- published: 27 Oct 2012
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Dogri (डोगरी or ڈوگرى) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about five million people in India and Pakistan, chiefly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, but also in northern Punjab, other parts of Jammu and Kashmir, and elsewhere. Dogri speakers are called Dogras, and the Dogri-speaking region is called Duggar. Dogri is a member of the Western Pahari Group of languages. The language is referred to as Pahari (पहाड़ी or پھاڑی) in Pakistan. Unusually for an Indo-European language, Dogri is tonal, a trait it shares with other Western Pahari languages and Punjabi.
Dogri was originally written using the Takri script, which is closely related to the Sharada script employed by Kashmiri and the Gurmukhī script used to write Punjabi. It is now more commonly written in Devanāgarī in India, and the Nasta'liq form of Perso-Arabic in Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
Western Pahari languages, Punjabi and Punjabi dialects are frequently tonal, which is very unusual for Indo-European languages (although Swedish and Norwegian are tonal also). This tonality makes it difficult for speakers of other Indo-Aryan languages to gain facility in Dogri, though native Punjabi speakers (especially speakers of Northern dialects such as Hindko and Mirpuri) may find it easier to make the transition. Some common examples are shown below.