Dogri belongs to the Indo European family of languages in India and is derived from Sauraseni Prakrit. Vocabulary of Dogri is largely derived from Sanskrit but it has absorbed a large number of Arabic, Persian and English words also. Dogri is a rich language which has been classified into seventeen standard dialects by scholars: Dogri, Kandyali, Kangri, Bhatiali, Sirmauri, Baghati, Kiunthali, Kului Gujari, Rambani, Pongli, Hoshiarpur Pahadi and Lahnda. While the above mentioned facts could be interesting for some and boring for others, the below mentioned facts are definitely going to amaze and please every Dogri-loving Dogra. Here they are:

• In Dogri, the v(व) and y(य) sounds change into b(ब) and j(ज). For example Vijaypur becomes Bijaypur and Yogi becomes Jogi.

• The chh(छ) sound is usually pronounced as sh(श). For example Chhatri becomes Shattri and Chhanni becomes Shanni.

• Voiced aspirates of Hindi-gh, Jh, dh, bh, are changed to unvoiced and voiced mutes with tones. For example ghabraahat (घबराहट)becomes kabraa’t (कबराट), Jharkhand (झारखण्ड) is spoken as Charkhand (चारखण्ड), Dhai (ढाई)is said as Taa’i (टाई) and Bhaarat (भारत) becomes Paarat (पारत).
• One word can be said with different tones with different meanings. For example

          La (ला)– To stick| to take down| to shake

          Kodaa (कोड़ा)– Hunter| Horse| Bitter

          Ko’l (कोल)– Fight| Near| A vessel

          Das (दस)– Ten| to Tell| A reference

          Chol (चोल)– Rice| to wave a fan| Embarrassment

• An additional vowel i is used in the past verbal forms like turi geya (had gone| टुरी गेआ), suni leya (had heard| सुनी लेआ ).
• The conjugation of the auxiliary verb in accordance with the gender of the subject, unlike Punjabi, remains unchanged. For example
  In Punjabi:

Raja ge da si| राजा गे दा सी| The king had gone

Rani ge di si| रानी गे दी सी| The queen had gone
In Dogri

Raja ge da ha| राजा गे दा हा| The king had gone

Rani ge di hi| रानी गे दी ही| The queen had gone

• Every beloved object or person is suffixed with a u (उ) For example

Kurtu (कुर्तू | Child’s shirt), Chachu (चाचू | Uncle), Shillu (शिल्लू | Lamb), Kuttu (कुत्तू | Little puppy)

• Dogri has a tendency to drop the initial vowel of Sanskrit and Hindi words which are not monosyllabic. For example

Ananda (आनन्द), Anartha (अनर्थ) and Akaala (अकाल) from Sanskrit become

Nanda (नन्द), Nartha (नर्थ), Kaala (काल)  in Dogri

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• The sound y occuring between two a sounds disappears. For example

Himalaya (हिमालय), Shivalaya (शिवालय), Nishchay (निश्चय) from Sanskrit become

Himala (हिमाला), Shivala (शिवाला), Nishcha (निश्चा) in Dogri

• The sound ksa(क्ष) is changed to kha (ख) as in Punjabi and sometimes to chha (छ) as in Kashmiri. For example

Kshatriya (क्षत्रीय)- Khatri (खतरी)

Nakshatra (नक्षत्र)- Nakhattar (नखत्तर)

Laxmi (लक्ष्मी)- Lakhmi (लक्खमी)

The reader can further this list of peculiarities of Dogri to increase awareness and public interest about the sweet language.

By Abhishek K