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Tharua Documentation
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Language & Community
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Tharua or Tharu is a language spoken by Tharu community. The community dwells in
the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. The exact number of speakers is unknown.
The members of the community are mostly illiterate however the present generation
is attending schools. Their traditional occupations were agriculture, hunting, fishing,
elephant herding and honey gathering. Tharua language is also spoken in Nepal. In
India the language is not used in media however in Nepal the language is used in
Radio programs.
Tharua is an Indo-Aryan language. They use the language mainly in the home domain.
But as the language is endangered the Tharu people have forgotten their numbers
and use Hindi to count. Influence of Hindi can be seen marked in their speech. Many
of the speakers do not even remember the pronouns and use Hindi pronouns for terms
like, I, we, you etc. However the community still remembers various Tharua songs
related to marriage and other ceremonies and festivals. They celebrate Holi and
they have several Holi songs. Tharua people are good artisans. They weave colourful
clothes and make baskets. Women of the community generally wear long skirt and blouse
with a Chunri. They also wear heavy anklets. Some women also wear heavy chains in
their neck. They also love to make tattoos in their hands.
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Work in Progress
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Phonological Analysis of Tharua language is completed. According to the innitial
analysis the language has 6 vowels and 34 consonants. It can be also claimed that
the language has 14 diphthongs. Instances of free variation, gemination, consonant
sequences, consonant clusters, syllable structures and morphophonemic alternations
were also studied.The dictionary making process is also under progress. Words in
various semantic domains like Kinship, Bodyparts, Food items, Adornments, Animals
and Reptiles etc. have been already added in the dictionary.
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