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Kinnauri, also known as Kanauri, Kanor, Koonawur, Kanawari or Kunawar (
Takri The Tākri script (Takri (Chamba): ; Takri (Jammu/Dogra): ; sometimes called Tankri ) is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts. It is derived from the Sharada script formerly employed for Kashmiri. It is the sister script ...
: 𑚊𑚮𑚝𑚵𑚤𑚯/𑚊𑚝𑚵𑚤𑚯/𑚊𑚝𑚵𑚤/𑚊𑚱𑚝𑚭𑚦𑚰𑚤/𑚊𑚰𑚝𑚦𑚤, Tibetan:ཀིནཽརཱི), is a Sino-Tibetan dialect cluster centered on the
Kinnaur district Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The district is divided into three administrative areas (Kalpa, Nichar (Bhabanagar), and Pooh) and has six tehsils. The administrative h ...
of the
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
of
Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
.
Kaike Magar Kaike is a Sino-Tibetan language of Nepal. ''Ethnologue'' classifies it as a West Bodish language. Kaike is spoken in Shahartara, Tupatara, Tarakot, and Belawa villages of Sahartara VDC, Dolpa District, Karnali Province, Nepal (''Ethnolo ...
, once thought to be Kinnauri, is closer to Tamangic.
Bhoti Kinnauri Bhoti Kinnauri (or Nyamkat, or the Nyam language) is a Tibetic language spoken in the Lahaul and Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh, India. It forms a closely knit group with other Lahuli–Spiti languages, and is fairly close to Standard Tibetan ...
and Tukpa (locally called Chhoyuli) are Bodish ( Lahauli–Spiti).


Linguistic varieties and geographical distribution

Kinnaur has nearly ten linguistic varieties, with Kinnauri being the major language. '' Ethnologue'' lists the following locations for Kinnauri proper and related languages. ''Kinnauri''-speaking villages are from Badhal
Rampur Bushahr Rampur Bushahr is a town and a municipal council in Shimla district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is about 130 km from Shimla and is well connected with NH 5 which passes through Theog, Narkanda and Kumarsain. History T ...
to Sangla and north along Satluj river to Morang. Mainly the Kinnauri-speaking area is located in lower parts of
Kinnaur district Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The district is divided into three administrative areas (Kalpa, Nichar (Bhabanagar), and Pooh) and has six tehsils. The administrative h ...
in
Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
. The estimated population of Kinnauri speaking people is 45,000. '' Chitkuli Kinnauri'' is spoken by a thousand people in the
Baspa river Baspa River rises near the Indo-Chinese border and forms the Baspa Valley (also known as the Sangla Valley) - one of the most scenic in Himalayas. The Chung Sakhago Pass lies at the head of the valley. It is fed by the perennial glaciers and s ...
area of the
Sangla valley Sangla is a town in the Baspa Valley, also referred to as the Sangla valley, in the Kinnaur District of Himachal Pradesh, India, close to the Tibetan border. Geography Sangla Valley or the Baspa Valley starts at Karcham and ends at Chitkul. ...
in Nichar subdivision,
Kinnaur district Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The district is divided into three administrative areas (Kalpa, Nichar (Bhabanagar), and Pooh) and has six tehsils. The administrative h ...
,
Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
(in Chitkul and Rakchham villages). ''Jangshung'' is spoken in Morang
tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administ ...
,
Kinnaur district Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The district is divided into three administrative areas (Kalpa, Nichar (Bhabanagar), and Pooh) and has six tehsils. The administrative h ...
,
Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
(in Jangi, Lippa, and Asrang villages). These villages have a population of nearly 2600. ''Sumcho'' is spoken in Poo
tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administ ...
,
Kinnaur district Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The district is divided into three administrative areas (Kalpa, Nichar (Bhabanagar), and Pooh) and has six tehsils. The administrative h ...
,
Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
(in Kanam, Labrang, Spilo, Shyaso, Taling, and Rushkaling villages) by a population of 2500. ''
Bhoti Kinnauri Bhoti Kinnauri (or Nyamkat, or the Nyam language) is a Tibetic language spoken in the Lahaul and Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh, India. It forms a closely knit group with other Lahuli–Spiti languages, and is fairly close to Standard Tibetan ...
'' is spoken in Poo division of upper
Kinnaur Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The district is divided into three administrative areas (Kalpa, Nichar (Bhabanagar), and Pooh) and has six tehsils. The administrative he ...
. The language shows slight phonemic variations in the valley. Main varieties are spoken in Poo Hangrang and Nako villages. It is a generic Tibetan language spoken by nearly 7000 people. ''Chhoyuli'' is a Tibetic language spoken in Nesang and Kunnu Charan villages of Poo division in upper
Kinnaur Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The district is divided into three administrative areas (Kalpa, Nichar (Bhabanagar), and Pooh) and has six tehsils. The administrative he ...
. It has a population of around 700. The language is considered a variety of Bhoti Kinnauri but is shows enough characteristics to stand as an independent language. ''Sunnami'' language is spoken in Sunnam village of Poo division in upper
Kinnaur Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The district is divided into three administrative areas (Kalpa, Nichar (Bhabanagar), and Pooh) and has six tehsils. The administrative he ...
. It has a population of abour 700. ''Pahari Kinnauri'' is an Indo-Aryan language of
Kinnaur Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The district is divided into three administrative areas (Kalpa, Nichar (Bhabanagar), and Pooh) and has six tehsils. The administrative he ...
spoken mainly by the Scheduled Caste community of Nichar, Kalpa, Sangla and Moorang tehsils in Kinnaur. It has a population of 9000. In absence of a detailed sociolinguistic survey on language use, the actual number of fluent speakers of KLs is unknown. The actual number of speakers is much lower than the total population. Census data include native as well as the non native and the migratory workers in the survey.


Phonology

This description is of the Pangi dialect of Kinnauri.


Consonants

''Note on palatals'': , , , and are post-alveolar. is
alveolo-palatal In phonetics, alveolo-palatal (or alveopalatal) consonants, sometimes synonymous with pre-palatal consonants, are intermediate in articulation between the coronal and dorsal consonants, or which have simultaneous alveolar and palatal artic ...
.


Vowels

Kinnauri has six pairs of long/short vowels:


Syllables

, aspirated obstruents (i.e. , , , , , ), and glides (i.e. , ) do not occur in syllable codas. All consonants may occur in onsets and word-medially. Kinnauri has the following types of syllables: * * *


Grammar

Kinnauri is SOV, V-Auxiliary, Postpositional, and has head-final noun phrases. It shows case marking with an ergative alignment in the past tense, nominative-accusative elsewhere. The ergative case is identical to the
instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...
. There is no distinction between
accusative The accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘th ...
and dative, and a genitive is partially
syncretic Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thu ...
with the accusative/dative. An ablative case is also recognized, normally attached outside the genitive but with different
allomorph In linguistics, an allomorph is a variant phonetic form of a morpheme, or, a unit of meaning that varies in sound and spelling without changing the meaning. The term ''allomorph'' describes the realization of phonological variations for a specif ...
s for animate and inanimate referents. There is also a locative case, normally used only with inanimate nouns.


Script

The native script of the language is a variety of
Takri script The Tākri script (Takri ( Chamba): ; Takri (Jammu/Dogra): ; sometimes called Tankri ) is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts. It is derived from the Sharada script formerly employed for Kashmiri. It is the sister scri ...
.


Language vitality

Kinnaura people are bilinguals who speak Hindi along with their mother tongue. Hindi is the main lingua franca for people from different language groups in Kinnaur. It is also the main language in schools, colleges, government offices, market place, banks and more such domains. Younger generation is exposed to entertainment media like movies, music, mobile phone, newspapers etc., in Hindi. Kinnauri songs beings produced show heavy influence of Hindi. Young learners are encouraged to learn and speak Hindi in order to benefit in education and employment in future. Fluent speakers of Kinnauri are only the elders or the mid aged people who have little exposure to the outer world or are still unaffected by the modernity. But whether the next generation will inherit the cultural knowledge or the legacy of ancestors is doubted. From UNESCO factors study, all languages in Kinnaur region are definitely endangered, inter-generational transmission is unsafe, number of speakers using Kinnauri as first language is very low, domains are shifting, Hindi is replacing Kinnauri in most domains, there is lack of literary traditions, government support towards the protection and promotion of Kinnaur language or culture is absent, very little is known about the linguistic structure of the languages in the region. Like other tribal languages, Kinnauri too may lose much of its linguistic characteristics due to lack of proper documentation and government support and community apathy as well. Among urgent measures, Kinnauri languages need community collaborative efforts to document and discuss among the locals, scholars, linguists and researchers.


References


Bibliography

* Nagano, Yasuhiko; & LaPolla, Randy J. (Eds.). (2001). ''New research on Zhangzhung and related Himalayan languages''. Bon studies 3, Senri ethnological reports 19. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology. * Negi, Harvinder. 2012. A Sociolinguistic profile of the Kinnaura tribe. Nepalese Linguistics. Vol. 27, pp 101-105 http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/nepling/pdf/Nep_Ling_27.pdf * * * Takahashi, Yoshiharu. 2007. On the deictic patterns in Kinnauri (Pangi dialect). In Roland Bielmeier and Felix Haller (eds.). Linguistics of the Himalayas and beyond, 341-354. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. * Takahashi, Yoshiharu (2009) “On the Verbal Affixes in West Himalayan”. Issues in Tibeto-Burman Historical Linguistics, Yasuhiko Nagano, ed. special issue of Senri Ethnological Studies 75: 21–49. * Takahashi, Yoshiharu (2012). "On a Middle Voice Suffix in Kinnauri (Pangi dialect) Yoshiharu". Objectivization and Subjectivization: A Typology of Voice Systems Edited by Wataru Nakamura and Ritsuko Kikusawa, eds., special issue of Senri Ethnological Studies 77: 157–175. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinnauri Language Languages of Himachal Pradesh Kinnaur district Endangered languages of India West Himalayish languages