Mandeali
Mandeali is a Western Pahari language, spoken in northern India, predominantly in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh by the people of the Mandi Valley and particularly in the major city of Mandi. Other spellings for the name are Mandiyali and Mandiali. UNESCO reports it is one of the highly endangered languages of India. Speakers of the dialect have decreased by 21% from 1961 to 2001.
The language is distantly related to Kullui. The Chambealic varieties are often considered separate languages, but at least some are 90–95% intelligible with Mandeali proper. Its sub-dialect are different than Mandeali.
Dialects
Preliminary survey suggests speakers have functional intelligibility of Kangri. People in southeast Mandi district may have more difficulty understanding Kangri. Standard Mandeali is spoken throughout the broad valley running north and south from Jogindernagar to Sundarnagar. Mandeali Pahari is spoken north around Barot, east of Uhl River. Intelligible with difficulty to standard Mandeali. May be intermediate variety between Mandeali and Kullui. The dialect is very close to the Kullvi spoken in neighbouring lug valley region of Kullu district and are culturally, linguistically closer to Kullu. Southeast district contains transition to Mahasui. The dialect spoken is also sometimes referred as Suketi or dialect of Outer Seraj Area as dialect is an intermediate variety of Kullvi and Upper Mahasuvi of neighbouring Shimla and Kullu district. In the west, Sarkaghat is also a bit different from standard Mandeali, perhaps forming a transition towards Hamirpur and Bilaspur areas. Lexical similarity: 89% with Palampuri dialect of Kangri, 83% with Chambeali.Phonology
Consonants
- is heard when a nasal occurs before velar stops.
- can be heard as an allophone of pʰ.
- Aspirated versions of m, n,ɳ, l,ɭ, r, w can be considered as separate phonemes.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | eː | ə əː | oː |
| Open-mid | ɛː | ɔː | |
| Open | aː |
Grammar
Nouns
Mandeali distinguishes two genders, two numbers and four cases of direct, oblique, vocative, and ergative. Oblique also serves as locative and ergative also performs the function of instrumental. Nouns may be further divided into extended and unextended declensional subtypes, with the former characteristically consisting of masculines ending in unaccented -ā and feminines in -ī.The following tables displays the suffix paradigms.
The following table of noun declensions shows those suffix paradigms in action. Examples include ghōṛā "stallion", mhaṭhī "girl", ghəːr "house", kāndh'' "wall".''
Adjectives
may be divided into declinable and indeclinable categories. Declinable adjectives have endings that change by the gender, number and case of the noun that they qualify. Declinable adjective have endings that are similar but much simpler than those of nouns:Indeclinable adjectives are invariable and can end in either consonants or vowels. The direct masculine singular is the citation form. Most adjectives ending in consonants are indeclinable.
Postpositions
Mandeali uses a system of particles, known as postpositions. Their use with a noun or verb requires the noun or verb to take the oblique case, and they are the locus of grammatical function, or "case-marking"| Transliteration | Devanagari | Functions | |
| Used alone | rā, rī, rē | रा,री,रे | genitive marker; declines like an adjective. Example: "X rā/rī/etc. Y" means "X's Y", with rā/rī/etc. agreeing with Y. |
| Used alone | jō | जो | marks the indirect object, or, if definite, the direct object. |
| Used alone | lā/lē/tē | ला/ले/ते/ | ablative marker, "from" |
| Used alone | khō | खो | orientative marker; "towards" |
| Used alone | minjh | मिंझ | inessive marker, "in." Often contracted to 'anjh |
| Used alone | tik,tikkar | तिक/तिक्कर | terminative marker, "until, up to" |
| May use a secondary preposition | kanē/sāugī | कने/साउगी | comitative marker, "with" Often contracted to nē/kē |
| May use a secondary preposition | gās | गास | superessive marker, "on" or "at." |
| May use a secondary preposition | bālē | बाले | possessive marker; "with" e.g. म्हठीया बाले "in the girl's possession." |
| May use a secondary preposition | bārē | बारे | "about" |
| May use a secondary preposition | kaṭhē | कठे | benefactive marker; "for" |
| May use a secondary preposition | sāhī̃ | साहीं | comparative marker; "like" |
| May use a secondary preposition | bājhī | बाझी | abessive marker; "without" |
| May use a secondary preposition | bālē/nēḍē | बाले/नेडे | "near" |
| May use a secondary preposition | lāgē | लागे | apudessive marker; "adjacent/next to" |
| May use a secondary preposition | bhītar | भीतर | "inside" |
| May use a secondary preposition | bāhar | बाहर | "outside" |
Pronouns
The pronouns of Mandeali for different persons and numbers are as follows:| Person | Number | Mandeali | IPA |
| 1st | Singular | हाऊँ | ɦaːũ |
| 1st | Plural | आस्से | asːe |
| 2nd | Singular | तू | tu |
| 2nd | Plural | तुस्से | t̪usːe |
| 3rd Proximate | Singular | ए / ये | eː / jeː |
| 3rd Proximate | Plural | यों | jõː |
| 3rd Distal | Singular | से | seː |
| 3rd Distal | Plural | स्यों | sjõː |
Noun Cases
Using the noun घर as an example, the cases in Mandeali are:| Case | Mandeali | Hindi Equivalent | English Equivalent |
| Nominative | घर | घर | home |
| Accusative | घरो / घरा जो | घर को | to home |
| Ergative | घरे | घर ने | home |
| Comitative | घरा के / घरा कन्ने / घरा साउगी | घर के साथ | with home |
| Instrumental | घरा ले / घरा ला | घर से | through home |
| Dative | घरा कट्ठे | घर के लिए | for home |
| Ablative | घरा ले / घरा ला | घर से | from home |
| Genitive | घरा रा / रे / री | घर का / की / के | of home |
Locatives
Others
Numerals
| Numeral | Mandeali |
| 1 | एक्क ekk |
| 2 | दुई duī |
| 3 | त्राए trāē |
| 4 | चार chār |
| 5 | पांज pānj |
| 6 | छेह chheh |
| 7 | सात्त sātt |
| 8 | आठ āṭh |
| 9 | नौ nau |
| 10 | दस das |
| 11 | ग्यारा gyārā |
| 12 | बारा bārā |
| 13 | तेहरा tehrā |
| 14 | चउदा chaudā |
| 15 | पंद्रा pandrā |
| 16 | सोळा soḷā |
| 17 | सतारा satārā |
| 18 | ठारा ṭhārā |
| 19 | उन्नी unni |
| 20 | बीह bīh |
Script
The native script of the language is a variety of Takri called Mandeali Takri.Vocabulary
Samples
Names of months
Traditionally, the month formats is based on Hindu calendar.| मंडयाली | Transliteration | English |
| चइतर | chaitar | March–April |
| बसाख | basākh | April–May |
| जेठ | jeṭh | May–June |
| हाह्ड़ | hāhṛ | June–July |
| साओण | sāoṇ | July–August |
| भाद्रो | bhādro | August–September |
| सौज | sauj | September–October |
| कातक | kātak | October–November |
| मंगसर | mangsar | November–December |
| पौस | paus | December–January |
| माघ | māgh | January–February |
| फागण | phāgaṇ | February–March |
Names of days
Days are generally indic.| मंडयाली | Transliteration | English |
| त्वार | Twār | Sunday |
| सोमबार | Sombār | Monday |
| मंगळबार | Mangaḷbār | Tuesday |
| बुद्धबार | Buddhbār | Wednesday |
| बीरबार | Bīrvaar | Thursday |
| सुक्करबार | Sukkarbār | Friday |
| सनिचर | Sanichar | Saturday |
•Twār is a loan word from Urdu