Sansi language

Sansi
Sansiboli
Native to India
Region Rajasthan
Ethnicity Sansi
Native speakers
 80,000 (2000–2002)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Either:
ssi – Sansi
kbu – Kabutra
Glottolog sans1271  (Sansi)[2]
kabu1254  (Kabutra)[3]

The Sansi language, Sansiboli, or Bhilki, is a highly endangered Indo-Aryan language of the Central group. The language is spoken by the nomadic Sansi people.

Ethnologue sees it as a Hindustani language (Western Hindi).[1] Some sources also mention it as a dialect of the Rajasthani language.[4] Kabutra, spoken by a thousand people in Pakistan, is mutually intelligible.

It is spoken by about sixty thousand speakers mainly in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, and Delhi states of India. As a language, Sansiboli is not confined to any particular geographical boundary. It has benefitted from various sources, absorbed regional colors, and imbibed influence from neighboring languages and dialects. Thus, it has numerous phonological and morphological borrowings from Punjabi, Hindi, and Marwari.

Sansiboli is not effectively being passed on to the next generation and is on the verge of extinction. Very few people below the age of forty are fully competent in the language, and probably none of them will become active speakers. Many of the Sansis are likely to mix Hindi, Punjabi, or Marwari elements in their speech depending on their geographical location.

References

  1. 1 2 Sansi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Kabutra at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Sansi". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  3. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Kabutra". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  4. ↑ Language in India: Endangered Language: A Case Study of Sansiboli

See also


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