Conclusions regarding Bundeli speech varieties

2.4 Conclusions regarding Bundeli speech varieties

It seems reasonable to conclude, both from lexical similarity percentages and intelligibility testing, that the speakers of Bundeli in what is considered the Standard Plus area can understand materials communicated in one of the central varieties of the Standard Plus area. Those dialects in the northwest appear to have a reasonably close relationship to the Standard Bundeli. Especially the Shivpuri dialect has a high lexical similarity with the other dialects from the central area. More research is needed to establish a more certain relationship. The Northeast Dialects do not appear to be as closely related to the Standard Plus Dialects as the Northwest Dialects and intelligibility seems to be somewhat strained. Again, further research is desirable. The Southern dialects of Balaghat district seem quite far removed and most likely are at the outer reaches of intelligibility, based on sketchy lexical similarity data. Balaghat district could use its own survey to sort out the sociolinguistic picture. Within the Standard Plus Dialect area, based on lexical similarity and intelligibility criteria, which point should be considered the recommended variety for literature development? Of the points that were included in the recorded text testing, CtD Chhatarpur seems the most likely for a number of reasons. First of all, it was well understood by all the places it was tested, except BaA Banda, but there are too many variables in the Banda situation to attribute the low score to intelligibility alone. HaS Hamirpur and SaB Sagar were also reasonably well understood at most points, but not as well as Chhatarpur. While some of this may be attributed to the good clarity and slow speed with which the Chhatarpur storyteller spoke, it also might be expected since Chhatarpur is fairly centrally located geographically in the Bundelkhand area. Other central areas, such as Tikamgarh, Jhansi or perhaps even Lalitpur might also be viable places for mother tongue literature development.

2.5 Conclusions regarding Bundeli’s relationship with other languages