The Kashmiri Language

Abstract

In 1911, Grierson wrote a manual of “an interesting and little known tongue,” Kashmiri.¹ Now more than eighty years later, it still remains interesting and yet little known. It is indeed unfortunate that after the monumental work done by Grierson around the turn of this century, the number of studies on Kashmiri that found their way into print remains abysmally sma11.² Although Kashmiri has been influenced largely by other Indo-Aryan languages, it stands uniquely among its Indo-Aryan sisters on a number of phonological and morphosyntactic processes. In this chapter, I will discuss some salient characteristics of Kashmiri beginning with its sociolinguistic profile, continuing with its linguistic history, mainly, the controversy that sorrounds its genetic affiliation, and finally turning to the details of some aspects of its morphosyntactic structure that are, by and large, unique to it. The discussion of grammar will also facilitate comprehension of the data while, at the same time, serve as a reference tool for the remainder of the work.