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Pahari language

The Pahari languages (from pahār, "mountain") form a diverse subgroup of the within the Indo-European family, spoken across the Himalayan and lower mountain ranges. These languages, which evolved in relative isolation due to the region's rugged terrain, encompass a continuum of dialects rather than a single standardized tongue, with significant variation influenced by local and historical migrations. Classified into three main divisions—Western, Central, and Eastern—by linguist George Grierson in his (1901–1928), the Pahari languages exhibit kinships with neighboring tongues like and Rajasthani while retaining unique phonological and grammatical features shaped by centuries of . includes dialects such as Kangri, Mandeali, and , primarily in , ; Central Pahari features Garhwali and Kumaoni in ; and Eastern Pahari is represented by , the official language of . Historically, many Pahari varieties used the Tankri script, an ancient Brahmic , though has largely supplanted it in modern usage. Geographically, Pahari languages are concentrated in northern India (Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu & Kashmir), western Nepal, and parts of Pakistan (such as Azad Jammu and Kashmir), with diaspora communities in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. A 1996 survey estimates approximately 90% of Himachal Pradesh's residents speak a Pahari variety as their mother tongue, with the state's 2011 Census population at 6.86 million, totaling around 6.2 million speakers in the state alone, with major dialects like Kangri (1.1 million speakers) and Mandeali (621,000 speakers). Speaker estimates vary by inclusion of Nepali; excluding it, Western and Central Pahari have around 8-10 million speakers nationwide and regionally as of 2011, though precise figures are complicated by dialectal overlaps and official classifications that often subsume them under Hindi or Punjabi. Linguistically, Pahari languages are notable for their rich vowel systems (up to 12 oral and 4 nasal s in some varieties), aspirated , and morphologies that differ from standard , such as distinct tense formations and case markings. For instance, the Poonch dialect of features 30 and 6 diphthongs, reflecting influences from surrounding Dardic and elements. Despite their cultural significance in folk literature, music, and oral histories—evident in traditions like Himachali folk songs and Garhwali epics—Pahari languages face endangerment from , , and the dominance of and English in and media. Preservation initiatives include advocacy for inclusion in India's Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, which would grant official recognition and resources, as well as community efforts to revive the Tankri script through legal petitions and cultural programs. In and , sociolinguistic surveys highlight among speakers, who often code-switch with , , or , underscoring the languages' resilience amid shifting demographics.

Overview

Etymology and terminology

The term "Pahari" derives from the Hindi, Nepali, and Urdu word pahar, meaning "hill" or "mountain," and thus denotes "of the hills" or "mountainous," reflecting the language's association with the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions where its speakers reside. This etymology underscores the geographical , as the languages are spoken in upland areas across northern , and , often in terrains that distinguish them from lowland Indo-Aryan varieties. Historically, "Pahari" has served multiple roles in linguistic nomenclature, including as a self-designation by speakers in regions like Himachal Pradesh, where communities identify their speech as Pahari to emphasize local identity. During the British colonial period, the term was formalized as a cover label by linguists such as George A. Grierson in his Linguistic Survey of India (1917), who applied it to a broad group of Indo-Aryan languages spoken in the outer Himalayas, from Kashmir to Nepal, often as an exonym in administrative and scholarly contexts rather than a precise genetic classification. This usage persisted in post-colonial administrative settings, such as in Indian census reports and Pakistani linguistic surveys, where it facilitated grouping diverse hill varieties without implying strict mutual intelligibility. The terminology surrounding "Pahari" is marked by significant ambiguities, as it overlaps with regional labels like "Himachali," which is commonly used in for varieties spoken in , effectively functioning as a in that context. Similarly, "Pahari-Pothwari" refers to transitional forms in and , blending hill and plains features, while in Pakistan's Murree hills, the variety is known as "Dhundi-Kairali," highlighting local ethnic designations for the same speech continuum. Further confusion arises from its application to unrelated in central , such as the of Newar, which share only the geographical but belong to a distinct .) These overlaps necessitate careful distinction in linguistic studies to avoid conflating Indo-Aryan hill languages with non-Indo-Aryan ones.

Geographic and cultural context

The Pahari languages are spoken across the Himalayan foothills in northern (particularly , , and ), eastern ( and ), and parts of , primarily at lower elevations ranging from 500 to 2,000 meters above . This rugged landscape of steep valleys, terraced slopes, and isolated settlements has historically limited mobility and interaction between communities, contributing to pronounced dialectal diversity even within short geographic distances. Within these hill communities, languages serve as vital vehicles for oral traditions, including folk songs that are integral to festivals and life-cycle rituals, such as weddings and harvest celebrations in . These songs, often performed by women in Kangra and surrounding areas, blend narrative elements from daily life, devotion, and mythology to foster social cohesion and transmit generational knowledge, while reinforcing a sense of regional identity amid the pervasive influence of dominant languages like , , and in education, media, and administration. The varieties collectively count several million speakers (excluding standardized ), with around 6 million in alone as of the 2011 census. The majority reside in rural hill villages where urban migration patterns create a stark divide—younger generations in cities often shift toward prestige languages for socioeconomic mobility. Pahari-speaking populations are closely tied to subsistence economies centered on hill agriculture, including terraced cultivation of crops like and alongside , which drives seasonal or permanent relocation to lowland plains for labor opportunities in construction and services. Cultural preservation initiatives, such as community radio broadcasts in local Pahari dialects by stations like those affiliated with , aim to sustain oral heritage and linguistic vitality against these pressures.

Classification

Position in Indo-Aryan family

The Pahari languages are classified as a subgroup of the Northern or Northwestern within the broader Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. They form part of the New Indo-Aryan stage, which emerged after the Middle Indo-Aryan period, and are spoken primarily in the Himalayan foothills across northern , and . This positioning reflects their development in a transitional zone between the northwestern and central zones of Indo-Aryan, exhibiting traits that link them to both Punjabi-Lahnda varieties in the west and Hindi-Urdu in the east. Pahari languages descend from Old Indo-Aryan forms, such as Vedic and Classical Sanskrit (circa 1500–500 BCE), through the Middle Indo-Aryan stages of and Apabhramsha (circa 600 BCE–1000 CE). By the post-1000 CE period, they had crystallized as distinct New Indo-Aryan varieties, retaining archaic features from earlier strata while incorporating innovations from regional substrates. Genealogical overviews place their branching within the Indo-Aryan tree as emerging from the diversification of Middle Indo-Aryan dialects in the northwestern Himalayan region, influenced by migrations and isolations in hilly terrains. Key shared features with other Indo-Aryan languages include subject-object-verb (SOV) word order, the use of postpositions rather than prepositions, and noun systems with and number , which collectively distinguish them from neighboring non-Indo-Aryan families like (with agglutinative structures) or Tibeto-Burman (often tonal and isolating). While showing some lexical and phonological influences from —such as enhanced retroflex consonants due to geographic proximity—Pahari varieties retain core northwestern Indo-Aryan traits, including aspirated stops (e.g., /ph/, /th/, /kh/), in contrast to shifts observed in toward deaspiration. These characteristics underscore their role as a bridge between inner and outer Indo-Aryan developments, with limited but notable Eastern Indo-Aryan borrowings in certain dialects.

Subgroups and internal structure

The Pahari languages are traditionally divided into three primary subgroups: , Central Pahari, and Eastern Pahari, with transitional forms such as exhibiting influences from neighboring varieties. This tripartite classification originates from George A. Grierson's work in the (Volume IX, Part IV), which grouped them based on shared phonological and morphological features within the Central Indo-Aryan branch. In modern linguistics, encompasses languages like those spoken in and regions, Central Pahari those in , and Eastern Pahari those extending into , though some classifications refine these boundaries. Grouping criteria for these subgroups rely on gradients, phonological isoglosses, and shared innovations, such as specific shifts from Old Indo-Aryan forms and the development of lexical in select varieties. For instance, systems, including high-falling, mid-level, and low-rising contrasts, mark certain and transitional forms as distinct from non-tonal Eastern varieties. These isoglosses help delineate subgroups without rigid borders, reflecting gradual linguistic divergence across the Himalayan foothills. Pahari exhibits a nature, characterized by fluid transitions between varieties where adjacent forms show substantial , often exceeding that of more distant subgroups. This lacks sharp boundaries, with intelligibility decreasing progressively from west to east, underscoring the interconnectedness of the subgroups rather than discrete languages. debates center on Grierson's 1910s framework versus contemporary revisions, particularly in resources like , which assigns separate codes to individual varieties (e.g., phr for , kfx for Pahari) and reclassifies transitional forms outside the core Pahari grouping due to stronger affinities. These updates highlight evolving understandings of substrate influences and genetic affiliations, moving beyond Grierson's geographic emphasis toward finer-grained phylogenetic analysis.

Varieties

Western Pahari

Western Pahari languages form a subgroup of the Northern Indo-Aryan family, primarily spoken in the western Himalayan regions of and parts of in . Key varieties include Kangri, spoken by approximately 1.12 million people mainly in the ; Mandeali, with around 621,400 speakers in the ; Chambeali, used by about 126,000 individuals in the ; and Bilaspuri, spoken by roughly 295,800 people in the Bilaspur district and adjacent areas. These languages exhibit significant within the subgroup but show influences from neighboring in their outer dialects. A distinctive grammatical feature of Western Pahari languages is the retention of a robust case system, with up to seven morphologically distinct cases marking nouns for roles such as nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, locative, and vocative, echoing elements of Old Indo-Aryan that were largely lost in many Middle Indo-Aryan varieties before being partially redeveloped in modern forms. Vocabulary in these languages often reflects the local ecology of the Himalayan , incorporating terms specific to regional such as coniferous trees and herbs, which are integral to daily and systems. Dialect variations are notable between inner and outer Himachal regions, with inner varieties like Sirmauri preserving archaic verb forms, including agreement with objects in and future tenses—a feature uncommon in most other modern . Western Pahari languages play a vital role in cultural expressions, particularly in the oral recitation of epics that narrate local histories, heroic deeds, and moral tales, as seen in Mandeali and related dialects where such epics form a primary literary tradition despite limited written forms. These oral traditions intersect with regional artistic practices, including the elements embedded in Pahari motifs from , where narratives of epics and are visually represented and verbally transmitted in the local tongues.

Central and Eastern Pahari

Central Pahari varieties are primarily spoken in the Uttarakhand region of India, encompassing Kumaoni and Garhwali as the main languages. Kumaoni, with approximately 2 million speakers according to the 2011 Indian Census, is concentrated in the Kumaon division, including districts like Almora, Nainital, and Pithoragarh. It features several subdialects, such as Askoti spoken in the Askot area near the Nepal border, which exhibits close lexical and phonological similarities to neighboring Soryali and Sirali varieties. Garhwali, spoken by around 2.5 million people in the Garhwal division, including districts like Pauri Garhwal and Tehri Garhwal, forms a dialect continuum with Kumaoni, sharing core grammatical structures and vocabulary while diverging in regional phonetics and idioms. This continuum reflects historical migrations and geographic proximity across the Himalayan foothills, allowing partial mutual intelligibility between adjacent varieties. Eastern Pahari varieties extend into , with serving as the dominant form and , spoken by 11.8 million as a in per the 2011 (with approximately 13 million mother-tongue speakers as of the 2021 ), though total users exceed 20 million including second-language speakers. Other notable varieties include , with roughly 790,000 speakers mainly in far-western districts like and Kailali, and Jumli, spoken by 851 people in the Karnali region per the 2011 . These languages exhibit a Sanskrit-heavy , particularly in formal and literary registers, where (direct borrowings) from comprise a significant portion of the vocabulary, distinguishing them from more Prakrit-influenced forms. , as a prestige variety, exerts influence on migration dialects in border areas, promoting standardization and lexical borrowing among speakers relocating to urban centers or . Shared linguistic innovations across Central and Eastern Pahari include ergative alignment in past tense constructions, where the subject of transitive verbs takes an ergative marker (often -ne or -le) while the direct object remains unmarked, a pattern inherited from Middle Indo-Aryan but retained more robustly here than in standard Hindi. For instance, in Garhwali, a sentence like "Mene kitaab padhi" (I-ERG book read-PAST) illustrates this split-ergativity. Honorific verb forms, prominent in Nepali and extending to related varieties, encode respect through suffixal modifications, such as replacing plain -ne with respectful -nuhuncha (e.g., "garnu" becomes "garnuhuncha" for "you do/respectful"), reflecting social hierarchies in verb agreement. Phonological shifts, including the development of retroflex lateral /ɭ/ from earlier cerebral sounds in words of Sanskrit origin, mark innovations like those in Garhwali (e.g., /ɳ/-derived forms shifting toward /l/-like articulation in intervocalic positions). These traits underscore the subgroup's cohesion within the broader Indo-Aryan family, with Nepali's standardized form often bridging Central-Eastern interactions in cross-border communities.

Pahari-Pothwari and related forms

encompasses a cluster of transitional Indo-Aryan varieties spoken primarily in the northern of , and in Azad Kashmir, often classified within the group due to shared features with western dialects, though debates persist on its precise affiliation between Punjabi and independent status. The core varieties include , spoken across and districts with an estimated 3 million speakers, and Mirpuri, centered in of Azad Kashmir, with around 3-4 million speakers including populations. Additional forms such as Dhundi-Kairali, used in the hills of by over 1.5 million speakers mainly from the Dhund Abbasi and Kareal tribes, along with dialects like Poonchi in Poonch district and Hazara in , exhibit within the complex. These varieties are distinguished by a pronounced substrate, reflecting their roots, which influences vocabulary and syntax more heavily than in eastern forms. A key phonological feature is the tone system, with acoustic studies identifying three tones—high-falling, mid-level, and low-rising—in representative speech, aiding lexical differentiation similar to neighboring varieties. Additionally, colonial-era administration introduced numerous loanwords, such as jism for "body," which integrate into daily and reflect historical administrative ties. In border regions of Azad Kashmir, such as Bagh and districts, forms blend with Gojri through lexical borrowing and bilingualism among nomadic Gujar communities, contributing to a hybrid speech in transitional zones. Overall speaker estimates for the complex reach approximately 5-7 million, with about 3.8 million in and over 500,000 in the UK diaspora, primarily from . Among Mirpuri diaspora communities in the UK, the language sustains cultural vitality through intergenerational transmission and serves as a marker of identity, often involving with English in bilingual contexts to navigate social and educational settings. This practice, evident in mixed-language narratives, supports linguistic maintenance while adapting to host society demands.

Distribution and speakers

In India

Pahari languages, encompassing Western, Central, and related varieties, are spoken by an estimated 10-15 million people in , primarily in the , though many speakers have shifted to in urban and plain areas due to migration and educational pressures. The 2011 Census recorded about 2.5 million speakers of Himachali languages (a subset of ) in , but these figures undercount due to classification under ; recent estimates from the 2020s suggest growth in speaker numbers amid revitalization efforts, though precise updates await full release of 2021 Census language data. In , varieties such as Kangri and Mandeali predominate, with over 621,000 speakers of Mandeali alone as per state surveys. The in 2021 directed the state government to promote and preserve through measures like its inclusion in and administration, following a public interest litigation, though it lacks full official status at the state level; as of 2025, efforts continue through cultural initiatives like Pahari Day. In , Dogri—a language—is recognized as an under the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Act of 2020, alongside its inclusion in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution since 2003, supporting its use in government and media. In , Central Pahari languages like Garhwali (spoken by about 2.3-2.5 million) and Kumaoni (around 2.1 million, 2011 ) are integrated into following 2014 that mandates their teaching in primary schools to foster mother-tongue instruction. Ongoing debates seek inclusion of (particularly Himachali variants) in the Eighth Schedule for national recognition, which would enable greater funding for development, though it remains among 38 pending language demands as of 2025 government reports. broadcasts Pahari programs, such as cultural shows on DD Jammu and DD Kashir, to reach speakers in Himachal and Jammu regions, promoting and . serves as the primary script for written Pahari in , used in , literature, and official Dogri materials, replacing older scripts like Takri in most contexts. Challenges include significant language shift to Hindi, driven by migration to plains for employment and the dominance of Hindi in schools and media, with only 18.1% bilingualism reported among Pahari speakers in Himachal, leading to generational loss. Revitalization initiatives, such as incorporating local dialects in primary schools in districts like Shimla, aim to counter this through community-led programs and court-mandated preservation, though implementation remains uneven.

In Pakistan and Nepal

In Pakistan, Pahari varieties, particularly Pahari-Pothwari, are spoken by an estimated 2.5 to 3.5 million people, primarily in northern Punjab districts such as Rawalpindi and Abbottabad, as well as in Azad Kashmir regions including Bagh, Kotli, and Mirpur. These figures draw from the 1998 census data, with no separate enumeration for Pahari-Pothwari in the 2023 national census, where it is often subsumed under broader Punjabi categories. The language lacks official status nationwide, with Urdu serving as the primary medium for government, education, and formal communication; however, it remains prevalent in informal rural and household settings. In Nepal, Eastern Pahari languages form a key subgroup, with Nepali (also known as Khas-Kura) as the dominant variety and the national , spoken as a mother tongue by 44.86% of the population, or about 13.1 million people (2021 Census). Other Eastern Pahari varieties, such as (or Dotyali), are spoken by around 495,000 people mainly in the far-western provinces, including districts like Kailali, Kanchanpur, and Baitadi (2021 Census). holds additional official status at the provincial level under Nepal's 2015 constitution, which recognizes it alongside in . Nepal's policies, enshrined in the constitution, promote mother-tongue-based education and designate local languages as official within their respective provinces to support linguistic diversity. Cross-border influences on Pahari varieties stem from the 1947 , which displaced communities and created trans-border Pahari-speaking populations, particularly affecting dialects like Mirpuri in Azad Kashmir and adjacent regions. These migrations introduced refugee dialects into , blending with local forms and contributing to the across the . Regarding vitality, faces endangerment in urban Pakistani areas like and , where younger speakers shift toward and English due to socioeconomic pressures and limited institutional support, though it remains stable in rural households with strong intergenerational transmission. In Nepal, Eastern Pahari varieties like and are stable, bolstered by official recognition and policies that encourage use in rural and provincial contexts.

History

Origins and early development

The Pahari languages originated from the migrations of Indo-Aryan speakers into the Himalayan regions, beginning around 1700–1200 BCE as part of the broader Indo-Aryan expansion across via the northwest. These early settlers, carrying forms ancestral to , established linguistic foundations in the hills, blending with pre-existing substrates that included possible Austroasiatic (Munda) elements, as suggested by hydronyms and phonological features in central and eastern Himalayan areas. (1931) links this to the eastward movement of Khasa groups from northwestern , whose speech contributed to the proto-Pahari base, evident in shared phonetic shifts like the voicing of nasals before unvoiced consonants. By approximately 500 CE, varieties began emerging from Indo-Aryan dialects, particularly Northwestern and Sauraseni forms, which underwent phonological simplifications such as reduction and mergers. This development accelerated under the influence of the (roughly 11th–14th centuries CE), whose rulers promoted a across Garhwal, Kumaon, and western , shaping Central and Eastern traits like secondary verb endings in . Masica (1991) notes that Khasa speech, possibly with Dardic or underlayers, fostered regional innovations while retaining Indo-Aryan core structures. Isolation in the rugged terrain preserved archaic features, including like st and sr, distinguishing from lowland . The earliest written records of languages appear in medieval inscriptions and texts around the 13th century, often in or proto-Nagari scripts, reflecting Nepali-like forms in western and Garhwali adaptations of epics. Folk literature, transmitted orally for centuries, included ballads and narratives that captured evolving vocabulary and grammar, with semi-tatsama words bridging roots and New Indo-Aryan expressions. These sources highlight the languages' divergence into subgroups by the , driven by geographic barriers that maintained linguistic diversity amid ongoing Indo-Aryan influences.

Colonial era and modern recognition

During the colonial period, British linguist George Abraham Grierson's (1903–1928) provided the first systematic classification of the languages as a distinct within the Indo-Aryan , specifically under the in Volume 9, Part 4, which included specimens from various dialects. Grierson coined the terms "," "Central Pahari," and "Eastern Pahari" to delineate internal subgroups based on phonological and lexical features, while mapping numerous dialects across the Himalayan regions of present-day , and . This survey documented over 50 varieties through comparative analysis but relied on incomplete field data and colonial administrative records. Following India's independence in 1947, Pahari languages were excluded from the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, which recognizes 22 official languages but omits most regional varieties like those spoken in and . This exclusion persisted amid demands for inclusion, with recent pushes gaining momentum through efforts to add it to the national schedule; as of 2025, these languages have yet to gain recognition under the Eighth Schedule despite ongoing advocacy. In contrast, , as the primary Eastern Pahari variety, achieved official status and standardization in during the 1950s, following the 1951 democratic revolution and the 1959 constitution, which designated it the national language in script to foster unity across diverse ethnic groups. In the modern era, has listed several minor Pahari varieties as endangered, classifying Jaunsari—a language spoken in —as "definitely endangered" due to declining intergenerational transmission and pressures, with approximately 137,000 speakers reported in the 2011 census. Revitalization efforts include the development of digital corpora, such as monolingual and parallel datasets for low-resource Pahari languages like Kangri (2021) and Kinnauri-Pahari (2022), aimed at supporting and preservation through models. Key events encompass 1970s reforms in , where educational policies standardized Nepali orthography and expanded its use in print media to counter dialectal variations. In , sociolinguistic surveys in the , including the 2010 study of , documented over 2.5 million speakers in northern districts like and Azad , highlighting dialectal vitality but also shifts toward dominance.

Linguistic features

Phonology

The of languages, a of Indo-Aryan tongues spoken across the Himalayan , features a inventory generally comprising 28 to 35 phonemes, varying by and . These include a standard set of stops in five places of —bilabial (/p, pʰ, b, bʰ/), dental (/t̪, t̪ʰ, d̪, d̪ʰ/), retroflex (/ʈ, ʈʰ, ɖ, ɖʰ/), palatal (/tʃ, tʃʰ, dʒ, dʒʰ/), and velar (/k, kʰ, g, gʰ/)—along with fricatives (/f, s, ʃ, x, ɦ/), nasals (/m, n, ŋ/), liquids (/l, r, ɽ/), and glides (/j, w/). Aspirates are phonemically contrastive throughout, as in minimal pairs like /pal/ "moment" versus /pʰal/ "fruit," while retroflexes such as /ɽ/ are prominent, reflecting broader Indo-Aryan patterns. In varieties like Dogri and Kangri, occasional implosives (/ɓ, ɗ, ʄ/) appear, influenced by neighboring , though they are not universal across the group. The vowel system typically includes 10 to 12 oral vowels, distinguished primarily by length (e.g., /i, iː/, /u, uː/, /e, eː/, /o, oː/, /a, aː/, /ə/), with additional qualities like /æ/ in some dialects. Nasalization is a key feature, often phonemic, yielding forms such as /ĩ, ẽ, ã, ũ/, especially in some Western varieties where vowels preceding nasal consonants are regularly nasalized, as in Kinnauri Pahari examples like /kãɽ/ "edge." Diphthongs, numbering around 6 (e.g., /ai, au, oi/), also occur, contributing to the system's complexity. This inventory supports contrastive length and nasality, aligning Pahari with other Northern Indo-Aryan languages. Prosody in Pahari is quantity-sensitive and rhythmic, with lexical typically falling on heavy syllables (CVV or CVC) or the in lighter structures, as seen in words like /maːˈseːr/ "" (superheavy stressed). The rhythm is often described as -timed, with inter-stress intervals approximating regularity, though plays a central role in foot formation. Some varieties, particularly Pothwari and those from , exhibit a tonal system with three contrastive tones—high-falling (e.g., starting at 161 Hz falling to 141 Hz), mid-level (around 144-154 Hz), and low-rising (148-149 Hz)—distinguishing lexical items, such as /koːɽaː/ meaning "" (low), "bitter" (mid), or "leper" (high). The primary structure is CVC, permitting onset clusters like /pr-/ or /kl-/ but restricting complex codas beyond nasals or liquids. Phonological variations across subgroups highlight regional influences: Western Pahari emphasizes retroflex dominance and implosives, while Eastern forms show increased nasalization and occasional palatalization, contributing to dialectal diversity without disrupting core Indo-Aryan traits.

Grammar and vocabulary

Pahari languages, as a cluster of Indo-Aryan varieties, feature a grammatical system with two genders—masculine and feminine—that govern agreement in nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Nouns are inherently gendered, with feminine forms often marked by suffixes like -i (e.g., chelḍi 'girl') or -āni for derived professions (e.g., zimadārni 'female farmer'), while masculines may end in -u or -o (e.g., chelḍu 'boy'). Number distinction is binary, between singular (unmarked) and plural, achieved through suffixes such as -ā, -ɛ, or -hori for inanimates and -pɛrɛ for animates (e.g., kukur 'dog' becomes kukur-ā 'dogs'). Case marking relies on postpositions rather than inflectional suffixes, including ergative/instrumental -ɛ or -e (e.g., mẽĩ-jɛ 'I-erg'), accusative/dative ki or ko, genitive nā/ni, and locative ɛ or kɛ. A key feature is split ergativity, where transitive subjects in perfective aspects take the ergative marker, and the verb agrees with the absolutive object, while imperfective constructions use nominative alignment with subject agreement. The verb system in Pahari is analytic, expressing tense, aspect, and mood (TAM) through periphrastic constructions involving participles and auxiliaries, alongside limited synthetic forms. Core auxiliary verbs include forms of 'be', such as ona (Pahari-Pothwari) or s/tʰi (Kinnauri), which conjugate for person, number, gender, and tense (e.g., present habitual with -ɛs, past with tʰɔ for masculine or tʰi for feminine). Aspects distinguish perfective (marked by -ja or -e, with ergative subjects) from imperfective (-na or -ne, nominative subjects), while tenses encompass present, past, and future (synthetic future via -si, e.g., kha-si 'will eat'). Mood includes imperative (bare stem or -o), subjunctive (-ã), and conditional forms. Causatives are derived via suffixation like -ā (e.g., nas 'run' to nas-ā 'make run') or vowel alternation, with indirect causatives adding another -ā layer for double causation. Compound verbs pair a main verb with a light verb (e.g., ʃo:ɽ 'do' or dɪt̪ɑː 'get') to convey nuances like completion or permission. Vocabulary in draws substantially from a Sanskrit-derived Indo-Aryan core, comprising the majority of basic for everyday concepts, , and , reflecting its northern Indo-Aryan heritage. Perso-Arabic loanwords, introduced via and historical Muslim rule, account for administrative, cultural, and abstract terms (e.g., kitab 'book' from ), integrating morphologically with native patterns. Regional innovations include terms for Himalayan terrain, such as khad for '' or 'torrent', adapted to local geography. Unlike more standardized , Pahari favors analytic periphrases over complex Sanskrit compounds, resulting in simpler and greater reliance on postpositional phrases.

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