Chinali (natively called Chinalbhashe)[citation needed] is an unclassified, and critically endangered language of India spoken by about 220 people. Many speakers are well educated.[1] Speakers are distributed throughout Lahul (or Lahaul) Valley.[2] It uses Devanagari to be written.[1] It's very possible that Chinali is also closely related to Sanskrit.[3]

Chinali
𑚏𑚮𑚝𑚥𑚡𑚭𑚋𑚲 Chinalbhashe
Native toHimachal Pradesh
RegionChandra and Chandrabhaga Valley
EthnicityChinali[citation needed]
Native speakers
215 (2016)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3cih
Glottologchin1475

Phonology

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Consonants[4]
  Labial Dental Palatal Retroflex Velar/
Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ɳ ŋ
Stop voiceless p ʈ k
aspirated t̪ʰ ʈʰ
voiced b ɖ ɡ
breathy d̪ʱ ɖʱ ɡʱ
Affricate voiceless t͡s t͡ʃ
aspirated t͡sʰ t͡ʃʰ
voiced d͡z d͡ʒ
breathy d͡ʒʱ
Semi vowels w
Spirants unvoiced s ʃ ʂ x
voiced z ɦ
Vibrant r ɽ
Lateral l ɭ
Vowels[4]
Front Central Back
Near-close/high
mid higher ɛ ɛː ɔ
Near-open ɐ ɐː ɐ̃ː a aː

References

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  1. ^ a b c Chinali at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)  
  2. ^ "Indo-Aryan Languages", "International Encyclopedia of Linguistics Vol. 1" edited by W. J. Frawley.
  3. ^ Chamberlain, Brad, Wendy (August 2019). "A Sociolinguistic Survey of Lahul Valley, Himachal Pradesh" (PDF). SIL International: 10.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b A Descriptive Grammar & Vocabulary of Chinali, Dr. D.D. Sharma
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