Pahari and Pothwari: a sociolinguistic survey

This report gives a snapshot of the Pahari-Pothwari language complex. It addresses questions of dialect versus language and the number of dialects through synchronic, descriptive means rather than a historical, phonological comparison. The survey team used oral interviews, questionnaires, wordlists, comprehension testing, and our own observation from the two and a half years we lived in Murree, Pakistan.

The Pahari-Pothwari language complex includes three major but mutually intelligible dialects: Pahari, Pothwari and Mirpuri. Those speaking the latter, Mirpuri, also refer to their language as Pahari.