Dialect Area Study Bilingualism

7 3 Summary of Findings

3.1 Dialect Area Study

The ethnic groups of northern Dhule are found to speak several languages, each composed of a many varying dialects. The fact that languages and dialects spoken in adjacent areas are similar or distinct, however, does not appear to affect the levels of intelligibility. The levels between adjacent areas are always high. It would seem that Gumperz found a similar situation among the village dialects of India. In the introduction to Sociolinguistics the editor states that “Village dialects in India have been said to form ‘a continuous chain from Sind to Assam, with mutual intelligibility between adjacent areas’ Gumperz, 1964 but not between more distant areas. 9” There are exceptions to this statement in northern Dhule, where distant dialects are intelligible with one another. For example, mutually intelligible dialects of Vasave are spoken in a large U-shape around the Tapti River. Mutual intelligibility is also found to exist among Pauri dialects extending from the northern areas of Dhule to the northwest areas of Jalgoan Dt. The above statement comes true, however, where Vasave, Pauri, and Bhilori-speaking communities meet. People in adjacent areas of these three language groups have high levels of comprehension between them. People in the central regions of these language areas do not. It is concluded, therefore, that Vasave, Bhilori, and Pauri are mutually unintelligible languages.

3.2 Bilingualism

Bilingualism in Marathi among the investigated Bhil communities of northern Dhule is promoted, among other things, by 1 the frequency of contact with second language speakers, and 2 the education of an individual. Apart from education, the contact that exists between the investigated communities and Marathi speakers appears not to bring individuals beyond a basic level of competence in Marathi, nor provide the reinforcement needed to increase bilingual ability among the educated. Higher levels of education, in general, push bilingual ability beyond those levels that exist as a result of contact. Nevertheless, the levels of bilingualism achieved by educated test subjects are well below the currently accepted level thought to be needed to understand and read and write in another language. Uneducated test subjects are, obviously, well below this level also. Because the majority of the rural population of Dhule is illiterate, it is thought that the majority of the population of the Vasaves, Bhiloris, and Pauras have only attained to the levels of bilingualism achieved by the uneducated test population.

3.3 Language Use and Attitudes