Eastern Balochi (dialect)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Eastern Balochi ( Balochi:), is a dialect of the
Balochi language Balochi (, romanized: ) is a Northwestern Iranian language, spoken primarily in the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. In addition, there are speakers in Oman, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Turkmenistan, East Afr ...
spoken in border areas to Indian languages in
Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
,
Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...
, and the north-eastern parts of
Balochistan province Balochistan (; ; , ) is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southwestern region of the country, Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan by land area but is the least populated one. It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Khybe ...
. Relatively few studies have been devoted to Eastern Balochi compared to other dialects of the
Balochi language Balochi (, romanized: ) is a Northwestern Iranian language, spoken primarily in the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. In addition, there are speakers in Oman, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Turkmenistan, East Afr ...
. There is too little material available.


Dialects

Researchers believe that Eastern Balochi (which is not a unified dialect, but rather a conglomerate of dialects often referred to by the tribal names of the speakers as the Marrī, Bugṭī, Leghārī, Mazārī, Buzdar etc.) Sulaimani found mainly in
eastern Balochistan Balochistan (; ; , ) is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southwestern region of the country, Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan by land area but is the least populated one. It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Khybe ...
, covering parts of Pakistan, particularly in areas like
Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...
, Kalat,
Khuzdar Khuzdar ( Balochi, , ) also known as ''Hozdar'', is a city and the administrative headquarters of Khuzdar District in Balochistan province of Pakistan. Khuzdar is surrounded by mountainous region of the southwestern portion of the country near ...
,
Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...
and
Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
. Eastern Hill Balochi dialects are spoken in the areas of the Marri,
Bugti Bugti ( ) is a Baloch tribe found in eastern Balochistan, Pakistan. , it was estimated to comprise over 180,000 people, mostly living in the Dera Bugti Dera Bugti ( Balochi: , Urdu: ) is a district within the Balochistan province of Pakistan ...
, Leghari, Buzdar and Mazari tribes.
Mansel Longworth Dames Mansel Longworth Dames (1850–1922) was a scholar of oriental and Portuguese languages. Longworth Dames was born in Bath, Somerset, Bath in 1850, the eldest son of George Longworth Dames and Caroline Amelia Brunswick. Longworth Dames passed the ...
, Portuguese language scholar was the first to study this dialect and called it Northern Balochi. The dialect is now been influenced by Sindhi. The Baloch Talpurs ruled Sindh for a long time, which led to Baloch interaction with the inhabitants of Sindh, and over time, Balochi (Eastern Hill Balochi) became influenced by Sindhi. It's spoken east of
Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...
,
Dera Ghazi Khan Dera Ghazi Khan, abbreviated as D.G. Khan, is a city in the southwestern part of the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, 16th most-populous city in Punjab and List of most p ...
, Taunsa and from
Sibi Sibi (; ;) is a city situated in the Balochistan (Pakistan), Balochistan Subdivisions of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. The city serves as the administrative headquarters of the Sibi District, district and Sibi Tehsil, tehsil of the same name ...
in the west nearly to the
Indus river The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayas, Himalayan river of South Asia, South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northw ...
in the east.


Phonology

The
sound system Sound system may refer to: Technology media * Sound reinforcement system, a system for amplifying audio for an audience * High fidelity, a sound system intended for accurate reproduction of music in the home * Public address system, an institution ...
of Eastern Balochi is different from Southern and Western Balochi. In Eastern Balochi, the sounds /f/, /kh/, and /gh/ are pronounced as /p/, /k/, /g/.


Vowles

Based on what Dames mentions, the Eastern Balochi has the long
vowel A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...
s a2, i2, u2, the short vowels a, i, u, and the vowels e, ai, o, au under the name of
diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
s. It is mentioned that with the passage of time and contact with neighboring
Indo-Aryan languages The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east ...
, the phenomenon of
nasalization In phonetics, nasalization (or nasalisation in British English) is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the mouth. An archetypal nasal sound is . ...
in Eastern Balochi has emerged. Eastern Balochi has its
fricative A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in ...
s and acquired
retroflex consonant A retroflex () or cacuminal () consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consona ...
s, A fronting of ū > ī has taken place and n seems to have acquired phonemic status in Southern Balochi.


Consonants

The following table shows
consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...
s which are common Southern Balochi.
Nasalization In phonetics, nasalization (or nasalisation in British English) is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the mouth. An archetypal nasal sound is . ...
is
phonemic A phoneme () is any set of similar speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word from another. All languages con ...
in the eastern balochi and that caused by the effect of
Indo-Aryan languages The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east ...
, like Sulaimani dialect that has borrowed a few sounds from them. In Eastern Balochi, it is noted that the stop and
glide consonant In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel, glide or semiconsonant is a sound that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary, rather than as the nucleus of a syllable. Examples of semivowels in English are ''y' ...
s may also occur as aspirated
allophone In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is one of multiple possible spoken soundsor '' phones''used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, the voiceless plos ...
s in word initial position as ʰ tʰ ʈʰ t͡ʃʰ kʰand ʱ Allophones of stops in postvocalic position include for voiceless stops, θ xand for
voiced Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise known as ''unvoiced'') or voiced. The term, however, is used to refe ...
stops ð ɣ /n l/ are also dentalized as ̪ l̪ The complete set off, ʃ, β, x, ɣ, ǧ, it is present as regular phonemes in eastern balochi. In Eastern Hill Baluchi, θ and ’ from postvocalic t and d; and
intervocalic In phonetics and phonology, an intervocalic consonant is a consonant that occurs between two vowels. Intervocalic consonants are often associated with lenition, a phonetic process that causes consonants to weaken and eventually disappear entirely. ...
b tends to become v.


Syllable

In Eastern Balochi, the last heavy syllable of a word is stressed. Complex verbs and
preposition Adpositions are a part of speech, class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various thematic relations, semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositi ...
+
noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...
are treated as a unit as far as stress is concerned.


Grammar

The
grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...
of Eastern Balochi is similar to the grammar of other dialects of the Balochi language. The Balochi ending for the Oblique
plural In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...
of nouns is -ān, characteristic of
Western Iranian languages The Western Iranian languages or Western Iranic languages are a branch of the Iranian languages, attested from the time of Old Persian (6th century BC) and Median. Languages The traditional Northwestern branch is a convention for non-Southwe ...
. It collectives suffix -gal, and used as a plural
suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
. Verbs with infinitives in -a ˙g, words in -¯a¯o (i.e. /-¯ab/, corresponding to non Eastern -¯ab, e.g. xar¯a¯o < xar¯ab "bad".


Vocabulary


Example sentences


See also

*
Rakhshani dialect Rakhshani( Balochi:) also termed Western Balochi is a Balochi dialect. The dialect has several important subdialects and spoken predominantly in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. The Ethnologue website has classified the dialect ...
*
Makrani dialect Makrani( Balochi:) or Southern Balochi is a variety of the Balochi language spoken in the historical region of Makran in Balochistan in Pakistan as well as Iran. Spoken by the Baloch people, it is often categorised as an "important" dialect ...


References


External links

* Collett, N. A
A grammar, phrase book and vocabulary of Baluchi
(as spoken in the Sultanate of Oman). 2nd ed. amberley .A. Collett 1986. * Mumtaz Ahmad
Baluchi glossary
a Baluchi-English glossary: elementary level. Kensington, Md.: Dunwoody Press, 1985.

– translate Balochi words to or from English, Persian, Spanish, Finnish and Swedish
iJunoon English to Balochi Dictionary

EuroBalúči
– Baluchi alphabet, grammar and music * *Jahani, C. 2019
A Grammar of Modern Standard Balochi
{{Iranian languages Balochi language Western Iranian languages