Mahasu Pahari
Indo-Aryan and Western Pahari language of India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mahasu Pahari (Takri: 𑚢𑚩𑚭𑚨𑚱 𑚞𑚩𑚭𑚪𑚯) is a Western Pahari (Himachali, Takri: 𑚩𑚮𑚢𑚭𑚏𑚥𑚯) language spoken in Himachal Pradesh. It is also known as Mahasui or Mahasuvi. The speaking population is about 1,000,000 (2001). It is more commonly spoken in Himachal Pradesh's Shimla and Solan districts, in western parts of Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand[4] and in Kalka and Pinjore of Panchkula district in Haryana.[5] It is to be known that Shimla and Solan were parts of the old Mahasu district. Himachal Pradesh State on 1 September 1972 reorganised the districts dissolving Mahasu district. The Solan district was carved out of Solan and Arki tehsils of the then Mahasu district and tehsils of Kandaghat and Nalagarh of the then Shimla District of Punjab.
| Mahasu Pahari | |
|---|---|
| Mahasui | |
| 𑚢𑚩𑚭𑚨𑚰𑚃, महासुई | |
Mahasui written in Tankri script and Bushahri script.[1] | |
| Native to | |
| Region | Mahasu |
| Ethnicity | Mahasui people |
Native speakers | 1 million (2002)[2] |
Indo-European
| |
| Tankri script, Devanagari[3] | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bfz |
| Glottolog | maha1287 |
| ELP | Mahasu Pahari |
| Baghati | |
Extent
According to different locations, the language has developed several dialects. Lower Mahasu Pahari (Baghati, Baghliani, Keonthali), Upper Mahasu Pahari (Rampuri, Rohruri, Shimla Siraji, Sodochi). The Kiunthali variety appears to be understood by others, and their attitude toward it is favorable. Rampuri is also called Kochi; Rohruri is also called Soracholi; and Sodochi is also known as Kumharsaini or Kotgarhi after the Kumarsain and Kotgarh areas of Shimla District respectively.[6] Intelligibility among dialects is above 85%. Lexical similarity is 74%–82% with upper dialects, and 74%–95% with lower dialects. The language is used in home and for religious purposes. It is understood and spoken from people of vital age group. It is considered to be highly endangered as the number of people speaking it is constantly going down. It is closely related to Sirmauri, Jaunsari, Bangani and Kullui.
Dialects
Mahasu Pahari has two main varieties, Upper Mahasu Pahari and Lower Mahasu Pahari. Each variety has several dialects.
- Upper Mahasu Pahari
- Bishashau, spoken in Chaupal
- Barari, spoken in Kotkhai
- Kochi Rampuri, spoken in Rampur Bushahr
- Kochi Rohruri, spoken in Rohru
- Kuari, spoken in Dodra Kwar
- Shimla Saraji, spoken in Theog and Narkanda
- Shodochi, spoken in Jubbal
- Shoracholi, spoken in Kumarsain
- Tharochi, spoken in Kuppar and nearby areas of Jubbal and Kotkhai
- Lower Mahasu Pahari
- Baghati, spoken in eastern Solan district and Kalka, Pinjore, etc areas of Panchkula district in Haryana[7]
- Baghliani, spoken in western Solan district, which mainly includes Arki, Darlaghat, Ramshahar and Nalagarh Tehsils
- Keonthali, spoken in south-western Shimla district, which includes Shimla city, Junga and other nearby areas
Hinduri, spoken in eastern Nalagarh is also included in the Keonthali group of Mahasu Pahari.[8]
Script
The native script of the language is a variety of Takri Script. There are some written records of the language in Takri script and Nastaliq script but nowadays Devanagari script is usually used.[9]
Phonology
Consonants
- Sounds [tsʰ bʱ dʱ] are only seldom heard among dialects.
- Allophones of /b d ɡ/ are heard as [b̥ d̥ ɡ̊] in word-final position.
- [tʃʰ] occurs from Hindi loanwords.
- [ʒ] can be heard as allophone of /dʒ/.
- [ŋ] is heard when a nasal occurs before velar stops.
- /ɦ/ may also be heard as a voiceless [h] among dialects.
- [j, w] are mainly heard after vowels. [w] can also be an allophone of /ʋ/.[10]
Vowels
- A short /u/ may also have an allophone of a near-close sound [ʊ].
- [ə] is mainly heard as an allophone of /ɑ/. /ɑ/ can also be heard as an open mid sound [ʌ].[11]
Status
The language is commonly called Pahari or Himachali. The language has no official status and is recorded as dialect of Hindi.[12] According to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the language is of definitely endangered category, i.e. many Mahasui children are not learning Mahasui as their mother tongue any longer.[13] Earlier, the language had state patronage. Everything changed since independence, due to favoritism towards Hindi by the Indian Government.[14]
The demand for the inclusion of 'Pahari (Himachali)' under the Eight Schedule of the Constitution, which is supposed to represent multiple Pahari languages of Himachal Pradesh, had been made in the year 2010 by the state's Vidhan Sabha.[15] There has been no positive progress on this matter since then even when small organisations strive to save the language and demand it.[16] Due to political interest, the language is currently recorded as a dialect of Hindi, even when having a poor mutual intelligibility with it.