Marathi Language

Marathi is the language spoken by the native people of Maharashtra. Marathi belongs to the group of Indo-Aryan languages which are a part of the larger of group of Indo-European languages, all of which can be traced back to a common root. Among the Indo-Aryan languages, Marathi is the southern-most language. All of the Indo-Aryan languages originated from Sanskrit. Three Prakrit languages, simpler in structure, emerged from Sanskrit. These were Saurseni, Magadhi and Maharashtri. Marathi is said to be a descendent of Maharashtri which was the Prakrit spoken by people residing in the region of Maharashtra.

Marathi is spoken mainly in Maharashtra & the Central part of India. It is the state official Language of Maharashtra

Marathi: Script

The script currently used in Marathi is called 'bALbodh' which is a modified version of Devnaagari script. Earlier, another script called 'moDI' was in use till the time of the Peshwas(18th century). This script was introduced by HemADpanta, a minister in the court of the Yadava kings of Devgiri (13th century). This script looked more like today's draviDian scripts and offered the advantage of greater writing speed because the letters could be joined together. Today only the Devnaagari script is used which is easier to read but does not have the advantage of faster writing.

The Alphabets

Vowels

The vowels are grouped in two groups. The first group consists of 12 vowels as follows:

a aa(A) i ii(I) u uu(U) e ai o au aM aH

The first 10 vowels are very widely used. The last two are less commonly used. The second group consists of the 4 vowels : R^i R^I L^i L^I of which the vowels R^I and L^I are entirely extinct today. The vowel L^i is found only in the word 'kL^iptee'(meaning a clever idea) which is also a tongue-twister and can explain the near extinction of these vowels. The vowel R^i still finds use in words like R^ishI (sage), R^itU (season) etc. But in Marathi, it is pronounced more like 'ru'(r is a consonent)which differs significantly from its original Sanskrit pronunciation.

Consonants

Out of the 36 consonents, first 25 are divided into 5 groups, each containing 5 letters. This classification is based on their pronunciation. The last letter in each group requires 'nasal' pronunciation and is called 'anunAsik'(nAsikA = nose).

The first group of 5 consonents consists as follows:

k kh g gh N^

These letters are called 'kaNthya'(kaNtha = throat) meaning that these are pronounced from the throat. The last letter N^(anunAsik) finds its only use in the word 'vAN^may'(meaning literature), otherwise it is also extinct. However, when a nasal sound preceeds any of the other 4 letters of this group, the anusvaara actually represents this letter. For example, aN^ka (number), paN^kha (wing), raN^ga (color) or saN^gha (union)

The second group of 5 consonents consists as follows:

ch chh j jh JN

These are called 'mUrdhanya' because they are pronounced by touching the tongue to 'mUrdhanI' which a part of the upper jaw between the roof and the teeth. The last letter JN is entirely extinct but appears in nasal sounds before the other four alphabets. For ex., saJNcha (set), gaJNa (rust), jhuJNa (combat).

The letters ch, j and jh of this group are pronounced in two ways and this is peculiar to Marathi alone. One of them is a palatal affricate (a mUrdhanya) and the other one is a dental affricate (or a dantya, danta = teeth). This is a striking feature of the Marathi phonological system alone. The contrast between the two sounds is noticed when they appear before the vowels a and aa. For ex. palatal: chaar (four), jag (world), dental: chaaraa (fodder), jaag (awakening), jaD (heavy), jharaa (stream)

Even today, there is some confusion among the Marathi speaking people regarding a few words as to which sound (palatal or dental) is the correct one. Examples of such words are :chakalI (a food item), jaroor (need), chaadar (a blanket) etc. However, the rules for these sounds are well defined when they appear before other vowels. Palatal affricates occur before the vowels i, ii e, ai and au (Ex. chivaT, chain, chev, chayrya, jevaN, jiiv, chiir, zhiij, zep etc.) whereas dental affricates occur before the vowels u, uu and o (Ex. chuuk, churaa, jugaar, jor, chor, zop, zoLii etc.) But there is no means of distinguishing these two distinct sounds in the script. Hence while reading Marathi, you really have to know where the palatal affricates occur and where do the dental affricates occur. This makes it difficult for a non-Marathi person to read or speak in Marathi because the dental affricates for these letters are almost absent in other languages. The dental affricate for the letter 'jh' is somewhat closer to the English sound for 'z'.

The third group of 5 consonents consists as follows:

T Th D Dh N

These are called 'taalavya'(TaaLU = palate or roof of the mouth) as they are pronounced by touching the tongue to the palate. The anunAsik 'N' of this group is very much used independently as well as always appears in nasal sound before the other 4 letters. For ex. ghaNTA (bell), kaNTha (throat), bhANDaN (quarrel) etc.

The fourth group of 5 consonents consists as follows:

t th d dh n

These are called 'dantya'(danta = teeth) because the tongue touches the teeth while pronouncing these. These are 'softer' versions of letters of the third group. The first sound 't' is absent in English. The sounds 'th, d and dh' are somewhat similar to the sound 'th' in throat, that and this respectively. Again the anunAsik 'n' is very commonly used and also appears in nasal sounds before the other four. For ex. santa (saint), pantha (sect), manda (slow), gandha (smell) etc.

The fifth group of 5 consonents consists as follows:

p ph b bh m

These are called 'aushThya' letters (aushTha = lips) since they are pronounced by touching the lips together. The second letter in this group 'ph' is originally an 'aushThya' letter but with influence of English has got somewhat modified to a form similar to a 'dantya' letter. Now a days, many people pronounce it in the same way as the English letter 'F' which is quite different from the original 'ph'. Again the anunAsik 'm' is widely used and also appears in nasal sounds before the other 4 letters. For ex., sampa (strike), gumphaa (cave), pratibimba (reflection), sumbha (rope) etc.

Among these five groups the second and the fourth letters in each group are 'aspirated' forms (with 'h' sound added) of the first and the third letters respectively. Another interesting thing to note is that if the nose is blocked (by cold) then the anunAsik (fifth letter) in each group gets replaced by the third letter in the same group.

The remaining eleven consonents are:

y r l v sh shh s h L ksh GY/Dnya shri

The pronunciation of these requires a combination of usages of tongue mentioned earlier.

Among these the Marathi 'r' is much 'harder' than the English sound of 'r'. Also this consonent has a pronunciation very close to the vowel R^i. When combined with other consonents, this letter is represented by four different distinct forms.

The sounds 'sh','shh' and 's' are very similar. The letter 'shh' finds very limited use, only in words directly taken from Sanskrit. The sound 'h' is called 'mahaprAN'(maha = big, prAN = soul) The letter 'L' has sound similar to 'l' but is a tongue twister for North Indian speakers. This letter is very abundant in Marathi as it is very commonly used in many nouns and verbs. Sounds similar to 'L' are found in Gujarati and many South Indian languages. The pronunciation of the last letter 'GY' as 'DNYA' is peculiar to Marathi alone. The last two letters 'ksh' and 'dnya' have also limited use.

Devanagari UNICODE Chart