Awadhi

Awadhi belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family, specifically classified within the East Central zone of Indo-Aryan languages.

According to the 2011 Census of India, Awadhi is spoken by approximately 3.85 million people as a mother tongue (often grouped under the broader Hindi category for census purposes).

Distribution in India

Awadhi is primarily spoken in the historic Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh, spanning districts such as Lucknow, Ayodhya, Prayagraj, Gonda, and Bahraich. Its speakers also extend into neighboring areas of Bihar and parts of Nepal.

Major grammatical features

• Phonology: Like many Indo-Aryan languages, Awadhi maintains a contrast between aspirated and unaspirated stops, as well as dental and retroflex consonants. Unlike Standard Hindi, Awadhi frequently preserves the short unrounded central vowel (schwa) in word-final positions.
• Morphology: Nouns are inflected for two genders (masculine and feminine) and two numbers (singular and plural). The language exhibits a rich system of postpositions. A notable feature is its verbal conjugation, which distinguishes itself from Western Hindi through distinct tense and aspect markers, and a weaker or absent ergative marking system in the past tense of transitive verbs, tending towards nominative-accusative alignment.
• Syntax: The default word order in Awadhi is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). Auxiliaries and tense-marking clitics generally follow the main lexical verb.

Further reading

• Learn more about the language's literary history and structure on the Awadhi language Wikipedia page.
• Review dialectal classifications and genealogical data on the Glottolog entry for Awadhi.