Mandeali

Language spoken in northern India

Mandeali

maṇḍiyālī
𑚢𑚘𑚶𑚖𑚮𑚣𑚭𑚥𑚯, मण्डियाली

Mandeali written in Mandi-Suket Takri Script[1]

Native to| India
Region| Himachal Pradesh
Ethnicity| Mandyali People

Native speakers

| 623,000 (2011 Census)[2]

Language family

Indo-European

* Indo-Iranian
* Indo-Aryan
* Northern
* Western Pahari
* Mandeali

Writing system

| Devanagari
Mandiali Takri
Language codes
ISO 639-3|
`mjl` – Mandeali
Glottolog| `mand1409`  Mandeali

This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

Mandeali (Takri: 𑚢𑚘𑚶𑚖𑚮𑚣𑚭𑚥𑚯) 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.[3] Speakers of the dialect have decreased by 21% from 1961 to 2001.

The language is distantly related to Kullvi. 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[4]

## Dialects

[edit]

A light-hearted interview about Mandeali

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.[5]

## Phonology

[edit]

### Consonants

[edit]

| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Post-alv./
Palatal | Velar | Glottal

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Plosive /
Affricate | voiceless | p  | t  |  | ʈ  | tʃ  | k  |
aspriated | pʰ  | tʰ  |  | ʈʰ  | tʃʰ  | kʰ  |
voiced | b  | d  |  | ɖ  | dʒ  | ɡ  |
breathy | bʱ  | dʱ  |  | ɖʱ  | dʒʱ  | gʱ  |
Fricative | voiceless |  |  | s  |  | ʃ  |  | ɦ
voiced |  |  |  |  |  |
Nasal | m  |  | n  | ɳ  |  | (ŋ)  |
Lateral |  |  | l  | ɭ  |  |  |
Trill/Tap |  |  | r  | ɽ ɽʱ  |  |  |
Approximant |  |  |  |  | j  | w  |

* [ŋ] is heard when a nasal occurs before velar stops.
* [f] 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

[edit]

The vowels of Mandeali language are shown below.

| Front | Central | Back

|
|
|

Close | i iː  |  | u uː
Mid | (e) eː  | ə əː  | (o) oː
Open-mid | ɛː  |  | ɔː
Open |  | aː  |

## Grammar

[edit]

### Nouns

[edit]

Mandeali distinguishes two genders (Masculine and feminine), two numbers (Singular and plural) 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.

Masculine  |  | Dir. | Obl. | Voc. | Erg.

|
|
|
|

unEx. | Sing.  |  | -ā

| -ē

Pl.  |  | -ā

| -ō

| -ē

Ex. | Sing.  | -ā

| -ē

| -ĕā

-एआ

| -ē

Pl.  | -ē

| -ĕā

-एआ

| -ĕō

-एओ

| -ē

Feminine  |  | Dir. | Obl. | Voc. | Erg.

|
|
|
|

Sing.  |  | -ē

| -ē

Pl.  | -ā

| -ō

| -ē

The following table of noun declensions shows those suffix paradigms in action. Examples include ghōṛā "stallion", mhaṭhī "girl", ghəːr "house", kāndh "wall".

Extended  |  | Dir. | Obl. | Voc. | Erg.

|
|
|
|

Masc. | Sing.  | ghōṛā
घोड़ा  | ghōṛe

घोड़े

| ghōṛĕā

घोड़ेया

| ghōṛe

घोड़े

Pl.  | ghōṛe

घोड़े

| ghōṛĕā

घोड़ेया

| ghōṛĕō

घोड़ेयो

| ghōṛē

घोड़े

Fem. | Sing.  | mhaṭhī

म्हठी

| mhaṭhī(ā)

म्हठी(या)

| mhaṭhīē

म्हठीए

| mhaṭhīē

म्हठीए

Pl.  | mhaṭhīā

म्हठीया

| mhaṭhīō

म्हठीयो

| mhaṭhīē

म्हठीए

Unextended  |  | Dir. | Obl. | Voc. | Erg.

|
|
|
|

Masc. | Sing.  | ghar

| gharā

घरा

| gharā

घरा

| gharē

घरे

Pl.  | ghar

| gharā

घरा

| gharō

घरो

| gharē

घरे

Fem. | Sing.  | kāndh

कांध

| kāndhā

कांधा

| kāndhē

कांधे

| kāndhē

कांधे

Pl.  | kāndhā

कांधा

| kāndhō

कांधो

| kāndhē

कांधे

### Pronouns

[edit]

The Pronouns of Mandeali for different person and number are -

1st Person Singular : हाऊँ/ɦaːũ/

1st Person Plural : आस्से /asːe/

2nd Person Singular : तू /tu/

2nd Person Plural : तुस्से /t̪usːe/

3rd Person Proximate Singular  : ए, ये /eː, jeː/

3rd Person Proximate Plural : यों /jõː/

3rd Person Distal Singular : से /seː/

3rd Person Distal Plural : स्यों /sjõː/

### Noun Cases

[edit]

* Mandeali - Hindi - English - Case
* घर /gʱəːr/ (noun)

1 घर - home - Nominative

2\. घरो/ घरा जो - घर को - to home - Accusative

3\. घरे - घर ने - Ergative

4\. घरा के/ घरा कन्ने/ घरा साउगी- with house - Comitative

5\. घरा ले/ घरा ला - घर से - through home - Instrumental

6\. घरा कट्ठे - घर के लिए - for home - Dative

7\. घरा ले/ घरा ला - घर से - from home - Ablative

8\. घरा रा/रे/री - घर का/की/के - of home - Genetive

* Locatives

9\. घरा/ घरा मंझ - घर में - Innesive

10\. घरा गास, प्रयाल्हे, पर - घर पर - Addesive

* Others

11\. घरा (sing)/ घरो (plural)- ओ घर - Vocative

12\. घरा साँहीं - घर जैसा - Similative

13\. घरा तिक्कर/ तिक - घर तक - Terminative

### Numerals

[edit]

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

[edit]

The native script of the language is a variety of Takri called Mandeali Takri.

Wiktionary has a category on Mandeali language.

Specimen in Mandeali language

## Vocabulary

[edit]

### Names of months

[edit]

Traditionally, the month formats is based on Hindu calendar.

List of Months in Mandeali  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

[edit]

Days are generally indic.

List of days in Mandeali  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 (Itwār)

## Status

[edit]

The language is commonly called Pahari or Himachali, just like many other neighbouring languages. 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 Mandeali children are not learning Mandeali as their mother tongue anymore.[6]

The demand for the inclusion of 'Pahari (Himachali)' under the Eight Schedule of the Constitution, which is supposed to represent multiple Pahari languages of Himachal Pradesh, had been made in the year 2010 by the state's Vidhan Sabha.[7] There has been no positive progress on this matter since then even when small organisations strive to save the language and demand it.[8] Due to political interest, the language is currently recorded as a dialect of Hindi,[9] even when having a poor mutual intelligibility with it and being close to other Pahari languages such as Kahluri and Kangri.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Grierson, George Abraham. Linguistic Survey Of India, Volume 9.4. pp. 718, 719, 730.
2. ^ Mandeali at Ethnologue (24th ed., 2021)
3. ^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". Unesco.org. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
4. ^ Mandeali at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
5. ^ "Mandeali".
6. ^ "Endangered languages". 15 April 2011.
7. ^ "Pahari Inclusion". Zee News.
8. ^ "Pahari Inclusion". The Statesman.
9. ^ "Indian Language Census" (PDF).

* v
* t
* e

Indo-Aryan languages

Dardic|

| Kashmiri|

* Kashmiri
* Kishtwari

|

Shina|

* Shina
* Brokskat
* Kundal Shahi
* Kalkoti
* Ushoji
* Palula
* Sawi

Pashayi|

* Pashayi

Kunar|

* Dameli
* Gawar-Bati
* Nangalami
* Shumashti
* Wotapuri-Katarqalai

Chitral|

* Kalasha
* Khowar

Hazara Division|

* Indus Kohistani
* Bateri
* Chilisso
* Gowro
* Kalami
* Tirahi
* Mankiyali

Northern|

| Eastern|

* Doteli
* Jumli
* Nepali

|

Central|

* Garhwali
* Kumaoni

Western|

* Dogri
* Kangri
* Bhadarwahi
* Churahi
* Bhateali
* Bilaspuri
* Chambeali
* Gaddi
* Pangwali
* Mandeali
* Mahasu Pahari
* Jaunsari
* Kullui
* Pahari Kinnauri
* Hinduri
* Sirmauri
* Sarazi

Northwestern|

| Punjabi|

| Eastern|

* Punjabi
* dialects
* Sansi

|

Lahnda|

* Hindko
* Inku
* Khetrani
* Pahari-Pothwari
* Saraiki

Sindhi|

* Jadgali
* Kholosi
* Kutchi
* Luwati
* Memoni
* Sindhi

Western|

| Gujarati|

* Aer
* Gujarati
* Lisan ud-Dawat
* Jandavra
* Koli
* Kachi
* Parkari
* Wadiyara
* Saurashtra
* Vaghri

|

Rajasthani|

* Bagri
* Goaria
* Loarki
* Gujari
* Dhundari
* Harauti
* Malvi
* Marwari
* Mewati
* Mewari
* Shekhawati
* Dhatki
* Od
* Nimadi

Bhil|

* Bhili
* Bhilali
* Chodri
* Dhodia–Kukna
* Dhanki
* Dubli
* Bauria
* Bhilori
* Mawchi
* Magari
* Palya Bareli
* Pauri Bareli
* Rathwi Bareli
* Pardhi
* Gamit
* Kalto
* Vasavi
* Wagdi
* Vaagri Booli

Others|

* Khandeshi
* Lambadi
* Dawoodi
* Domari
* Romani
* list of languages

Central|

| Western|

* Braj Bhasha
* Bundeli
* Haryanvi
* Hindustani
* Kauravi
* Hindi
* Hinglish/Urdish
* Urdu
* Deccani
* Judeo-Urdu
* Hyderabadi Urdu
* Rekhta
* Kannauji
* Sansi
* Sadhukkadi

|

Eastern|

* Awadhi
* Bagheli
* Chhattisgarhi
* Fiji Hindi

Others|

* Parya

Eastern|

| Bihari|

| Bhojpuric|

* Bhojpuri
* Caribbean Hindustani

|

Magahi|

* Magahi
* Khortha

Maithili|

* Maithili
* Angika
* Bajjika

Sadanic|

* Sadri
* Kurmali

Tharuic|

* Tharu
* Kochila
* Buksa
* Majhi
* Musasa

Others|

* Kumhali
* Kuswaric
* Bote-Darai
* Danwar

Gauda–
Kamarupa|

| Bengali|

* Bengali
* dialects
* Bishnupriya Manipuri
* Hajong
* Kharia Thar
* Kurmukar
* Mal Paharia
* Noakhali
* Sylheti
* Tanchangya
* Chittagonian
* Chakma
* Rohingya

|

Kamarupic|

* Assamese
* Kamrupi
* Dehan
* Goalpariya
* Rajbanshi (Nepal)
* Rangpuri
* Surjapuri

Odia|

* Odia
* Sambalpuri
* Desia
* Bhatri
* Bodo Parja
* Reli
* Kupia

Halbic|

* Halbi
* Kamar
* Bhunjia
* Nahari

Southern|

| Marathi–
Konkani|

| Marathic|

* Marathi
* Varhadi
* Andh
* Berar Deccan
* Varli
* Phudagi
* Katkari
* Kadodi

|

Konkanic|

* Konkani
* Maharashtrian Konkani
* Nawayathi

Insular|

* Maldivian
* Sinhala

Old|

* Sanskrit
* Vedic
* Classical
* Mitanni superstrate

Middle|

| Early|

* Ashokan Prakrit
* Pāli
* Early Ardhamagadhi

|

Middle (Prakrit)|

* Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit
* Dramatic Prakrits
* Ardhamagadhi
* Magadhi
* Maharashtri
* Shauraseni
* Gāndhārī
* Gaudi
* Paishachi

Late (Apabhraṃśa)|

* Abahattha
* Apabhraṃśa
* Elu
* Kamarupi
* Khasa Prakrit

Proto-
languages|

* Proto-Indo-Iranian
* Proto-Indo-Aryan

Unclassified|

* Badeshi (unknown further classification)
* Bazigar
* Chinali–Lahul
* Chinali
* Lahul Lohar
* Sheikhgal

Pidgins
and creoles|

* Andaman Creole Hindi
* Bombay Hindi
* Haflong Hindi
* Nagamese
* Nefamese
* Vedda

See also
Indo-Iranian languages
Nuristani languages
Iranian languages
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template