A first look at the language of Kundal Shahi in Azad Kashmir

This paper presents some preliminary notes on the previously undescribed Indo-Aryan language of Kundal Shahi, a village in Pakistani-administered Kashmir. We present data from which it appears that the Kundal Shahi language must have descended from an archaic form of Shina, while showing more recent influences from Kashmiri and Hindko in particular. It is not mutually intelligible with any of these languages. Like many other languages in the northwestern corner of the South-Asian subcontinent, Kundal Shahi has contrastive tone. With less than 500 active speakers, most of whom are over 40 years of age, the language is definitely endangered.