Sirmauri

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A language of India

ISO 639-3
srx
Alternate Names
Himachali, Pahari, Sirmouri, Sirmuri
Population

400,000 (2005 SIL).

Location

Himachal Pradesh state: Shimla district, southeast section; Sirmaur district.

Language Maps
Language Status

6a (Vigorous).

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Intermediate Divisions, Western, Pahari, Western Pahari
Dialects

Dharthi (Giriwari), Giripari. Difficult intelligibility between Dharthi and Giripari; and between Upper Mahasui and Giripar. Dharthi dialect more influenced by Hindi. In south Shimla District, Kiunthali and Sirmauri are used interchangeably. Reportedly a different variety of Sirmauri in Sirmaur District. Lexical similarity: 56%–70% with Dharthi and Giripari, with considerable variation within each dialect; Giripari 67% with Lower Mahasui, 65% with Upper Mahasui, 61% with Jaunsari [jns].

Language Use

Home, village. Positive attitudes. Also use Hindi [hin], with high proficiency among educated people, and a wide range of proficiency among uneducated people, but older, uneducated women have very limited proficiency.

Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: 60% for Sirmaur District (2001 census). Newspapers. Radio. TV. Videos. Grammar.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Sirmauri
Writing

Devanagari script [Deva]. Takri (Tankri, Takari) script [Takr], special variety used informally (Masica 1991).

Other Comments

Dharthi is spoken in Giriwar area, Giripari in Giripar area. Hindu.

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