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According to the 1981 Census on written and spoken languages, Dogri has never been investigated systematically with regards to the ramification of the dialectal regions. Dr. Veena Gupta (Dogri Bhasha: Udbhav aur Vikas -1986) has classified Dogri language into seven major dialects. They are as under: -
The variation in north and northwestern belt of Jammu region, which lies between upper hilly area and a part of plain area of the region.
The speakers of this variation are mostly nomadic community with the exception of a few who have settled in different places of the plain area forever. Those who are still following the old practice move towards hilly areas during summer season and in winter season come down as a routine along with their buffalo flocks. They speak their Gojari language, which has been recognized by the J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages as a literary language.
Though this language is still in dialectal form, with the awareness of some enthusiasts its future also seems to be bright.
Actually, Bhadrawhai group of dialects consists of three dialects viz. Bhadrawahi, Bhalesi and Padari respectively. This group again belongs to Western-Pahari group. According to Dr. Siddheshwar Verma the Bhadrawahi group of dialects has retained neutral gender as Sihngali and Gujrati languages (see Indian Linguistic 1891 issue). Pt.Gourishankar Bhadrawahi had translated Shrimadbhagavad Gita into Bhadrawahi language in 1891. Recently Sh. Hans Raj Sharma translated Ayodhyakand of Ramacharit manas into Bhadrawahi.
This variation influenced by Punjabi language (because of its neighbourhood) to some extent is in vogue in the plain area (Kandi belt) especially adjoining with Punjab’s both parts i.e. eastern (Indian side) and western (Pakistan side) viz. Jaffarwal Tehsil’s 16 villages.
In eastern side of Punjab the belt of the speakers of this variation stretches from Kidian Jandial village to Jainy and Shahpur Kandi (Himachal Pradesh State). This belt goes along with the left bank of Ravi River, which is a line of demarcation between Punjab, Himachal and J&K States.
This variation of Dogri is used or spoken almost in entire lower part of Himachal State. The major towns however involved are Dharmashala, Palampur, Gaggal, Hamirpur, Nurpur, Kangara, Jwalaji, Vilaspur, Hoshiarpur etc.
This variation of Dogri is used in the area stretched from Basohali town of Jammu region including some villages falling in the vicinity of Nurpur (Himachal State). This belt includes towns and villages like Hatta, Bhoond, Sandhar (Jammu region), Chamba, Banikhet, Dalhousie (Himachal State) etc.
This variation of Dogri has a slight difference from the Kangari variation and is spoken in the lower part of Vilaspur district and in northern part of Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. Its boundaries touch with the southeastern part of Hamirpur district while northern part Mandi, Suket and Shimala lie in the eastern side. In its southern part Nangal area stands and in the west Una town lies.
Apart from the above, there are some more dialects also which though differ slightly with Dogri are not so away from Dogri. They are as follows- (1) Khasi, (2) Siraji, (3) Pongawali, (4) Gaddi, (5) Rambani, (6) Mirpuri, (7) Poonchi, (8) Kishtawari, (9) Kandiyali, (10) Bhatyali, (11) Chambiali, (12) Hoshiarpuri, (13) Mandiyali etc.
There is no significant social variation as such in the Dogri language based on caste, sub caste, tribe and sub tribe variation. However, some people belonging to lower castes like sweepers, cobblers etc. speak Dogri language slightly in a different way, especially with a different accent.
In Dogri speech community there is a little difference or variation in the speech between men folk and women folk though exception is always a common phenomenon in every speech community of all the languages.
The kinship terms prevalent in Dogra community are divided into two categories i.e.
1. Kinship terms exclusively for women folk 2. Kinship terms exclusively for men folk
1. Kinship terms exclusively for women folk
Examples: -
Dogri
(i) दरानी /derani/ “Sister-in-law (wife of husband’s younger brother)”
(ii) जठानी /ɟəʈhani/ “Sister-in-law (wife of husband’s elder brother)”
(iii) ननान /nənan/ “Sister-in-law (sister of husband)”
(iv) देर /der/ “Brother-in-law (husband’s younger brother)”
(v) जेठ /ɟəʈh/ “Brother-in-law (husband’s elder brother)”
(vi) ननोइया /nənoia/ "Brother-in-law (husband of husband’s sister)”
(vii ) दरूतर /ɟərūtər/ “Nephew(son of husband’s younger brother)”
(viii ) जठुतर /ɟəʈhūtər/ “Nephew(son of husband’s elder brother)”
(ix ) दरीऽ /dəri:/ “Niece (daughter of husband’s younger brother)”
(x ) जठीऽ /ɟəʈhi:/ “Niece (daughter of husband’s elder brother)”
2. Kinship terms exclusively for men folk
Dogri
(i) साला /sala/ “Brother in law (wife’s brother)”
(ii) साढू /saʹɖu/ "Brother in law (Husband of wife’s sister)”
(iii) साली /sali/ “Sister in law (wife’s sister)”
(iv) सलेहार /saleaʹr/ “Sister in law (wife of wife’s brother)”
3.The women often use baby talks like:-
लुत्ती / lūtti/ “Loaf”
माई / maĩ/ “Water”
मानो / mano/ “Cat”
शाती / ʃati/ “Naughty”
शानी / ʃani/ “Mischief”
शोनी / ʃoni/ “Beautiful”
4.Some peculiar addresses which are found in the speech of women:-
कुड़े /kūṛe/ “Vocative used for girls or ladies”
मड़ी /məṛe/ -do-
अड़िये /əṛie/ -do-
5. Regarding the use of abusive language:-
Women use certain terms like:-
(i) कलमुंही /kəlmūiʹ/ “Ill faced”
(ii) कंजरी /kəɲɟi/ “Pros.”
(iii) रंड /rəɳɖə/ “Widow”
(iv) चड़ेल /cəṛel/ “Witch”
(v) डैन /ɖɛn/ “Witch “
(vi) संढ /səʹɳɖə/ “Issueless”
(vii) नखस्सी /nəkhəsmi/ “Unchaste woman”
(viii) कलच्छनी /kələcchəni/ “Woman of evil disposition”
(ix) कचज्जी /kəcəɟɟi/ “Uncultured”
6 At the syntactic level no distinction has been marked between the speeches of men and women but it has been noticed that the women are more polite in speech than men.
7. Diaglossic
The existence of two varieties in Dogri language i.e. standard Dogri and colloquial can be said to be a controversial diaglossic situation which is seen almost in every language and Dogri can not be exception. But even then one can not escape interference of each other.
Any dialect when used for all types of works and also for communication gets standardization by and by and then called language. But that very dialect if retains its original form and hence is called colloquial form.
Though poets and writers like Kavi Dattu, Ganga Ram etc. had started writing right from the early seventeenth century this language could not be standardized as a literary language because neither all types of literature were created nor some uniform system was formed. Its old Takkari script was also not modified. However, during the regime of Maharaja Ranvir Singh (1856-1886) with keen interest of the Maharaja himself the old Takkari script was modernized and teaching and use of Dogri in government offices was encouraged. That is why this period is called as period of renaissance of Dogri. It is on record in the archives library of state governments that Maharaja had issued a special order for the teaching of Dogri in all the educational institutions including Sh. Raghu Nath Sanskrit Pathshala (Dogri translation of Lilavati tr. by Jyotishi Vishweshwar was taught in this institute) and regarding its use in the govt. offices along with Persian. He had got translated some books of other languages into Dogri and also started Vilas Press for the publication of such books. But unfortunately with the death of Maharaja, Dogri had become orphan as its teaching and usage in the govt. offices was stopped abruptly and was pushed back for decades. With the establishment of Dogri Sanstha in 1944 a second renaissance in the life of Dogri and a literary as well as political campaign for its all-round development was started. Dogri has achieved a lot in every field but it could not get the status of an official language which it enjoyed during the regime of Maharaja Ranvir Singh.
Here, it is to be pointed out that any developing language always keeps its doors open for new vocabulary from other languages. Dogri is also following the same suit. Being one of the Indo-Aryan languages it has been influenced by Sanskrit and that influence has been route through Prakrit and Apabhransha languages. Moreover, many writers of other languages like Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu etc. have enriched it with new vocabulary and experiences. But at the same time it is natural on the part of any language that when it achieves its standard form it does not abandon its colloquial form. That colloquial form remains alive side by side for the use of general masses as well as illiterate people of the area concerned. At present both the forms of Dogri i.e. मानक भाशा /manək pʹaʃa/ (Standard Dogri) and लोक भाशा /lok pʹaʃa/ (colloquial Dogri) are in use in the Duggar samaj (society). But at the same time it is also to be pointed out that with the spread of education and increase in the means of communication, the colloquial form of Dogri is also undergoing a slight change and thereby it also seems coming close to मानक भाशा /manək pʹaʃa/. Both the forms came to far-less grammatically distinctive than they were about fifty years back.
The influence of English gave a new dimension to the standard form of Dogri. But however, since exception is not ruled out, one finds some examples of Digalossic situation in the Dogri language.
The question of diaglossic situation in case of any language is complicated. When one deals with diaglossic situation in Dogri he/she can see the emergence of two codes i.e. (i) High and (2) Low code. The high code exclusively belongs to the elite class and scholars and writers etc. The low code belongs to colloquial language, which is used by general masses and also by the illiterate people.
High Code Low Code हां जी / ãɟi/ आहो /aoʹ/ “Yes” कुत्थें / kūʹʈʈhẽ/ कुहें /kūẽʹ/ “Where” पीना / pina/ डाफना /ɖaphəna/ “To drink” रूट्टी / rūʈʈi/ तोसा /tosa/ “Meal” खाना / khana/ फुट्टना /phūʈʈəna/ “To eat”
It is generally observed that the police personnel use several slangs when they deal with the culprits. The farmers while ploughing in their respective fields use some slangs in order to control their bullocks.
Examples: i) रर्हामी /raʹmi/ “Bastard” ii) रर्हामजादा /raʹmɟada/ “Bastard” iii) कुत्ता /kūtta/ “Dog” iv) कुत्ती /kūtti/ “Bitch” v) पेरनी /perəni/ “Dramatic” vi) कंजरी /kəɲɟəri/ “Pros.” vii) नटनी /nəʈəni/ “Dramatic”
Some of the Dogri technical terms that are used in the market are the following:
i) भाईवाला / pʹaiwal/ “Partner” ii) हिस्सा / iʹssa / “Share/part” iii) लैनदेन / lɛn-den/ “Give & take” iv) पत्ती / pətti/ “Share” v) बजार / bəɟar/ “Bazar” vi) बपार / bəpar/ “Trade” vii) खाता / khata/ “Account” viii) रेआत/ riatə/ “Concession” ix) सस्ता / səsta/ “Cheap” x) मैंह्गा / mɛʹŋga/ “Costly” xi) तोल / tol/ “Weight” xii) माप / map/ “Measurement” xiii) हट्टी / əʹʈʈi/ “Shop” xiv) भुगतान / pʹūtan/ “Payment” xv) नफा / nəpha/ “Profit” xvi) समान / səman/ “Goods/luggage” xvii) मारफत / marəphət/ “Care of” xviii) हुंडी / ūʹɳɖi/ “Bill of Exchange” xix) लेखा / lekha/ “Account” xx) गिनतरी / ginətəri/ “Number” xxi) फीसदी / phisədi/ “Percent” xxii) बिक्री / bikri/ “Sale” xxiii) चिट-पुर्जा / ciʈ-pūrɟa/ “Coupon” xxiv) चालू साल / calu asl/ “Current Year” xxv) सहयोग / səhəjob/ “Cooperation” xxvi) बिक्री-जोग / bikri-ɟog/ “Saleable” xxvii) बिक्री-कर / bikri-kər/ “Sale Tax” xxviii) पटा / pəʈa/ “Lease” xxix) मालक / malək/ “Proprietor” xxx) खरीद / khərid/ “Purchase” xxxi) भाऽ / paʹ:/ “Rate” xxxii) दुकानदार / dūkandar/ “Shopkeeper” xxxiii) हलवाई / əʹlwai/ “Sweet maker” xxxiv) पन्सारी / pənsari/ “Grocer”
In the field of judiciary, there are a few vocables in use in Dogri language.
Examples: i) दालत /dalət/ “Court” ii) बकील /bəkil/ “Advocate” iii) दालती कारवाई /daləti karwai/ “Legal Proceeding” iv) गुआह् /gūaʹ/ “Witness” v) कनून /kənun/ “Law” vi) जुर्म /ɟūrmə / “Offence” vii) झगड़ा / cəʹgəṛa / “Dispute” viii) वायदा /ʋajəda/ “Promise” ix) शकैत /ʃəkɛt/ “Complaint” x) फैसला /phɛsla/ “Verdict” xi) दावा /daʋa/ “Filing Case” xii) सजाऽ /səɟa:/ “Punishment” xiii) जमानत /ɟəmanət/ “Bail” xiv) रिहा /riaʹ/ “Release” xv) डिग्री /ɖigri/ “Decree” xvi) बरैंट /bərɛɳʈə/ “Warrant’ xvii) जब्त /ɟəbtə/ “Forfeit’ xviii) मकद्दमा /məkəddəma/ “Case” xix) जेल /ɟəl/ “Imprisonment” xx) फांसी /phãsi/ “Arrest” xxi) गिरफ्तारी /girəphtari/ “Judicial custody” xxii) जवाबदेह् /ɟəwabdeʹ/ “Accountable/Prosecution” xxiii) उमरकैद /ūmərəkɛd/ “Life Imprisonment”
1. Some hand written prescriptions in Dogri’s Takkari script are available in the houses of the village physicians. Some are in poetry form and some are in prose form.
Examples:
i) हरड़, ब्हेड़ा, अमला ते बिच सुंढ रलाऽ।
तत्तै पानियै कन्नै चब्बा मार ते ढिड्ड पीड़ नसाऽ।
/əʹrəṛ, bəʹṛa, aməla te bic sūʹɳɖə rəla:
tətte paniɛ kənnɛ cəbba mar te ʈiʹɖɖə piṛ nəsa:/
ii) हरड़, ब्हेड़ा, अमला ते बिच पाई गदोऽ।
ढल्ला शाह् आखदा मेरी भुत्तु राजी रौह्।
/əʹrəṛ, bəʹṛa, aməla te bic pai gədo:
ʈəʹlla ʃaʹ akhəda meri pūʹttū raɟi rɔʹ/
2.i) दुआऽ /dūa:/ “Medicine”
ii) पथ /pəth/ “Patient’s diet”
iii) ताप /tap/ “Fever”
iv) मात्तर /mattər/ “Tablet”
v) निक्का ताप /nikka tap/ “Fever”
vi) अर्क /ərkə/ “Syrup”
vii) चूर्ण /curɳə/ “Herbal Powder”
viii) नुस्खा /nūskha/ “Prescription”
ix) मालश /maləʃ/ “Massage”
x) पर्हेज /pəreʹɟ/ “Prevention”
xi) लाज /laɟ/ “Treatment”
xii) राम /ram/ “Rest”
xiii) मल्हम /mələʹm/ “Ointment”
xiv) त्रैनक ताप /trɛnək tap/ “A kind of fever”
xvi) धड़की /tərki/ “Heart beating”
xvii) त्रेली treli/ “Sweating”
xviii) ढिड्ड पीड़ /ʈiʹɖɖə piṛ/ “Stomach pain”
In the field of general education Dogri registrar and stylistic variations are widely in use in each and every field of knowledge or subject. Some of the vocabulary items are given below:-
i) शिक्षा /ʃikʃa/ “Education”
ii) विद्यार्थी /ʋidjarthi/ “Student”
iii) बुनियादी शिक्षा /būnijadi ʃikʃa/ “Fundamental Education”
iv) तकनीकी शिक्षा /təkəniki ʃikʃa/ “Technical Education”
v) जिस्मानी शिक्षा /ɟismani ʃikʃa/ “Physical Education”
vi) तलीमी माहिर /təlimi mahir/ “Educationist”
vii) उस्ताद /ūstad/ “Teacher”
viii) म्तेहान /mteʹn/ “Examination”
पास /pas/ “Pass”
फेल /phel/ “Fail”
लायक /lajək/ “Intelligent”
नलायक /nəlajək/ “Dull”
हाजरी /aʹɟəri/ “Attendance”
गैरहाजरी /gɛraʹɟəri/ “Absence”
पाठशाला /paʈhəʃala/ “School”
सबक /səbək/ “Lesson”
In the field of administration there are registral variations in Dogri where one can find a great deal of influence from English, Urdu and Hindi languages. Some of the administrative terms used in Dogri are as follows:-
i) अफसर /əphəsər/ “Officer”
ii) फाईल /phiil/ “File”
iii) तरक्की /tərəkki/ “Promotion”
iv) हुक्म /ūʹkkmə/ “Order”
v) तबदीली /təbədili/ “Transfer”
vi) नियुक्ति /nijūkti/ “Appointment”
vii) जवाबतलबी /ɟəwabətələbi/ “Explanation”
viii) छुट्टी /chūʈʈi/ “Leave”
ix) मनिस्टर /mənisʈər/ “Minister”
x) चपड़ासी /cəpəṛasi/ “Peon”
xi) र्क्लक /klərkə/ “Clerk”
xii) दौरा /dɔra/ “Visit”
xiii) मुअत्तल /mūəttəl/ “Suspend”
xiv) अधीन /ədi ʹn/ “Subordinate”
The registral variations are used mainly from Sanskrit and Persian, in the field of religion.
i) पूजा /puɟa/ “Worship” ii) आरती /arti/ “Recital Worship” iii) परमात्मा /pərəmatma/ “God” iv) नमस्कार /nəməskar/ v) नवेद /nəʋed/ “Prasad” vi) नमाज /nəmaɟ/ “Worship” vii) शरधा /ʃəʹrəda/ “Devotion” viii) बर्त /bərtə/ “Fast”
In the field of literature and scientific matter, different types of codes and variations are used in Dogri. Some instances of vocabulary items are as following:
i) उपन्यास /ūpənjas/ “Novel” ii) क्हानी /kaʹni/ “Short Story” iii) निबंध /nibəndə/ “Essay” iv) जीवनी /ɟiʋəni/ “Biography” v) आत्मकथा /atməkətha/ “Auto-biography” vi) भाशा-शैली /paʹʃa.ʃɛli/ “Language & Style” vii) प्रतीक /prətik/ “Symbol” viii) अलंकार /ələkar/ “Figure of speech” ix) आलेचना /alocəna/ “Criticism” x) रूझान /ruɟaʹn/ “Trend” xi) प्रवृत्ति /prəʋritti/ “Tendency” xii) चमुखा /cəmūkha/ “Four faced poetic form”
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