Alternate Names: Jaiselmer, Marawar, Marwari Bhil, Marwari Meghwar, Merwari, Rajasthani
Dialects: Marwari Bhat, Marwari Bhil, Marwari Meghwar, Northern Marwari, Southern Marwari. Northern and Southern Marwari mutually inherently intelligible. Lexical similarity: 79%–83% with Dhatki ,, 87% between Southern and Northern Marwari, 78% with Marwari Meghwar and Marwari Bhat dialects. A member of macrolanguage Marwari ,.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 220,000. 100,000 Northern Marwari, 120,000 or more Southern Marwari (1998). The latter 100,000 Marwari Bhil, 10,000 Marwari Meghwar, 12,000 to 13,000 Marwari Bhat.
Language Use: One sweeper community of 10,000–100,000 identifies itself as Marwari, but is undergoing rapid shift to Urdu [urd]. Marwari is not usually written. Hindi [hin] is literary language in Rajasthan. Speakers are moderately bilingual in Sindhi [snd], educated speakers also use Sindhi. Educated speakers also use Urdu [urd].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: Below 1%. Literacy rate in L2: Below 5% in Sindhi or Urdu. Newspapers. Bible portions: 1969–1991.
Writing System: Arabic (Nastaliq), Arabic (Naskh)
Nation of Origin: Pakistan
Other Comments: ‘Rajasthani’ is a linguistic cover term for a group of languages. Speakers tend to be urban and educated. Northern Bhil tribes: Marwari-Thori, Gulguli, Shikari, Jogi, Sochi. Hindu, Christian, Muslim.