Halbi language

Halbi (also Bastari, Halba, Halvas, Halabi, Halvi) is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language, transitional between Odia and Marathi.[2] It is spoken by at least 766,297 people across the central part of India.

Halbi
हलबी / ହଲବୀ
Native toIndia
RegionChhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra
EthnicityHalba
Native speakers
766,297 (2011 census)[1]
Odia, Devanagari
Language codes
ISO 639-3hlb
Glottologhalb1244  Halbi
Linguasphere59-AAF-tb
Halbi-speaking region

The Mehari (or Mahari) dialect is mutually intelligible with the other dialects only with difficulty. There are an estimated 200,000 second-language speakers (as of 2001). In Chhattisgarh educated people are fluent in Hindi. Some first language speakers use Bhatri as second language.

Halbi is often used as a trade language, but there is a low literacy rate. It is written in the Odia and Devanagari scripts. It uses SOV word order (subject-object-verb), makes strong use of affixes, and places adjectives before nouns.

Phonology

Vowels

Halbi has 6 vowels: /i, e, ə, a, o, u/. All vowels show contrastive vowel nasalization.[3]

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal voiced m n (ɳ) (ɲ) ŋ
breathy mʱ nʱ
Stop/
Affricate		 voiceless p t ʈ tʃ k
aspirated pʰ tʰ ʈʰ tʃʰ kʰ
voiced b d ɖ dʒ g
breathy bʱ dʱ ɖʱ dʒʱ gʱ
Fricative s h
Approximant voiced ʋ l j
breathy lʱ
Rhotic voiced r (ɽ)
breathy rʱ (ɽʱ)
  • /n/ is heard as a palatal [ɲ] when preceding palatal affricates, and as retroflex [ɳ] when before retroflex stops.
  • Voiced retroflex stops /ɖ, ɖʱ/ are heard as retroflex flaps [ɽ, ɽʱ] when in word-medial positions.

References
  1. "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011". www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  2. Masica (1991)
  3. Kaushikkar, Chitra Vijay (1972). A descriptive analysis of Halbi: An Indo-Aryan language. Poona: Deccan College.


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