Editing Balti language (section)

==Classification and dialects==
Historically, [[Buddhism|Buddhists]] in Leh have referred to all [[Islam|Muslims]] in Ladakh as Balti.

The Balti language has four variants or dialects. Despite differences in pronunciation of vocabulary, they are [[Mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]]. For example, ''to keep'' is ''yuq'' in other varieties, but ''juq'' in the southern dialect of Kharmang and Kargil. Similarly, ''milk'' is ''oma'' in the eastern Chorbat-Nubra, the central Khaplu, and the southern Kharmang-Kargil varieties, but ''ona'' in the western dialect of Skardu, Shigar, and Rondu valley. The four variants or dialects of Balti are:

# Eastern dialect of Chorbat and Nubra valley
# Central dialect of [[Khaplu]] valley
# Western dialect of [[Skardu]], [[Shigar]] and [[Roundu District|Rondu]].
# Southern dialect of Upper [[Kharmang]] and [[Kargil]] 
<ref>{{cite web|title=Balti: Protecting the language|date=29 January 2021 |url=https://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/opinion/balti-protecting-the-language/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://skardu.pk/politicisation-of-balti-language-in-kargil/|title=Politicisation of Balti Language in Kargil - Skardu.pk|first=Editorial|last=Team|accessdate=25 February 2024}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Caption text
|-
! English !! Eastern Nubra/Chorbat dialect!! Central Khaplu dialect !! Western Skardu dialect !! Southern Kharmang dialect
|-
| Milk|| Oma|| Oma|| Ona || Oma
|-
| Keep || Yuq || Yuq || Yuq || Juq
|-
| Girl|| Bono|| Bono || Bono|| Bomo
|-
|You
|yan
|yan
|yang
|yan
|-
| Mountain|| Braq|| Braq || Blaq|| Braq
|}