પધારો /padhaaro/ Welcome

નમસ્ત ે/namaste/ Hello.

તારુ નામ શું છે? /taaru naam sun che/ What is your name?

મારુ નામ ... છે /maaru naam ... che / My name is….

કેમ છો /kem cho?/ How are you doing?

સારુન /saarun/ I’m fine. And you?

તમે ક્યાંના છો? /tame kyana chho?/ Where are you from?

હું ... નો or ની ... છું /hu ... no/ (m) or /ni ... chhu/ (f) I’m from ...

મફ કર્જો /maaf karjo/ Excuse me.

ધન્યવાદ /dhanvaad/ Thank you.

આવ્જો /aavjo/ Good bye.

Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region (CeLCAR)

GUJARATIF I V E R E A S O N S W H Y Y O U S H O U L D L E A R N M O R E A B O U T G U J A R AT I S

A N D T H E I R L A N G U A G E

S O M E U S E F U L P H R A S E S I N G U J A R AT I

718 Eigenmann Hall, 1900 East 10th Street, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47406Phone: (812) 856-1230 Fax: (812) 856-1206E-mail : celcar@indiana.eduWeb site: http://www.indiana.edu/~celcar

1. Gujarati is spoken by over 65.5 million people worldwide, making it the 26th most frequently spoken language in the world.

2. A member of the Indo-Iranian language family, Gujarati shares many structural similarities to other Indo-Iranian languages such as word order structure, the way verbs are inflected, and postpositions.

3. Gujarati has a strong literary tradition in both poetry and prose, dating back to 1000 AD!

4. Many Bollywood movies (the most prolific film industry in the world) are filmed in Gujarati, and many of India’s most prominent entertainment performers are Gujarati.

5. If you like Indian food, you can impress your friends by ordering in Gujarati the next time you get a craving for some vegetable samosas!

A B O U T U SThe Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region (CeLCAR) at Indiana University develops materials for learning and teaching a wide variety of Central Asian languages. For more information, go to www.iub.edu/~celcar.

Gujarati (1500 - 1800 AD) and Old Gujarati (1100 - 1500 AD), each of which evolved from classical Sanskrit. Gujarati has three major dialects: Hindu Gujarati (the standard dialect adopted by the India government and taught in schools), Parsi Gujarati (a dialect heavily influenced by the vocabulary and grammar of Persian and Arabic), and the diaspora dialects of Gujarati (spoken in migration communities and are heavily influenced by the languages in the surrounding communities).Gujarati, like many of its Indo-Iranian counterparts, follows a subject-object-verb word order, uses postpositions rather than prepositions, has a distinct polite form, and the verbs are heavily inflected with suffixes to mark gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), number (plural and singular), and aspect, etc. Additionally, Gujarati does not use definite or indefinite articles.

W H AT A L P H A B E T D O T H E G U J A R AT I S U S E ? Gujarati is written using Gujarati script, which is a modified version of the Devanāgarī script. The major difference between the two is the loss of the characteristic horizontal line used above the letters in Devanāgarī. Both scripts are considered abugidas, rather than alphabets, because their graphemes represent segmental sounds (set consonant-vowel sequences), rather than single sounds like letters in an alphabet. Changes in vowel sounds are represented by the use of diacritics.

The earliest known example of Gujarati script dates back to 1592, however the first known publication of the script is an advertisement published in 1797. Prior to the 19th century, Gujarati script was only used for writing personal letters and record keeping, while the Devanāgarī script was used for official writing, such as literature and academic writing.

W H AT I S G U J A R AT I C U L T U R E L I K E ? Gujaratis typically practice one of three major religions: Hinduism, Jainism, or Islam. Most Gujaratis living in Central Asia are Muslims; however, many of them are part of small, but growing Hindu communities in Central Asia.Gujarati women typically wear traditional saris or salwar kamiz and men typically wear dhotis and kurtas.Gujarati cuisine is primarily vegetarian due to the influences of Jain vegetarianism and traditional Hinduism. Some of the most popular Gujarati dishes include rotli (an unleavened flatbread), dal (dish made from lentils and spices), kadhi (a spicy gravy-like dish made from chickpea flour), shaak/sabzi (dish made of vegetables and spices) and samosas (triangular-shaped fried pastry filled with spiced potatoes and/or vegetables). And like many Indian cuisine, Gujarati dishes are known for their heavy use of spices and are almost always served with rice.

The Gujarati people are an Indian ethnic group. However, Gujaratis are not all Indian. For example, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Father of Pakistan, was

a Gujarati, as is Sunita Williams, an American astronaut.Gujarati is most commonly spoken in India, specifically in the Indian state of Gujarat, where it is the chief language spoken. It is also an official language in two union territories in India: in Daman and Diu and in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. However, you can find native Gujarati speakers in many other places throughout the world, including in South Asia (Bangladesh, Fiji, and Singapore), Central Asia (Afghanistan and Pakistan), Africa (Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), Europe (United Kingdom), and the Americas (United States and Canada). Overall, there are more than 65.5 million speakers worldwide, making it the 26th most spoken native language in the world.

W H AT K I N D O F L A N G U A G E I S G U J A R AT I ? Gujarati is an Indic (also known as Indo-Aryan) language from the Indo-European language family. Modern Gujarati (1800 AD - present day) is derived from Middle

W H O A R E T H E G U J A R AT I P E O P L E A N D W H E R E D O T H E Y L I V E ?