Churahi (Takri: 𑚏𑚰𑚤𑚭𑚩𑚯) is a Western Pahari language of Himachal Pradesh, India. It is spoken in the Chaurah and Saluni tehsils of Chamba district, and is considered endangered.[3]
| Churahi | |
|---|---|
| 𑚏𑚰𑚤𑚭𑚩𑚯, चुराही | |
 The word "Churahi" written in Devanagari script | |
| Native to | Himachal Pradesh |
| Region | Chaurah, Saluni |
Native speakers | 76,000[1] (2011)[2] |
| Takri, Devanagari | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cdj |
| Glottolog | chur1258 |
| ELP | Churahi |
Adages
edit| 𑚏𑚰𑚤𑚭𑚩𑚯 | चुराही | Transliteration (ITRANS) | Equivalent Adage or meaning in English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 𑚀𑚜𑚜𑚰 𑚢𑚳𑚩𑚘𑚰 𑚀𑚜𑚢𑚭 | अधधु मैहणु अधमा | adhadhu maihaNu adhamA | Empty vessel makes much noise. |
| 𑚆𑚅𑚖𑚯 𑚊𑚥 𑚑𑚙𑚤𑚱𑚖𑚭 | एऊडी कल जतरूडा | eUDI kala jatarUDA | A bad deed has a bad outcome. |
| 𑚢𑚤𑚝𑚰 𑚙 𑚜𑚶𑚤𑚰𑚦 𑚚𑚴𑚪𑚭 𑚊𑚤𑚝𑚯 | मरनु त ध्रुव थॊड़ा करनी | maranu ta dhruva th^o.DA karanI | If one has to die, why make excuses? |
| 𑚑𑚲𑚃 𑚊𑚭𑚥𑚱 𑚡𑚰𑚙𑚮𑚣𑚭 𑚙𑚲𑚃 𑚛𑚶𑚦𑚭𑚤𑚭 𑚡𑚲𑚪𑚮𑚣𑚴𑚤𑚱 | जेई कालू भुतिया तेई द्वारा भेड़ियोरू | jeI kAlU bhutiyA teI dvArA bhe.DiyorU | To ignore some grave danger. |
Script
editThe native script of the language is Takri script.
Status
editThe language is commonly called Pahari or Himachali. Some speaker may even call it a dialect of Dogri. 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 Churahi children are not learning Churahi as their mother tongue any longer.[4]
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.[5] There has been no positive progress on this matter since then even when small organisations are striving to save the language.[6] Due to political interest, the language is currently recorded as a dialect of Hindi,[7] even when having a poor mutual intelligibility with it and having a higher mutual intelligibility with other recognised languages like Dogri and other Western Pahari languages.
References
edit- ^ Total count conflates with Pahari and Hindi
- ^ Churahi at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ "Endangered Language Churahi".
- ^ "Endangered languages".
- ^ "Pahari Inclusion". Zee News.
- ^ "Pahari Inclusion". The Statesman.
- ^ "Indian Language Census" (PDF).
