Bhadarwahi language

Bhadarwahi (Bhadrawahi) is an indigenous language of the Indian subcontinent, belonging to the Western Pahari group. It is spoken by the Bhadarwahi people in the Bhadarwah region of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The language traces its origins to Sanskrit, the ancient and indigenous linguistic heritage of the region, and has evolved naturally within the cultural context of the area.

Bhadarwahi
Bhadrawahi
𑚡𑚛𑚶𑚤𑚦𑚭𑚩𑚯 भद्रवाही بھدرواہی
Bhadarwahi written in Takri, Devanagari and Perso-arabic scripts
Native to	Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh
Region	Bhadarwah, Doda district
Ethnicity	Bhadarwahis
Native speakers	120,000 (2011)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Northern Western Pahari Bhadarwahi
Dialects	Bhalesi Bhadrawahi proper Khasali dialect
Writing system	Devanagari, Takri, Perso-Arabic script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bhd
Glottolog	bhad1241
ELP	Bhadrawahi

The name Bhadarwahi can be understood either in a narrow sense as referring to the dialect, locally known as Bhiḍlāi, native to the Bhadarwah valley, or in a broader sense to cover the group of related dialects spoken in the wider region where Bhadarwahi proper is used as a lingua franca. In addition to Bhadarwahi proper, this group also includes Bhalesi, and Khasali (Khashali) dialect.^[2] The Churahi language is closely related.

The name of the language is spelt in the Takri as 𑚡𑚛𑚤𑚦𑚭𑚩𑚯. Variants include Bhaderwahi (𑚡𑚛𑚲𑚤𑚦𑚭𑚩𑚯),^[3] Baderwali (𑚠𑚛𑚲𑚤𑚦𑚭𑚥𑚯), Bhadri (𑚡𑚛𑚤𑚯), Badrohi (𑚠𑚛𑚶𑚤𑚴𑚩𑚯), Bhadlayi (𑚡𑚛𑚥𑚭𑚣𑚯), and Bhadlai (𑚡𑚛𑚥𑚭𑚃).

Phonology

Vowels^[4]

	Front	Central	Back
High	iː		uː
Lower High	i		u
Mid	e eː		oː
Lower Mid		ə	o
Low			ɑː

Consonants^[4]

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m		n		ɳ	ɲ
Stop	voiceless	p	t̪			ʈ	t͡ʃ	k
	aspirated	pʰ	t̪ʰ			ʈʰ	t͡ʃʰ	kʰ
	voiced	b	d̪			ɖ	d͡ʒ	ɡ
	breathy	bʱ	d̪ʱ			ɖʱ	d͡ʒʱ	ɡʱ
Fricative	voiceless			s	ʃ		ç çʰ		h
	voiced			z zʱ
Approximant		w		l			j
Trill				r
Flap or Tap						ɽ

According to Masica (1991) there are a set of lateral retroflex affricates /ʈ͡ꞎ ɖ͡𝼅 ɖ͡𝼅ʱ/ from old /Cr/ clusters.^[5]

Status

The language is commonly called Bhaderwahi.^{[citation needed]} Some speakers may call it a dialect of Dogri.^[6] The language has no official status. It is classified by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as "definitely endangered," meaning that many Bhadarwahi parents are not teaching it to their children and the number of native speakers is decreasing. Other languages, such as Kashmiri and Urdu/Hindi, are being spoken in the home in its place. This is a natural human tendency to pick up the language of people perceived as better off economically and/or socially.^[7]

Media

A daily headline news program is broadcast by a news outlet The Chenab Times in Sarazi and Bhadarwahi languages to promote them.^[8][9]