# Mandeali

Mandeali (Takri: 𑚢𑚘𑚶𑚖𑚮𑚣𑚭𑚥𑚯) is a Western Pahari language, spoken in northern India, predominantly in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh by the people of the Mandi Valley and particularly in the major city of Mandi. Other spellings for the name are Mandiyali and Mandiali. UNESCO reports it is one of the highly endangered languages of India. Speakers of the dialect have decreased by 21% from 1961 to 2001.
The language is distantly related to Kullvi. The Chambealic varieties are often considered separate languages, but at least some are 90–95% intelligible with Mandeali proper. Its sub-dialect are different than mandeali

## Dialects

Preliminary survey suggests speakers have functional intelligibility of Kangri. People in southeast Mandi district may have more difficulty understanding Kangri. Standard Mandeali is spoken throughout the broad valley running north and south from Jogindernagar to Sundarnagar. Mandeali Pahari is spoken north around Barot, east of Uhl River. Intelligible with difficulty to standard Mandeali. May be intermediate variety between Mandeali and Kullui. The dialect is very close to the Kullvi spoken in neighbouring lug valley region of Kullu district and are culturally, linguistically closer to Kullu. Southeast district contains transition to Mahasui. The dialect spoken is also sometimes referred as Suketi or dialect of Outer Seraj Area as dialect is an intermediate variety of Kullvi and Upper Mahasuvi of neighbouring Shimla and Kullu district. In the west, Sarkaghat is also a bit different from standard Mandeali, perhaps forming a transition towards Hamirpur and Bilaspur areas. Lexical similarity: 89% with Palampuri dialect of Kangri, 83% with Chambeali.

## Phonology
### Consonants

| | | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Post-alv./ Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Plosive / Affricate | voiceless | p | t | | ʈ | tʃ | k | |
| Plosive / Affricate | aspriated | pʰ | tʰ | | ʈʰ | tʃʰ | kʰ | |
| Plosive / Affricate | voiced | b | d | | ɖ | dʒ | ɡ | |
| Plosive / Affricate | breathy | bʱ | dʱ | | ɖʱ | dʒʱ | gʱ | |
| Fricative | voiceless | | | s | | ʃ | | ɦ |
| Fricative | voiced | | | | | | | ɦ |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | | n | ɳ | | (ŋ) | |
| Lateral | Lateral | | | l | ɭ | | | |
| Trill/Tap | Trill/Tap | | | r | ɽ ɽʱ | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | | | | | j | w | |
* [ŋ] is heard when a nasal occurs before velar stops.
* [f] can be heard as an allophone of pʰ.
* Aspirated versions of m, n,ɳ, l,ɭ, r, w can be considered as separate phonemes.

### Vowels

The vowels of Mandeali language are shown below.
| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i iː | | u uː |
| Mid | (e) eː | ə əː | (o) oː |
| Open-mid | ɛː | | ɔː |
| Open | | aː | |

## Grammar
### Pronouns

The Pronouns of Mandeali for different person and number are -
1st Person Singular : हाऊँ/ɦaːũ/
1st Person Plural : आस्से /asːe/
2nd Person Singular : तू /tu/
2nd Person Plural : तुस्से /t̪usːe/
3rd Person Proximate Singular : ए, ये /eː, jeː/
3rd Person Proximate Plural : यों /jõː/
3rd Person Distal Singular : से /seː/
3rd Person Distal Plural : स्यों /sjõː/

### Noun Cases

* Mandeali - Hindi - English - Case
* घर /gʱəːr/ (noun)
1 घर - home - Nominative
2. घरो/ घरा जो - घर को - to home - Accusative
3. घरे - घर ने - Ergative
4. घरा के/ घरा कन्ने/ घरा साउगी- with house - Comitative
5. घरा ले/ घरा ला - घर से - through home - Instrumental
6. घरा कट्ठे - घर के लिए - for home - Dative
7. घरा ले/ घरा ला - घर से - from home - Ablative
8. घरा रा/रे/री - घर का/की/के - of home - Genetive
* Locatives
9. घरा/ घरा मंझ - घर में - Innesive
10. घरा गास, प्रयाल्हे, पर - घर पर - Addesive
* Others
11. घरा (sing)/ घरो (plural)- ओ घर - Vocative
12. घरा साँहीं - घर जैसा - Similative
13. घरा तिक्कर/ तिक - घर तक - Terminative

### Numerals

| Numeral | Mandeali |
| 1 | एक्क ekk |
| 2 | दुई duī |
| 3 | त्राए trāē |
| 4 | चार chār |
| 5 | पांज pānj |
| 6 | छेह chheh |
| 7 | सात्त sātt |
| 8 | आठ āṭh |
| 9 | नौ nau |
| 10 | दस das |
| 11 | ग्यारा gyārā |
| 12 | बारा bārā |
| 13 | तेहरा tehrā |
| 14 | चउदा chaudā |
| 15 | पंद्रा pandrā |
| 16 | सोळा soḷā |
| 17 | सतारा satārā |
| 18 | ठारा ṭhārā |
| 19 | उन्नी unni |
| 20 | बीह bīh |

## Script

The native script of the language is a variety of Takri called Mandeali Takri.

## Vocabulary
### Names of months

Traditionally, the month formats is based on Hindu calendar.
List of Months in Mandeali :
| मंडयाली | Transliteration | English |
| चइतर | chaitar | March–April |
| बसाख | basākh | April–May |
| जेठ | jeṭh | May–June |
| हाह्ड़ | hāhṛ | June–July |
| साओण | sāoṇ | July–August |
| भाद्रो | bhādro | August–September |
| सौज | sauj | September–October |
| कातक | kātak | October–November |
| मंगसर | mangsar | November–December |
| पौस | paus | December–January |
| माघ | māgh | January–February |
| फागण | phāgaṇ | February–March |

### Names of days

Days are generally indic.
List of days in Mandeali :
| मंडयाली | Transliteration | English |
| त्वार | Twār | Sunday |
| सोमबार | Sombār | Monday |
| मंगळबार | Mangaḷbār | Tuesday |
| बुद्धबार | Buddhbār | Wednesday |
| बीरबार | Bīrvaar | Thursday |
| सुक्करबार | Sukkarbār | Friday |
| सनिचर | Sanichar | Saturday |
•Twār is a loan word from Urdu (Itwār)

## Status

The language is commonly called Pahari or Himachali, just like many other neighbouring languages. The language has no official status. According to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the language is of definitely endangered category, i.e. many Mandeali children are not learning Mandeali as their mother tongue anymore.
The demand for the inclusion of 'Pahari (Himachali)' 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 strive to save the language and demand it. Due to political interest, the language is currently recorded as a dialect of Hindi, even when having a poor mutual intelligibility with it and being close to other Pahari languages such as Kahluri and Kangri.