Bhattiyali dialect


Bhattiyali is a Pahari dialect of India. The 2011 Indian Census counted 23,970 speakers of Bhateali, of which 15,107 were found in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. The language is native to Bhattiyat Tehsil of Chamba district.

Status

The language is commonly called Pahari or Himachali. Some speaker may even call it a dialect of Dogri. The language has no official status and recorded as a dialect of Punjabi. With no institute that imparts teaching for this language, the language/dialect is endangered due to dominance of other recognised languages like Standard Punjabi or Hindi.
The demand for the inclusion of 'Pahari ' 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. There has been no positive progress on this matter since then even when small organisations are taking upto themselves to save the language and demanding it. Due to political interest, the language is currently recorded as a dialect of Punjabi, which was done on the basis of the conclusion made by G.A. Grierson who said Bhateali to be a 'rude' version of Punjabi. Since the linguists have changed this conclusion and have established it to be much more closer to others dialects of western Pahari.

Script

The native script of this language is Takri