Kashmiri | |
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| |
Native to | India and Pakistan |
Region | Kashmir (Kashmir division and parts of Chenab valley, Jammu and Kashmir,[1] parts of northern Azad Kashmir) |
Ethnicity | Kashmiris |
Native speakers | 7.1 million (2011)[1] |
Indo-European
| |
Dialects | |
Official: Perso-Arabic script (contemporary)[4] Others: Devanagari[4] (informally used by some sections within the Kashmiri Pandit community after 1990),[5][6][7] Sharada script (ancient/liturgical)[4] | |
Official status | |
Official language in | India |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | ks |
ISO 639-2 | kas |
ISO 639-3 | kas |
Glottolog | kash1277 |
Kashmiri (English: /kæʃˈmɪəri/ kash-MEER-ee)[10] or Koshur[11] (Kashmiri: کٲشُر (Perso-Arabic, Official Script), pronounced [kəːʃur])[1] is a Dardic Indo-Aryan language spoken by around 7 million Kashmiris of the Kashmir region,[12] primarily in the Kashmir Valley and Chenab Valley of the Indian-administrated union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, over half the population of that territory.[13] Kashmiri has split ergativity and the unusual verb-second word order.
Since 2020, It has been made an official language of Jammu and Kashmir along with Dogri, Hindi, Urdu and English.[14] Kashmiri is also among the 22 scheduled languages of India.
Kashmiri is spoken by roughly five percent of Pakistani-administrated Azad Kashmir's population.[15]
Koshur, the language of Kashmiris, is said to be a Prakrit of the pure and original Sanskrit", remarks Lawrence