Template:Infobox language Template:Contains special characters Kishtwari or Kashtwari (Template:Nq, 𑚊𑚮𑚧𑚶𑚙𑚦𑚭𑚪𑚯) is a highly distinctive and conservative dialect of the Kashmiri language spoken in Kishtwar Valley in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Kishtwari has been classified as a dialect of Kashmiri by scholars such as George Abraham Grierson. It is one of the two main allegedly Kashmiri dialects (the other being Poguli, perhaps a Western Pahari language) that are spoken outside of the Kashmir Valley.[1]
Overview
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 Pahari languages.[2] 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.[3]
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.
References
- ↑ Kishtwari. Indian linguistics({Template:Date).
- ↑ Linguistic Survey of India{{#if:Grierson|, Grierson}
- ↑ Languages of the Northern Himalayas{{#if:Bailey|, Bailey}