Saurashtra language
Saurashtra (Saurashtra script: ꢱꣃꢬꢵꢰ꣄ꢜ꣄ꢬ ꢩꢵꢰꢵ, Tamil script: சௌராட்டிர மொழி, Devanagari script: सौराष्ट्र भाषा) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily by the Saurashtrians of Southern India who migrated from the Lata region of present-day Gujarat to south of Vindhyas in the Middle Ages.
| Saurashtra | |
|---|---|
| ꢱꣃꢬꢵꢰ꣄ꢜ꣄ꢬ ꢩꢵꢰꢵ சௌராட்டிர மொழி సౌరాష్ట్ర భాష सौराष्ट्र भाषा ಸೌರಾಷ್ಟ್ರ ಭಾಷೆ | |
Word "Saurashtra" in Saurashtra Script | |
| Native to | India |
| Region | Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka |
| Ethnicity | Saurashtrians |
Native speakers | 247,702 (2011 census) |
Early form | |
| Dialects |
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| Saurashtra script (Brahmic) Tamil script Telugu script Devanagari script Latin script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | saz |
| Glottolog | saur1248 |
Saurashtra, an offshoot of Sauraseni Prakrit, once spoken in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, is now chiefly spoken in various places of Tamil Nadu and are mostly concentrated in Madurai, Thanjavur and Salem Districts.
The language has its own script of the same name, but is also written in the Tamil, Telugu, and Devanagari scripts. The Saurashtra script is of Brahmic origin, although its exact derivation is not known. Unlike most of the surrounding Dravidian languages, Saurashtra is Indo-European. There is some debate amongst speakers of the Saurashtra language as to which script is best suited to the language. Census of India places the language under Gujarati. Official figures show the number of speakers as 247,702 (2011 census).