Kachhi (also spelled, Cutchi or Kachchhi) is an Indo-Aryan Language spoken in the Kutch region of the Indian state of Gujarat, with approximately 866,000 speakers. It is spoken by the Kutchi people; specifically, these are the Bhanushalis (traditionaly known as Bhunsari in Kutchi), Bhatias, Brahmins (Rajgor Ganyathy - Bhuj) Megvals, Visa Oshwal and Dasa Osval (Oshwal) Jains, Lohanas, followers of satpanth, and various Muslim communities in the region, including the Khojas and Kutchi Memons. The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. ... Kutch (Kuchchh) District, State of Gujarat Kutch (also spelled Cutch, Kachh, Kachch and even Kachchh) is a district of Gujarat state in western India. ... This article is for the Indian state. ... The Kutchi people traditionally reside in the Kutch region of the western Indian state of Gujarat. ... A sub-caste of the generic Oswal or Oshwal or Osval. Visa means twenty as opposed to the Dasa - ten. ... Jain and Jaina redirect here. ... // The people of the Satpanth are originally from the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan. ... The Khwajahs or officially Khojas (Urdu: خوجہ) are a (mostly Muslim) community that are mainly concentrated in South Asia, but due to migrations over the centuries have spread to many parts of the globe. ... Transliteration of name of this community has not been standardized. ...

Origins

See Kuchean. Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Tocharian is one of the most obscure branches of the Indo-European language group. ...

Ku-chih

From Yenk'i we went south-west above 200 li, crossing a hill and two large rivers west to a plain, and after traveling above 700 li from that, we came to the Ku-chih country. This country was above 1000 li from east to west and 600 li from north to south: its capital being 17 or 18 li in circuit...Their king is a Kuchih man, he has few intellectual resources, and is under the sway of powerful statesmen. [1].

Qiuci (Kuqa) A city state (Yancheng) located at the silkroad, modern name Kuche, after the Turkish name Kuča (Kuca, Kutcha, Kucha; also called Qiuci or Quci, Quzhi, Kuxian, Quxian, Kushi). Kucha/Kuchar (Chinese Simplified: 库车; Traditional: 庫車; pinyin KùchÄ“; also romanized as Chiu-tzu, Kiu-che, Kuei-tzu. ...

Gumo (Aksu) Capital city Nancheng , modern Aksu (Asu or Moman). Swallowed by Qiuci in the 6th century. Gumo was an important crossway to the north into the ara of the Wusun tribes and southwards to Yutian along the Yutian River.

Source: Chinese History - The citystates along the Silkroad [2]

Tartars (Tatars, Dada) The earliest mention of the Tatars (also called Dada, Dadan, Tatan, Tatar) as Oghuz-Tatar is found on a stone inscription in archaic Turkish the 8th cenutry. For all Turkic groupings and Turkic history, see Turkic peoples. ...

Source: Chinese History - The Non-Chinese peoples and states of the steppe [3]

Closely-related languages

Kachhi is closely related to Sindhi, spoken in neighboring Sindh, Pakistan. Kachhi is often mistakenly thought to be a mixture of Sindhi, Gujarati, Punjabi, and Rajasthani. This may be because Kachhi phonology is very much like that of Sindhi, but the vocabulary is closer to that of Gujarati. Most likely, the similarities are the result of migrations over the centuries across the desert stretching from present-day Sindh to Saurashtra and Kutchh to the east, and Rajasthan and even Punjab to the north. Sindhī (सिन्धी, سنڌي) is the language of the Sindh region of South Asia, which is now a province of Pakistan. ... This article is about the modern Pakistani province of Sindh. ... is an Indo-Aryan language, part of the greater Indo-European language family. ... Punjabi redirects here. ... // Introduction Rajasthani is one of the prominent members of Indo-Aryan languages family. ... Phonology (Greek phonē = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a specific language (or languages). ... A vocabulary is a set of words known to a person or other entity, or that are part of a specific language. ...

Most Kachhis living in India are bilingual or trilingual, due to exposure to closely-related neighbouring languages such as Gujarati and Hindi. Hindi (हिन्दी) is a language spoken mainly in North and Central India. ...

Most common words

There are distinct regional accents and variations in grammar. As in many languages spoken along Asian trade routes, there is substantial borrowing from Farsi and Arabic -- words like "duniya" (world), "jahannum" (hell), and "naseeb" (fate), are routinely used by many speakers of Kachhi. Many Kachhi speakers also speak Gujarati as a separate language, especially as it is the language in which Kachhi-speakers customarily write. Kachhi speakers' Gujarati accent and usage tends towards the standardly accepted forms that any Gujarati speaker would be able to understand.

Some sample Kachhi phrases:

 Aai acho tha - are you coming? (polite) Kurro karyo tha - what are you doing?(polite) Kithe vino tha - where are you going? (polite) Keen' ayo - how are you? (polite) 

To give an indication of dialects and regional variations, the question "Kithe vino tha?" (where are you going?) may also be posed as "Keda veno tha?"

The following words are commonly used by individuals of descending from the Kutch rural area of Gujarat, India. They are colloquial forms of general phrases that are often used in daily conversation in villages, particularly of the Kutchi predominance and are Gujaratisized versions of Kutchi words. An example of such follows:

-Su kerero? (Gujarati "shun' karo chho" meaning "what are you doing?")

-Awwaro/Jawwaro ( Gujarati - Aawun' chhun' / Jaaun' chhun' - I am coming / going)

-Kichri Khawhero? (Gujarati - Kichri khaao chho? - Are you eating Kichri?)

Writing system

Kachhi is normally written using a modified version of the Gujarati script. Many books and magazines are published the language using the modified Gujarati script, including Vadhod ("Inquiry"). Kachhi is also written in the Devanagari script by some speakers. In earlier times it used to be written in Khojki script, which is now extinct. Koro - What
Barobar - Ok
Laat - Nice
Khapay - Want
Mukay day - Give me
Jagya - Place
Bhokh - Hunger
Kadaa - where
Halya - welcome
Maadu - Man
Chhoro - Boy
Naalo - Name
Kotoo - Dog
Manee - Cat
Aundhar - Rat
Andar - In
Achija - Bye
The Gujarati script, which like all Nagari writing systems is strictly speaking an abugida rather than an alphabet, is used to write the Gujarati language and the Kutchi language. ... च् + छ = च्छ Devanagari in Unicode The Unicode range for Devanagari is U+0900 . ...

See also

• Memon
• Cutchi Memons
• Oswal
• Bhatia

The Memon (Gujarati: મેમણ ) people are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group that originated in Sindh province of what is now Pakistan and later settled in Gujarat. ... Oswal are basically Jains originated from Osian or Osia in the Jodhpur district of Rajasthan; they are generally followers of the Swetamber Jain section. ... Bhatia is a surname found mostly in North and West India. ...

External links

• Ethnologue report on Kutchi
• Gujarati script, used to write Kutchi
• Kutchi forum and info site