Kashmiri or Koshur, is a language from the Dardic subgroup of the Indo-Aryan languages and it is spoken primarily in the Kashmir Valley and Chenab regions of Jammu and Kashmi.There are approximately 5,527,698 speakers throughout India, according to the Census of 2001 Most of the 105,000 speakers in Pakistan are emigrants from the Kashmir Valley after the partition of India. They include a few speakers residing in border villages in Neelam District.Kashmiri is close to other dardic languages spoken in Gilgit, Pakistan and in northern regions of Kargil, India. Outside the Dardic group, tonal aspects and loanwords of Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit, especially its northern dialects

 

The Kashmiri language is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is a part of the eighth Schedule in the constitution of the Jammu and Kashmir. Along with other regional languages mentioned in the Sixth Schedule, as well as Hindi and Urdu, the Kashmiri language is to be developed in the state. Most Kashmiri speakers use Urdu or English as a second language.Since November 2008, the Kashmiri language has been made a compulsory subject in all schools in the Valley up to the secondary level.