Zangskari language

Zangskari
Zanskari, Zaskari, Zangs-dkar, Z’angkar
ཟངས་དཀར
Native toIndia
RegionZanskar, Ladakh
Native speakers
(12,000 cited 2000)
Tibetan script, Arabic script
Language codes
ISO 639-3zau
Glottologzang1248
ELPZangskari

Zangskari dialect (Zanskari, Zaskari) is an endangered Tibetic language. It is a dialect of Ladakhi language. It is mostly spoken in the Zanskar region of the Kargil district of Ladakh, India and also by Buddhists in the upper reaches of Lahaul, Himachal Pradesh, and Paddar, Jammu and Kashmir. It is written using the Tibetan script.

Zangskari is divided into four homogeneous groups, namely Oot (Stod) or Upper Zanskari spoken along the Doda River, Zhung (Gžun) or Central Zanskari mostly spoken in Padum valley, Sham (Gšam) or Lower Zanskari spoken along the lower portions of Zanskar River and lastly Lungnak (Luŋnag) along the upper Zanskar River region.