Moving this to: https://sangeetpaul.notion.site/Gaha-8d22e424d3ea4877a24270fd8feb8792
Gahaḷā (/gɔhɔɭ̆a/; Bengali: গহলা, Devanagari: गहळा, Odia: ଗହଳା, Ol Chiki: ᱜᱚᱦᱚᱲᱟ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Indian districts of East SinghbhumJH, MayurbhanjOD, JhargramWB and Paschim MedinipurWB. The focal point of the language is the town of BaharagoraJH, located 6-7 km from the Jharkhand-Odisha-West Bengal tripoint.
It is not an official language of India and is widely considered a dialect of either Bengali or Odia. It is most probably a creole arising due to contact between Bengali, Hindi, Odia and the local Austroasiatic Munda languages.
1. Etymology
Due to lack of official recognition and linguistic records, the language has no official name. The sole paper I found on the language calls it Bahraagi, based on BaharagoraJH. I have chosen the name Gahaḷā since it’s the most popular endonym of the community I belong to. Although mostly used to refer to the people themselves, it is also often used to refer to the language the people speak. Gahaḷā is actually the adjectival form of gahaḷa (crowd), referring to the “crowding” of various peoples that led to this culture.
2. Phonology
All the consonants and vowels of Gahaḷā are derived from the collective Bengali/Hindi/Odia phonology. A unique quirk, however, is the relatively extensive usage of nasalisation, so much so that a popular name for Gahaḷā is Ṭã-ṭā̃, onomatopoically referring to the many first-person-singular verbs ending in -ṭã.
2.1. Consonants
| Bilabial | Dento-Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
| Nasal | m | n | ɳ | ŋ | |||
|
Stop
|
voiceless | p | t | ʈ | tʃ | k | |
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | ʈʰ | tʃʰ | kʰ | ||
| voiced | b | d | ɖ | dʒ | g | ||
| murmured | bʱ | dʱ | ɖʱ | dʒʱ | ɡʱ | ||
|
Fricative
|
voiceless | s | h | ||||
| voiced | ɦ | ||||||
|
Flap
|
voiced | ɾ | ɽ | ||||
| murmured | ɽʱ | ||||||
| lateral | ɭ̆ | ||||||
| Approximant | w | l | ɭ | j | |||
2.1.1. Consonant Shift
The most conspicuous consonant shift is /l/→/n/, especially in words derived from Bengali/Hindi/Odia that start with /l/. This shift is also present, albeit to a lesser extent, in the border dialects of Odia and Bengali. For example:
| English | Bengali | Hindi | Odia | Gahaḷā |
| people | lok | log | loka | nok |
| (I) feel | lāgche | lag raha hai | laguchi | nagete |
| cloth | kāpoṛ | kapṛā | lugā | nugā |
The 3 Indic sibilants – alveolar /s/, postalveolar /ʃ/ and retroflex /ʂ/ – have merged into a single sibilant /s/. Also, the palatal nasal /ɲ/ has shifted to /g/.
2.2. Vowels
| Front | Back | |
| Close | i | u |
| Close-Mid | e | o |
| Open-Mid | ɛ | ɔ |
| Open | a | ɒ |
3. Transliteration
For transliteration I have mostly followed a combination of International Alphabet for Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) and ISO 15919. As evidenced by the few merged cells, I have assigned only one grapheme to each allophonic pair, since a difference in pronunciation won’t change meaning in such a case.
I have offered 2 variants: one based on diacritics which is easier to read, and one based on cases which is easier to type.
In the diacritical variant, I have also assigned a unique grapheme <ṅ> to the velar nasal consonant /ŋ/ instead of the more popular <ng> because /n/ and /g/ do not always merge in Gahaḷā and merger can change meaning; for instance dān-gā (the alms) and dāṅā (disorder).
3.1. Diacritical Variant
3.1.1. Consonants
| Bilabial | Dento-Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
| Nasal | m | n | ṇ | ṅ | |||
|
Stop
|
voiceless | p | t | ṭ | c | k | |
| aspirated | ph | th | ṭh | ch | kh | ||
| voiced | b | d | ḍ | j | g | ||
| murmured | bh | dh | ḍh | jh | gh | ||
|
Fricative
|
voiceless | s |
h
|
||||
| voiced | |||||||
|
Flap
|
voiced | r | ṛ | ||||
| murmured | ṛh | ||||||
| lateral |
ḷ
|
||||||
| Approximant | w | l | y | ||||
3.1.2. Vowels
| Front | Back | ||
|
Close
|
short | i | u |
| long | ī | ū | |
| Close-Mid |
e
|
o | |
| Open-Mid |
a
|
||
| Open | ā | ||
Nasalization is represented with a tilde on top of the nasalized vowel. Compare gā (sing) and gā̃ (village).
3.2. Case-sensitive Variant
3.2.1. Consonants
| Bilabial | Dento-Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
| Nasal | m | n | N | ng | |||
|
Stop
|
voiceless | p | t | T | c | k | |
| aspirated | ph | th | Th | ch | kh | ||
| voiced | b | d | D | j | g | ||
| murmured | bh | dh | Dh | jh | gh | ||
|
Fricative
|
voiceless | s |
h
|
||||
| voiced | |||||||
|
Flap
|
voiced | r | R | ||||
| murmured | Rh | ||||||
| lateral | L | ||||||
| Approximant | w | l | y | ||||
3.2.2. Vowels
| Front | Back | ||
|
Close
|
short | i | u |
| long | I | U | |
| Close-Mid |
e
|
o | |
| Open-Mid |
a
|
||
| Open | A | ||
Nasalization is represented with a caret after the nasalized vowel. Compare gA (sing) and gA^ (village).
4. Grammar
4.1. Pronouns
4.1.1. Personal Pronouns
| Nominative | Objective | Possessive | |
| 1s | muĩ | moke | mor |
| 1p | āmār | āmārke | āmārkār |
| 2sI | tui | toke | tor |
| 2sF | tumi | tumārke | tumār |
| 2sP | āpṇi | āpṇāke | āpṇār |
| 2p | tumār | tumārke | tumārkār |
| 3sFh | ou | yāke | yār |
| 3sFt | sou | tāke | tār |
| 3sFe | se | tāke | tār |
| 3sPh | e | ānke | ānkār |
| 3sPt | se | tānke | tānkār |
| 3ph | yān | yānke | yānkār |
| 3sPe 3pt 3pe | tān | tānke | tānkār |
4.1.2. Interrogative Pronouns
| English | Gahaḷā | |
| Nominative | who | ke |
| Objective | whom | kāke |
| Possessive | whose | kār |
| what | ki | |
| which | kã |
4.1.3. Relative Pronouns
| English | Gahaḷā | |
| Nominative | who | je |
| Objective | whom | jāke |
| Possessive | whose | jār |
| which | jã |
4.2. Verbs
Verbs are formed by adding suffixes to a root that carries the core meaning. The tables below list only the suffixes.
Verbs are inflected for person, honor and number. The singular has five forms: 1st person, 2nd person intimate, 2nd person familiar, 3rd person familiar and 2nd/3rd person polite. The 2nd person polite is rarely used as the community is too close-knit. 1st person plural is sometimes used as 1st person formal, usually for humor. The plural has three forms: 1st person, 2nd person and 3rd person.
3rd person plural depends on whether the subject is animate or inanimate. The tables below assume an animate subject. For inanimate subjects, 3rd person plural is the same as 3rd person singular familiar. The difference between animate and inanimate is somewhat blurry and sometimes even subjective. Examples of animate subjects are humans, mammals, birds, gods. And examples of inanimate subjects are things, plants, insects, settlements. Though trees, rivers and hills are usually treated as inanimate subjects, I’ve often heard old people refer to them as animate subjects, especially in narration.
4.2.1. Present Tense
| Simple | Continuous | Perfect | |
| 1s | -ã | -ãṭã | -ichã |
| 1p | -i | -iṭi | -ichi |
| 2sI | -u | -uṭu | -ichu |
| 2sF 2p | -a | -aṭa | -icha |
| 3sF | -e | -eṭe | -iche |
| 2sP 3sP 3p | -en | -enṭen | -ichen |
4.2.2. Past Tense
| Simple | Continuous | Perfect | |
| 1s | -nu | -tethinu | -ithinu |
| 1p | -li | -tethili | -ithili |
| 2sI | -lu | -tethilu | -ithilu |
| 2sF 2p | -la | -tethila | -ithila |
| 3sF | -lā | -tethilā | -ithilā |
| 2sP 3sP 3p | -lān | -tethilān | -ithilān |
4.2.3. Future Tense
| Simple | Continuous | Perfect | |
| 1s | -mu | -tethāmu | -ithāmu |
| 1p | -bā | -tethābā | -ithābā |
| 2sI | -bu | -tethābu | -ithābu |
| 2sF 2p | -ba | -tethāba | -ithāba |
| 3sF | -be | -tethābe | -ithābe |
| 2sP 3sP 3p | -ben | -tethāben | -ithāben |
4.2.4. Imperative Mood
Along with the indicative mood as shown above, there’s also the imperative mood.
| 2sI | -∅ |
| 2sF 2p | -a |
| 2sP | -un |
4.3. Postpositions
4.3.1. After Nominative Case
| English | Gahaḷā |
| in/at/by | e |
| to | ke |
| from | ru |
| for (time) | dhari |
| via | hī |
4.3.2. After Objective Case
| English | Gahaḷā |
| without | chāṛi |
| with | nī |
4.3.3. After Possessive Case
| English | Gahaḷā |
| before | āge |
| after | par |
| above/on | upre |
| below | taḷe |
| in front of | āge |
| behind | pāche |
| across | sepār |
| near/beside | pāse |
| for | niki |
| towards | biṭi |
| outside | bāhre |
| inside | bhitre |
| amid | mājhe |
| through | bhitardi |
| like | matan |
| with | sāṅe |
| about | bisay |
5. Vocabulary
5.1. Perso-Arabic
| English | Arabic | Persian | Gahaḷā |
| completely | bi-l-kull | bilkul | |
| magic | jâdu | jādu | |
| joy | xuši | khusi | |
| poor | ḡarīb (stranger) | garīb | |
| rich | ʾamīr (prince) | amir (commander) | amīr |
| world | dunyā | duniyā | |
| account | ḥisāb | hesâb | hisāb |
| strange | ʿajab | ajab | |
| news | ḵabar | xabar | khabar |
5.2. Portuguese
| English | Portuguese | Gahaḷā |
| key | chave | cābī |
| window | janela | jānlā |
| bucket | balde | bālṭī |
| artisan | mestre | mistrī |
| cabinet | armario | ālmārī |
| cabbage | couve | kobī |
| soap | sabāo | sābān/sābun |
5.3. English
| English | Gahaḷā |
| ticket | ṭikeṭ |
| film | philm/philim |
| cycle | sāikel/sāikil |
| station | sṭesan/ṭesan |
| bus | bās |
| lantern | lālṭen |
6. Sample
Sab māṇus janmaru sādhīn. Tānkār marjādā ār adhikār samān. Tānkār bhitre janmagata buddhi ār bibek thāe. Tān nijer bhitre nijer matan bebahār karār kathā.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The One Less Travelled By 