Kashmiri language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kashmiri | ||
|---|---|---|
| कॉशुर کٲشُر kạ̄šur | ||
| Spoken in | Jammu and Kashmir (India)[1]
Azad Kashmir (Pakistan)[1] |
|
| Region | northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent | |
| Total speakers | 4.6 million[1] | |
| Language family | Indo-European
|
|
| Writing system | Perso-Arabic script (contemporary), Devanagari script (contemporary), Sharada script (ancient/liturgical) |
|
| Official status | ||
| Official language in |  India [1] |
|
| Regulated by | No official regulation | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | ks | |
| ISO 639-2 | kas | |
| ISO 639-3 | kas | |
Kashmiri (कॉशुर, کٲشُر Koshur) belongs to the Dardic languages and is spoken primarily in the Kashmir Valley, in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.[2][3][4] There are approximately 5,554,496 speakers in India, according to the Census of 2001.[5] Most of the 105,000 speakers or so in Pakistan are mostly émigrés from the Kashmir Valley after the partition of India.[6] They include only a few speakers residing in border villages in Neelum District as well as individuals who settled in the towns in the plains of West Punjab after the partition.[6] Kashmiri belongs to the geographical linguistic sub-grouping called Dardic part of the Indo-European Language Family.[7]
The Kashmiri language is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India,[8] and is a part of the Sixth Schedule in the constitution of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmiri. Along with other regional languages mentioned in the Sixth Schedule, as well as Hindi and Urdu, the Kashmiri language is to be developed in the state.[9] Some Kashmiri speakers frequently use Hindi or English as a second language.[1] Since November 2008, the Kashmiri language has been made a compulsory subject in all schools in the Valley upto the secondary level.[10]
Contents |
[edit] Literature
In 1919 George Abraham Grierson wrote that “Kashmiri is the only one of the Dardic languages that has a literature”. Kashmiri literature dates back to over 750 years, this is, more-or-less, the age of many a modern literature including English.
[edit] Writing system
The Kashmiri language was traditionally written in the Sharada script after the 8th Century A.D.[11] This script however, is not in common use today, except for religious ceremonies of the Kashmiri Pandits.[12] However, today, it is written in the Perso-Arabic (with some modifications) and Devanagari scripts.[13] Among languages written in the Perso-Arabic script, Kashmiri is one of the very few which regularly indicates all vowel sounds.[14] This script has been in vogue since the Muslim conquest in India and has been used by both Muslims and Hindus for centuries, in the Kashmir Valley.[15] However, today, the Kashmiri Perso-Arabic script has come to be associated with Kashmiri Muslims, while the Kashmiri Devanagari script, has come to be associated with the Kashmiri Hindu community, who employ the latter script.[15][16]
[edit] Grammar
Kashmiri, like German and Old English and unlike other Indo-Aryan languages, has V2 word order.[17]
There are four cases in Kashmiri: nominative, genitive, and two oblique cases: the ergative and the dative case [18]
[edit] Vocabulary
Kashmiri is rich in Persian words.[19]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e "Kashmiri: A language of India". Ethnologue. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=kas. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
- ^ "Koshur: An Introduction to Spoken Kashmiri". Kashmir News Network: Language Section (koshur.org). http://www.koshur.org/contents.html. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
- ^ "Kashmiri Literature". Kashmir Sabha, Kolkata. http://vitasta.org/2001/2.1.html. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
- ^ "Kashmiri Language: Roots, Evolution and Affinity". Kashmiri Overseas Association, Inc. (KOA). http://www.koausa.org/Languages/Shashi.html. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
- ^ Abstract of speakers’ strength of languages and mother tongues – 2001, Census of India (retrieved 17 March 2008)
- ^ a b "The Kashmir Dispute – a cause or a symptom?". Stockholm University. http://www.sasnet.lu.se/ishtiaqkashmir.html. Retrieved on 2009-07-07.
- ^ "Kashmiri language". Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9044802/Kashmiri-language. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
- ^ "Scheduled Languages of India". Central Institute of Indian Languages. http://www.ciil.org/Main/languages/indian.htm. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
- ^ "The Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir (India)". General Administrative Department of the Government of Jammu & Kashmir (India). http://jkgad.nic.in/statutory/Rules-Costitution-of-J&K.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
- ^ "Kashmiri made compulsory subject in schools". API News. http://apinewsonline.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=15922. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
- ^ "Sarada". Lawrence. http://www.ancientscripts.com/sarada.html. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
- ^ "The Sharada Script: Origin and Development". Kashmiri Overseas Association. http://www.koausa.org/Languages/Sharda.html. Retrieved on 2009-07-07.
- ^ "Kashmiri (कॉशुर / كٲشُر)". Omniglot. http://www.omniglot.com/writing/kashmiri.htm. Retrieved on 2009-07-07.
- ^ Daniels & Bright (1996). The World's Writing Systems. pp. 753–754.
- ^ a b "Valley divide impacts Kashmiri, Pandit youth switch to Devnagari". Indian Express. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/valley-divide-impacts-kashmiri-pandit-youth/472872/. Retrieved on 2009-07-07.
- ^ "Devnagari Script for Kashmiri: A Study in its Necessity, Feasibility and Practicality". Kashmiri Overseas Association. http://www.koausa.org/Languages/devan1.html. Retrieved on 2009-07-07.
- ^ "V-2 and the Verb Complex in Kashmiri". University of Michigan and Central Institute of Indian Languages. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~pehook/kash.verb.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-04.
- ^ Edelman (1983). The Dardic and Nuristani Languages.
- ^ Krishna, Gopi (1967). Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man. Boston: Shambhala. p. 212. ISBN 978-1570622809. http://www.scribd.com/doc/7577310/KUNDALINI-the-evolutionary-energy-in-man.
[edit] See also
- Kashmiri literature
- List of topics on the land and the people of “Jammu and Kashmir”
- List of Kashmiri poets
- Neab International Kashmiri Magazine
- States of India by Kashmiri speakers
[edit] External links
- Grierson, George Abraham. A Dictionary of the Kashmiri Language. Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1932.
- Lexical Borrowings in Kashmiri by Ashok K KoulDelhi: Indian Institute of Language Studies,2008.
- Koshur: An Introduction to Spoken Kashmiri
- Kashmiri
- Kashmiri font
- Kashmiri Weekly Newspaper
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