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Nuristani Languages
The Nuristani languages, formerly known as Kafiri languages, are one of the three groups within the Indo-Iranian language family, alongside the much larger Indo-Aryan and Iranian groups. They have approximately 130,000 speakers primarily in eastern Afghanistan and a few adjacent valleys in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Chitral District, Pakistan. The region inhabited by the Nuristanis is located in the southern Hindu Kush mountains, and is drained by the Alingar River in the west, the Pech River in the center, and the Landai Sin and Kunar rivers in the east. The languages were previously often grouped with Indo-Aryan ( Dardic sub-group) or Iranian until they were finally classified as forming a third branch in Indo-Iranian. Languages * Northern: ** Kamkata-vari (Bashgali, includes the dialects Kata-vari, Kamviri, Shekhani and Mumviri) 40,000 speakers ** Wasi-wari (Prasuni) 8,000 speakers * Southern: ** Askunu (Ashkun) 40,000 speakers ** Waigali (Kalasha-ala) 12,000 speakers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuristan
Nuristan, also spelled as Nurestan or Nooristan (Dari: ; Kamkata-vari: ), is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It is divided into seven districts and is Afghanistan's least populous province, with a population of around 167,000. Parun serves as the provincial capital. Nuristan is bordered on the south by Laghman and Kunar provinces, on the north by Badakhshan province, on the west by Panjshir province. The origins of the Nuristani people traces back to the 4th century BC. Some Nuristanis claim being descendants of the Greek occupying forces of Alexander the Great. It was formerly called Kafiristan ( ps, ) ("Land of the Infidels") until the inhabitants were forcibly converted from an animist religion; a form of ancient Hinduism infused with local variations, to Islam in 1895, and thence the region has become known as Nuristan ("land of illumination", or "land of light"). The region was located in an area surrounded by Buddhi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kunar River
The Kūnaṛ River ( ps, د کونړ سيند), also known in its upper reaches as the Mastuj ( ps, مستوج سين), Chitral ( khw, کونڑ سين; ur, دریائے کونڑ), or Kama River ( khw, کامې سين), is about long, located in eastern Afghanistan ( Nuristan, Kunar, Nangarhar) and northern Pakistan ( Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). It emerges just south of the Broghil Pass, in the upper part of Chitral District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near the Afghan border. The river system is fed by melting glaciers and snow of the Hindu Kush mountains. The Kunar River is a tributary of the Kabul River, which is in turn a tributary of the Indus River. Origin and course of flow The river rises in the far north glaciated Hindu Kush mountains of Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Downstream as far as the town of Mastuj it is known as the "Mastuj River" from there to its confluence with the Lotkoh River just north of the important regional centre of Chitral. It is then cal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zemiaki Language
Zemiaki (Zamyaki) is a Nuristani language spoken by some 400–500 people in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan. It is named after the settlement in which it is spoken, from the Pashto "language of Zemyaki", the native equivalent being ''J̌amlām-am bašā''. It is closely related to Waigali, and ancestors of the Zemyakis were, according to local tradition, Waigalis who migrated into the area several centuries ago. The language spoken in the surrounding areas is Pashto, and it has been a source of a large number of lexical borrowings, including several common conjunctions. There is no grammatical gender, but number and person A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ... are marked on the verb, following a split-ergative pattern of agreement. References Bibliography * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tregami Language
Tregami (Trigami), or ''Katar Gambiri'', is a language spoken in the villages of Gambir, Kaṭâr, and Devoz in the Tregâm Valley off the lower Pech River in the Watapur District of Kunar Province in Afghanistan. The area is in the Hindu Kush along the border with Pakistan. Tregami belongs to the Nuristani group of the Indo-Iranian language family. It is spoken by approximately 3,500 people (2011). Most individuals speak Pashto in addition to Tregami. Tregami is a close relative of Waigali, spoken in Ghaziabad District to the east, with which it has a lexical similarity of 75% to 80%. Although Tregami villages are close in proximity, there is a slight difference between the dialects of Katar and Gambir. The language has been influenced by the neighboring Indo-Aryan languages and by the Nuristani Kata-vari dialect. Sociolinguistic situation Tregami is an unwritten moribund language in the process of being replaced by Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalasha-ala
Waigali (') is a language spoken by about 10,000 Nuristani people of the Waigal Valley in Afghanistan's Nuristan Province. The native name is ''Kalaṣa-alâ'' 'Kalasha-language'. "Waigali" refers to the dialect of the Väy people of the upper part of the Waigal Valley, centered on the town of Waigal, which is distinct from the dialect of the Čima-Nišei people who inhabit the lower valley. The word 'Kalasha' is the native ethnonym for all the speakers of the southern Nuristani languages. Kalaṣa-alâ belongs to the Indo-European language family, and is in the southern Nuristani group of the Indo-Iranian branch. It is closely related to Zemiaki and to Tregami, the lexical similarity with the latter being approximately 76% to 80%. It shares its name with Kalaṣa-mun, spoken in Pakistan's southern Chitral District Chitral District ( ur, ) was the largest district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, covering an area of 14,850 km², before sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Askunu Language
''Âṣkuňu'' (') is a language of Afghanistan spoken by the Ashkun people – also known as the Âṣkun, Ashkun, Askina, Saňu, Sainu, Yeshkun, Wamas, or Grâmsaňâ – from the region of the central Pech Valley around Wâmâ and in some eastern tributary valleys of the upper Alingar River in Afghanistan's Nuristan Province. Other major places where the language of Ashkun is spoken are Nuristan Province, Pech Valley in Wama District, eastern side of the Lower Alingar Valley in Nurgaram and Duab districts, Malil wa Mushfa, Titin, Kolatan and Bajagal valleys. It is classified as a member of the Nuristani sub-family of the Indo-Iranian languages The Indo-Iranian languages (also Indo-Iranic languages or Aryan languages) constitute the largest and southeasternmost extant branch of the Indo-European language family (with over 400 languages), predominantly spoken in the geographical subr .... Demographics Current status: There are currently about 40,000 ethnic people who s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wasi-wari
Wasi-wari (Vasi-vari, Wasi-weri) is the language of the Wasi people, spoken in a few villages in the Pârun Valley (Prasun Valley) in Afghanistan. It also goes by the name Prasun or Paruni. Vasi-vari belongs to the Indo-European language family, and is on the Nuristani group of the Indo-Iranian branch. Vasi-vari is the most isolated of the Nuristani languages. As far as is known, its speakers are 100% Muslim. Literacy rates are low: below 1% for people who have it as a first language, and between 15% and 25% for people who have it as a second language. Demographics Wasi-wari is a language spoken by the Vâs’i people who are located in the Pârun Valley, known as Vâs’i gul, at the beginning of the Pech River Basin in the Nurestân Province of Northeastern Afghanistan. The Vâs’i refer to the language as Vâs’i-vari or Vâs’i-vare, but it is also known as Prasuni, Paruni, Parun, Vasi-vari, Prasun, Veron, Verou, Veruni, Wasi-veri, Wasi-weri, Wasin-veri, Vasi Vari, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mumviri Dialect
Mumviri is a dialect of the Nuristani Kamkata-vari language Kamkata-vari (') is the largest Nuristani language. It contains the main dialects Kata-vari, Kamviri and Mumviri. Kata-vari and Kamviri are sometimes erroneously reckoned as two separate languages, but according to linguist Richard Strand the ..., spoken by perhaps 1,500 of the Mumo people of Afghanistan. There are only slight differences to the Kata-vari, Mumviri has Kamviri phonetic features. The most used alternative name is ''Bashgali'', which derive from Khowar. Mumviri is spoken in the Mangul, Sasku and Gabalgrom in the Bashgal Valley. References * The Mumo. Retrieved July 10, 2006, from ''Richard F. Strand: Nuristan, Hidden Land of the Hindu-Kush' External links Nuristan: Hidden Land of the Hindu Kush-Includes a lexicon of Kamviri and more information. Languages of Afghanistan Languages of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Nuristani languages {{ie-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shekhani Dialect
Eastern Kata-vari also locally known as ''Shekhani'' is a variety of the Kata-vari language spoken in Chitral district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The Kamviri language is also known as Shekhani. The Khowar name for the dialect is ''Sheikhwar'' which means "Language of the Sheikhs or converts." Some linguists consider Shekhani or Eastern Kata-vari a different language due to the isolation from other Nuristani languages other than Kamviri. Kamviri Shekhani is different than Eastern Kata-vari which is also called Shekhani. In August 2022, Pakistani linguist, Rehmat Aziz Chitrali proposed a keyboard to Khowar Academy, Chitral. Speakers The speakers of Eastern Kata-vari migrated from Kamdesh in Nuristan in modern-day Afghanistan to Lutkuh Valley in Chitrali Princely State in British Raj during the 19th century. Most Shekhani speakers speak either Pashto or Khowar as a second language. Many Shekhani speakers often marry the minority Pashtuns Pash ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kamviri Dialect
Kamviri () is a dialect of the Kamkata-vari language spoken by 5,000 to 10,000 of the Kom people of Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are slight dialectal differences of the Kamviri speakers of Pakistan. The most used alternative names are ''Kati'', ''Kamozi'', ''Shekhani'' or ''Bashgali''. Phonology The inventory as described by Richard Strand. In addition, there is stress. The neutral articulatory posture, as in the reduced vowel , consists of the tip of the tongue behind the lower teeth and a raised tongue root is linked with a raised larynx, producing a characteristic pitch for unstressed vowels of about an octave above the pitch of a relaxed larynx. Consonants * Sounds are found in loanwords. * Between vowels, voice to . * can also be heard as bilabial or a labial approximant . * For most speakers, and especially in Kombřom, becomes a retroflex flap . * becomes a velar tap The voiced velar tap is a type of consonantal sound, reported to occur in some s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kata-vari Dialect
Kata-vari is a dialect of the Kamkata-vari language spoken by the Kata in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The most used alternative names are ''Kati'', ''Kativiri'' or ''Bashgali''. It is spoken by approximately 40,000 people (mostly in Afghanistan, just over 3,700 in Pakistan), and its speakers are Muslim. Literacy rates are low: below 1% for people who have it as a first language, and between 15% to 25% for people who have it as a second language. There are two main sub-dialects: Eastern Kata-vari and Western Kata-vari. In Afghanistan, Western Kata-vari is spoken in the Ramgal, Kulam, Ktivi and Paruk valleys of Nuristan. Eastern Kata-vari is spoken in the upper Landai Sin Valley. In Pakistan, Eastern Kata-vari or Shekhani is spoken in Chitral District, in Gobor and the upper Bumboret Valley Bumburet (Kalasha: ', ur, وادی پمپوریت) is the largest valley of Kalasha Desh in Lower Chitral District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the province of Pakistan. The Bumbur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. Under this definition, the dialects or varieties of a particular language are closely related and, despite their differences, are most often largely mutually intelligible, especially if close to one another on the dialect continuum. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class or ethnicity. A dialect that is associated with a particular social class can be termed a sociolect, a dialect that is associated with a particular ethnic group can be termed an ethnolect, and a geographical/regional dialect may be termed a regiolectWolfram, Walt and Schilling, Natalie. 2016. ''American Engli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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