Pali

Print

Primary tabs

A language of India

ISO 639-3
pli
Alternate Names
Magadhan
Autonym
पालि‎ (Pāḷi)
User Population

No known L1 speakers in India. Ethnic population: No ethnic community. Total users in all countries: none known.

Location

Scattered.

Language Status

9 (Second language only).

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Unclassified
Language Use

Classical and liturgical language of the Theravada Buddhist canon. Positive attitudes.

Language Development

Grammar. NT: 1835.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Pali
Writing

Devanagari script [Deva]. Myanmar (Burmese) script [Mymr]. Sinhala script [Sinh]. Thai script [Thai].

Other Comments

Pali was a revered standard and international language because the oral sayings of Buddha were recorded in it in the first century BCE, but it died out in mainland India as a literary language in the fourteenth century. Buddhist.

Also spoken in:

Expand All
Collapse All