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POTHOHARI LANGUAGE

(Redirected from Potwari)

The 'Pothwari' or 'Pothohari language' in Urdu otherwise known as 'Mirpuri' or 'Potwari' is an Indo-European language spoken from the Potwar district around Rawalpindi, Pakistan to the Cease-fire Line '(LoC)' of Indian administered Kashmir de-facto border in the Mirpur district of the ''Jammu'' area in Pakistan administered Kashmir . It is closely related to Panjabi and Romani (Gypsy), but is distinct from these languages.
There is some dialect continuum with Hindko and the Jhelumi dialect of Panjabi. Pothohari speakers may understand Panjabis both from India and Pakistan, but these groups may not understand Pothohari- the reason being that Panjabi is the second-most spoken language in the subcontinent as a whole and in both India & Pakistan respectively whilst Pothohari is highly concentrated in the North of Pakistan. Also, Punjab and Kashmir ("the crown" and "jewel", so to speak, of the subcontinent) have always shared strong links on several levels - trade, nobility & neighbourhood.
Every language is a "mongrel" language to some degree or another. 'Pothohari' is no different, with the majority of its modern-language roots being connected to Panjabi primarily and Romani (Gypsy).

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Prevalence

Prevalence


Pothohari is the second largest language of Kashmir after Kashmiri.
In the UK, over 70% of British Pakistanis speak Pothohari as their first language. Over 2/3 of these originate from Mirpur in Azad Kashmir (the area of Kashmir under Pakistani administration).
Every second Muslim in Britain speaks Pothohari as their first language. Every third South Asian person in Britain is a Pothohari speaker.
99.9% British Pakistanis of Punjabi background hailing from Pakistan administered Kashmir only speak Pahari as their mother tongue.
Aapna Channel’ is the first ever TV channel in the Pothohari language. The core audience of Apna Channel is the second largest linguistic group in the United Kingdom after English.

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