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The Northern Indo-Aryan languages, also known as Pahāṛi languages, are a proposed group of
Indo-Aryan languages The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily ...
spoken in the lower ranges of the
Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
, from
Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
in the east, through the
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n states of Jammu and Kashmir,
Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...
,
Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
and
Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
(not to be confused with the various other languages with that name) was coined by
G. A. Grierson Sir George Abraham Grierson (7 January 1851 – 9 March 1941) was an Irish administrator and linguist in British India. He worked in the Indian Civil Service but an interest in philology and linguistics led him to pursue studies in the languag ...
.


Classification

The Pahari languages fall into three groups.


Eastern Pahari

* Nepali is spoken by an estimated 11,100,000 people in Nepal, 265,000 people in Bhutan, and 2,500,000 people in India. It is an official language in Nepal and India. * Jumli is spoken by an estimated 40,000 people in the Karnali zone of
Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
. *
Doteli Doteli, or Dotyali () is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 800,000 people, most of whom live in Nepal. It is a dialect of Khas, which is an ancient form of the modern Nepali language, and is written in the Devanagari script. It has official ...
spoken by an estimated 1 million people in far west Nepal. It is considered by many to be a dialect of Nepali, according to some scholars (e.g.,
Rahul Sankrityayan Rahul Sankrityayan (born Kedarnath Pandey; 9 April 1893 – 14 April 1963) was an Indian writer and a polyglot who wrote in Hindi. He played a pivotal role in giving travelogue a 'literary form'. He was one of the most widely travelled scholars ...
), a dialect of Kumaoni, but the Nepalese Language Commission considers it a separate language.


Central Pahari

* Kumaoni is spoken by an estimated 2,360,000 people in the
Kumaon region Kumaon (; Kumaoni: ''Kumāū''; ; historically romanized as KemāonJames Prinsep (Editor)John McClelland ) is a revenue and administrative division in the Indian State of Uttarakhand. It spans over the eastern half of the state and is bounded ...
of Uttarakhand. *
Garhwali Garhwali may refer to: * Garhwali people, an ethno-linguistic group who live in northern India * Garhwali language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by Garhwali people * anything from or related to: **Garhwal division, a region in state of Uttarakhan ...
is spoken by an estimated 2,900,000 people in Uttarakhand. Most of these are Garhwali people from the
Garhwal region Garhwal (IPA: /ɡəɽʋːɔɭ/) is one of the two administrative divisions of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Lying in the Himalayas, it is bounded on the north by Tibet, on the east by Kumaon, on the south by Uttar Pradesh state, and on the ...
of Uttarakhand.


Western Pahari

*
Jaunsari Jaunsari may refer to: * Jaunsari people, an ethnic group of northern India * Jaunsari language Jaunsari () is a Western Pahari language of northern India spoken by the Jaunsari people in the Chakrata and Kalsi blocks of Dehradun district in ...
*Nuclear Himachali: ** Hinduri ** Pahari Kinnauri ** Kullu Pahari **
Mahasu Pahari Mahasu Pahari (Takri: ) is a Western Pahari (Himachali, Takri: ) language spoken in Himachal Pradesh. It is also known as Mahasui or Mahasuvi. The speaking population is about 1,000,000 (2001). It is more commonly spoken in the Himachal Pradesh, S ...
**
Sirmauri Sirmauri is a Western Pahari language spoken in the Sirmaur district in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western ...
*
Mandeali Mandeali (Takri: ) is a language spoken in northern India, predominantly in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh by the people of the Mandi Valley and particularly in the major city of Mandi. Other spellings for the name are Mandiyali and Mand ...
*Kangric-Chamealic-Bhattiyali: **Chamealic: ***
Bhadarwahi Bhadarwahi is an Indo-Aryan language of the Western Pahari group spoken in the Bhaderwah region of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The name Bhadarwahi can be understood either in a narrow sense as referring to the dialect, locally known as Bhiḍl ...
***
Churahi Churahi (Takri: ) is a Western Pahari language of Himachal Pradesh, India. It is spoken in the Chaurah and Saluni tehsils of Chamba district, and is considered vulnerable. Adages Script The native script of the language is Takri script. ...
*** Bhattiyali ***
Bilaspuri Bilaspuri (Takri: ), or Kahluri (Takri:) is a language spoken in northern India, predominantly in the Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh. It is associated with the people of the former princely state of Bilaspur in the Panjab Hills. Bilaspu ...
***
Chambeali Chambeali (Takri: ) is a language spoken in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. Classification The Chambeali language is a part of the North-Western branch of the Indo-Aryan languages. It is further classified as a member of the Western-P ...
*** Gaddi ***
Pangwali Pangwali (Takri: ) is a Western Pahari language of Himachal Pradesh, India. It is spoken in the Pangi Tehsil of Chamba district, and is threatened to go extinct. Pangwali is natively written in the Takri script, but Devanagari is used as well. ...
**Kangri-Dogri: ***
Dogri Dogri (Name Dogra Akkhar: ; Devanagari: डोगरी; Nastaliq: ; ) is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, India, with smaller groups of speakers in adjoining regions of western Himachal Prade ...
***
Kangri Kangri can mean: *of, from, or related to the Kangra Valley or the Kangra district of northern India *Kangri language, the Indo-Aryan language of the valley *Kanger A kanger (; also known as kangri or kangid or kangir) is an earthen pot woven ar ...


Comparison

In Eastern and Central Pahari the verb substantive is formed from the root ''ach'', as in both Rajasthani and Kashmiri. In Rajasthani its present tense, being derived from the Sanskrit present ''rcchami'', I go, does not change for gender. But in Pahari and Kashmiri it must be derived from the rare Sanskrit particle ''*rcchitas'', gone, for in these languages it is a participial tense and does change according to the gender of the subject. Thus, in the singular we have: – Here we have a relic of the old Khasa language, which, as has been said, seems to have been related to Kashmiri. Other relics of Khasa, again agreeing with north-western India, are the tendency to shorten long vowels, the practice of ''epenthesis'', or the modification of a vowel by the one which follows in the next syllable, and the frequent occurrence of disaspiration. Thus, Khas ''siknu'', Kumauni ''sikno'', but Hindi ''sikhna'', to learn; Kumauni ''yeso'', plural ''yasa'', of this kind. Materials regarding Western Pahari are not so complete. The speakers are not brought into contact with Tibeto-Burman languages, and hence we find no trace of these. But the signs of the influence of north-western languages are, as might be expected, still more apparent than farther east. In some dialects epenthesis is in full swing, as in (Churahi) ''khata'', eating, fern, ''khaiti''. Very interesting is the mixed origin of the
postposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
s defining the various cases. Thus, while that of the genitive is generally the Rajasthani ro, that of the dative continually points to the west. Sometimes it is the Sindhi ''khë''. At other times it is ''jo'', where is here a locative of the base of the Sindhi genitive postposition ''jo''. In all Indo-Aryan languages, the
dative In grammar, the dative case (abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a ...
postposition is by origin the
locative In grammar, the locative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases, together with the ...
of some
genitive In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...
one. In vocabulary, Western Pahari often employs, for the more common ideas, words which can most readily be connected with the north-western and Pisaca groups.


About

The Himalayas run along Nepal, India and Pakistan. The word 'Pahar' means a 'mountain' in most local languages such as Nepalese, Hindi (Parbat being a synonym) as well as Urdu (Koh being a synonym). Due to its mass prevalence and usage in the Himalayan Region, the language is also known as Himalayan. Like all other languages of the region, the Pahari languages are also from the Indo-European, and in particular Indo-Iranian branch of languages. As mountains have the tendency of isolating communities from change, dialects in the mountains tend to have their own characteristics with some similarity to others mountain dialects while remaining isolated from one another – there does seem to be a
dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
. All of these dialects are commonly referred to as the 'Pahari' languages, and most people from the Himalayan range are known as Paharis.


References

*


External links


Himachali Pahari Language
{{Authority control Languages of India Languages of Nepal