Editing Balti language (section)

{{Short description|Tibetic language of Baltistan, Pakistan}}
{{Distinguish|text = the [[Baltic languages]]}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}} 
{{Infobox language
| name             = Balti
| nativename       = {{nq|بلتی}}<br/>{{bo-textonly|སྦལ་འཐུས་}}
| states           = [[Pakistan]], [[India]]
| region           = [[Baltistan]], [[Ladakh]]
| ethnicity        = [[Balti people|Balti]]
| speakers         = 425,000 in Pakistan (2018) Total users in all countries: 438,800
| date             = 2018
| ref              = e24
| familycolor      = Sino-Tibetan
| fam2             = [[Tibeto-Burman]]
| fam3             = [[Tibeto-Kanauri]] (?)
| fam4             = [[Bodish languages|Bodish]]
| fam5             = [[Tibetic languages|Tibetic]]
| fam6             = [[Ladakhi–Balti languages|Ladakhi–Balti]]
| script           = {{Unbulleted list
|[[Perso-Arabic script]] {{small|(current)}}
|[[Tibetan script]] {{small|(current)}}
|Balti {{small|(Historical)}}}}
| iso3             = bft
| glotto           = balt1258
| glottorefname    = Balti
| image            = File:Balti language.png
| map              = Balti language speaking areas.png
| mapcaption       = Balti language speaking areas
| mapscale         = 1.2
}}
[[File:WIKITONGUES-_Rizwan_speaking_Balti.webm|thumb|Rizwan, a speaker of Balti]]

'''Balti''' ([[Perso-Arabic script]]: {{nq|بلتی}}, [[Tibetan script]]: སྦལ་ཏི།, {{bo|w=sbal ti}}) is a [[Tibetic languages|Tibetic language]] natively spoken by the ethnic [[Balti people]] in the [[Baltistan]] region of [[Gilgit-Baltistan]], [[Nubra|Nubra Valley]] of the [[Leh district]] and in the [[Kargil district]] of [[Ladakh]], [[India]].<ref name="General">{{cite book|title=Census of India, 1961: Jammu and Kashmir|year=1961|publisher=[[Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India]]|language=en|page=357}}</ref> The language differs from [[Lhasa Tibetan|Standard Tibetan]]; many sounds of [[Old Tibetan]] that were lost in Standard Tibetan are retained in the Balti language. It also has a simple [[Pitch-accent language|pitch accent]] system only in multi-syllabic words<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Sprigg|first1=R. K.|title=Lepcha and Balti Tibetan: Tonal or Non-Tonal Languages?|journal=Asia Major|date=1966|volume=12|pages=185–201}}</ref> while Standard Tibetan has a complex and distinct pitch system that includes [[tone contour]]. Due to effects of dominant languages in Pakistani media like Urdu, Punjabi and English and religious impact of Arabic and Persian languages, Balti, like other regional languages of Pakistan, is continuously expanding its vocabulary base with [[Loanword|loanwords]].<ref>{{cite journal | last=Shams | first=Shammim Ara | title=The Impact of Dominant Languages on Regional Languages: A Case Study of English, Urdu and Shina | journal=Pakistan Social Sciences Review | volume=4 | issue=III |year=2020| doi=10.35484/pssr.2020(4-III)79 | pages=1092–1106| doi-access=free }}</ref>