Bhadarwahi (Bhadrawahi) is an indigenous language of the Indian subcontinent, belonging to the Western Pahari group. It is spoken by the Bhadarwahi people in Bhaderwah and its surrounding areas in the hills of the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The language traces its origins to Sanskrit, the ancient and indigenous linguistic heritage of the region, and has evolved naturally within the cultural context of the area.
The name Bhadarwahi can be understood either in a narrow sense as referring to the dialect, locally known as Bhiḍlāi, native to the Bhadarwah valley, or in a broader sense to cover the group of related dialects spoken in the wider region where Bhadarwahi proper is used as a lingua franca. In addition to Bhadarwahi proper, this group also includes Bhalesi, and Khasali (Khashali) dialect.. The classification there includes Rodhari as a separate node, but elsewhere (pp.123–24), it is subsumed under Khasali. The Churahi language is closely related.
The name of the language is spelt in the Takri as . Variants include Bhaderwahi (), Baderwali (), Bhadri (), Badrohi (), Bhadlayi (), and Bhadlai ().
Phonology +Vowels Front Central Back High Lower High Mid Lower Mid Low
+Consonants* BilabialDentalAlveolarPostalveolarRetroflexPalatalVelarGlottalNasal Stopvoiceless aspirated voiced breathy Fricativevoiceless voiced Approximant Trill Flap or Tap According to Masica (1991) there are a set of lateral retroflex affricates from old /Cr/ clusters.
Status The language is commonly called Bhaderwahi. Some speakers may call it a dialect of Dogri. The language has no official status. It is classified by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as "definitely endangered," meaning that many Bhadarwahi parents are not teaching it to their children and the number of native speakers is decreasing. Other languages, such as Kashmiri and Urdu/Hindi, are being spoken in the home in its place. This is a natural human tendency to pick up the language of people perceived as better off economically and/or socially.
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