The Yidgha language () is an
Eastern Iranian
The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages emerging in Middle Iranian times (from c. the 4th century BC). The Avestan language is often classified as early Eastern Iranian. As opposed to the Middle Western Iranian dial ...
language of the
Pamir group spoken in the upper
Lotkoh
Lotkoh is an administrative unit, known as Union Council, of Chitral District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
Chitral is the largest district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, covering an area of 14,850 km². It ...
Valley (Tehsil Lotkoh) of
Chitral in the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...
province of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
. Yidgha is similar to the
Munji language
The Munji language ( fa, مونجی), also known as Munjani (), Munjhan (), and the Munjiwar language, is a Pamir language spoken in Munjan valley in Badakhshan Province in northeast Afghanistan. It is similar to the Yidgha language, which is s ...
spoken on the Afghan side of the border.
The Garam Chashma area became important during the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan because the Soviets were unable to stop the flow of arms and men back and forth across the
Dorah Pass
Dorah Pass, also called ''Durah Pass'', connects Badakshan Province of Afghanistan with Chitral District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The Dorah Pass is more than high. It is located along the Durand Line border and crosses the Hindu Kush moun ...
that separates Chitral from
Badakshan
Badakhshan is a historical region comprising parts of modern-day north-eastern Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic Ba ...
in Afghanistan. Almost the entire Munji-speaking population of Afghanistan fled across the border to Chitral during the War in Afghanistan.
Study
The Yidgha language has not been given serious study by linguists, except that it is mentioned by
Georg Morgenstierne
Georg Valentin von Munthe af Morgenstierne (2 January 1892 – 3 March 1978) was a Norwegian professor of linguistics with the University of Oslo (UiO). He specialized in Indo-Iranian languages.
Studies
During the years 1923 to 1971, Morgens ...
(1926),
Kendall Decker (1992) and
Badshah Munir Bukhari (2005). A 280-page joint description of Yidgha and
Munji (descriptive and historical phonetics and grammar, glossary with etymologies where possible) is given by
Morgenstierne (1938).
Norwegian linguist Georg Morgenstierne wrote that Chitral is the area of the greatest linguistic diversity in the worl
Although
Khowar
Khowar () or Chitrali, is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken in Chitral and surrounding areas in Pakistan.
Khowar is the lingua franca of Chitral, and it is also spoken in the Gupis-Yasin and Ghizer districts of Gilgit-Baltistan, as we ...
is the predominant language of Chitral, more than ten other languages are spoken here. These include
Kalasha-mun
Kalasha (locally: ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Kalash people, in the Chitral District in Pakistan. There are an estimated 5,000 speakers of Kalasha. It is an endangered language and there is an ongoing language shift to Khowar.
...
,
Palula,
Dameli,
Gawar-Bati,
Nuristani, Yidgha,
Burushaski
Burushaski (; ) is a language isolate spoken by Burusho people, who reside almost entirely in northern Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, with a few hundred speakers in northern Jammu and Kashmir, India. In Pakistan, Burushaski is spoken by people ...
,
Wakhi,
Kyrgyz, the Madaglashti dialect of
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, and
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...
. Since many of these languages have no written form, letters are usually written in
.
See also
*
Languages of Pakistan
Pakistan is a multilingual country with dozens of languages spoken as first languages. The majority of Pakistan's languages belong to the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European language family.
Urdu is the national language and the lingua fr ...
References
Further reading
*Decker, Kendall D. (1992) Languages of Chitral http://www.ethnologue.com/show_work.asp?id=32850
*Morgenstierne, Georg (1926) Report on a Linguistic Mission to Afghanistan.
Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning, Serie C I-2. Oslo.
*Morgenstierne, Georg (1938) Indo-Iranian Frontier Languages II (Yidgha-Munji, Sanglechi-Ishkashmi and Wakhi).
Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning, Serie B: XXXV. Oslo.
* Decker, Kendall D. (1992). ''Languages of Chitral (Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 5)''. National Institute of Pakistani Studies, 257 pp. .
{{Iranian languages
Languages of Chitral
Pamir languages
Endangered Iranian languages
Languages of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa