Katë, also known as Kati or Kamkata-vari, is a

Nuristani language The Nuristani languages are one of the three groups within the Indo-Iranian language family, alongside the Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages. They have approximately 214,000 speakers primarily in Nuristan and Kunar provinces in northeastern Afg ...

. It is a dialect continuum comprising three separate dialects spoken mostly in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, with additional speakers in the

Chitral District Chitral District (; ) was a district in the Malakand Division of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from 14 August 1947 to 2018. It was the largest district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, covering an area of 14,850 km2, before spl ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

deriving from recent migrations a century ago. The ''Kata-vari'' (comprising Western and Northeastern) and ''Kamviri'' (comprising Southeastern) dialects are sometimes erroneously reckoned as two separate languages, but according to linguist

Richard Strand Richard F. Strand is a linguist and anthropological researcher who is best known for his research into Nuristani languages and other little-known languages of Afghanistan and neighboring areas of Pakistan. He was trained at Cornell University. ...

they form one language. The Katë language is the largest Nuristani language, spoken by 40,000–60,000 people, from the

Kata ''Kata'' is a Japanese word ( 型 or 形) meaning "form". It refers to a detailed choreographed pattern of martial arts movements. It can also be reviewed within groups and in unison when training. It is practiced in Japanese martial arts ...

, Kom, Mumo, Kshto and some smaller Black-Robed tribes in parts of

and

. The most used alternative names for the language are ''Kati'' or ''Bashgali''. A descriptive grammar of Katë was written by Jakob Halfmann in 2024.

Name

The name, pronounced , is the ethnonym of the

Kata people The Katir (also spelled Kati, Kator and Kata) are a Nuristani tribe in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Etymology The Katir a 'tɘor Kata Kafir group was ''numerically'' the most dominant group of the Siah-Posh (Persian "Black Wearer/Clothed") trib ...

. Cognates of the ethnonym in other

Nuristani languages The Nuristani languages are one of the three groups within the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian language family, alongside the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages, Iranian languages. They have approximately 214,000 speakers ...

include

Nuristani Kalasha Nuristani Kalasha ('), also known as ''Waigali'', is a Nuristani language spoken by about 10,000 people in the Nuristan Province of Afghanistan. The native name is ''Kalaṣa-alâ'' 'Kalasha-language'. "Waigali" refers to the dialect of the V� ...

''Kā̃ta'' . According to Halfmann (2024, p. 3), the names descend from a Proto-Nuristani form ''*Kānta-ka-''.

Classification

It belongs to the

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ...

and is in the Nuristani group of the Indo-Iranian branch.

Dialects

There are three main dialects according to Halfmann (2024): Western Katë, Northeastern Katë, and Southeastern Katë (including Kamviri and Mumviri). The dialects are sometimes erroneously defined as separate languages. The Northeastern Katë dialect is commonly referred to as ''Shekhani'' in

Chitral Chitral () is a city situated on the Kunar River, Chitral River in northern area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Lower Chitral District, and was previously the capital of Chitral District, and before ...

. In older literature, Southeastern Katë is split into Kamviri and Mumviri.

Alphabet

Status

Literacy rates are low: below 1% for people who have it as a

first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...

and between 15% and 25% for people who have it as a

second language A second language (L2) is a language spoken in addition to one's first language (L1). A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a foreign language. A speaker's dominant language, which ...

. The Kata-vari dialect can be heard on radio in Afghanistan.

References

* *

External links

* * * * * * Nuristani languages of Afghanistan Languages of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Nuristani languages {{ie-lang-stub