Padri dialect


Padderi is a dialect spoken in the Padar valley in Kishtwar district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is classified as a member of the Western Pahari branch of the Indo-Aryan languages. It is very similar to the Pangwali language of Pangi, Himachal Pradesh and Bhaderwahi language. This language has been influenced heavily by the neighbouring Kashmiri language. It is often referred to as a dialect of Kashmiri language as it shares it's various features with the Kashmiri language as well.
The Padar valley is about 80 km long, the terrain is rugged and mountainous, and the population is found mainly in scattered hamlets, with the main village being Atholi. The number of speakers, as of the 1981 census, stood at.
Padri shares a large proportion of its vocabulary with other Western Pahari varieties. There are two genders: masculine and feminine. Nouns change for case, but not normally for number. However, some nouns do have plurals, which are formed using a variety of strategies:
  • koā -> koi 'boys'
  • panna -> pannë 'leaves'
  • zebbh -> zibb 'tongues'
  • koi -> kui 'girls'
  • thaṛo -> thenë 'walnuts'
  • gobur -> children
  • Dand-> teeth
  • khar -> above
  • Bwun -> down
  • Pulley/Pulhor -> traditional grass shoes
  • Lar -> roof
Family/Relations :-
P.K. Koul mentions several series of "complex sounds". One such series consists of a consonant + y, and another one involves a consonant + v, but it is unclear whether these are co-articulated consonants or merely sequences of two separate consonants. Another set of distinctive sounds involve a combination of a retroflex stop + the lateral l: ṭ͡lai 'three', niḍ͡l 'sleep', ḍ͡lau 'village'. These often correspond to clusters of a consonant + r in the ancestor language.