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Indo-Aryan language The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pa ...
spoken on the
Pothohar Plateau The Pothohar Plateau ( ur, ) is a plateau in north-eastern Pakistan, located between Indus River and the Jhelum River, forming the northern part of Punjab. Geography Potohar Plateau is bounded on the east by the Jhelum River, on the west by the ...
in the far north of
Pakistani Punjab Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...
, as well as in most of Pakistan's
Azad Kashmir Azad Jammu and Kashmir (; ), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entitySee: * * * and constituting the western portion of the larger Ka ...
and in western areas of India's
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
, is known by a variety of names, the most common of which are Pahari (; an ambiguous name also applied to unrelated languages of India), and Pothwari (or Pothohari). The language is transitional between
Hindko Hindko (, romanized: , ) is a cover term for a diverse group of Lahnda dialects spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in several areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pun ...
and Standard Punjabi. There have been efforts at cultivation as a literary language, although a local standard has not been established yet. Grierson in his early 20th-century
Linguistic Survey of India The Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) is a comprehensive survey of the languages of British India, describing 364 languages and dialects. The Survey was first proposed by George Abraham Grierson, a member of the Indian Civil Service and a linguist w ...
assigned it to a so-called "Northern cluster" of
Lahnda Lahnda () () also known as Lahndi or Western Punjabi, is a group of north-western Indo-Aryan language varieties spoken in parts of Pakistan and India. Its validity as a genetic grouping is not certain. Terms like ''Lahnda'' or ''Western Punja ...
(Western Punjabi), but this classification, as well as the validity of the Lahnda grouping in this case, have been called into question. In Kashmir, speakers of Pahari-Pothwari are known as Pahari people.


Geographic distribution and dialects

There are at least three major dialects: Pothwari, Mirpuri and Pahari. They are mutually intelligible, but the difference between the northernmost and the southernmost dialects (from
Muzaffarabad Muzaffarabad (; ur, ) is the capital and largest city of Azad Kashmir, and the 60th largest in Pakistan. The city is located in Muzaffarabad District, near the confluence of the Jhelum and Neelum rivers. The district is bounded by the Pak ...
and Mirpur respectively) is enough to cause difficulties in understanding.


Pothohar Plateau

Pothwari (), also spelt ''Potwari'', ''Potohari'' and ''Pothohari'' (), is spoken in the
Pothohar Plateau The Pothohar Plateau ( ur, ) is a plateau in north-eastern Pakistan, located between Indus River and the Jhelum River, forming the northern part of Punjab. Geography Potohar Plateau is bounded on the east by the Jhelum River, on the west by the ...
of northern
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 ...
, an area that includes parts of the districts of
Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...
,and
Jhelum Jhelum ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city on the east bank of the Jhelum River, which is located in the district of Jhelum in the north of Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 44th largest city of Pakistan by population. Jhelum is known for p ...
. Pothwari extends southwards up to the
Salt Range The Salt Range ( pnb, ) is a mountain range in the north of Punjab province of Pakistan, deriving its name from its extensive deposits of rock salt. The range extends along the south of the Potohar Plateau and the north of the Jhelum River. The ...
, with the city of
Jhelum Jhelum ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city on the east bank of the Jhelum River, which is located in the district of Jhelum in the north of Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 44th largest city of Pakistan by population. Jhelum is known for p ...
marking the border with Punjabi. To the north, Pothwari transitions into the Pahari-speaking area, with Bharakao, near Islamabad, generally regarded as the point where Pothwari ends and Pahari begins. Pothwari has been represented as a dialect of Punjabi by the Punjabi language movement, and in census reports the Pothwari areas of Punjab have been shown as Punjabi-majority.


Mirpur

East of the Pothwari areas, across the
Jhelum River The Jhelum River (/dʒʰeːləm/) is a river in the northern Indian subcontinent. It originates at Verinag and flows through the Indian administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir, to the Pakistani-administered territory of Kashmir, and then ...
into
Mirpur District The Mirpur District ( ur, ) is one of the 10 districts of Pakistan's dependent territory of Azad Kashmir. The Mirpur District is bounded on the north by the Kotli District, on the east by the Bhimber District, on the south by the Gujrat Dis ...
in
Azad Kashmir Azad Jammu and Kashmir (; ), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entitySee: * * * and constituting the western portion of the larger Ka ...
, the language is more similar to Pothwari than to the Pahari spoken in the rest of Azad Kashmir. Locally it is known by a variety of names: ''Pahari'', ''Mirpur Pahari'', ''Mirpuri'', and ''Pothwari'', while some of its speakers call it ''Punjabi''. Mirpuris possess a strong sense of Kashmiri identity that overrides linguistic identification with closely related groups outside Azad Kashmir. The Mirpur region has been the source of the greater part of Pakistani immigration to the UK, a process that started when thousands were displaced by the construction of the
Mangla Dam The Mangla Dam ( ur, ) is a multipurpose dam situated on the Jhelum River in the Mirpur District of Azad Kashmir. It is the sixth-largest dam in the world. The village of Mangla, which sits at the mouth of the dam, serves as its namesake. I ...
in the 1960s and emigrated to fill labour shortages in England. The
British Mirpuri The British Mirpuri ( ur, ) community comprises people in the United Kingdom who originate from the Mirpur District in Pakistan-administered Azad Jammu and Kashmir, thus being a part of the Mirpuri diaspora. While no accurate statistics are av ...
diaspora now numbers several hundred thousand, and Pahari has been argued to be the second most common mother tongue in the UK, yet the language is little known in the wider society there and its status has remained surrounded by confusion.


Kashmir, Murree and the Galyat

Pahari () is spoken to the north of Pothwari. The central cluster of Pahari dialects is found around
Murree Murree ( Punjabi, Urdu: مری) is a mountain resort city, located in the Galyat region of the Pir Panjal Range, within the Muree District of Punjab, Pakistan. It forms the outskirts of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, and is about ...
. This area is in the
Galyat Galyat ( ur, گلیات ) region, or hill tract, (also written Galliat and Galiyat) is a narrow strip or area roughly 50–80 km north-east of Islamabad, Pakistan, extending on both sides of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Punjab border, between Abb ...
: the hill country of
Murree Tehsil Murree Tehsil ( ur, تحصیل مری) is one of the two Tehsils (i.e. sub-divisions) of Murree District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Murree Tehsil is located in the northernmost part of Punjab province where it borders Khyber Pakhtunkhw ...
in the northeast of
Rawalpindi District Rawalpindi District ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a district located in the northernmost part of the Punjab province of Pakistan. Parts of the district form part of the Islamabad Rawalpindi metropolitan area. Rawalpindi city is the district capi ...
(just north of the capital Islamabad) and the adjoining areas in southeastern
Abbottabad District Abbottabad District () is a district of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is part of Hazara Division and covers an area of 1,969 km2, with the city of Abbottabad being the principal town. Neighbouring districts are Mansehra to ...
. One name occasionally found in the literature for this language is ''Dhundi-Kairali'' (''Ḍhūṇḍī-Kaiṛālī''), a term first used by Grierson who based it on the names of the two major tribes of the area – the Kairal and the Dhund. Its speakers call it ''Pahari'' in Murree tehsil, while in Abbotabad district it is known as either ''Hindko'' or ''Ḍhūṇḍī''. Nevertheless,
Hindko Hindko (, romanized: , ) is a cover term for a diverse group of Lahnda dialects spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in several areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pun ...
– properly the language of the rest of Abbottabad District and the neighbouring areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – is generally regarded as a different language. It forms 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 ...
with Pahari, and the transition between the two is in northern Azad Kashmir and in the Galyat region. For example, on the road from Murree northwest towards the city of Abbottabad, Pahari gradually changes into Hindko between
Ayubia Ayubia National Park ( ur, ), also known as Ayubia ( ur, ), is a protected area of located in Abbottabad District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. It was declared a national park in 1984. Ayubia was named after Muhammad Ayub Khan (19 ...
and
Nathiagali Nathia Gali or Nathiagali ( ur, ) is a hill station and mountain resort town located in the Abbottabad District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is located at the centre of the Galyat range, where several hill stations are situated. Na ...
. A closely related dialect is spoken across the Jhelum River in Azad Kashmir, north of the Mirpuri areas. Names associated in the literature with this dialect are ''Pahari'' (itself the term most commonly used by the speakers themselves), ''Chibhālī'', named after the
Chibhal Chibhal was a princely state founded by a cadet branch of the Katoch Rajputs of Kangra in 1400. History Chibhal's first ruler was Raja Partab chand Katoch, who was the youngest son of Raja Megh chand Katoch of Kangra. Chibhal was also known to ...
region or the Chibh ethnic group, and ''Poonchi'' (, also spelt ''Punchhi''). The latter name has been variously applied to either the Chibhali variety specific to the district of Poonch, or to the dialect of the whole northern half of Azad Kashmir. This dialect (or dialects) has been seen either as a separate dialect from the one in Murree, or as belonging to the same central group of Pahari dialects. The dialect of the district of Bagh, for example, has more shared vocabulary with the core dialects from Murree (86–88%) than with the varieties of either Muzaffarabad (84%) or Mirpur (78%). In
Muzaffarabad Muzaffarabad (; ur, ) is the capital and largest city of Azad Kashmir, and the 60th largest in Pakistan. The city is located in Muzaffarabad District, near the confluence of the Jhelum and Neelum rivers. The district is bounded by the Pak ...
the dialect shows lexical similarity of 83–88% with the central group of Pahari dialects, which is high enough for the authors of the sociolinguistic survey to classify it is a central dialect itself, but low enough to warrant noting its borderline status. The speakers however tend to call their language ''Hindko'' and to identify more with the Hindko spoken to the west, despite the lower lexical similarity (73–79%) with the core Hindko dialects of
Abbottabad Abbottabad (; Urdu, Punjabi language(HINDKO dialect) آباد, translit=aibṭabād, ) is the capital city of Abbottabad District in the Hazara region of eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 40th largest city in Pakistan and fourth ...
and
Mansehra Mansehra is a city in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and the headquarters of Mansehra District. It is the 71st largest city of Pakistan and 7th largest city in the province. The name of the city (written in Hindko, Urdu and Goj ...
. Further north into the
Neelam Valley The district of Neelum (spelt also ''Neelam''; ur, ) is the northernmost of 10 districts located within the Pakistani-administered territory of Azad Kashmir. Taking up the larger part of the Neelam Valley, the district has a population of ar ...
the dialect, now known locally as ''Parmi'', becomes closer to Hindko. Pahari is also spoken further east across the
Line of Control The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line between the Indian and Pakistanicontrolled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but serve ...
into the
Pir Panjal The Pir Panjal Range (Kashmiri: ) is a group of mountains in the Lesser Himalayan region, running from east-southeast (ESE) to west-northwest (WNW) across the Indian territories of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and then Pakistan's ...
mountains in Indian
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
. The population, estimated at 1 million, is found in the region between the
Jhelum Jhelum ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city on the east bank of the Jhelum River, which is located in the district of Jhelum in the north of Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 44th largest city of Pakistan by population. Jhelum is known for p ...
and
Chenab The Chenab River () is a major river that flows in India and Pakistan, and is one of the 5 major rivers of the Punjab region. It is formed by the union of two headwaters, Chandra and Bhaga, which rise in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul regi ...
rivers: most significantly in the districts of
Poonch Poonch, sometimes also spelt Punchh, may refer to: * Historical Poonch District, a district in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in British India, split in 1947 between: ** Poonch district, India ** Poonch Division, in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, ...
and
Rajouri Rajouri or Rajauri (; Pahari: 𑠤𑠬𑠑𑠶𑠤𑠮, راجوری; sa, राजपुर, ) is a city in Rajouri district in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is located about from Srinagar and from Jammu city on th ...
, to a lesser extent in neighbouring
Baramulla Baramulla (), also known as Varmul () in Kashmiri, is a town and a municipality in the Baramulla district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Baramulla district. It is on the b ...
and
Kupwara Kupwara is a town and a municipal council in Kupwara district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Municipal council Kupwara is an Urban Local Body with 13 elected members (also in Delimitation in progress for wards), which adm ...
, and also – as a result of the influx of refugees during the
Partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...
of 1947 – scattered throughout the rest of Jammu and Kashmir. Pahari is among the regional languages listed in the sixth schedule of the
Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir The Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir was the legal Constitution which established the framework for the state government of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The constitution was adopted on 17 November 1956, and came into effect on 26 ...
. This Pahari is sometimes conflated with the
Western Pahari The Western Pahari languages are a group of Northern Indo-Aryan languages that are spoken in the state of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir and parts of Uttarakhand and Punjab Languages The following lists the languages cla ...
languages spoken in the mountainous region in the south-east of Indian Jammu and Kashmir. These languages, which include
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 ...
and its neighbours, are often called "Pahari", but they are not closely related to Pahari–Pothwari.


Phonology


Vowels

A long diphthong /ɑi/ can be realized as .


Consonants

* Sounds are heard from Persian and Arabic loanwords. * is realized as voiced in word-initial position. * before a velar consonant can be heard as .


Comparison with Punjabi

- Use of Sī-endings for Future Tense


Object Marker

The object marker in Pothwari is ''kī'' (ਕੀ /کی) as opposed to ''nū̃'' (ਨੂੰ / نوں) in Punjabi. For example: The phrase: ''lokā̃ kī'' (ਲੋਕਾਂ ਕੀ / لوکاں کی), meaning "to the people" in Standard Punjabi, would become ''lokā̃ nū̃'' (ਲੋਕਾਂ ਨੂੰ / لوکاں نوں).


Genitive Marker

The Genitive marker in Pothwari is represented through the use of ''nā'' (ਨਾ / ) as opposed to ''dā'' (ਦਾ / ). For example: The phrase: ''lokā̃ dā'' (ਲੋਕਾਂ ਦਾ / ), meaning "people's" or "of the people" in Pothwari, would become ''lokā̃ nā'' (ਲੋਕਾਂ ਨਾ / ). The word for 'my' becomes ''māhaṛā'' (ਮਾਹੜਾ / ماہڑا; m.) instead of ''māhaṛī'' (ਮਾਹੜੀ / ماہڑی; f.).


Vocabulary

Very clear point of departure occurs in the use of ''achṇā'' (ਅੱਛਣਾ / 'to come') and ''gachṇā'' (ਗੱਛਣਾ / 'to go') as opposed to Saraiki ''āvaṇ'' (ਆਵਣ / ) and ''vañjaṇ'' (ਵੰਞਣ / ), and Punjabi ''āuṇā'' (ਆਉਣਾ / ) and ''jāṇā'' (ਜਾਣਾ / ).


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * (access limited). *


Further reading

* *


External links


Pahari Language Textbook for Class2

Pahari Language Textbook for Class3

Pahari Language Textbook for Class4

Pahari Language Textbook for Class5

Pahari Language Textbook for Class6

Pahari Language Textbook for Class8 (Part A)

Pahari Language Textbook for Class8 (Part B)
{{Languages of India Punjabi dialects Languages of Punjab, Pakistan Languages of Azad Kashmir Languages of Jammu and Kashmir