Kinnauri language

File:A signboard in Kinnauri Language.jpg

Kinnaur has nearly ten linguistic varieties, with Kinnauri being the major language. Ethnologue lists the following locations for Kinnauri proper and related languages.

Kinnauri is spoken in the villages from Badhal Rampur Bushahr to Sangla and north along Satluj river to Morang. Mainly the Kinnauri-speaking area is located in lower parts of Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh. The estimated population of Kinnauri speaking people is 45,000.

Chitkuli Kinnauri is spoken by a thousand people in the Baspa river area of the Sangla valley in Nichar subdivision, Kinnaur district, Himachal Pradesh (in Chitkul and Rakchham villages).

Jangshung is spoken in Morang tehsil, Kinnaur district, Himachal Pradesh (in Jangi, Lippa, and Asrang villages). These villages have a population of nearly 2600.

Sumcho is spoken in Poo tehsil, Kinnaur district, Himachal Pradesh (in Kanam, Labrang, Spilo, Shyaso, Taling, and Rushkaling villages) by a population of 2500.

Bhoti Kinnauri is spoken in Poo division of upper Kinnaur. 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. 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. It has a population of about 700.

Pahari Kinnauri is an Indo-Aryan language of Kinnaur 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.NEGI, HARVINDER K U M A R. “LANGUAGE USE, PRESTIGE AND VITALITY OF LANGUAGES IN KINNAUR.” International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics, 2023.

This description is of the Pangi dialect of Kinnauri.

Note on palatals: {{IPA|/dʒ/}}, {{IPA|/tʃ/}}, {{IPA|/tʃʰ/}}, and {{IPA|/ʃ/}} are post-alveolar. {{IPA|/ɲ/}} is alveolo-palatal.

Kinnauri has six pairs of long/short vowels:

{{IPA|/h/}}, aspirated obstruents (i.e. {{IPA|/pʰ/}}, {{IPA|/tʰ/}}, {{IPA|/ʈʰ/}}, {{IPA|/kʰ/}}, {{IPA|/t͡sʰ/}}, {{IPA|/t͡ʃʰ/}}), and glides (i.e. {{IPA|/w/}}, {{IPA|/j/}}) do not occur in syllable codas.

All consonants may occur in onsets and word-medially.

Kinnauri has the following types of syllables:

• {{Transliteration|kfk|italic=no|(C)V(C)(C)(C)}}
• {{Transliteration|kfk|italic=no|CCV(C)}}
• {{Transliteration|kfk|italic=no|CCCVC}}

Word order in Kinnari is SOV, it is a postpositional language, it shows agreement in person number features, adjective precedes head in the noun

phrase, modifiers precede the head noun, causative occurs after main verb, marker of comparison follows the standard of comparison, negatives are pre-verbal, auxiliary follows

the main verb, anaphor follows the antecedent and main clause precedes the subordinate clause. It exhibits some exceptions in SOV language features. SOV language should have

preposed genitives and adjective should follow noun. But Kinnauri has postpositional genitive and the adjective precedes the noun.NEGI, HARVINDER K U M A R. “Typological Characteristics of Kinnauri.” Interdisciplinary Journal of LinguisticC, KU Srinagar, India 5 (2012): 329–48.

The language does not have a script. It is an oral language

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.NEGI, HARVINDER K U M A R. “LANGUAGE USE, PRESTIGE AND VITALITY OF LANGUAGES IN KINNAUR.” International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics, 2023.

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.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

• Kanashi language of Malana, Himachal Pradesh, mutually intelligible with Kinnauri

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |editor-last=Nagano |editor-first=Yasuhiko |editor-last2=LaPolla |editor-first2=Randy J. |year=2001 |title=New research on Zhangzhung and related Himalayan languages |series=Bon studies |volume=3 |location=Osaka |publisher=National Museum of Ethnology}}
• Negi, Harvinder Kumar. (2023). Language use, prestige and vitality of languages in kinnaur (https://www.academia.edu/105610420/LANGUAGE_USE_PRESTIGE_AND_VITALITY_OF_LANGUAGES_IN_KINNAUR). International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics.
• Negi, Harvinder Kumar. (2021). Languages of kannaura tribe (https://www.academia.edu/50932512/Languages_of_kannaura_tribe). Languages of INDIAN HIMALAYAS, .
• {{cite journal |last=Negi |first=Harvinder |year=2012 |title=A Sociolinguistic profile of the Kinnaura tribe |journal=Nepalese Linguistics |volume=27 |pages=101–105 |url=http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/nepling/pdf/Nep_Ling_27.pdf}}
• {{cite encyclopedia

| last = Nishi 西

| first = Yoshio 義郎

| author-link = Yoshio Nishi

| editor1-first = 孝 Takashi

| editor1-last = 亀井 Kamei

| editor2-first = 六郎 Rokurō

| editor2-last = 河野 Kōno

| editor3-first = 栄一 Eichi

| editor3-last = 千野 Chino

| encyclopedia = 三省堂言語学大辞典 The Sanseido Encyclopaedia of Linguistics

| title = カナウル語

| trans-title = Kanauru language

| language = Japanese

| year = 1993a

| publisher = 三省堂 Sanseido Press

| volume = 5

| location = Tokyo

| isbn = 4385152144

| pages = 75b–86b

}}

• {{cite book |last=Perumalsamy |first=P |year=2022 |chapter=Kinnauri language |title=Linguistic Survey of India |volume=Himachal Pradesh |publisher=Language Division, Office of the Registrar General India |location=New Delhi |pages=935–1028 |url=https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/45246}}
• {{cite book |surname=Takahashi |given=Yoshiharu |chapter=A descriptive study of Kinnauri (Pangi dialect): A preliminary report |pages=97–119 |doi=10.15021/00002143 |doi-access=free |editor1-given=Yasuhiko |editor1-surname=Nagano |editor2-given=Randy J. |editor2-surname=LaPolla |title=New research on Zhangzhung and related Himalayan languages |journal=国立民族学博物館調査報告 = Senri Ethnological Reports |location=Osaka |publisher=National Museum of Ethnology |year=2001 |volume=19 |url=https://minpaku.repo.nii.ac.jp/index.php?action=pages_view_main&active_action=repository_view_main_item_snippet&index_id=210&pn=1&count=20&order=17&lang=japanese&page_id=13&block_id=21

}}

• {{cite book |last=Takahashi |first=Yoshiharu |year=2007 |chapter=On the deictic patterns in Kinnauri (Pangi dialect) |editor-first=Roland |editor-last=Bielmeier |editor-first2=Felix |editor-last2=Haller |title=Linguistics of the Himalayas and beyond |pages=341–354 |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter}}
• {{cite journal |last=Takahashi |first=Yoshiharu |year=2009 |title=On the Verbal Affixes in West Himalayan |editor-first=Yasuhiko |editor-last=Nagano |journal=Senri Ethnological Studies |volume=75: Issues in Tibeto-Burman Historical Linguistics |pages=21–49 |doi=10.15021/00002556 |issn=0387-6004}}
• {{cite journal |last=Takahashi |first=Yoshiharu |year=2012 |title=On a Middle Voice Suffix in Kinnauri (Pangi dialect) Yoshiharu |editor-first=Wataru |editor-last=Nakamura |editor-first2=Ritsuko |editor-last2=Kikusawa |journal=Senri Ethnological Studies |volume=77 |issue=77 |pages=157–175 |doi=10.15021/00002533}}

{{Bodic languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinnauri Language}}

Category:Languages of Himachal Pradesh

Category:Kinnaur district

Category:Endangered languages of India

Category:West Himalayish languages

Category:Languages written in Devanagari