Zangskari dialect (Zanskari, Zaskari) is an
endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
Tibetic language. It is a dialect of
Ladakhi language
The Ladakhi language is a Tibetic language spoken in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. It is the predominant language in the Buddhist-dominated district of Leh district, Leh, and a minority language in the district of Kargil district#Langua ...
. It is mostly spoken in the
Zanskar
Zanskar, Zahar (locally) or Zangskar, is the southwestern region of Kargil district in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. The administrative centre of Zanskar is Padum. Zanskar, together with the rest of Ladakh, was briefly a part of the kin ...
region of the
Kargil district
Kargil district is a district in Indian-administered Ladakh in the Kashmir#Dispute, disputed Kashmir-region,The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the ...
of
Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...
, India and also by
Buddhists
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE. It is the world's fourth ...
in the upper reaches of
Lahaul,
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...
, and
Paddar,
Jammu and Kashmir. It is written using the
Tibetan script
The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system, or '' abugida'', forming a part of the Brahmic scripts, and used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Jirel and Balti. Its exact origins ...
.
Zangskari is divided into four homogeneous groups, namely Oot (''Stod'') or Upper Zanskari spoken along the
Doda River, Zhung (''Gžun'') or Central Zanskari mostly spoken in
Padum valley, Sham (''Gšam'') or Lower Zanskari spoken along the lower portions of
Zanskar River and lastly Lungnak (''Luŋnag'') along the upper Zanskar River region.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
Endangered Languages Project Profile for Zangskari*
*
Free-access archived version of ''Zangskari'' at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015).
Archived 1 December 2016.
{{Bodic languages
Endangered languages of India
Languages of Ladakh
Kargil district
Languages written in Tibetan script
Bodic languages
Culture of Ladakh
Ladakh