15 April 2009

Dakshini Marathi Punaruddharini


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Dakshini Marathi Punaruddharini (DMP)

A Project for restoring and standardizing Tanjavur Marathi (aka Tanjore Marathi) spoken by the descendents of Maharashtrian Desasthas who migrated to Southern India in the late 17th Century

by
Ananda Rao Vasishta




Historical Background

The small province of Tanjore (Tanjavur) in Southern India came under Maratha rule around 1675 AD. Those were the days of Maratha expansionism in the wake of the collapse the great Moghul imperial power. The British were yet to make deep incursions into India. Maratha power epitomized by the great warrior Shivaji was on the rise in Western India (present day Maharashtra, where Marathi is spoken by over 65 million people). Shivaji’s half brother Venkoji (aka Vyenkoji or Ekoji) was a Jagirdar (Chieftain) of the small garrison of Bangalore under the Sultan of Bijapur who was ruling over parts of present day Maharashtra State and Karnataka State. Bangalore is around 600 kilometers south of Bijapur. Around 1670 AD Venkoji was required to proceed to Tanjore to settle a dispute of succession in the kingdom of Tanjore lying 600 kilometers further south. At the end of his expedition / intervention Venkoji installed himself as the ruler of Tanjore. Thereafter Marathas ruled Tanjore for about 175 years. The kingdom was annexed by the British to their Indian possessions at the end of this period.

Venkoji was accompanied by a retinue of Marathi speaking soldiers, administrators, priests, tradesmen, menials etc. who settled down permanently in Tanjore, 1200 kilometers away from their homeland, Maharashtra. Over the next three centuries the Marathi language of the first immigrants mutated into present day dialect of Tanjore Marathi. During the intervening centuries the descendents of the emigrant Marathi population, had little or no interaction with their counterparts in Maharashtra proper and this was one of the main reasons for the mutation to take place. In fact there are variations of this dialect, which evolved on the basis of the religious castes to which the respective groups belonged. The one with which my Project DMP is concerned, is spoken by the Madhwa Desastha and Smartha Desastha sub-castes. The other variations of the dialect are spoken by the warrior caste (Kshatriys), Tradesmen (the Vysya caste) menials (Sudra caste) etc. All references hereafter in this write-up would concern itself with the Tanjavur Marathi (TM) spoken by the Madhwa Desastha and Smartha Desastha sub-castes.

TM took a totally different route in its evolution over the past 300 years, influenced by Tamil which was the language of the vast majority in Tanjore and present day Tamil Nadu State, in Southern India. Today Tamil is spoken by over 55 million people in the State of Tamil Nadu. It is worth pointing out that Marathi belongs to the Indo Aryan group of languages, whereas Tamil belongs to the totally different Dravidian Group. TM has now shrunk to become a community language spoken only at home by the descendents of the Maharashtrians who migrated to the Tanjore kingdom, Arni Jagir, Bangalore and other small pockets of settlements in Southern India. It is not spoken or understood by the people outside the community. (The majority population of the State of Tamil Nadu of which Tanjore is now a District, speak Tamil - numbering over 55 million). With over three centuries of disconnect with the mainstream Marathi, TM has become an alien language to the Marathi speaking people of Maharashtra also. It is estimated that the total number speakers of Tanjore Marathi is in the range of 75,000. Despite this, Tanjore Marathi is not even listed as a dialect of Marathi in any Government document or census reports. There is no Governmental recognition or support for the cause of Tanjore Marathi. No University or educational institution in India has any program for Tanjore Marathi.

The early TM speakers used the archaic Modi script as well as Devanagari script (of Sanskrit and Hindi) for writing. Modi is a cursive variant of Devanagari script. Usage of Modi and Devanagari scripts was given up gradually, until as of today, the dialect is left with no script. Without the benefit of a written reference standard, each succeeding generation of TM speakers is being bequeathed a dialect with ever decreasing vocabulary with an increasing degeneration in pronunciation and inflection. There is a distinct tendency for the newer generations to shy away from the language spoken by their elders. TM has thus become an endangered language. There is an urgent need to reverse the trend.

Chambers 21st Century Dictionary defines a dialect as:-

“A form of a language spoken in a particular (geographical) region or a certain social
group, differing from other forms in grammar, vocabulary and in some cases
pronunciation”

Tanjore Marathi (TM)) as spoken by Madhwa and Smartha Desastha communities of Southern India qualifies to be called a dialect of Standard Marathi (SM) as it differs from SM in all the parameters highlighted in the above definition as explained in detail below.

i) Geographical:-
TM as spoken today by miniscule populations spread over almost all districts of Tamil Nadu and a few districts in the other Southern states and elsewhere, started out with it's base in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, India. Standard Marathi is spoken in Maharashtra, a State situated in the western part of India. These two regions are not contiguous and are separated by over 1200 kilometers.

ii) Social Group:-
It is spoken by Madhwa and Smartha Desasthas of Southern India. As a social group TM speakers have no linkages with their counterparts in Maharashtra. They form a distinct cultural group of their own. They find it comfortable to interact with the other linguistic groups of Southern India, rather than with the speakers of Marathi in Maharashtra.

iii) Grammar and Syntax:-
As of now the dialect has no script. No attempt appears to have been made by anybody to compile a grammar of TM. If compiled, the rules of grammar of TM would appear to differ quite a bit from that of SM. There are plenty of examples of differing syntax between TM and SM.

iv) Vocabulary:-
Today TM has a considerably smaller vocabulary compared with SM. A quick estimate indicates that TM has only around 4000 to 5000, as compared to around 40,000 words in SM. It is very probable that two or three centuries back TM had a much larger vocabulary. Several words which disappeared from TM seem to have been replaced with words from Tamil (mostly) or other South Indian languages. The present day TM has many words which have since disappeared from or gone out of fashion/ usage or become archaic in SM. Yet, almost all original TM words currently in use in TM, exist in SM with differing inflections.

v) Pronunciation:-
Pronunciation, accent, diction, inflection and grammar of TM differs considerably from that of SM; to such an extent that an average SM and TM speaker would find each others language difficult to follow. A point of interest is that after putting in some effort an educated TM speaker would find it much easier to follow SM. The converse need not be true, primarily because TM is heavily influenced by the South Indian (read Tamil) languages and even an educated SM speaker would find the differences in pronunciation, diction, inflection and syntax beyond his easy comprehension.

The dialect came to be associated with Tanjavur (Tanjore) due to historical reasons and hence is called Tanjore Marathi. It is estimated that today less than 15% of this community live in and around Tanjavur; the largest group (30%) being in Chennai. Many others have no connection with Tanjavur and live all over Southern India and elsewhere. It is, therefore, my opinion that it would be in fitness of things if the dialect is called Dakshini Marathi (DM), as it would serve the purpose of inclusiveness of this diaspora. This name also gives the dialect a much larger canvas, unshackled from the comparatively restricted geographical connotation imposed by the prefix “Tanjore”. The word “Dakshini” means “belonging to the South”

“Dakshini Marathi Punaruddhaarini” (DMP)

Project DMP was launched by me in April 2009 with the following objectives.

• to record the dialect, as spoken/understood by Desasthas (both Madhwas and Smarthas)in the beginning of the 21st century and introduce minimum additions to it’s vocabulary to give it a minimum critical mass required not only to serve as a better community/ home language but also to set up a platform for future generations of DM speakers to ensure the growth of the dialect. The idea is to rejuvenate DM (पुनरुद्धारण). The Project does not cover the Marathi spoken by Kshatriyas, Bhavsars, Shimpis and other communities who, like the Desasthas, had migrated to Southern India centuries ago.
• to standardize DM/TM as a pure dialect
• to restore and retain the originality of DM/TM. It is not an attempt to draw similarities with SM and prompt the DM/TM speaker to adopt the talking style of SM. It is also not the scope of the Project to replace well accepted DM words with SM words so long as they can be written clearly in Devanagari script; eg, “kutthe” will not replace "kotte". At the same time all words from other languages which threaten to replace DM words need to be kept away. For example, “Vyazha kizhamai” will not replace Guruwaar, or for that matter “Pathinezhu” replace Sathra. The grammar, syntax and usages & customs of DM/TM would remain faithful to itself; ie, it will not be influenced by the grammar, syntax etc. of SM. As far as the spellings of individual words themselves are concerned, as each DM/TM family pronounces many words differently, DMP would, as far as possible, follow the word spellings as in SM. This will bring about a sense of uniformity and over a period of time improve the phonetics. For this process to be expedited, all DM/TM families who want to be active in the effort should procure and peruse a good Marathi dictionary.
• to have DM officially recognized as a dialect of Marathi by the HRD Ministry, Govt of India
• to have DM/TM recognized as an endangered language and have it included in UNESCO's Red Book of Endangered Languages

Scope of the Project:-

No attempt has ever been made by anybody to record Tanjavur Marathi as spoken today. No dictionary or books/literature or any grammar texts of present day TM exists. My initiative is the first ever comprehensive attempt to record and rejuvenate TM as spoken today.

Almost all languages have a written and (multiple) spoken forms. But as on date DM/TM does not have a standard written form. But like other languages it has variations of spoken forms, These variations mostly relate to (1) the way words are pronounced (2) to the preference for using or not using some words or usages and (3) the extent of admixture of Tamil (4) variations due to regions in which DM is spoken ie, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh/Telangana. A conscious attempt has been made in this Project to promote a written standard form of DM/TM. 

There are two sister Projects accompanying DMP. They are (1) Vasishta's A to Z Dictionary of Dakshini Marathi (Tanjore Marathi) (for details please see www.vishnugharpk.blogspot.com) and (2)  Dakshini Marathi Forum containing Translations, Transliterations etc. (for details please see www.vishnugharforum.blogspot.com)  


DMP is an open ended project and welcomes contributions from all DM/TM speakers on a continuous basis. For academics and those interested in linguistics, the Project will serve as a reference to study DM in an “as is where is condition.” Another unique point of interest to the academics is that DMP will help them to study the formation and development of new dialect (TM/DM) from an established major language (Marathi) and observe its movement to an endangered status, all within a period of 350 years.



Methodology:-

• Introduce an alphabet with Devanagari as the script for DM

• Prepare a DM–English–DM dictionary. This will be the first ever dictionary of modern TM/DM and will contain notes for comparing the DM words with the corresponding SM words wherever they differ either in spelling or meaning or usages. Almost all the words will be followed by illustrative sentences to give the reader an idea how DM language is written.

• The dictionary would also contain idioms, phrases, figures of speech, metaphors, proverbs  and usages of DM/TM

• The dictionary will also indicate the etymology of non DM words

• For each DM/TM word, English meanings will be followed by DM meanings or explanations. These explanations will give an idea the prevailing DM usages, expressions and syntax

• Notes will be provided where DM/TM and SM words differ in spellings, contextual meanings or usages

• The Dictionary will contain not only words which a DM/TM speaker uses in his dialect, but also many commonly understood words from other languages (including Standard Marathi). These "loan-words" will be carefully selected to fill the gaps in the DM vocabulary To explain further:-
DM/TM needs to have a certain minimum critical mass (in numbers) of words to have communication (both written and spoken) going within the community. As of now DM has only around 5000 words and the DM/TM speaker is forced to use words from English, Tamil or words from any other convenient language of his choice to keep the communication going. At present these words are used haphazardly and are viewed as embarrassing and awkward intrusions into DM/TM. There is a need to have proper approach for this issue. The “loan-words” included in the Dictionary is an attempt towards this. These words have been selected carefully such that they would sit comfortably with the DM/TM vocabulary without distorting the texture of the dialect. I feel that these infusions may still fall short of making DM/TM fit for written and spoken communications. But if and when the DM community starts writing the dialect in Devanagari script, the vocabulary will grow gradually. But a beginning has to be made and one of unstated aims of DMP is to encourage this.

• if a particular word is pronounced differently by different groups of DM speakers, no judgment is made as to which is the "correct" version.

• As the dictionary is still in a manuscript form constant corrections are uploaded almost on a daily basis. All DM/TM speakers are requested to contribute words/ idioms/ usages for inclusion in the dictionary

• Prepare a grammar text, based on the current spoken usage of DM, with adequate sample words and sentences reflecting each grammatical rule

• Prepare a list of common useful day-to-day words in use in other languages but which are absent in DM/TM and, therefore need to be introduced into DM. These words would be part of the dictionary mentioned above

• Extensive usage of electronic media is envisaged for propagating the concept and for taking the Project forward

• Prepare step-by-step e-learning "Teach Yourself Tanjore Marathi" material for dissemination amongst all DM speakers

• Indian language software Baraha has been used by DMP for preparing DM alphabet and to prepare the DM Dictionary. All DM speakers desirous of contributing to the Dictionary/ Project are exhorted to freely download Baraha and use BarahaPad for inputting in Marathi or English text.

Present Status of Project DMP

(I) Alphabet and Script :-

An alphabet with 51 letters written in Devanagari script has been re-introduced. Given below is the full list of DM/TM alphabet.

Vowels (स्वर॑): अ, आ, इ, ई, उ, ऊ, ऋ, ए, ऐ, ओ, औ, अ॑, अं and अः

Notes: - 1. अ, इ, ऋ are called hrswa (हृस्व स्वर॑) as their pronunciation is curtailed compared to that of dheerga swaras (दीर्घ स्वर॑)
2. अ॑ is pronounced as a half sound of अ
3. आ, ई, ऊ are called deergha swaras (दीर्घ स्वर॑) as their pronunciation is long compared to that of hrswa swaras
4. ए, ओ, औ are called samyukta swaras (संयुक्त स्वर॑) as they have the characteristics of both hrswa and deergha swaras
5. There are innumerable words in DM which involve the usage of अ॑ in combination with a consonant. This is a typical characteristic of DM/TM. eg. अक्षर॑, उष्ट॑, जानव॑, वास्तव॑, संशय॑, सांगण॑ etc. (The corresponding words in SM are written as अक्षर, उष्टा, जानवे, वास्तव, संशय and सांगणे)

स्वरादि - There are three swaradis (स्वरादि) in DM/TM. They are अ॑, अं and अः represented by the symbols (॑),(ं) and (ः) and can be pronounced only in combination with a swara or consonant(व्यंजन॑)

Vowel Signs:- The vowel signs used in DM/TM are the same as in SM, except that in the case of अ॑ it is denoted by a vertical line above the letter. eg., सांगण॑, एवढ॑, कळिवण॑ etc.

Consonants (व्यंजन॑) - There are 35 व्यंजन॑ in DM. They are:-
क, ख, ग, घ, ङ
च, छ, ज, झ, ञ
ट, ठ, ड, ढ, ण
त, थ, द, ध, न
प, फ, ब, भ, म
य, र, र्र, ल, ळ, व
श, ष, स, ह

Conjoined Consonants (संयुक्त व्यंजन॑) -There are several Conjoined Consonants (संयुक्त व्यंजन॑)in DM. However only two, ie, " क्ष " and ज्ञ are listed in the DM/TM alphabet.

Notes:- 1. र्र is pronounced with a throaty/harsh voice as in र्रवा (rawa), र्रमजान
(Ramzan), र्रैल (rail), र्राग (meaning-anger) etc. as against the soft र in रसम (rasam), राग (musical note- raag), राजा (raja) etc.
2. र्र is placed immediately after र in the list of consonants
3. In SM ळ is placed towards the end of the alphabet after ह. However in DM it is placed immediately after ल.
4. Just like in all Indian languages, there are several conjoined consonants (संयुक्त व्यंजन॑) in DM also. However only क्ष and ज्ञ are included in the main body of the alphabet

(II) Dictionary:-

Two dictionaries are under compilation

i)

DM–English–DM Dictionary under the name "Vasishta’s 21st Century Dictionary of Tanjore Marathi" is under preparation. The Beta-Version of the e-Manuscript has been loaded in my blog www. vishnughar.blogspot.com. This contains around 5000 entries. As a part of a step-by-step strategy, the number of words from Tamil or other languages have been kept to the barest minimum in the Beta-version. In Version 2 (which will be a creeping, seamless update of the Beta-Version) words from Tamil and other languages including English would be considred for inclusion. To begin with, words in use in day-to-day life, for which we do not have corresponding TM/DM word would be included. The other stated objectives of the dictionary would follow stage-by-stage.

ii)
 As most of Tanjore Marathi speaking people are not very familiar with Devanagari script, it was felt that Vasishta’s 21st Century Dictionary of Tanjore Marathi” should be recast by arranging the head-words in English Alphabetical order. This second dictionary is called "Vasishta's 21st Century A to Z Dictionary of  Dakshini Marathi (Tanjore Marathi) and is being uploaded in another blog, viz, vishnugharpk.blogspot.com

Acknowledgment:-

Mr. R.R. Chandran, Vice-President of the South Indian Maharashtrian Association, Hyderabad (SIMA) has been rendering great help to me in the preparation of the dictionary. Besides contributing a large number of words and sentences he has been of great help to me in fine tuning the contents of the dictionary. No amount of gratitude will suffice for the help I have received from him.


(III) Use of electronic media

• I have been uploading the e-Manuscript of the DM–English–DM Dictionary in my Blog www.vishnughar.blogspot.com from April 2009 onwards.

The way forward

• Bring out a minimum number of a very well laid out book containing the above information.
• Make the contents available in digital form.
• Share the DM/TM speaking families (estimated at around 15,000 to 20,000).
• Make use of the Internet extensively for propagating the Standardised DM/TM
• Seek the help of Universities, academics, DM/TM community leaders and social organizations associated with DM/TM speakers

As one whose mother tongue is TM/DM, it is my desire that my efforts will contribute at least in a small measure for its continued existence as a self sustaining dialect.



VIEWER REMAREKS AND MY RESPONSES

. This site represents the pioneering work of a completely self-taught linguistics researcher who has taken upon himself, as a passion, the task of formalizing the linguistics framework of Thanjavur Marathi (or, to use his more correct nomenclature, "Dakshini Marathi" or "DM"), a South Indian off-shoot of Standard Marathi ("SM"), the language of India's Maharashtra State. The ambitious project involves the creation of what is possibly the very first DM dictionary and drawing up the rules of DM's grammar and syntax, thus facilitating the usage of the language in its refined form and hopefully arresting the steady erosion of DM due to the ever-increasing influence of the regional languages surrounding it. A marvellous effort by an amateur that is certain to be of interest not only to the South Indian Maharashtrian community but also to linguistics students and researchers inquiring into the evolution of languages.


Posted at 11/25/2011-06:56:53 AM by Madhva Desastha, Reviewer, in McAfee Site Advisor (http://blog.siteadvisor.com/sites/vishnughar.blogspot.com/msgpage)

ARV - Shri. Madhva Desastha, thanks for you comments.


. Suresh said on 31st Oct '09 ; "Great Sir. Keep it up"

ARV- Thanks Suresh.


. Ramnarayan Rao said on 5th Dec '09 (on Facebook Group "Thanjavur Marathi - Tanjore, India"); "hello all...i found this interesting blog a few months ago. thought i would share it with all of you. i found it very awesome, being the the work of passionate individual. kudos..."

ARV- Thanks for the nice words.


. Anonymous said...on 22nd Jan '10 ; "Hi: Would you please join the facebook group specially formed for Thanjavur Maharashtrians - "Thanjavur Marathi - Tanjore, India".... Thanks..."

ARV- Thanks for inviting me to join the Tanjavur Marathi Group in Facebook. I have since become a member of TMG.


Lalitha said... on 21st July '10. ; "You have done a good job and put in a lot of effort. keep it up".

ARV- Thanks for the complement. The work will continue for many more months.


. Vidya Rao said...on 1st Aug '10 ; "Nice to read about this article. I am a TM. Really happy to know that my language is being restored.keep up the good effort".

ARV- Thanks for the complement. Please try to spread the news to other DM/TM speakers known to you.


. Babois said on... 4th Aug '10 : "Happy to note that you have gotten this project off the ground. It would be nice if someone could study the cultural dimensions as well. The nearly total alienation from Maharashtra and the ability to blend in seamlessly with the Tamils must reveal an interesting tale.On a more personal note, although we had family in Kumbakonam, we never used the term Tanjore Marathi. The dominant label was Madhava Desistha or Smarthas.I have yet to figure out the tenacity of the Madhava identity over all else. I wonder if the dualist Dvaita philosophy becomes the distinguishing label because it is embraced by relatively few".

ARV- Thanks for your post. The term Tanjore Marathi is not exclusive to Madhvas. It is equally identified with Smarthas also who speak TM. AS regards your suggestion on the need for someone to study the cultural dimentions, you may make a beginning by participating in the facebook group "Thanjavur Marathi - Tanjore, India". I have major plans on this after the dictionary part is over. You may also look up Pratibha's blog http://tanjoremarathis.blogspot.com


. Pratibha said... on 5th Aug '10. ; "I was discussing about the meaning of आवेश as an emotion, something beyond Force as in आवेश आलास्का करतो . Your dictionary was a good guidance to the exact meaning"!

ARV- Nice to hear this. Thanks. The dictionary is still in an evolving stage. I am happy to tell that Shri. Rajagopal Ramachandran (Vice-President, SIMA, Hyderabad) has joined me as a co-author of the dictionary.


. Sandhya Rao said ... on 17th Oct '10. ; "Real Great effort !!! I was reilly reiily happy to have happened to visit this blog".

ARV- Thanks for your comment.


. Pratibha Prabhakar said ... on 10th Dec '10. ; "Shri Ananda Rao,I was telling my 81 year old father, a staunch TM about your blog and he sends his deep appreciation of your good work and he feels 'Dakshini Marathi' is the most appropriate name for our Thanjavur Marathi. In fact since then, while helping me with my blog, he always refers to our Marathi as DM/Dakshini Marathi".

ARV- Please give my regards to your father and tell him I feel honoured by his opinion of my blog. We should propagate the term Dakshini Marathi amongst fellow DMs.


. Anonymous said...on 11th Feb '11. ; "Great Job sir.I will try to implement words that I have not been doing. Also good to be reassured that the words I say are corerect too. I have a question How do u say " come home" in TM. My husband says it diffrently than me. What to know the correct way. Thx in advance..."
By Anonymous.

ARV :- Thanks for your comment. Now to answer your question:-
The following are the options.
. घराला या or घराला यांत॑ when addressing elders, husband or anyone with respect (singular and plural),
. घराला ये when addressing in the singular (without respect)
The following two ways of saying it are not gramatically correct, but by usage they have come to stay in DM:-
. घरांत या or घरांत येंत॑
. घरांत ये
In the sentence you have mentioned ie, "come home", the noun "home" (घर in DM)assumes an "accusative" character and the correct grammatical usage to indicate the accusative character is by adding "ला" to it ; hence घर becomes घराला. As I said earlier, the usage "घरांत" is not grammatically correct, but by usage it has been accepted in DM.


. T.S. Ramanath said on ....26th Feb '11 ; "I chanced upon to read your article which is thought provoking. I am a TM and proud of our language and culture.As a community, we are soft natured and well educated. God bless you for your sincere effort in restoring our DM".

ARV :- Thanks for your comment.


. Narayan said on ....10th March '11 ; Namaskar. My name is Narayan and I live in St. Louis, MO, USA. I am TM and was brought up in Hyderabad. My parents were one of the original founders of SIMA in Hyderabad. Since I moved to the US I have been trying to get in touch with local people who are TM to try and build a local community of TM speakers in the country. I chanced upon your work on your blog and I am really happy to be a follower of the blog and use it as an educational tool with your permission for teaching my children and other about our rich language. Someday in the future when I come to Bangalore I hope to meet with you in person.Regards,Narayan.

ARV :- Hello Mr. Narayan, It was nice going through your mail. As regards an on-line community of TMs, you could look up the facebook group "Thanjavur Marathi - Tanjore, India" There are over 600 members here. A word of caution about using my blog as an educational tool ; it is still in a manuscript form, undergoing additions and corrections almost every day. In addition to using the dictionary, my advise to you would be to use BARAHA software(freeware from baraha.com)and start writing TM. Thanks for your mail and regards to you.

श्री. नारायण यांस॑,
तुम्च इ-मेल वाचून मला संतोष वाटल॑. फेसबुकांत " तंजाऊर मराठी-टांजोर, इंड्या" अस॑ एक तंजावूर मराठी लोकांच ओण-लैन समूह आहे. हेजांत सहाशेंचवर लोक आहेत. तुम्च लेंकरांला तंजाऊर मराठी शिकिवाल मझ॑ ब्ळोग उपयोग करतआहेंत, हे ऐकून मला एक सांगाच आहे. काय म्हण्जे, दिवसास्क॑ हे ब्ळोगांत॑ नव-नव शब्द मिळिवण॑, तसच, कित्येक शब्दाच/अर्थाच बदलावण॑ करण॑ हे होत असत॑. अण्खीन एक सांगाच आहे. बराहा सोफ्टवेर (बराहा.कोमांतून डौनलोड कराच फ्रीवेर) उपयोग करून तंजाऊर मराठी लिवाला/लिहाला तुम्ही प्रयत्न करलतर बर असल.
अस॑,
ए.आर.वी.


. Criticalmass said on ....14th Aug 2011
I appreciate your efforts. It is a mighty job.Is there any way we can assist you?

ARV :- Thanks. If you have any suggestions or ideas to carry DMP forward, please mail me.


anand theerth said...on 30th Sep 2011
namaskar ji..
thumi karna ye project ujanda utham manu aye..ye 21 century'ntha amchaska younger generation lokehnchala shudha marathi thavda yethini.. dhayakaruh thumi hey projectala poorna kara.. and make the facebook group open to public.. bcas many cudn access t..dhanyavaad.

ARV :- Hello Anand Thirtha. Thanks for you comment. With your permission I shall re-write in DM script what you said.
"तुम्ही कराच हे प्रोजक्ट उजंड उत्तम म्हणून आहे. हे 21 सेंचुरींत॑ (शतकांत॑) अम्चस्क॑ नव जनरेषन लोकांस॑ (लोकांला) शुद्ध मराठी तेवढे येत नाही. दया करून तुम्ही हे प्रोजक्टाला पूर्ण करा".

I wanted to write out your sentence in DM to show you that when we write our DM sentences all that we need to take care is to learn how to write our words with correct "spellings". The sentences will be in our syntax (order of words in a sentence), just as we speak. We should not try to copy the SM syntax. तुम्ही लिवलते वाक्य, मी दक्षिणी मराठीच लिपींत॑ लिवून दाखिवलते उद्देश काय म्हणून सांगतों. अम्च भाषा बरोर लिवाम॑ म्हण्जे, गोष्टांच "स्पेल्लिंग" बरोर आहेका, हे मात्र पाहींगटलतर॑ पुरे. अम्ही कस॑ बोलतोंकी तसच लिवलतर॑ वाक्यरचना (syntax) बरोर एईल॑. पुणे मराठीच वाक्यरचनास्क॑ असनास्क॑ पाहींगाम॑.

If you want to ask me any question please mail me at vishnughar@gmail.com. तुम्हाला वेगळ॑ कायतरीन विचारांमते आहे म्हण्जे मझ इ-मेल अड्ड्रस vishnughar@gmail.com हे वाटी मेल करा.


. Subhashini said on .... 13th March 2012
Good informative blog Sir.It is useful to differentiate between Tamil words & Thanjavur Marathi.

ARV :- Thanks for your comment, Subhashini.



01 April 2009

DMP




THIS PROJECT IS BEING UNDERTAKEN WITHOUT ANY COMMERCIAL MOTIVE. NO PART OF THE UPLOADS SHOULD BE USED BY ANYONE FOR ANY COMMERCIAL PURPOSE.

 THE BETA-VERSION OF THE DICTIONARY PART OF THIS PROJECT IS APPENDED BELOW. WHILE USERS MIGHT FIND THIS VERSION USEFUL, CORRECTIONS ADDITIONS AND EDITING OF THE CONTENTS ARE BEING CARRIED OUT EVERY DAY. PLEASE MAIL YOUR SUGGESTIONS TO vishnughar@gmail.com

 CAUTION:- AS CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS ARE BEING CARRIED OUT FREQUENTLY IN THE DICTIONARY, PLEASE USE YOUR DISCRETION BEFORE DOWN-LOADING ANY PART OF IT AS PERMANENT REFERENCE.

  

Dakshini Marathi Punaruddharini (DMP)

 

A Project for restoring and standardizing Dakshini Marathi aka Tanjavur Marathi aka Tanjore Marathi spoken by the descendants of Maharashtrian Desasthas who migrated to Southern India in the late 17th Century or earlier.

 

by

Ananda Rao Vasishta

 

  

The small province of Tanjore (Tanjavur) in Southern India came under Maratha rule around 1675 CE. Those were the days of Maratha expansionism in the wake of the collapse the great Moghul imperial power. The British were yet to make deep incursions into India. Maratha power epitomized by the great warrior Shivaji was on the rise in Western India (present day Maharashtra, where Marathi is spoken by over 65 million people). Shivaji’s half-brother Venkoji (aka Vyenkoji or Ekoji) was a Jagirdar of the small garrison of Bangalore under the Sultan of Bijapur who was ruling over parts of present day Maharashtra State and Karnataka State. Bangalore is around 600 kilometers south of Bijapur. Around 1674 CE Venkoji was required to proceed to Tanjore to settle a dispute of succession in the kingdom of Tanjore lying 600 kilometers further south. At the end of his expedition / intervention Venkoji installed himself as the ruler of Tanjore. Thereafter Marathas ruled Tanjore for about 185 years. The kingdom was annexed by the British to their Indian possessions at the end of this period.

 

Venkoji was accompanied by a retinue of Marathi speaking soldiers, administrators, priests, tradesmen etc. who settled down permanently in Tanjore, 1200 kilometers away from their homeland, Maharashtra. Even before this, there have been a defused migration of Maharashtrians towards many regions in the South. Over the next three centuries the Marathi language of the first immigrants mutated into present day dialect of Tanjore Marathi. The language is now called Dakshini Marathi (DM) also. During the intervening centuries the descendants of the emigrant Marathi population, had no sustained or consequential interactions with their counterparts in Maharashtra proper and this was one of the main reasons for the mutation to take place. In fact there are variations of this dialect, which evolved on the basis of the religious castes to which the respective groups belonged. The one with which Project DMP is concerned, is spoken by the Madhwa Desastha and Smartha Desastha sub-castes. All references hereafter in this write-up would concern itself with the Tanjavur Marathi (TM) spoken by the Madhwa Desastha and Smartha Desastha sub-castes.

 

DM / TM took a totally different route in its evolution over the past 300 years, influenced by Tamil which was the language of the vast majority in Tanjore and present day Tamil Nadu State, in Southern India. It is worth pointing out that Marathi belongs to the Indo Aryan group of languages, whereas Tamil belongs to the totally different Dravidian Group. DM / TM has now shrunk to become a community language spoken only at home by the descendants of the Maharashtrians who migrated to the Tanjore kingdom, Arni Jagir, Bangalore and other small pockets of settlements in Southern India. It is not spoken or understood by the people outside the community. (The majority population of the State of Tamil Nadu of which Tanjore is now a District, speak Tamil - numbering over 55 million). With over three centuries of disconnect with the mainstream Marathi, DM / TM has become an alien language to the Marathi speaking people of Maharashtra also. It is estimated that the total number speakers of DM / TM belonging to the Madhwa Desastha and Smartha Desastha sub-castes is in the range of 75,000. DM /TM is not listed as a dialect of Marathi in any Government document or census reports. There is no Governmental recognition or support for the cause of DM / TM. No University or educational institution in India has any program for this dialect.

 

The early DM speakers used the archaic Modi script as well as Devanagari script (of Sanskrit and Hindi) for writing. Modi is a cursive variant of Devanagari script. Usage of Modi and Devanagari scripts was given up gradually, until as of today, the dialect is left with no script. Without the benefit of a written reference standard and in the absence of "script based pronunciation", each succeeding generation of DM speakers is being bequeathed a dialect with ever decreasing vocabulary with an increasing degeneration in pronunciation and inflection. There is a distinct tendency for the newer generations to shy away from the language spoken by their elders. DM has thus become an endangered language. There is an urgent need to reverse the trend.

 

Chambers 21st Century Dictionary defines a dialect as:-

 

“A form of a language spoken in a particular (geographical) region or a certain social

group, differing from other forms in grammar, vocabulary and in some cases

pronunciation”

 

Dakshini Marathi (DM)) as spoken by Madhwa and Smartha Desastha communities of Southern India qualifies to be called a dialect of Standard Marathi (SM) as it differs from SM in all the parameters highlighted in the above definition as explained in detail below.

 

i) Geographical:-

DM as spoken today by miniscule populations spread over almost all districts of Tamil Nadu and a few districts in the other Southern states and elsewhere, started out with it's base in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, India. Standard Marathi is spoken in Maharashtra, a State situated in the western part of India. These two regions are not contiguous and are separated by over 1200 kilometers.

 

ii) Social Group:-

It is spoken by Madhwa and Smartha Desasthas of Southern India. As a social group DM speakers have no linkages with their counterparts in Maharashtra. They form a distinct cultural group of their own. They find it comfortable to interact with the other linguistic groups of Southern India, rather than with the speakers of Marathi in Maharashtra.

 

iii) Grammar and Syntax:-

As of now the dialect has no script. No attempt appears to have been made by anybody to compile a grammar of DM. If compiled, the rules of grammar of DM would appear to differ quite a bit from that of SM. There are plenty of examples of differing syntax between DM and SM.

 

iv) Vocabulary:-

Today DM has a considerably smaller vocabulary compared with SM. A quick estimate indicates that DM has only around 4000 to 5000, as compared to around 40,000 words in SM. It is very probable that two or three centuries back DM had a much larger vocabulary. Several words which disappeared from DM seem to have been replaced with words from Tamil (mostly) or other languages of Southern India. The present day DM has many words which have since disappeared from or gone out of fashion or usage or become archaic in SM. Yet, almost all original DM words currently in use in DM, exist in SM or in Old Marathi with differing inflections.

 

v) Pronunciation:-

Pronunciation, accent, diction, inflection and grammar of DM differs considerably from that of SM; to such an extent that an average SM and DM speaker would find each other’s language difficult to follow. A point of interest is that after putting in some effort an educated DM speaker would find it much easier to follow SM. The converse need not be true, primarily because DM is heavily influenced by the South Indian (read Tamil) languages and even an educated SM speaker would find the differences in pronunciation, diction, inflection and syntax beyond his easy comprehension. However this gap can certainly be bridged if proper efforts are taken.

 

The dialect came to be associated with Tanjavur (Tanjore) due to historical reasons and hence is called Tanjore Marathi. It is estimated that today less than 15% of this community live in and around Tanjavur; the largest group (30%) being in Chennai. Many others have no connection with Tanjavur and live all over Southern India and elsewhere. It is therefore in fitness of things if the dialect is called Dakshini Marathi (DM), as it would serve the purpose of inclusiveness of this diaspora. This name also gives the dialect a much larger canvas, unshackled from the comparatively restricted geographical connotation imposed by the prefix “Tanjore”. The word “Dakshini” means “belonging to the South”

 

“Dakshini Marathi Punaruddhaarini” (DMP)

 

Project DMP was launched by in April 2009 with the following objectives.

 

• to record the dialect, as spoken / understood by Desasthas hailing from the South (both Madhwas and Smarthas) in the beginning of the 21st century and introduce minimum additions to it’s vocabulary to give it a minimum critical mass required not only to serve as a better community / home language but also to set up a platform for future generations of DM speakers to ensure the growth of the dialect. The idea is to rejuvenate DM (पुनरुद्धारण). The Project does not cover the Marathi spoken by Kshatriyas, Bhavsars, Shimpis and other communities who, like the Desasthas, had migrated to Southern India centuries ago.

 

• to standardize DM / TM as a pure dialect

 

• to restore and retain the originality of DM / TM. It is not an attempt to draw similarities with SM and prompt the DM / TM speaker to adopt the talking style of SM. It is also not the scope of the Project to replace well accepted DM words with SM words so long as they can be written clearly in Devanagari script. At the same time all words from other languages which threaten to replace existing DM words need to be kept away. For example, “Vyazha kizhamai” will not replace Guruwaar, or for that matter “Pathinezhu” replace Sathra. However like any other language DM will contain loan-words from other languages.  The grammar, syntax and usages & customs of DM would remain faithful to itself; ie, it will not be influenced by the grammar, syntax etc. of SM. As far as the spellings of individual words themselves are concerned, as many DM families pronounce many words differently, DMP would, as far as possible, follow the word spellings as in SM. This will bring about a sense of uniformity and over a period of time improve the phonetics. In effect the attempt is to inculcate a habit of cultivating a proper script based pronunciation. For this process to be expedited, all DM families who want to be active in the effort should procure and peruse a good Marathi dictionary.

 

• to have DM officially recognized as a dialect of Marathi by the HRD Ministry, Govt of India

 

• to have DM/TM recognized as an endangered language and have it included in UNESCO's Red Book of Endangered Languages

 

Scope of the Project:-

 

No dictionary, books, literature or any grammar texts of present day DM exists. The present initiative is the first ever comprehensive attempt to record and rejuvenate DM as spoken today.

 

DMP is an open ended project and welcomes contributions from all DM speakers. For academics and those interested in linguistics, the Project will serve as a reference to study DM in an “as is where is condition.” Another unique point of interest to the academics is that DMP will help them to study the formation and development of new dialect (TM/DM) from an established major language (Marathi) and observe its movement to an endangered status, all within a period of 350 years.

 

Unlike most other major Indian languages DM has not yet been standardised. Hence it is inevitable that in respect of several words multiple spellings would be in current use. An attempt has been made to include words with differing spellings in this work. Cross references have been provided in such cases.

 

There are variations of speech in every Indian language, depending on the geographical areas in which they are spoken. However in all such cases where standardisation has taken place the written form of that language is more or less uniform. In other words variations in the spoken form and a standardised style of writing co-exist in all Indian languages which have been standardised. The process of standardisation of the major India languages took place when a system of mass education was introduced by the British colonizers. In many cases the standardisation took place during late eighteenth Century or early to mid-nineteenth Century. The process was given a head-start when dictionaries of major Indian languages were first written, mostly by European missionaries whose primary intention was to reach out to the masses for the purpose of conversion to Christianity.

 

However in respect of Dakshini Marathi no dictionary was compiled by anybody and no mass education in DM was conducted and hence no standardisation took place. It continues to prevail in a semi-archaic form. The Dakshini Marathi Punaruddharini Project is an attempt to address this issue to the extent possible.        

 

 

 

Methodology:-

 

• Introduce an alphabet with Devanagari as the script for DM

• Prepare a DM–English–DM dictionary. This will be the first ever dictionary of modern TM/DM and will contain notes for comparing the DM words with the corresponding SM words wherever they differ either in spelling or meaning or usages. Almost all the words will be followed by illustrative sentences to give the reader an idea how DM language is written.

• The dictionary would also contain idioms, phrases, figures of speech, metaphors and usages of DM/TM

• The dictionary will also indicate the etymology of non DM words

• For each DM/TM word, English meanings will be followed by DM meanings or explanations. These explanations will give an idea the prevailing DM usages, expressions and syntax

• Notes will be provided where DM and SM words differ in spellings, contextual meanings or usages

• if a particular word is pronounced differently by different groups of DM speakers, no judgment is made as to which is the "correct" version.

• Prepare a grammar text, based on the current spoken usage of DM, with adequate sample words and sentences reflecting each grammatical rule

• Prepare a list of common useful day-to-day words in use in other languages but which are absent in DM/TM and, therefore need to be introduced into DM. These words would be part of the dictionary mentioned above

• Extensive usage of electronic media is envisaged for propagating the concept and for taking the Project forward

• Prepare step-by-step e-learning material for dissemination amongst all DM speakers

 

 

Present Status of Project DMP

 

(I) Alphabet and Script :-

 

An alphabet with the following letters written in Devanagari script has been re-introduced. Given below is the full list of DM / TM alphabet.

 

स्वर (Vowels): , , , , , , , , , , and

स्वरादी : अ॑, अं and अः

 

Notes:

1. , , are called hrswa (हृस्व स्वर) as their pronunciation is curtailed compared to that of dheerga swaras (दीर्घ स्वर)

2. अ॑ is pronounced as a half sound of

3. , , are called deergha swaras (दीर्घ स्वर) as their pronunciation is long compared to that of hrswa swaras

4. , , are called samyukta swaras (संयुक्त स्वर) as they have the characteristics of both hrswa and deergha swaras

5. There are many words in DM which involve the usage of अ॑ in combination with a consonant. This is a typical characteristic of DM.

 

स्वरादी - There are three swaradis (स्वरादी) in DM. They are अ॑, अं and अः represented by the symbols (),() and () and can be pronounced only in combination with a swara or consonant (व्यंजन)

 

Consonants (व्यंजन) - There are 34 व्यंजन in DM. They are:-

, , , ,

, , , ,

, , , ,

, , , ,

, , , ,

, , , ,

, , ,

 

Conjoined Consonants (संयुक्त व्यंजन) -There are several Conjoined Consonants (संयुक्त व्यंजन) in DM. However only two i.e.  क्ष and ज्ञ are listed in the DM alphabet.

 

 

(II) Dictionary:-

 

DM–English–DM Dictionary is under preparation. The Beta-Version of the e-Manuscript has been loaded in blog www. vishnughar.blogspot.com. This contains around 5000 entries. As a part of a step-by-step strategy, the number of words from Tamil or other languages have been kept to the barest minimum in the Beta-version. In Version 2 (which will be a creeping, seamless update of the Beta-Version) words from Tamil and other languages including English would be considered for inclusion. To begin with, words in use in day-to-day life, for which we do not have corresponding DM word would be included. The other stated objectives of the dictionary would follow stage-by-stage.

 

Acknowledgment:-

 

Mr. R.R. Chandran, Vice-President of the South Indian Maharashtrian Association, Hyderabad (SIMA) has been rendering great help to me in the preparation of the dictionary. Besides contributing a large number of words and sentences he has been of great help to me in fine tuning the contents of the dictionary. No amount of gratitude will suffice for the help I have received from him.

 

 

(III) Use of electronic media

 

• I have been uploading the e-Manuscript of the DM–English–DM Dictionary in my Blog www.vishnughar.blogspot.com from April 2009 onwards.

 

The way forward

 

• Bring out a minimum number of a very well laid out book containing the above information.

• Make the contents available in digital form.

• Share the DM speaking families (estimated at around 15,000 to 20,000).

• Make use of the Internet extensively for propagating the Standardised DM

• Seek the help of Universities, academics, DM/TM community leaders and social organizations associated with DM/TM speakers

 

As one whose mother tongue is TM/DM, it is my desire that my efforts will contribute at least in a small measure for its continued existence as a self-sustaining dialect.

 

 

 

VIEWER REMAREKS AND MY RESPONSES

 

. This site represents the pioneering work of a completely self-taught linguistics researcher who has taken upon himself, as a passion, the task of formalizing the linguistics framework of Thanjavur Marathi (or, to use his more correct nomenclature, "Dakshini Marathi" or "DM"), a South Indian off-shoot of Standard Marathi ("SM"), the language of India's Maharashtra State. The ambitious project involves the creation of what is possibly the very first DM dictionary and drawing up the rules of DM's grammar and syntax, thus facilitating the usage of the language in its refined form and hopefully arresting the steady erosion of DM due to the ever-increasing influence of the regional languages surrounding it. A marvellous effort by an amateur that is certain to be of interest not only to the South Indian Maharashtrian community but also to linguistics students and researchers inquiring into the evolution of languages.

 

 

Posted at 11/25/2011-06:56:53 AM by Madhva Desastha, Reviewer, in McAfee Site Advisor (http://blog.siteadvisor.com/sites/vishnughar.blogspot.com/msgpage)

 

ARV - Shri. Madhva Desastha, thanks for you comments.

 

 

. Suresh said on 31st Oct '09 ; "Great Sir. Keep it up"

 

ARV- Thanks Suresh.

 

 

. Ramnarayan Rao said on 5th Dec '09 (on Facebook Group "Thanjavur Marathi - Tanjore, India"); "hello all...i found this interesting blog a few months ago. thought i would share it with all of you. i found it very awesome, being the the work of passionate individual. kudos..."

 

ARV- Thanks for the nice words.

 

 

. Anonymous said...on 22nd Jan '10 ; "Hi: Would you please join the facebook group specially formed for Thanjavur Maharashtrians - "Thanjavur Marathi - Tanjore, India".... Thanks..."

 

ARV- Thanks for inviting me to join the Tanjavur Marathi Group in Facebook. I have since become a member of TMG.

 

 

Lalitha said... on 21st July '10. ; "You have done a good job and put in a lot of effort. keep it up".

 

ARV- Thanks for the complement. The work will continue for many more months.

 

 

. Vidya Rao said...on 1st Aug '10 ; "Nice to read about this article. I am a TM. Really happy to know that my language is being restored.keep up the good effort".

 

ARV- Thanks for the complement. Please try to spread the news to other DM/TM speakers known to you.

 

 

. Babois said on... 4th Aug '10 : "Happy to note that you have gotten this project off the ground. It would be nice if someone could study the cultural dimensions as well. The nearly total alienation from Maharashtra and the ability to blend in seamlessly with the Tamils must reveal an interesting tale.On a more personal note, although we had family in Kumbakonam, we never used the term Tanjore Marathi. The dominant label was Madhava Desistha or Smarthas.I have yet to figure out the tenacity of the Madhava identity over all else. I wonder if the dualist Dvaita philosophy becomes the distinguishing label because it is embraced by relatively few".

 

ARV- Thanks for your post. The term Tanjore Marathi is not exclusive to Madhvas. It is equally identified with Smarthas also who speak TM. AS regards your suggestion on the need for someone to study the cultural dimentions, you may make a beginning by participating in the facebook group "Thanjavur Marathi - Tanjore, India". I have major plans on this after the dictionary part is over. You may also look up Pratibha's blog http://tanjoremarathis.blogspot.com

 

 

. Pratibha said... on 5th Aug '10. ; "I was discussing about the meaning of आवेश as an emotion, something beyond Force as in आवेश आलास्का करतो . Your dictionary was a good guidance to the exact meaning"!

 

ARV- Nice to hear this. Thanks. The dictionary is still in an evolving stage. I am happy to tell that Shri. Rajagopal Ramachandran (Vice-President, SIMA, Hyderabad) has joined me as a co-author of the dictionary.

 

 

. Sandhya Rao said ... on 17th Oct '10. ; "Real Great effort !!! I was reilly reiily happy to have happened to visit this blog".

 

ARV- Thanks for your comment.

 

 

. Pratibha Prabhakar said ... on 10th Dec '10. ; "Shri Ananda Rao,I was telling my 81 year old father, a staunch TM about your blog and he sends his deep appreciation of your good work and he feels 'Dakshini Marathi' is the most appropriate name for our Thanjavur Marathi. In fact since then, while helping me with my blog, he always refers to our Marathi as DM/Dakshini Marathi".

 

ARV- Please give my regards to your father and tell him I feel honoured by his opinion of my blog. We should propagate the term Dakshini Marathi amongst fellow DMs.

 

 

. Anonymous said...on 11th Feb '11. ; "Great Job sir.I will try to implement words that I have not been doing. Also good to be reassured that the words I say are corerect too. I have a question How do u say " come home" in TM. My husband says it diffrently than me. What to know the correct way. Thx in advance..."

By Anonymous.

 

ARV :- Thanks for your comment. Now to answer your question:-

The following are the options.

. घराला या or घराला यांत॑ when addressing elders, husband or anyone with respect (singular and plural),

. घराला ये when addressing in the singular (without respect)

The following two ways of saying it are not gramatically correct, but by usage they have come to stay in DM:-

. घरांत या or घरांत येंत॑

. घरांत ये

In the sentence you have mentioned ie, "come home", the noun "home" (घर in DM)assumes an "accusative" character and the correct grammatical usage to indicate the accusative character is by adding "ला" to it ; hence घर becomes घराला. As I said earlier, the usage "घरांत" is not grammatically correct, but by usage it has been accepted in DM.

 

 

T.S. Ramanath said on ....26th Feb '11 ; "I chanced upon to read your article which is thought provoking. I am a TM and proud of our language and culture. As a community, we are soft natured and well educated. God bless you for your sincere effort in restoring our DM".

 

ARV :- Thanks for your comment.

 

 

. Narayan said on ....10th March '11 ; Namaskar. My name is Narayan and I live in St. Louis, MO, USA. I am TM and was brought up in Hyderabad. My parents were one of the original founders of SIMA in Hyderabad. Since I moved to the US I have been trying to get in touch with local people who are TM to try and build a local community of TM speakers in the country. I chanced upon your work on your blog and I am really happy to be a follower of the blog and use it as an educational tool with your permission for teaching my children and other about our rich language. Someday in the future when I come to Bangalore I hope to meet with you in person.Regards,Narayan.

 

ARV :- Hello Mr. Narayan, It was nice going through your mail. As regards an on-line community of TMs, you could look up the facebook group "Thanjavur Marathi - Tanjore, India" There are over 600 members here. A word of caution about using my blog as an educational tool ; it is still in a manuscript form, undergoing additions and corrections almost every day. In addition to using the dictionary, my advise to you would be to use BARAHA software(freeware from baraha.com)and start writing TM. Thanks for your mail and regards to you.

 

श्री. नारायण यांस॑,

तुम्च इ-मेल वाचून मला संतोष वाटल॑. फेसबुकांत " तंजाऊर मराठी-टांजोर, इंड्या" अस॑ एक तंजावूर मराठी लोकांच ओण-लैन समूह आहे. हेजांत सहाशेंचवर लोक आहेत. तुम्च लेंकरांला तंजाऊर मराठी शिकिवाल मझ॑ ब्ळोग उपयोग करतआहेंत, हे ऐकून मला एक सांगाच आहे. काय म्हण्जे, दिवसास्क॑ हे ब्ळोगांत॑ नव-नव शब्द मिळिवण॑, तसच, कित्येक शब्दाच/अर्थाच बदलावण॑ करण॑ हे होत असत॑. अण्खीन एक सांगाच आहे. बराहा सोफ्टवेर (बराहा.कोमांतून डौनलोड कराच फ्रीवेर) उपयोग करून तंजाऊर मराठी लिवाला/लिहाला तुम्ही प्रयत्न करलतर बर असल.

अस॑,

.आर.वी.

 

 

. Criticalmass said on ....14th Aug 2011

I appreciate your efforts. It is a mighty job.Is there any way we can assist you?

 

ARV :- Thanks. If you have any suggestions or ideas to carry DMP forward, please mail me.

 

 

anand theerth said...on 30th Sep 2011

namaskar ji..

thumi karna ye project ujanda utham manu aye..ye 21 century'ntha amchaska younger generation lokehnchala shudha marathi thavda yethini.. dhayakaruh thumi hey projectala poorna kara.. and make the facebook group open to public.. bcas many cudn access t..dhanyavaad.

 

ARV :- Hello Anand Thirtha. Thanks for you comment. With your permission I shall re-write in DM script what you said.

"तुम्ही कराच हे प्रोजक्ट उजंड उत्तम म्हणून आहे. हे 21 सेंचुरींत॑ (शतकांत॑) अम्चस्क॑ नव जनरेषन लोकांस॑ (लोकांला) शुद्ध मराठी तेवढे येत नाही. दया करून तुम्ही हे प्रोजक्टाला पूर्ण करा".

 

I wanted to write out your sentence in DM to show you that when we write our DM sentences all that we need to take care is to learn how to write our words with correct "spellings". The sentences will be in our syntax (order of words in a sentence), just as we speak. We should not try to copy the SM syntax. तुम्ही लिवलते वाक्य, मी दक्षिणी मराठीच लिपींत॑ लिवून दाखिवलते उद्देश काय म्हणून सांगतों. अम्च भाषा बरोर लिवाम॑ म्हण्जे, गोष्टांच "स्पेल्लिंग" बरोर आहेका, हे मात्र पाहींगटलतर॑ पुरे. अम्ही कस॑ बोलतोंकी तसच लिवलतर॑ वाक्यरचना (syntax) बरोर एईल॑. पुणे मराठीच वाक्यरचनास्क॑ असनास्क॑ पाहींगाम॑.

 

If you want to ask me any question please mail me at vishnughar@gmail.com. तुम्हाला वेगळ॑ कायतरीन विचारांमते आहे म्हण्जे मझ इ-मेल अड्ड्रस vishnughar@gmail.com हे वाटी मेल करा.

 

 

. Subhashini said on .... 13th March 2012

Good informative blog Sir.It is useful to differentiate between Tamil words & Thanjavur Marathi.

 

ARV :- Thanks for your comment, Subhashini.