Kutchi (; કચ્છી, , ڪڇّی) or Kachhi is an

Indo-Aryan language The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pa ...

spoken in the Kutch region of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

region of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. The name of the language is also transliterated as Katchi, Kutchhi, Kachchi, Kachchhi, Kachhi or Cutchi.

Influences from other languages

Kutchi is a dialect of Sindhi, with which it is mutually intelligible. Over time, it has borrowed vocabulary from

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

. Most Kutchis living in India are bilingual or trilingual, due to exposure to closely related neighbouring languages such as Gujarati. Many Pakistani Kutchis are also bilingual or trilingual; many residents of

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

speak Kutchi. Its differences from neighbouring languages are more pronounced in its spoken varieties, but it has many loans from Gujarati, Marwari (a major western Rajasthani language) and Hindi-Urdu as well. Kutchi speaking communities include some Charan (Gadhavi), Rajputs

Jadeja The Jadeja (also spelled Jarejo) (Gujarati: ) is a Rajput clan that inhabits the Indian state of Gujarat. They claim to be descended from the legendary Jamshed of Iran. They also claim descent from Krishna. They originated from pastoral communit ...

Bhanushali Bhanushali (Gujarati : ) is a Hindu or a Jain. The majority reside in Kutch district of the Indian state of Gujarat. Some are also found in the Saurashtra region and other parts of Gujarat. History The Bhanushali are chiefly farmers and trader ...

Lohana Lohana, also referred to as Loharana, Thakkar and Lohrana, are an Indian trading or mercantile '' jāti''. Lohanas claim to be descendants of the Lava, son of Rama, and to descend from the Raghuvanshi dynasty.Lachaier, Pierre. "Cérémonies D'ho ...

s, Brahmins (Rajgor),

Meghwal The Meghwal (also known as Megh and Meghraj) people live primarily in northwest India, with a small population in Pakistan. Their traditional occupation was agricultural farming, cattle-herding and weaving. Meghwals are known for their contr ...

s, Visa Oswal and Dasa Osval (Oshwal) Jains, followers of

Satpanth Satpanth is a Sanskrit term used initially by Nizari Isma'ilis and Ismaili Sufis to identify their faith formed over 700 years ago by Pir Sadardin (1290-1367 CE). Although the term is today used mainly by its subgroup formed in the 15th century ...

, Bhatias, Patidar,Rabaris and various Muslim communities in the region, including the Muslim Kutchi Khatris, the Muslim Khojas, the Muslim Rajput-Rayma and Kutchi Memons. By way of emigration during the British reign many members of Kutchi communities left India / Pakistan and settled in regions of East Africa such as Kenya, Uganda, Zaire/Congo, Tanzania, and even far south as South Africa. The landing point of entry into Africa was in

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...

which was a trading post of goods between India and East Africa in the late 1800s. Asians in this region of Africa often adopted Swahili words and phrases into their language, producing a

creole language A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one within a fairly brief period of time: often, a pidgin evolved into a full-fledged language. ...

called Kutchi-Swahili.

Common words and phrases

There are distinct regional accents and variations in grammar. As in many languages spoken along Asian trade routes. Many Kutchi speakers also speak

as a separate language, especially as it is the language in which Kutchi speakers customarily write. Kutchi speakers' Gujarati accent and usage tends towards standard forms that any Gujarati speaker would be able to understand. The following words are commonly used by Hindu individuals descending from the Kutch rural area of Gujarat, India, who, especially if in east Africa, reject Kutchi. These are colloquial forms of general Gujarati phrases that are often used in daily conversation in villages, particularly of Kutchi predominance, and are Gujaratisized versions of Kutchi words. Kutchi is also very close to Sindhi and

due to historical, cultural and geographic influences. These relationships are evident in the following examples:

Writing system

Kutchi is normally written using a modified version of the

Gujarati script The Gujarati script (, transliterated: ) is an abugida for the Gujarati language, Kutchi language, and various other languages. It is a variant of the Devanagari script differentiated by the loss of the characteristic horizontal line running abo ...

. Many books and magazines are published in the language using the modified Gujarati script, including ''Vadhod'' ("Inquiry"). In earlier times it was written in Khudabadi and

Khojki script Khojkī, Khojakī, or Khwājā Sindhī ( sd, خوجڪي ( Arabic script) खोजकी (Devanagari)), is a script used formerly and almost exclusively by the Khoja community of parts of the Indian subcontinent, including Sindh, Gujarat, and ...

, which is now extinct. Dr Rajul Shah, an ayurvedic doctor, psychologist and a graphologist has created a script to use for the language. There are examples of the Kutchi script in the Kutch Museum, though the script is believed to be now extinct.

Kutchi people

Notes

References

External links

Kutchi Language Online

Suvichar Ki Dayri
{{Indo-Aryan languages Languages of Gujarat Languages of Sindh Western Indo-Aryan languages Culture of Kutch