Kishtwari

Last updated
Kishtwari
  • کشتواڑی
  • किश्तवाड़ी
Kishtwari written in Takri and Urdu Script.png
Kishtwari.svg
Native to Jammu and Kashmir
Ethnicity Kishtwaris
Native speakers
40,000 (2011 census) [1] [2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog kish1245

Kishtwari or Kashtwari is a Northern Indo-Aryan language closely related to the Kashmiri language, with strong influences from neighbouring Western Pahari varieties. It is spoken by Hindus in Kishtwar district of Jammu division in Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), India.

Contents

Like Kashmiri, Kishtwari is also a language though George Abraham Grierson has called Kishtwari as a dialect of Kashmiri and a mixed dialect. But when the issue of languages and dialects is thoroughly analysed, Grierson's postulation is found untenable. He has not studied Kishtwari and its dialects. He seems to have been influenced by Kishtwari-Kashmiri, spoken by Muslims of Kishtwar and its spectacular resemblance with kashmiri which is not pure Kashmiri but has close affinity to the Kashmiri of valley. So Kishtwari-Kashmiri is a dialect of kashmiri.

Origin

Kishtwari originated from Prakrit – the spoken language of common people in ancient times. The literary language was Sanskrit which has a close relationship with Prakrit. It can be conveniently be called a sister language of the Kashmiri language, as both have originated from Prakrit which is much simpler than Sanskrit.

Kishtwari has been preserved from the admixture of words and phrases from other languages and dialects. However, the original Prakrit spoken by common man of Kishtwar in olden times has absorbed some words from Dogri, Punjabi, and Persian languages but to a limited extent. The present form of Kishtwari is direct outcome of Prakrit, Pali or Sanskrit.

Classification

Grierson, in his Linguistic Survey of India, classified Kishtwari as a highly divergent variety of Kashmiri that had been profoundly influenced by neighbouring Punjabi and Western Pahari languages. [3] Grierson noted that Kishtwari is more conservative in certain aspects than other Kashmiri dialects, as evidenced by the retention of subject pronoun thu, in addition to the present participle an, features that have disappeared in Standard Kashmiri. A wordlist and preliminary grammatical sketch of Kishtwari were compiled in The Languages of the Northern Himalayas. [4]

Kishtwari has historically been classified as a dialect of Kashmiri by scholars such as George Abraham Grierson, and is partially intelligible with Kashmiri, but Kishtwari speakers maintain a separate identity from Kashmiri people, culturally identifying more closely with neighboring Pahari populations of Paddar, Doda-Bhadarwah and the rest of the Chenab Valley [ citation needed ]. Linguists like Siddheshwar Varma consider Kishtwari an intermediate between Western Pahari languages and Kashmiri. If considered a divergent dialect of Kashmiri, Kishtwari is one of two Kashmiri varieties spoken outside of the Kashmir Valley (the other being Poguli, which is even more distinct and not intelligible with either Kashmiri or Kishtwari). Kishtwari is also tonal, like neighbouring languages such as Dogri and Punjabi. [5] [6]

Number of speakers

The 1911 Census of India recorded 7,464 speakers of Kishtwari.

Script

Grierson remarks that an idiosyncratic variant of Takri is used to write the Kishtwari language; as well as observing that there does not appear to be standard spelling nor a consistent orthography.

Specimen in Kashtwari language from Grierson's LSI Vol. VIII, Pt. II, page 386 Kashtwari.png
Specimen in Kashtwari language from Grierson's LSI Vol. VIII, Pt. II, page 386

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indo-Aryan languages</span> Branch of the Indo-Iranian languages

The Indo-Aryan 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 Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal. Moreover, apart from the Indian subcontinent, large immigrant and expatriate Indo-Aryan–speaking communities live in Northwestern Europe, Western Asia, North America, the Caribbean, Southeast Africa, Polynesia and Australia, along with several million speakers of Romani languages primarily concentrated in Southeastern Europe. There are over 200 known Indo-Aryan languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hindko</span> Indo-Aryan language spoken in Pakistan

Hindko is a cover term for a diverse group of western dialects of the Punjabi language, spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in several areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kashmiri language</span> Indo-Aryan language spoken in Kashmir

Kashmiri or Koshur is a Dardic Indo-Aryan language spoken by around 7 million Kashmiris of the Kashmir region, primarily in the Kashmir Valley of the Indian-administrated union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmiri has split ergativity and the unusual verb-second word order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dardic languages</span> Subgroup of Indo-Aryan languages

The Dardic languages, or Hindu-Kush Indo-Aryan languages, are a group of several Indo-Aryan languages spoken in northern Pakistan, northwestern India and parts of northeastern Afghanistan. This region has sometimes been referred to as Dardistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Indo-Aryan languages</span> Group of Indo-Aryan languages

The Northern Indo-Aryan languages, also known as Pahāṛi languages, are a proposed group of Indo-Aryan languages spoken in the lower ranges of the Himalayas, from Nepal in the east, through the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab was coined by G. A. Grierson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pahari-Pothwari</span> Indo-Aryan language variety spoken in Pakistan

Pahari-Pothwari is an Indo-Aryan language variety of Lahnda group, spoken on the Pothohar Plateau in the far north of Punjab, Pakistan, as well as in most of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir and in western areas of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, is known by a variety of names, the most common of which are Pahari, and Pothwari.

The Western Pahari languages are a group of Northern Indo-Aryan languages spoken in Northern India, primarily in the state of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dogri language</span> Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily in Jammu

Dogri is an Indo-Aryan language of the Western Pahari group, primarily spoken in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, India, with smaller groups of speakers in the adjoining regions of western Himachal Pradesh, northern Punjab, and north-eastern Pakistani Punjab. It is the ethnic language of the Dogras, and was spoken in the historical region of Duggar. It is currently spoken in the districts of Kathua, Jammu, Samba, Udhampur, and Reasi, Unusually for an Indo-European language, Dogri is tonal, a trait it shares with other Western Pahari languages and Punjabi. It has several varieties, all with greater than 80% lexical similarity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kangri language</span> Language of northern India

Kangri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern India, predominantly in the Kangra, Una and Hamirpur of Himachal Pradesh as well as in some parts of Mandi and Chamba districts of Himachal Pradesh and Gurdaspur, Rupnagar and Hoshiarpur districts of Punjab. Kangri language is also spoken in Duggar i.e. Jammu region and in a few villages of Pakistan by the people belonging to the families migrated from Kangra Valley. It is associated with the people of the Kangra Valley. The total number of speakers has been estimated at 1.1 million as of 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Takri script</span> Writing system for some Indic languages

The Tākri script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts. It is derived from the Sharada script of Kashmiri language. It is the sister script of Laṇḍā scripts. It has another variant Dogra Takri employed in Jammu region. There are numerous varieties present throughout Punjab. Until the late 1940s, the adapted version of the script was the official script for writing Dogri in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Throughout the history, different kingdoms of what now forms Himachal Pradesh used their own variety to maintain their records. The Takri script used in Sirmour in Himachal Pradesh and in the adjacent region of Jaunsar-Bawar in Uttarakhand has some distinction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neelum District</span> District of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan

Neelum is a district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. It is the northernmost of 10 districts located within the Pakistani-administered territory of Azad Kashmir. Taking up the larger part of the Neelum Valley, the district had a population of around 191,000 people. It was among the worst-hit areas of Pakistan during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Punjabi dialects and languages</span> Overview of the dialects and varieties of the Punjabi language

The Punjabi dialects or Punjabi varieties are the dialects and varieties of the Punjabi language that are part of the Northwestern Indo-Aryan language group of the Indo-European language family widely spoken in the Punjab region of South Asia. The spoken dialects of Punjabi are mutually intelligible with neighbouring dialects and form a dialect continuum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarazi language</span> Language spoken in the Saraz region of Jammu, India

Sarazi or Sirazi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Saraz region of the Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is native to the Saraz region, a hilly area taking up the northern half of Doda district and parts of neighbouring Ramban and Kishtwar districts. Sarazi is spoken as a first language by 46,000 people, primarily Hindus, but it is also used as a lingua franca of the Saraz region and so is also spoken as a second language by Muslims, whom are native speakers of Kashmiri.

Saraz or Siraj is a hilly region in the eastern part of the Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir in northern India. Historically a pargana within the erstwhile state of Kishtwar, the region currently takes up the northern half of Doda district and parts of neighbouring Ramban and Kishtwar districts. Its population in 2011 stood at 180,000 people. The region is defined mainly on the basis of linguistics where the majority of people speak Sarazi as their mother tongue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pangwali</span> Western Pahari language of India

Pangwali 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. It is very similar to the Padderi language of Padder, J&K.

Khāṣi (खाषी) is an Indo-Aryan dialect of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It belongs to the Western Pahari group and is spoken in some of the mountainous areas north of Jammu. It is different from the north-eastern Himalayan dialects of Assam and Meghalya, belonging to the Mon-Khmer Family.

The Pahari people or Pahari-speaking people is a cover term for a number of heterogeneous communities inhabiting in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir and also some parts of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir who speak Pahari languages/dialects.

Pogali, or Poguli, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of the Chenab Valley in Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Its area encompasses the Pogal and Paristan, Ramsu Banihal Khari Reasi valleys, and currently falls within the boundaries of Ramban district's Pogal Paristan tehsil.Pogali is much mixed with Pahari and Zundhari, and forms a transition dialect. In 1911 the number of speakers was reported to be 8,158.Like its neighbours Sarazi and Rambani, Pogali is intermediate between Kashmiri and Western Pahari. During 1990s Some Pogali community families migrated due terrorism from Pogal Paristan to Ramban town and different parts of Udhampur District and Jammu District which have now thousands Pogali population resided permanently. But State and Central government did recognized as minority language in UT and India.

Rambani is an Indo-Aryan language variety spoken in Ramban district, which is located in the mountainous parts of the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, India.

Kishtwaris are an ethnolinguistic group inhabiting the Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir, India.

References

  1. "Census of India 2011: Language" (PDF). Government of India. p. 7.
  2. "C-16 Population By Mother Tongue". Census of India 2011. Office of the Registrar General.
  3. Grierson, George Abraham Grierson (1928). "Linguistic Survey of India". Nature. 8 (3055): 344–383. Bibcode:1928Natur.121..783T. doi:10.1038/121783a0.
  4. Sharma, Duni Chand (2008). Glimpses Of Kishtwar History. Kishtwar: Chandra Bagha Publishers. pp. 120–131.
  5. Sheikh, Aejaz Mohammed; Kuchey, Sameer Ahmad (2014). "Kishtwari". Indian Linguistics. 75 (3–4): 55–66. ISSN   0378-0759.
  6. Mahapatra, B. P. (1989). Constitutional languages. Presses Université Laval. p. 270. ISBN   978-2-7637-7186-1.