Kangri language
| Kangri | |
|---|---|
| कांगड़ी | |
 Kangri written in Takri | |
| Native to | India |
| Region | Himachal Pradesh, Punjab |
Native speakers | (1.7 million cited 1996) |
| Takri, Devanagari | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xnr |
| Glottolog | kang1280 |
 |
Wiktionary has a category on Kangri language |
Kangri (Takri: 𑚊𑚭𑚫𑚌𑚪𑚯) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern India, predominantly in the Kangra, Una and some parts of Hamirpur of Himachal Pradesh as well as in the Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur districts of Punjab.[1] Some people in Pakistani Punjab also speak Kangri. It is associated with the people of the Kangra Valley. The total number of speakers has been estimated at 1.7 million (as of 1996),[1] while those who reported their first language as Kangri in the 2011 census were 1.17 million[2] (compared with 1.12 million in 2001).[3]
Its precise position within Indo-Aryan is subject to debate. Some scholars have classified as a dialect of the Dogri language spoken to the west (and hence a member of Greater Punjabi), while others have seen its affinity to be closer with the Pahari varieties spoken to the east: Mandeali, Chambeali and Kullui.[4]
Kangri Language is on International Dashboard of Current UD Languages since May 2021. Only ten Indian languages are there on this dashboard and Kangri is one of them. Google has also introduced Kangri keyboard for typing now.
Script[edit]
The native script of the language is Takri Script but now people write Kangri Language in Devanagari script.
Phonology[edit]
Consonants[edit]
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Retroflex | Post-alv./ Palatal |
Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | (ɳ) | ||||
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | ʈ | tʃ | k | |
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | ʈʰ | tʃʰ | kʰ | ||
| voiced | b | d | ɖ | dʒ | ɡ | ||
| Fricative | s | ɦ | |||||
| Lateral | l | ɭ | |||||
| Tap | ɾ | ɽ, ɽ̃ | |||||
| Approximant | (j) | ||||||
- It is not clear whether or not [j] is considered as a separate phoneme, but it does occur in various phonetic environments.
- [ɳ] is heard mostly as either an allophone of /ɽ̃/, and as /n/ before a retroflex stop.[5]
Vowels[edit]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iː | uː | |
| Near-close | ɪ | ʊ | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open-mid | ɔ | ||
| Open | æ | ɑː |
- /e/ can also become lowered to a nasal [ɛ̃], after /ɽ̃/.
Tone[edit]
Kangri is a tonal language like Punjabi and Dogri but the assignment of tones differs in Kangri when compared to Dogri or Punjabi. (reference: http://hdl.handle.net/10106/945)
Most of the surrounding language varieties (including Kangri) lack voiced, aspirated obstruents (J. C. Sharma 2002, Masica 1993). Hindi cognate words which have a voiced, aspirated obstruent (or /h/) become tonal in these languages. Another difference to note between Kangri and Punjabi/Dogri is that these forms surface as voiced consonants in Kangri, but voiceless consonants in Punjabi/Dogri. That is, Kangri has lost the aspiration (in gaining tone), but Punjabi/Dogri has lost both aspiration and voicing. It is likely that these are separate innovations which originated in the West (Punjab or Jammu & Kashmir) and have spread outwards. The loss of aspiration (and gaining of tone) has been fully realized in all three languages, but the loss of voicing has not yet reached Kangri. (Reference: http://hdl.handle.net/10106/945)
Status[edit]
The language is commonly called Pahari or Himachali. According to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the language is of definitely endangered category, i.e. many Kangri children are not learning Kangri as their mother tongue any longer.
The demand for the inclusion of 'Western Pahari' under the Eight Schedule of the Constitution, which is supposed to represent multiple Pahari languages of Himachal Pradesh, had been made in the year 2010 by the state's Vidhan Sabha.[6] There has been no positive progress on this matter since then even when small organisations are taking it upon themselves to save the language.[7] Due to political interest, the language is currently recorded as a dialect of Hindi, even when having a poor mutual intelligibility with it and having a higher mutual intelligibility with other recognised languages like Dogri.
References[edit]
- ^ a b Simons, Gary F; Fennig, Charles D, eds. (2017). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (20th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
- ^ "2011 Census tables: C-16, population by mother tongue". Census of India Website. Retrieved 4 November 2018. The precise figure is 1,117,342
- ^ "Census of India: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues –2001". censusindia.gov.in. The precise number is 1,122,843.
- ^ Eaton 2008, p. 2.
- ^ Eaton, Robert D. (2008)
- ^ "Pahari Inclusion". Zee News.
- ^ "Pahari Inclusion". The Statesman.
Bibliography[edit]
- Eaton, Robert D. (2008). Kangri in context: An areal perspective (PhD). The University of Texas at Arlington.
External links[edit]
- Singh, Amitjit. "The Language Divide in Punjab." Sagar, Volume 4, Number 1, Spring 1997.
- Goldsmith, Parvin. "Scripture in Kangri recordings (mp3s)" 2007.
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