Kinnauri language

Kinnauri
Kanawaringskad
Region	Himachal Pradesh
Native speakers	65,000 (2001 census)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Kanauri ? West Himalayish Kanauri Kinnauri
Dialects	Sunam
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: kfk – Kinnauri proper cik – Chitkuli ssk – Sunam jna – Jangshung (Thebor) scu – Shumcho
Glottolog	kinn1250[2]

Kinnauri, also known as Kanauri, Kanor, Koonawur, or Kunawar, is a Sino-Tibetan dialect cluster centered on the Kinnaur district of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

Kaike, once thought to be Kinnauri, is closer to Tamangic. Bhoti Kinnauri and Tukpa are Bodish (Lahauli–Spiti).

Geographical distribution

Ethnologue lists the following locations for Kinnauri and related varieties.

Kinnauri-speaking villages are located in the upper Ropa River valley, from Chauhra to Sangla and north along Satluj river to Morang. This area is located in Kinnaur district and Lahaul and Spiti district, Himachal Pradesh. Kinnauri is also spoken in the Shimla district and Rampur areas, and in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Kashmir.

Chitkuli Kinnauri is spoken in the Baspa river area of the Sangla valley in Nichar subdivision, Kinnaur district, Himachal Pradesh (in Chitkul and Rakchham villages).

Jangshung is spoken in Morang tahsil, Kinnaur district, Himachal Pradesh (in Jangi, Lippa, and Asrang villages).

Shumcho is spoken in Puh tahsil, Kinnaur district, Himachal Pradesh (in Kanam, Labrang, Spilo, Shyaso, Taling, and Rushkaling villages).

Phonology

This description is of the Pangi dialect of Kinnauri.

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiced	b	d	ɖ		ɡ
	voiceless	p	t	ʈ		k
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	ʈʰ		kʰ
Affricate	voiced		dz		dʒ
	voiceless		ts		tʃ
	aspirated		tsʰ		tʃʰ
Fricative			s		ʃ		h
Trill			ɲ
Approximant			l		j	w

Note on palatals: /dʒ/, /tʃ/, /tʃʰ/, and /ʃ/ are post-alveolar. /ɲ/ is alveolo-palatal.

Vowels

Kinnauri has five pairs of long/short vowels:

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ
Mid	e		o
Open		a

Syllables

/h/, aspirated obstruents (i.e. /pʰ/, /tʰ/, /ʈʰ/, /kʰ/, /t͡sʰ/, /t͡ʃʰ/), and glides (i.e. /w/, /j/) do not occur in syllable codas.

All consonants may occur in onsets and word-medially.

Kinnauri has the following types of syllables:

• (C)V(C)(C)(C)
• CCV(C)
• CCCVC

Grammar

Kinnauri is SOV, V-Auxiliary, Postpositional, and has head-final noun phrases. It shows case marking with an ergative alignment in the past tense, nominative-accusative elsewhere. The ergative case is identical to the instrumental. There is no distinction between accusative and dative, and a genitive is partially syncretic with the accusative/dative. An ablative case is also recognized, normally attached outside the genitive but with different allomorphs for animate and inanimate referents. There is also a locative case, normally used only with inanimate nouns.

References

1. Kinnauri language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Kinnauric". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Bibliography

• Nagano, Yasuhiko; & LaPolla, Randy J. (Eds.). (2001). New research on Zhangzhung and related Himalayan languages. Bon studies 3, Senri ethnological reports 19. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.
• Takahashi, Yoshiharu. (2001). A descriptive study of Kinnauri (Pangi dialect): A preliminary report. In Y. Nagano & R. J. LaPolla (Eds.), New research on Zhangzhung and related Himalayan languages. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.