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Chhattisgarhi language

Chhattisgarhi
छत्तीसगढ़ी
Native to India
Region Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh
Native speakers
13 million (2001)
Devanagari script
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Either:
hne – Chhattisgarhi
sgj – Surgujia
Glottolog chha1249
Linguasphere 59-AAF-ta

Chhattisgarhi is a language spoken in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, by 13 million people. It is an Eastern Hindi language with heavy vocabulary and linguistic features from Munda and Dravidian languages. Chhattisgarhi is also known as Dakshin Kosali and Kosali as in ancient times Chhattisgarh was known as Dakshin Kosal. Chhattisgarhi has been known by the name Khaltahi to surrounding hill-people and by the name Laria to speakers in neighboring regions of Odisha to Chhattisgarh. The speakers are concentrated in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh and in adjacent areas of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Jharkhand. Chhattisgarhi cultural and political movements, with origins going back to the 1920s, affirmed Chhattisgarhi linguistic and cultural identity and sought greater autonomy within India. This came about in 2000 when 16 districts of the state of Madhya Pradesh became the new state of Chhattisgarh.

Chhattisgarhi is most closely related to other Kosali group of languages known as Bagheli and Awadhi (Avadhi), and these languages are classified in the East Central Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages or Kosali Language Group, the Indian branch of the Indo-European language family.

Its precise relationship to Hindi is complex and as with other members of the Hindustani dialect continuum, its status as a dialect or separate language is to some degree a judgment call. According to the Indian Government, Chhattisgarhi is an eastern dialect of Hindi, but it is classified as a separate language in Ethnologue.


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