| Kishtwari | |
|---|---|
| |
  | |
| Native to | Jammu and Kashmir |
| Ethnicity | Kishtwaris |
Native speakers | 40,000 (2011 census)[1][2] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | kish1245 |
Kishtwari orKashtwari is anIndo-Aryan language and a dialect ofKashmiri language, with strong influences from neighbouringWestern Pahari varieties. It is spoken by Hindus inKishtwar district ofJammu division inJammu and Kashmir,India.
LikeKashmiri, Kishtwari is also a language, thoughGeorge Abraham Grierson has called Kishtwari a dialect of Kashmiri. 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 the valley. So Kishtwari-Kashmiri is a dialect of Kashmiri.
Kishtwari originated fromPrakrit – the spoken language of common people in ancient times. The literary language wasSanskrit which has a close relationship withPrakrit. It can be conveniently called a sister language of theKashmiri language, as both have originated fromPrakrit which is much simpler thanSanskrit.
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 fromDogri,Punjabi, andPersian languages to a limited extent. The present form of Kishtwari is directly descended from Prakrit, Pali or Sanskrit.
Grierson, in hisLinguistic Survey of India, classified Kishtwari as a highly divergent variety ofKashmiri 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 pronounthu, in addition to thepresent participlean, features that have disappeared in Standard Kashmiri. A wordlist and preliminary grammatical sketch of Kishtwari were compiled inThe Languages of the Northern Himalayas.[4]
Kishtwari has historically been classified as a dialect of Kashmiri by scholars such asGeorge Abraham Grierson, and is partially intelligible with Kashmiri. Linguists likeSiddheshwar 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 theKashmir Valley (the other beingPoguli, which is even more distinct and not intelligible with either Kashmiri or Kishtwari). Kishtwari is also tonal, like neighbouring languages such asDogri andPunjabi.[5][6]
The 1911 Census of India recorded 7,464 speakers of Kishtwari.
Grierson remarks that an idiosyncratic variant ofTakri is used to write the Kishtwari language; as well as observing that there does not appear to be standard spelling nor a consistent orthography.
