{{Short description|Tibetic language spoken in India and Pakistan}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}} {{Infobox language |name=Purki |nativename=Purigi, Purki |image=پرگی.svg |states=India, Pakistan |region=Ladakh |ethnicity=Purigpa |speakers={{sigfig|93,500|2}} |date=2011 census |ref=e18 |familycolor=Sino-Tibetan |fam2=Tibeto-Burman |fam3=Tibeto-Kanauri (?) |fam4=Bodish |fam5=Tibetic |fam6=Ladakhi–Balti |script=Perso-Arabic script<br>Tibetan script | nation = India *Ladakh<ref name="OfficialLang">{{cite web |url=https://egazette.gov.in/WriteReadData/2025/263538.pdf |title=The Ladakh Official Languages Regulation, 2025 |publisher=The Gazette of India |date=2 June 2025 |access-date=27 June 2025 }}</ref> |iso3=prx |glotto=puri1258 |glottorefname=Purik-Sham-Nubra }} '''Purgi''', '''Burig''', ''Purki'', ''Purik'', ''Purigi'' or ''Puriki'' (Tibetan script: {{lang|prx|པུ་རིག་་སྐད།}}, Nastaʿlīq script: {{lang|prx|{{nq|پُرگِی}}}}) is a Tibetic language closely related to the Ladakhi-Balti language. Purgi is natively spoken by the Purigpa people in Ladakh region of India and Baltistan region of Pakistan. There are about 94,000 native speakers of the language in India.<ref>CENSUS OF INDIA 2011, PAPER 1 OF 2018 LANGUAGE INDIA, STATES AND UNION TERRITORIES, P. 11.</ref>

Most of the Purigpas are Shia Muslims, although a significant number of them follow Noorbakhshi and Sunni Islam, and a small minority of Buddhists and Bön followers reside in areas like Fokar valley, Mulbekh, Wakha. Like the Baltis, they speak an archaic Tibetan dialect closely related to Balti and Ladakhi. Purigi is more closely related to Balti than Ladakhi, so there are different opinions among linguists in considering Purigi and Balti as different languages or simply different varieties of the same language.<ref>* N. Tournadre (2005) "L'aire linguistique tibétaine et ses divers dialectes." ''Lalies'', 2005, n°25, p.&nbsp;7–56 [http://tournadre.nicolas.free.fr/fichiers/2005-aire.pdf]</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Zemp|first=Marius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZGdjDwAAQBAJ|title=A Grammar of Purik Tibetan|publisher=BRILL|year=2018|isbn=978-90-04-36631-2|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rangan |first=K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0cK5AAAAIAAJ |title=Purki Grammar |date=1979 |publisher=Central Institute of Indian Languages |language=en}}</ref>

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants === {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! colspan="2" | !Labial !Dental/<br>Alveolar !Retroflex !Post-<br>alveolar !Palatal !Velar !Uvular !Glottal |- ! colspan="2" |Nasal |{{IPA link|m}} |{{IPA link|n}} | | |{{IPA link|ɲ}} |{{IPA link|ŋ}} | | |- ! rowspan="3" |Stop !<small>voiceless</small> |{{IPA link|p}} |{{IPA link|t}} |{{IPA link|ʈ}} | | |{{IPA link|k}} |{{IPA link|q}} | |- !<small>aspirated</small> |{{IPA link|pʰ}} |{{IPA link|tʰ}} |{{IPA link|ʈʰ}} | | |{{IPA link|kʰ}} | | |- !<small>voiced</small> |{{IPA link|b}} |{{IPA link|d}} |{{IPA link|ɖ}} | | |{{IPA link|ɡ}} | | |- ! rowspan="3" |Affricate !<small>voiceless</small> | |{{IPA link|t͡s}} | |{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}} | | | | |- !<small>aspirated</small> | |{{IPA link|t͡sʰ}} | |{{IPA link|t͡ʃʰ}} | | | | |- !<small>voiced</small> | |{{IPA link|d͡z}} | |{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}} | | | | |- ! rowspan="3" |Fricative !<small>voiceless</small> |({{IPA link|f}}) |{{IPA link|s}} |{{IPA link|ʂ}} |{{IPA link|ʃ}} | | |{{IPA link|χ}} |{{IPA link|h}} |- !<small>voiced</small> | |{{IPA link|z}} | |{{IPA link|ʒ}} | | |{{IPA link|ʁ}} | |- !<small>lateral</small> | |{{IPA link|ɬ}} | | | | | | |- ! colspan="2" |Trill/Tap | |{{IPA link|r}} |{{IPA link|ɽ}} | | | | | |- ! rowspan="2" |Approximant !<small>lateral</small> | |{{IPA link|l}} | | | | | | |- !<small>central</small> |{{IPA link|w}} | | | |{{IPA link|j}} | | | |}

* /pʰ/ may also be realized as a fricative [f]. * /r/ is often fricativized, being heard as [r̝].

=== Vowels === {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! !Front !Central !Back |- align="center" !Close |{{IPA link|i}} | |{{IPA link|u}} |- !Mid |{{IPA link|e}} |({{IPA link|ə}}) |{{IPA link|o}} |- !Open | | colspan="2" |{{IPA link|a}} |}

* /a/ may often be heard as back [ʌ] or centralized [ʌ̈], and in certain environments as [ɛ]. * Sounds /e, o/ may often be heard as [ɛ, ɔ]. * /e/ can be heard as [ə] when in unstressed syllables.<ref name=":0" />

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.asiaharvest.org/pages/profiles/nonChina/India/Purik.pdf Ethnic profile by Asia Harvest]

{{Sino-Tibetan languages}} {{Bodic languages}} {{Languages of Pakistan}} {{Languages of Jammu and Kashmir}}

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Category:Languages of Ladakh Category:Languages of Gilgit-Baltistan Category:Languages of Pakistan Category:Languages of India Category:Bodish languages