Jaunsari

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A language of India

ISO 639-3
jns
Alternate Names
Jansauri, Jaunsauri, Pahari
Population

100,000 (2001 USCWM).

Location

Uttarakhand, Dehra Dun district, Kalsi, Tiuni, and Chakrata tahsils, Jaunsar-Bawar division.

Language Maps
Language Status

6a (Vigorous).

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Northern zone, Western Pahari
Dialects

Jaunsari, Jaunsari-Bawari. 97% intelligibility between dialects. Perceived by some as a Garhwali [gbm] dialect; but users perceive Garhwali as distinct and report lack of intelligibility. Lexical similarity: 70%–77% between dialects, 63%–70% with Garhwali dialects [gbm], 64% with Kumaoni [kfy], 66% with Hindi [hin], 51%–64% with Sirmauri [srx].

Language Use

Vigorous. Home, village, private prayer. Positive attitudes. Also use Hindi [hin] with higher proficiency among the educated.

Language Development
Literacy rate in L1: Below 1%. Literacy rate in L2: 26%. Hindi preferred for education. Schools officially use Hindi as medium but Jaunsari used among children and by teachers to explain things to primary students. Bible portions: 1895–2009.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Jaunsari
Writing
Devanagari script. Latin script, no longer in use. Takri (Tankri, Takari) script, no longer in use.
Other Comments

A Scheduled Tribe. Hindu.