Memoni

About

The Memoni Living Dictionary was developed by Memoni speaker Aleena Yousuf, who provides the description below: Overview The Memoni People are a reputable community of businessmen, merchants, and philanthropists, known for their honesty, hard work, and commercial success. The origins of our community dates back to 824 CE when ~700 families, representing some 6187 people belonging to the Lohana community of Sindh, accepted Islam and earned the name Mu’min (believes). Due to their mercantile nature, Memons began a significant migration across and beyond the borders of Burma in the 18th and 19th centuries. This led to communities developing in the Central + East Asia, South Africa, and the Middle East. However, the most significant migration came with the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Memons across borders were now separated from their ancestral birth places. With geographic location no longer serving as a binding force of the community, our spoken language is the only indication of our distinct ethnic group. Since I strongly feel that the development of our oral tradition into a scripted language is essential for preserving our Memon identity, I want to create a site containing the first recorded dictionary of the Memoni language, to document our culture. Note: Every language has an established grammar to enable an unfamiliar person the ability to learn. Unfortunately, Memoni is not a written language; it is a boli (an oral language). Now that we have started to convert our boli into a written language, we have to develop an understanding of basic principles of grammar. In order to do this, I will use the Roman script to represent Memoni. The Roman script is an international script, compared to the Urdu script, and is, in my view, more accessible.

Grammar

Lesson 1 - Sentence Structure Sentences require both a subject and a verb. The subject is the noun or pronoun that is doing or being. The verb is the action or state of being. Ex: Aziz eats. In the sentence, Aziz is the subject who is ‘doing’ the verb (eating). In English, the subject comes first, then the verb, and lastly the object (SVO structure). In Memoni, sentences follow the SOV structure (subject, object, verb). Ex: Memoni: Latif bhaoo bimaar ae. Literal Translation: Latif very ill is. English: Latif is very ill. Lesson 2 - Sentence Structure in Interrogative Sentences The same SOV structure is seen in interrogative sentences Ex: Memoni: Oo kare ae? Translation: He who is English: Who is he? Ex: Memoni: Ee kuro ae? Translation: This what is English: What is this? Ex: Memoni: Chokro kida aee? Translation: Boy where is English: Where is the boy? Try it yourself! What is your name? --> Aeenjo naalo kuro aee? Is this house not yours? --> Kuro hee ghar aeenjo naee? Who is that man? --> Hoo maroo kair aae? Where is my hourse? --> Minjho ghoro kida aee? He is my brother. --> Hee minjho bhaa aee. Lesson 3 - Nouns all nouns have a gender (m or f) and singular (s)/plural (p) forms Ex: Boy = Chhokro (ms) or Chokra (mp) Girl = Chhokree (fs) or Chokriyun (fp) words ending in vowel sound ‘o’ are typically masculine and words ending with the vowel sound ‘ee’ are typically feminine Use our dictionary to find more nouns and practice putting them in their male, female, singular, and plural forms Lesson 4 - Subject Pronouns Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns. Some common pronouns used in Memoni are: First Person Singular (I) - AauN First Person Plural (We) - Asaan Second Person Singular (you) - Tu (Children/close friends) or Aaen (adults/strangers) Second Person Plural (y’all) - AaeN Third Person Pronouns (He/She/It/This/These/That/Those) - ee/hee (object or person is near) or oo/hoo (object or person is far) Third Person Plural (They) - OuN However, it is very…