Sociolinguistic survey of selected Rajasthani speech varieties of Rajasthan, India, Volume 5: Dhundari and Shekhawati
This report describes the findings of a survey of the Dhundari (ISO 639-3: dhd) and Shekhawati (ISO 639: swv) languages spoken in Rajasthan. The fieldwork was carried out during November-December 2004 and February 2005. Hindi Sentence Repetition Testing (SRT) indicated that many people, especially the uneducated and women, are probably not bilingual enough in Hindi to use materials in that language. The vitality of Dhundari and Shekhawati appears to be fairly strong. Based on the results of wordlist comparisons and comprehension testing, the researchers conclude that a single project for both Dhundari and Shekhawati speakers would likely meet the language development needs of both communities. Although ongoing assessment will be helpful, the results of this survey indicate that the Sikar variety of Shekhawati should be well understood and accepted by the Dhundari community as well.