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Jaunsari
Jaunsari Script
Native to India
Region Uttarakhand
Ethnicity Jaunsari
Native speakers
136,779 (2011) [1]
Sirmauri script(Historical) [2]
Devanagari
Language codes
ISO 639-3 jns
Glottolog jaun1243
ELP Jaunsari

Jaunsari ( Devanagari: जौनसारी) is a Western Pahari language of northern India spoken by the Jaunsari people in the Chakrata and Kalsi blocks of Dehradun district in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand state.

The dialects of Jaunsari share about 60% of their basic vocabulary with each of the neighbouring varieties of Bangani, Jaunpuri, Nagpuriya and Sirmauri. [3]

Script

Mr. Anil speaking Jaunsari.

Jaunsari was historically written in Jaunsari Script . The Devanagari script is being used these days in certain works. [4]

Specimen in Jaunsari script

Status

The language has no official status. According to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the language is of definitely endangered category, i.e. many Jaunsari children are not learning Jaunsari as their mother tongue any longer. [5] The Ethnologue reports otherwise.

In 2016, State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) announced that Garhwali, Kumaoni, Jaunsari and Rang languages would be introduced on pilot basis for students in standard one to 10th in government schools Under the ‘Know Your Uttarakhand’ project. [6]

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. ^ Grierson, George Abraham. Linguistic Survey Of India, Volume 9.4. pp. 383–84.
  3. ^ Matthews, John (2008). "Jaunsari: a sociolinguistic survey". SIL Electronic Survey Reports. pp. 12–13. The results are based on comparisons of a 210-item wordlist. The average figures are between 58% and 61%, but there is significant variation between the various Jaunsari dialects.
  4. ^ "ScriptSource - Jaunsari written with Devanagari script". scriptsource.org. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
  5. ^ "endangered language". TheGuardian.com. 15 April 2011.
  6. ^ "Schoolkids to learn Garhwali, Kumaoni languages - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2018-07-25.