Since 2020, It has been made an official language of Jammu and Kashmir along with Dogri, Hindi, Urdu and English.

[18] Native speakers of the language were dispersed in "pockets" throughout Azad Kashmir,[19][20] particularly in the districts of Muzaffarabad (15%), Neelam (20%) and Hattian (15%), with very small minorities in Haveli (5%) and Bagh (2%).

[20] The Kashmiri dialect of Neelum is closer to the variety spoken in northern Kashmir Valley, particularly Kupwara.

[21][22] A process of language shift is observable among Kashmiri-speakers in Azad Kashmir according to linguist Tariq Rahman, as they gradually adopt local dialects such as Pahari-Pothwari, Hindko or move towards the lingua franca Urdu.

[27] Rahman notes that efforts to organise a Kashmiri language movement have been challenged by the scattered nature of the Kashmiri-speaking community in Azad Kashmir.

For another example, the prefixing form of the number 'two', which is found in Sanskrit as dvi-, has developed into ba-/bi- in most other Indo-Aryan languages, but du- in Kashmiri (preserving the original dental stop d).

For instance, there was an /s/ > /h/ consonant shift in some words that had already occurred with Vedic Sanskrit (This tendency was complete in the Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian), yet is lacking in Kashmiri equivalents.

The word rahit in Vedic Sanskrit and modern Hindi-Urdu (meaning 'excluding' or 'without') corresponds to rost in Kashmiri.

Vowel mark 𑆘 = 𑆘𑆳 𑆛 = 𑆛𑆳 𑆟 = 𑆟𑆳 𑆓 = 𑆓𑆶 𑆙 = 𑆙𑆶 𑆚 = 𑆚𑆶 𑆝 = 𑆝𑆶 𑆠 = 𑆠𑆶 𑆨 = 𑆨𑆶 𑆫 = 𑆫𑆶 𑆯 = 𑆯𑆶 𑆓 = 𑆓𑆷 𑆙 = 𑆙𑆷 𑆚 = 𑆚𑆷 𑆝 = 𑆝𑆷 𑆠 = 𑆠𑆷 𑆨 = 𑆨𑆷 𑆫 = 𑆫𑆷 𑆯 = 𑆯𑆷 Kashmiri is a fusional language[66] with verb-second (V2) word order.

There are no articles, nor is there any grammatical distinction for definiteness, although there is some optional adverbial marking for indefinite or "generic" noun qualities.

Feminine forms are typically generated by the addition of a suffix (or in most cases, a morphophonemic change, or both) to a masculine noun.

[69] The following table illustrates the range of possible gender forms:[70] دُکاندار دُکانداریٚنؠ ماشٹَر ماشٹَر باے خَر خٔرِنؠ پھۆت پھۄتٕر ہوٗن ہوٗنؠ گَگُر گَگٕر ہۆکھ ہۆچھ تۆت تٔژ مَرٕد زَنانہٕ نوٗل مٔچھ Some nouns borrowed from other languages, such as Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, Urdu or English, follow a slightly different gender system.

[74] Other case distinctions, such as locative, instrumental, genitive, comitative and allative, are marked by postpositions rather than suffixation.

[78] Present tense in Kashmiri is an auxiliary construction formed by a combination of the copula and the imperfective suffix -/aːn/ added to the verb stem.

Indefinite past refers to actions performed a long time ago, and is often used in historical narrative or storytelling contexts.

[81] As described above, Kashmiri is a split-ergative language; in all three of these past tense forms, the subjects of transitive verbs are marked in the ergative case and direct objects in the nominative.

[81] Nominative arguments, whether subjects or objects, dictate gender, number and person marking on the verb.

[92] Like the auxiliary, the participle suffix used with the perfective aspect (expressing completed or concluded action) agrees in gender and number with the object (for transitive verbs) or subject (for intransitives) as illustrated below:[92] The imperfective (expressing habitual or progressive action) is simpler, taking the participle suffix -/aːn/ in all forms, with only the auxiliary showing agreement.

[40] Both the Indo-Aryan and Iranian branches of the Indo-Iranian family have demonstrated a strong tendency to eliminate the distinctive first person pronoun ("I") used in the nominative (subject) case.

The Indo-European root for this is reconstructed as *eǵHom, which is preserved in Sanskrit as aham and in Avestan Persian as azam.

However, in languages such as Modern Persian, Baluchi, Hindi and Punjabi, the distinct nominative form has been entirely lost and replaced with m- in words such as ma-n and mai.

Other Indo-Aryan languages that preserve this feature include Dogri (aun vs me-), Gujarati (hu-n vs ma-ri), Konkani (hā̃v vs mhazo), and Braj (hau-M vs mai-M).

The Iranian Pashto preserves it too (za vs. maa), as well as Nuristani languages, such as Askunu (âi vs iũ).

1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: سٲری اِنسان چھِ آزاد زامٕتؠ۔ وؠقار تہٕ حۆقوٗق چھِ ہِوی۔ تِمَن چھُ سوچ سَمَج عَطا کَرنہٕ آمُت تہٕ تِمَن پَزِ بٲے بَرادٔری ہٕنٛدِس جَذباتَس تَحَت اَکھ أکِس اَکار بَکار یُن ۔ [111] [səːriː insaːn t͡ʃʰi aːzaːd zaːmɨtʲ .

timan t͡ʃʰu soːt͡ʃ samad͡ʒ ataː karnɨ aːmut tɨ timan pazi bəːj baraːdəriː hɨndis d͡ʒazbaːtas tahat akʰ əkis akaːr bakaːr jun] "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

Verses by Lalleshwari:[112] 𑆏𑆩𑆶𑆅 𑆃𑆑𑆶𑆪 𑆃𑆗𑆶𑆫 𑆥𑆾𑆫𑆶𑆩 𑆱𑆶𑆅 𑆩𑆳𑆬𑆴 𑆫𑆾𑆛𑆶𑆩 𑆮𑆶𑆤𑇀𑆢𑆱 𑆩𑆁𑆘 𑆱𑆶𑆅 𑆩𑆳𑆬𑆴 𑆑𑆤𑆴 𑆥𑇀𑆪𑆜 𑆓𑆾𑆫𑆶𑆩 𑆠 𑆖𑆾𑆫𑆶𑆩 𑆃𑆱𑆱 𑆱𑆳𑆱 𑆠 𑆱𑆥𑆤𑇀𑆪𑆱 𑆱𑆾𑆤𑇆 [oːmuj akuj at͡ʃʰur porum, suj maːli roʈum ʋɔndas manz, suj maːli kani pʲaʈʰ gorum tɨ t͡sorum, əːsɨs saːs tɨ sapnis sɔn.]

"I kept reciting the unique divine word "Om" and kept it safe in my heart through my resolute dedication and love.

One who recites the divine word "Omkār" by devotion is capable to build a bridge between his own and the cosmic consciousness.