Northern Indo-Aryan languages
| Pahari | |
|---|---|
| पहाड़ी | |
| Geographic distribution: |  India (Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, West Bengal),  Nepal,  Pakistan (Azad Kashmir),  China (Tibet) |
| Linguistic classification: | Indo-European |
| Subdivisions: |
Eastern (Nepali)
Western Dogri–Kangri
|
Pahari (or Pahaari) is a word for a number of dialects spoken across the Himalayan range, not limited to a single country. The word comes from 'pahar' meaning mountain. The word 'Pahaari' or 'Pahari' is an adjective in Punjabi and it means 'of the mountain', so 'Pahari' means 'language of the mountain people'.
Pakistan, India and Nepal are all countries along which the Himalayas run, and in all three countries the word for mountain is Pahar this is because Panjabi are all related languages (they are all Indic languages of the Indo-European language family). The Pahari language is also part of this group. Travel in mountainous areas is difficult, so dialects close to each other can be very different. Most of Pahari languages are dialects of Panjabi language .
