. The language is introduced to newcomers when they enter the hijra community, together with the group’s alternative family structure, cultural norms, and other traditions. Having a language that creates a sense of a community is a necessity for hijras, who typically give up a great deal when they join the community. Hijras see the language as something that is truly theirs, and speak about it with pride. [5]

Examples

The following examples are adapted from Awan & Sheeraz (2011), who researched Hijra Farsi in the communities within Dera Ghazi Khan and Rawalpindi. Note that the transcriptions are taken directly from the text, which does not specify a distinction between retroflex and dental plosives, nor does it consistently mark a distinction between /ɐ/ and /ɑ/. They do, however, mention that /ɽ/ is a very common sound used in Hijra Farsi, especially compared to its frequency in other languages in contact. [7]

Nouns

EnglishGender Hijra Farsi (sg)Hijra Farsi (pl)PunjabiSaraiki/SindhiUrdu
faceMkhombaɽkhomaɽmonhmunhchehra
noseMnakɽanakɽeynaknaknaak
eyeFchamɽrichamɽianakhakhaankh
tummyMdhhambɽadhamɽeytidhdhidhpaet
tummyFdambɽidambɽian
moustacheMchoochkeychoochkeymuchhmuchhmoochh
pubicMreskeyreskeychuanboodbaal
toothMnejmanejmedanddanddant
skinFchamkichamkianchumchumjild
breastMchhalkachhalkeythanthanɽchhati
Neovagina (sic)Fchaptichaptiann/an/an/a
penisMleekaɽleekaɽlaoɽalunuzv-e-tanasul
hipsFvatalvatalbundchutkoolha
vaginaFseeposeepophudibudifarj
^ This refers to the grammatical gender of the noun in Hijra Farsi

Many of these words are completely dissimilar to any of the locally spoken languages, but the pluralization strategies remain identical to those of Urdu, i.e. nouns ending in what is transcribed here as -i are made plural by adding -an (/-i/ becomes /-ijɑ̃/), and nouns ending in -a replace the ending with plural suffix -e (/-ɑ/ becomes /-e/).

Verbs

Awan & Sheeraz also give examples of verbs:

EnglishHijra FarsiPunjabiSaraikiUrdu
to govognajanɽa, anɽawanjanɽ, avanɽjana, ana
to understandchamnasamajhnasamjhanɽsamajhna
to dielugiɽnamarnamaranɽmarna

These verbs are given with the -na infinitival suffix, but that is only representative of the Rawalpindi variety: Awan and Sheeraz report that -anɽ endings are found specifically in the Dera Ghazi Khan variety, attributing it to the fact that Saraiki is more widely spoken there. [7] :130 Another such example is given with the feminine singular habitual form of the verb meaning "to do/make": whereas in Rawalpindi kerdi is used, demonstrating greater influence from Punjabi kerdi, Dera Ghazi Khan Hijra Farsi uses krendi, which resembles the Saraiki krendi. [7] :131

Function words

In addition to content words, Hijra Farsi demonstrates innovation (i.e. divergence from related languages) in some function words. Namely, in Lucknow, Nagar (2008) found the pronouns humsio ("I", 1st person), tumsio ("you", 2nd person), and ojo ("he/she", 3rd person), and the augmentative adiyal ("very"). [8] The number of these pronouns is unclear in Nagar's thesis. In Rawalpindi and Dera Ghazi Khan, Awan and Sheeraz found hamala to be the 1st person pronoun, with tamala as the 2nd person.

In addition to pronouns, there is innovation in demonstratives: unlike surrounding languages, there is no proximal/distal distinction, and unlike surrounding languages, there is a gender distinction: insa for masculine and insi for feminine, both using productive plural morphology such that masculine "these" will be inse and feminine "these" will be insian (as transcribed by Awan & Sheeraz).

Numbers

Hijra Farsi's counting system, used specifically for counting money, uses lexemes unique to the cant: [9] [7]

NumberHijra Farsi
10dasola
50adhi vadvi/adhi vadmi
100vadvi/vadmi
500panj vadvi/panj vadmi
1000katka
100000 or 10000 nira patt*
^ Awan & Sheeraz list this number as one hundred thousand, and Kundalia lists it as ten thousand.

Related Research Articles

French grammar is the set of rules by which the French language creates statements, questions and commands. In many respects, it is quite similar to that of the other Romance languages.

Animacy is a grammatical and semantic feature, existing in some languages, expressing how sentient or alive the referent of a noun is. Widely expressed, animacy is one of the most elementary principles in languages around the globe and is a distinction acquired as early as six months of age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oromo language</span> Cushitic language of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia

Oromo, historically also called Galla, which is regarded by the Oromo as pejorative, is an Afroasiatic language that belongs to the Cushitic branch. It is native to the Ethiopian state of Oromia and northern Kenya and is spoken predominantly by the Oromo people and neighboring ethnic groups in the Horn of Africa. It is used as a lingua franca particularly in the Oromia Region and northeastern Kenya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinookan languages</span> Extinct language family

The Chinookan languages are a small family of extinct languages spoken in Oregon and Washington along the Columbia River by Chinook peoples. Although the last known native speaker of any Chinookan language died in 2012, the 2009-2013 American Community Survey found 270 self-identified speakers of Upper Chinook.

Italian grammar is the body of rules describing the properties of the Italian language. Italian words can be divided into the following lexical categories: articles, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghomara language</span> Berber language of Morocco

The Ghomara language is a Northern Berber language spoken in Morocco. It is the mother tongue of the Ghomara Berbers, who total around 10,000 people. Ghomara Berber is spoken on the western edge of the Rif, among the Beni Bu Zra and Beni Mansur tribes of the Ghomara confederacy. Despite being listed as endangered, it is still being passed on to children in these areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memoni language</span> Indo-Aryan language

Memoni is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by Memons, from the Kathiawar region of Gujarat, India. Memon from Okha Port, Kutch and some other communities from Kathiawad also use Memoni at their homes.

Persian grammar is the grammar of the Persian language, whose dialectal variants are spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Caucasus, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. It is similar to that of many other Indo-European languages. The language became a more analytic language around the time of Middle Persian, with fewer cases and discarding grammatical gender. The innovations remain in Modern Persian, which is one of the few Indo-European languages to lack grammatical gender, even in pronouns.

In linguistics, agreement or concord occurs when a word changes form depending on the other words to which it relates. It is an instance of inflection, and usually involves making the value of some grammatical category "agree" between varied words or parts of the sentence.

The morphology of the Welsh language has many characteristics likely to be unfamiliar to speakers of English or continental European languages like French or German, but has much in common with the other modern Insular Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Cornish, and Breton. Welsh is a moderately inflected language. Verbs inflect for person, number, tense, and mood, with affirmative, interrogative, and negative conjugations of some verbs. There is no case inflection in Modern Welsh.

The grammar of Old English differs greatly from Modern English, predominantly being much more inflected. As a Germanic language, Old English has a morphological system similar to that of the Proto-Germanic reconstruction, retaining many of the inflections thought to have been common in Proto-Indo-European and also including constructions characteristic of the Germanic daughter languages such as the umlaut.

Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person – first person, second person, or third person. Personal pronouns may also take different forms depending on number, grammatical or natural gender, case, and formality. The term "personal" is used here purely to signify the grammatical sense; personal pronouns are not limited to people and can also refer to animals and objects.

Kokborok grammar is the grammar of the Kokborok language, also known as Tripuri or Tipra which is spoken by the Tripuri people, the native inhabitants of the state of Tripura. It is the official language of Tripura, a state located in Northeast India.

This article describes the grammar of Tigrinya, a South Semitic language which is spoken primarily in Eritrea and Ethiopia, and is written in Ge'ez script.

Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language native to the region of Punjab of Pakistan and India and spoken by the Punjabi people. This page discusses the grammar of Modern Standard Punjabi as defined by the relevant sources below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tangale language</span> West Chadic language spoken in Nigeria

Tangale (Tangle) is a West Chadic language spoken in Northern region of Nigeria. The vast majority of the native speakers are found across Akko, Billiri, Kaltungo and Shongom Local Government Area of Gombe State Nigeria.

The morphology of the Welsh language shows many characteristics perhaps unfamiliar to speakers of English or continental European languages like French or German, but has much in common with the other modern Insular Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Cornish, and Breton. Welsh is a moderately inflected language. Verbs conjugate for person, tense and mood with affirmative, interrogative and negative conjugations of some verbs. A majority of prepositions inflect for person and number. There are few case inflections in Literary Welsh, being confined to certain pronouns.

Marra, sometimes formerly spelt Mara, is an Australian Aboriginal language, traditionally spoken on an area of the Gulf of Carpentaria coast in the Northern Territory around the Roper, Towns and Limmen Bight Rivers. Marra is now an endangered language. The most recent survey was in 1991; at that time, there were only 15 speakers, all elderly. Most Marra people now speak Kriol as their main language. The remaining elderly Marra speakers live in the Aboriginal communities of Ngukurr, Numbulwar, Borroloola and Minyerri.

Lele is an East Chadic language spoken in the Tandjilé Region, in the Tandjilé Ouest department, south of Kélo.

Cornish grammar is the grammar of the Cornish language, an insular Celtic language closely related to Breton and Welsh and, to a lesser extent, to Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic. It was the main medium of communication of the Cornish people for much of their history until the 17th century, when a language shift occurred in favour of English. A revival, however, started in 1904, with the publication of A Handbook of the Cornish Language, by Henry Jenner, and since then there has been a growing interest in the language.

References

  1. Hindustani (2005). Keith Brown (ed.). Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (2 ed.). Elsevier. ISBN   0-08-044299-4.
  2. 1 2 "Stanford Linguistics Colloquium". stanford.edu. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  3. Sheeraz, Muhammad, and Ayaz Afsar. "Farsi: An Invisible But Loaded Weapon for the Emerging Hijraism in Pakistan." Kashmir Journal of Language Research 14, no. 2 (2011).
  4. "Queer language". City: World. The Hindu. TNN. 30 November 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  5. 1 2 Rehman, Zehra (15 April 2016). "The secret language of South Asia's transgender community". Quartz India. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
  6. "Hijra Farsi: Secret language knits community - Times of India". The Times of India. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Awan, Muhammad Safeer; Sheeraz, Muhammad (2011). "Queer but Language: A Sociolinguistic Study of Farsi". International Journal of Humanities and Social Science. 1 (10): 127-135.[ predatory publisher ]
  8. Ila, Nagar (2008). Language, gender and identity: the case of kotis in Lucknow-India (Thesis). The Ohio State University.
  9. Kundalia, Nidhi. "Queer language". The Hindu. Retrieved June 4, 2022.

Further reading