Mandeali (
Takri
The Tākri script (Takri (Chamba): ; Takri (Jammu/Dogra): ; sometimes called Tankri ) is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts. It is derived from the Sharada script formerly employed for Kashmiri. It is the sister script ...
: ) is a language spoken in northern
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 ...
, predominantly in the
Mandi district
Mandi district is one of the central districts of Himachal Pradesh state in northern India. The town of Mandi is the headquarters of the district.
The main native language is Mandeali.
As of 2011 it is the second most populous district of H ...
of
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 ...
by the people of the Mandi Valley and particularly in the major city of
Mandi
Mandi may refer to:
Places
* Mandı, Azerbaijan
India
* Mandi, Jammu and Kashmir, a town on the Mandi River in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir
* Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, a city in Himachal Pradesh
** Mandi State, former princely sta ...
. Other spellings for the name are Mandiyali and Mandiali. UNESCO reports it is one of the
highly endangered languages of
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 ...
. Speakers of the dialect have decreased by 21% from 1961 to 2001.
The language is closely related to Kangri. The
Chambealic varieties are often considered separate languages, but at least some are 90–95% intelligible with Mandeali proper.
Dialects
Preliminary survey suggests speakers have functional intelligibility of Kangri. People in southeast Mandi district may have more difficulty understanding Kangri. Standard Mandeali is spoken throughout the broad valley running north and south from Jogindernagar to Sundarnagar. Mandeali Pahari is spoken north around Barot, east of Uhl River. Intelligible with difficulty to standard Mandeali. May be intermediate variety between Mandeali and Kullui. Southeast district contains transition to Mahasui. In the west, Sarkaghat is also a bit different from standard Mandeali, perhaps forming a transition towards Hamirpur and Bilaspur areas. Lexical similarity: 89% with Palampuri dialect of Kangri, 83% with Chambeali.
Script
The native script of the language is a variety of
Takri
The Tākri script (Takri (Chamba): ; Takri (Jammu/Dogra): ; sometimes called Tankri ) is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts. It is derived from the Sharada script formerly employed for Kashmiri. It is the sister script ...
.
Status
The language is commonly called
Pahari or
Himachali, just like many other neighbouring languages. The language has no official status. According to the
United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the language is of definitely endangered category, i.e. many Mandeali children are not learning Mandeali as their mother tongue anymore.
The demand for the inclusion of 'Pahari (Himachali)' under the Eight Schedule of the Constitution, which is supposed to represent multiple Pahari languages of Himachal Pradesh, had been made in the year 2010 by the state's Vidhan Sabha. There has been no positive progress on this matter since then even when small organisations strive to save the language and demand it. Due to political interest, the language is currently recorded as a dialect of Hindi,
even when having a poor mutual intelligibility with it and being close to other Pahari lects such as
Kahluri
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 ...
and
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 ...
.
References
{{Dogri-Kangri languages
Northern Indo-Aryan languages
Languages of Himachal Pradesh
Mandi, Himachal Pradesh
Endangered languages of India