General Character of the Language.—Kashmiri is a language of great philological interest. The two principal features which at once strike the student are the numerous epenthetic changes of vowels and consonants and the employment of pronominal suffixes. In both cases the phenomena are perfectly plain, cause and effect being alike presented to the eye in the somewhat complicated systems of declension and conjugation. The Indo-Aryan languages proper have long ago passed through this stage, and many of the phenomena now presented by them are due to its influence, although all record of it has disappeared. In this way a study of Kashmiri explains a number of difficulties found by the student of Indo-Aryan vernaculars.[1]
In the following account the reader is presumed to be in possession of the facts recorded in the articles [Indo-Aryan Languages] and [Prakrit], and the following contractions will be employed: Ksh. = Kashmiri; Skr. = Sanskrit; P. = Piśāca; Sh. = Shīnā.
A. Vocabulary. The vocabulary of Kashmiri is, as has been explained, mixed. At its basis it has a large number of words which are also found in the neighbouring Shīnā, and these are such as connote the most familiar ideas and such as are in most frequent use. Thus, the personal pronouns, the earlier numerals, the words for “father,” “mother,” “fire,” “the sun,” are all closely connected with corresponding Shīnā words. There is also a large Indian element, consisting partly of words derived from Sanskrit vocables introduced in ancient times, and partly of words borrowed in later days from the vernaculars of the Punjab. Finally, there is a considerable Persian (including Arabic) element due to the long Mussulman domination of the Happy Valley. Many of these have been considerably altered in accordance with Kashmiri phonetic rules, so that they sometimes appear in strange forms. Thus the Persian lagām, a bridle, has become lākam, and the Arabic bābat, concerning, appears as bāpat. The population speaking Kashmiri is mainly Mussulman, there being, roughly speaking, nine Mahommedan Kashmiris to less than one Hindu. This difference of religion has strongly influenced the vocabulary. The Mussulmans use Persian and Arabic words with great freedom, while the Hindus, or “Pandits” as they are called, confine their borrowings almost entirely to words derived from Sanskrit. As the literary class is mostly Hindu, it follows that Kashmiri literature, taken as a whole, while affording most interesting and profitable study, hardly represents the actual language spoken by the mass of the people. There are, however, a few good Kashmiri works written by Mussulmans in their own dialect.
B. Written Characters. Mussulmans and Christian missionaries employ an adaptation of the Persian character for their writings. This alphabet is quite unsuited for representing the very complex Kashmiri vowel system. Hindus employ the Sāradā alphabet, of Indian origin and akin to the well-known Nāgarī. Kashmiri vowel sounds can be recorded very successfully in this character, but there is, unfortunately, no fixed system of spelling. The Nagari alphabet is also coming into use in printed books, no Śāradā types being yet in existence.
C. Phonetics. Comparing the Kashmiri with the Sanskrit alphabet (see [Sanskrit]), we must first note a considerable extension of the vowel system. Not only does Ksh. possess the vowels a, ā, i, ī, u, ū, r, ē, ai, ō, au, and the anunāsika or nasal symbol ~, but it has also a flat ă (like the a in “hat”) a flat ĕ (like the e in “met”), a short ŏ (like the o in “hot”) and a broad å (like the a in “all”). It also has a series of what natives call “mātrā-vowels,” which are represented in the Roman character by small letters above the line, viz. a, i, ū, u. Of these, a is simply a very short indeterminate sound something like that of the Hebrew shawā mobile, except that it may sometimes be the only vowel in a word, as in tsah, thou. The i is a hardly audible i, while ū and u are quite inaudible at the end of a syllable. When i or u is followed by a consonant in the same syllable i generally and u always becomes a full i or u respectively and is so pronounced. On the other hand, in similar circumstances, ū remains unchanged in writing, but is pronounced like a short German ü. It should be observed that this ū always represents an older ī, and is still considered to be a palatal, not, like u, a labial vowel. Although these mātrā-vowels are so slightly heard, they exercise a great influence on the sound of a preceding syllable. We may compare the sound of a in the English word “mar.” If we add e to the end of this word we get “mare,” in which the sound of the a is altogether changed, although the e is not itself pronounced in its proper place. The back-action of these mātrā-vowels is technically known as umlaut or “epenthesis,” and is the most striking feature of the Kashmiri language, the structure of which is unintelligible without a thorough knowledge of the system. In the following pages when a vowel is epenthetically affected by a mātrā-vowel the fact will be denoted by a dot placed under it, thus kạru. This is not the native system, according to which the change is indicated sometimes by a diacritical mark and sometimes by writing a different letter. The changes of pronunciation effected by each mātrā-vowel are shown in the following table. If natives employ a different letter to indicate the change the fact is mentioned. In other cases they content themselves with diacritical marks. When no entry is made, it should be understood that the sound of the vowel remains unaltered:—
| Preceding Vowel. | Pronunciation when followed by | |||
| a-mātrā | i-mātrā | ū-mātrā | u-mātrā | |
| ạ | ạ (ạdar, be moist) (some thing like a short German ö) | ai (kạri, pr. kairi, made, plural masc.) | ü (as in German: kạrū, pr. kür, made, fem. sing.) | o (like first o in “promote”; karu, pr. kor, made, masc. sing.) |
| ạ | ö (kạñar, pr. köñar, makeone-eyed) (like a long German ö) | öi (German ö; mạri, pr. möiri, killed, masc. plur.) | ö (mạrū, pr. mör, killed, fem. sing.) | å (mạru, pr. mår, written, mōru, killed, masc. sing.) |
| ị | — | — | yü (lịvū, pr. lyüv, plastered, fem. sing.) | yu (lịvū, pr. lyuv, written lyuvu, plastered, masc. sing.) |
| ị | — | — | — | yū (nīlu, pr. nyūl, written nyūlu, blue, masc. sing.) |
| ụ | — | ui (gụri, pr. guiri, horses) | — | — |
| ụ | — | ūi (gụri, pr. gūiri, cowherds) | — | — |
| ḝ | i (lḝdar, pr. lidar, be yellow) | — | yü (tsḝlū, pr. tsyül, squeezed, fem. sing.) | yu (tsḝlu, pr. tsyul, written tsyulu, squeezed, masc. sing.) |
| ẹ | — | ī (phẹri, pr. and written phīri, turned, masc. plur.) | ī (phẹrū, pr. phīr, written, phīrū, turned, fem. sing.) | yū (phẹru, pr. phyūr, written phyūru, turned, masc. sing.) |
| ọ̆ | u (họ̆khar, pr. hukhar, make dry) | ŏi (wọ̆thi, pr. wŏithi, arisen, masc. plur.) | ū (wọ̆thū, pr. wüth, arisen, fem. sing.) | o (wọ̆thu, pr. woth, arisen, masc. sing.) |
| ọ | — | ūi (būizi, pr. būizi, written būzi, heard. masc. plur.) | ū (bọzū, pr. būz, written, būzū, heard, fem. sing.) | ū (bōzu, pr. būz, written būzu, heard, masc. sing.) |
The letters u and i, even when not u-mātrā or i-mātrā, often change a preceding long ā to å, which is usually written ō, and ạ respectively. Thus rāwukh, they have lost, is pronounced råwukh, and, in the native character, is written rōwukh. Similarly mālis becomes mạlis (mölis). The diphthong ai is pronounced ö when it commences a word; thus, aiṭh, eight, is pronounced öṭh. When i and u commence a word they are pronounced yi and wu respectively. With one important exception, common to all Piśāca languages, Kashmiri employs every consonant found in the Sanskrit alphabet. The exception is the series of aspirated consonants, gh, jh, ḍh, dh and bh, which are wanting in Ksh., the corresponding unaspirated consonants being substituted for them. Thus, Skr. ghōṭakas, but Ksh. guru, a horse; Skr. bhavati, Ksh. bŏvi, he will be. There is a tendency to use dental letters where Hindī employs cerebrals, as in Hindi uṭh, Ksh. wŏth, arise. Cerebral letters are, however, owing to Sanskrit influence, on the whole better preserved in Ksh. than in the other Piśāca languages. The cerebral ṣ has almost disappeared, ś being employed instead. The only common word in which it is found is the numeral ṣah, six, which is merely a learned spelling for śah, due to the influence of the Skr. ṣaṭ. From the palatals c, ch, j, a new series of consonants has been formed, viz. ts, tsh (aspirate of ts—i.e. ts + h, not t + sh), and z (as in English, not dz). Thus, Skr. cōras, Ksh. tsūr, a thief; Skr. chalayati, Ksh. tshali, he will deceive; Skr. jalam, Ksh. zal, water. The sibilant ś, and occasionally s, are frequently represented by h. Thus, Skr. daśa, Ksh. dah, ten; Skr. śiras, Ksh. hīr, a head. We may compare with this the Persian word Hind, India (compare the Greek Ἰνδός, an Indian), derived from the Skr. Sindhus, the river Indus. When such an h is followed by a palatal letter the ś returns; thus, from the base hiś-, like this, we have the nominative masculine hịhu, but the feminine hiśū, and the abstract noun hiśyar, because ū and y are palatal letters.
The palatal letters i, e, ū-mātrā and y often change a preceding consonant. The modifications will be seen from the following examples: rāt-, night; nom. plur. rạtsū; wŏth, arise; wọ̆tshū, she arose: lad, build; lạzū, she was built: ran, cook; rạñū, she was cooked; pạṭū, a tablet; Ag. sing. paci: kāth-, a stalk; nom. plur. kāchĕ: baḍ-, great; nom. plur. fem. bajĕ: batuku, a duck; fem. bata.cū: họ̆khu, dry; fem. họ̆chū; srọ̆gu, cheap; srŏjyar, cheapness: wạlu, a ring; fem. wạjū, a small ring; lōs, be weary; lọsū or lọtsū, she was weary. These changes are each subject to certain rules. Cerebral letters (ṭ, ṭh, ḍ) change only before i, ĕ or y, and not before ū-mātrā. The others, on the contrary, do not change i, but do change before ĕ, y or ū-mātrā.
No word can end in an unaspirated surd consonant. If such a consonant falls at the end of a word it is aspirated. Thus, ak, one, becomes akh (but acc. akis); kaṭ, a ram, becomes kaṭh; and hat, a hundred, hath.
D. Declension. If the above phonetic rules are borne in mind, declension in Kashmiri is a fairly simple process. If attention is not paid to them, the whole system at once becomes a field of inextricable confusion. In the following pages it will be assumed that the reader is familiar with them.