ISO 639-2 / 5 him | Glottolog hima1250 | |
Geographic
distribution Himalayas of Nepal, India, and Pakistan Linguistic classification Indo-European
Indo-Iranian
Indo-Aryan
North-Western
Himachali | ||
The Western Pahari, or Himachali languages, are a range of languages and dialects spoken in the western parts of the Himalayan range, in northeastern Pakistan and the state of Himachal Pradesh, India.
Contents
Languages
Some Western Pahari languages, notably Dogri and Kangri, are tonal, like their close relative Panjabi but unlike most other Indic languages. Dogri has been an official language in India since 2003.
Although traditionally called Western Pahari, they are not as close to the other Pahari languages as they are to Panjabi. They are a dialect chain, and neighboring varieties may be mutually intelligible.
Some Western Pahari languages have occasionally been regarded as dialects of either Hindi or Punjabi.
Script
Before independence of India, In Himachal Pradesh many dialects of Himachali languages were used to written in Takri script. Since it fell into disuse after Independence many efforts are made to revive Takri script for Himachali language.