Pahari language

For other uses, see Pahari.

Pahari, or Pahadi (पहाड़ी پہاڑی pahāṛī 'of the hills/mountains'; English: /pəˈhɑːri/)[1] is an ambiguous term that has been used for a variety of languages, dialects and language groups, most of which are found in the lower Himalayas.

Most commonly, it refers to:

  • Pahari-Pothwari, the Punjabi dialect or variety predominantly spoken in Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir and neighbouring areas of northern Punjab and Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir
  • Poonchi-Pahari, is an language variety specifically spoken in Poonch Division of Pakistan-admistered Azad Kashmir and in Poonch District of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
  • in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh,[2] with some languages in the south-eastern parts of Indian Jammu and Kashmir,[3]
  • Northern Indo-Aryan languages, in the linguistics literature often referred to as "Pahari languages", a proposed group that includes the Indo-Aryan languages of Nepal and the Indian states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

Less commonly, Pahari may be:

  • a term used by Dogri speakers of the plains to refer to the Dogri varieties spoken at higher elevations, in Indian Jammu and Kashmir[4]
  • a local name for a variety of Bilaspuri spoken in a certain hilly area of Indian Punjab[2]
  • a name nowadays used only in rural areas to refer to the Nepali language[5]
  • a local name for a Bhili dialect of Eastern Gujarat.[2]

Pahari (पहरी paharī) refers to:

Of similar origin is the name Paharia, which is used for several languages of east-central India: see Paharia language (disambiguation).

  1. ^ "Pahari". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  2. ^ a b c Masica, Colin P. (1991). The Indo-Aryan languages. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge University Press. p. 439. ISBN 978-0-521-23420-7.
  3. ^ Kaul, Pritam Krishen (2006). Pahāṛi and Other Tribal Dialects of Jammu. Vol. 1. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers. ISBN 8178541017.
  4. ^ Brightbill, Jeremy D.; Turner, Scott D. (2007). A sociolinguistic survey of the Dogri language, Jammu and Kashmir (Report). SIL Electronic Survey Reports. p. 7.
  5. ^ Riccardi, Theodore (2003). "Nepali". In George Cardona; Dhanesh Jain (eds.). The Indo-Aryan languages. Routledge language family series. Y. London: Routledge. p. 540. ISBN 978-0-7007-1130-7.
  6. ^ Smith, Brianne J. (2022). A Sociolinguistic Study of Pahari: A Language of Nepal (Report). Journal of Language Survey Reports. 2022-003.