Goans

Goans (Konkani: गोंयकार, Romi lipi: Goenkar, Portuguese: Goeses) is the demonym used to describe the people of Goa, India, who form an ethno-linguistic group resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Indo-Portuguese and Austro-Asiatic ethnic and/or linguistic ancestries. They speak different dialects of Konkani natively. Goan Hindus refer to themselves as Konkane (Devanagari: कोंकणे), meaning the residents of an area broadly identified as Konkan.Goanese is an incorrect usage for Goans.

Epigraphical evidence

A copperplate dating to the early 4th century found in Shiroda, mentions one Devaraja of the Gominas, which is a reference to the Bhoja king ruling from Chandor, who is hailed as the ruler of the Goans or Gominas.

Language

Goans mainly speak the Konkani language, a Prakrit based language belonging to the Southern group of Indo-Aryan Languages. Various dialects of Konkani spoken by the Goans include Bardeskari, Sashtikari, Pednekari, Antruj bhasha, whereas Konkani spoken by the Catholics is notably different from those of the Hindus, with a lot of Portuguese influence in its vocabulary. Konkani was suppressed for official documentation use only not for unofficial use under the Portuguese governance, playing a minor part in education of the past generations. They are mostly multilingual and Marathi has played a significant role for Hindus near the borders of Goa close to Maharashtra and parts of Nova Goa conquest.