Keonthali dialect

Keonthali dialect got its name from former princely Keonthal state, the dialect is spoken usually in the areas which were parts of the then Keonthal state. Today some of these areas include Shimla, capital of Himachal Pradesh, Junga (former capital of Keonthal), Kasumpati, Mashobra, Sunni, Kufri, Chail, Shoghi, Ghanahatti, Jubbarhatti, Dhami, Khatnol, etc.^[2]

Mahasu Pahari including Keonthali traditionally written in Takri, Pabuchi scripts.^[3] There are also some records of Mahasui written in Nastaliq script. Nowadays Devanagari script is usually used to write Mahasu Pahari which includes all its dialects as Keonthali.^[4]

Following is the specimen of Keonthali with its transliteration:

Inventory of Phonemes:

There are 42 phonemes of which 37 are consonants and 5 are vowels.

Segmental Phonemes (Vowels)

Super segmental Phonemes:

• Length is a phoneme.
• Nasalization is a phoneme.

Consonants:^[6]

Pronouns

The pronouns of Keonthali for different persons and numbers are as follows:

Adverbial Pronouns

Verb conjugation

Conjugation of the verb Lekh (लेख) to write, in all three tenses in Keonthali.

• Thomas Grahame Bailey's : Languages of the Northern Himalayas (Sketch of the Keonthali).
• Colonel Sir Richard Temple : He has given several excellent examples of Keonthali poetry on pp. 367 ff. of Vol. I. of his Legends of the Punjab, to which he has prefixed a very useful vocabulary.
• Mr. H. A. Rose : He has published two Keonthali ballads (both Text and Translation), entitled, respectively, Subdi ki Nati, o Pahéri Love Song from Keonthal [Indian Antiquary, Vol. xxxviii (1909), p: 328], and Mohiye ki Har, or Bar [ib. Vol. xxxvii (1908), pp. 299 ff, and Vol. xxxviii (1909), pp. 40 ff., 69 ff.]^[7]

• Keonthal State
• Baghati dialect
• Baghliani dialect
• Hinduri dialect