Sirmauri language

Sirmauri (Takri: 𑚨𑚮𑚤𑚢𑚵𑚤𑚯) is a Western Pahari language spoken in Sirmaur district in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Its two main varieties are Dharthi (Takri: 𑚜𑚤𑚚𑚯) also called Giriwari (Takri: 𑚌𑚮𑚤𑚮𑚦𑚭𑚤𑚯) and Giripari (Takri: 𑚌𑚮𑚤𑚮𑚞𑚭𑚤𑚯).

Sirmauri
𑚨𑚮𑚤𑚢𑚵𑚤𑚯, सिरमौरी
Sirmauri written in Sirmauri (top; locally called Dhankari) & Takri (bottom) Scripts.
Native toIndia
RegionHimachal Pradesh
EthnicitySirmauri people
Native speakers
107,401 (2011 census)[1]
Dialects
  • Dharthi
  • Giripari
Takri-Sirmauri, Devanagari
Language codes
ISO 639-3srx
Glottologsirm1239
ELPSirmauri[2]

Grammar

Postpositions
Basic postpositions[3]
case masculine feminine nueter
genitive /ra/ /ree/ /roo/
locative /da/ /dee/ /doo/
ablative /sa/ /see/ /soo/

Script

The native script of the language is a variety of Takri script. This variety of Takri script is under proposal to be encoded in the Unicode.[4] It is locally known as Dhankari. Pabuuchi was a script used by a class of astrologers.

A specimen in Sirmauri Takri

Status

The language is commonly called Pahari or Himachali. The language has no official status and is recorded as dialect of Hindi.[5] According to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the language is of critically endangered category, i.e. the youngest speakers of Sirmauri are generally grandparents or older and they too speak it infrequently or partially.[6] Earlier the language enjoyed some state patronage. Everything changed since independence, due to favoritism towards Hindi by the Indian Government.

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.[7] There has been no positive progress on this matter since then even when small organisations are taking upto themselves to save the language and demanding it.[8] Due to political interest, the language is currently recorded as a dialect of Hindi, even when having a poor mutual intelligibility with it.

References
  1. "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011". www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Sirmauri.
  3. "Language in India". www.languageinindia.com. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  4. "Sirmauri Unicode" (PDF).
  5. "Indian Language Census" (PDF).
  6. "Endangered Language".
  7. "Pahari Inclusion". Zee News.
  8. "Pahari Inclusion". The Statesman.
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