The Nuristani languages are one of the three groups within the Indo-Iranian language family, alongside the Indo-Aryan and

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

languages. They have approximately 214,000 speakers primarily in

Nuristan Nuristan, also spelled as Nurestan or Nooristan (Pashto: ; Katë: ), 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 ...

and Kunar provinces in northeastern

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 ...

and a few adjacent valleys in

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

's Chitral District,

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# ...

. The region inhabited by the Nuristanis is located in the southern

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central Asia, Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the wester ...

mountains, and is drained by the

Alingar River The Alingar River (also Alingâr) in Laghman Province of Afghanistan is one of the major tributaries of the Kabul River, and part of the Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayas, Himalayan river ...

in the west, the

Pech River The Pech River () is located in eastern Afghanistan. Course The Pech River system is fed from glaciers and snow from the Hindu Kush range to its north. The river rises in central Nuristan Province and flows south and southeasterly through the ...

in the center, and the Landai Sin and Kunar rivers in the east. More broadly, the

region is located at the northern intersection of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

and the

Iranian plateau The Iranian plateau or Persian plateau is a geological feature spanning parts of the Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. It makes up part of the Eurasian plate, and is wedged between the Arabian plate and the Indian plate. ...

. The Nuristani languages were not described in literature until the 19th century. The older name for the region was Kafiristan due to the pre-Islamic religious practices of its residents, but this term has been abandoned in favor of

("land of light") after the region's people were converted to Islam.

Languages

Nuristani languages can be classified into: * Katë, also called ''Kati'', ''Kamviri'' or ''Kamkata-vari'', is the most-spoken Nuristani language at 150,000 speakers. It includes the Western, Northeastern, and Southeastern dialects. * Prasun, also called ''Vasi-vari'', is spoken by 8,000 speakers. Prasun is considered as the most divergent member of the group, featuring a distinct grammar and phonology. * Ashkun, also called ''Ashkunu'' or ''Sanu-viri'', is spoken by 40,000 speakers. Although Ashkun shares commonalities with other Nuristani languages, there are some sound changes in Ashkun that are not shared by any other member. * Nuristani Kalasha, formerly known as ''Waigali'', is spoken by 12,000 speakers. It is rather closely related with Tregami and Zemiaki. Nuristani Kalasha is distinct from

Kalasha-mun Kalasha (, locally: ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Kalash people, in the Chitral District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. There are an estimated 7,466 speakers of Kalasha according to the 2023 Census of Pakistan. It ...

, which is an Indo-Aryan language. * Tregami () is spoken by 3,500 speakers in the three villages of Gambir, Kaṭâr, and Devoz in the Watapur District of Kunar Province, Afghanistan. * Zemiaki is spoken by 500 speakers. It is so far the smallest Nuristani language known to exist. Local traditions confirm a historical link with Nuristani Kalasha.

History

Map of Attested and Hypothetical Old Indo-Iranian Dialects

Nuristani languages are

Indo-European languages 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. ...

, ultimately descending from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

. The prehistory of Nuristani is unclear, except that it apparently split off from the rest of the Indo-European languages as part of the Indo-Iranian branch. The Proto-Indo-Iranian language of late 3rd millennium BCE represents the reconstructed ancestral language which the Nuristani languages share with

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and

Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...

as their common origin. This makes Nuristani languages closely related to Indo-Iranian languages like Hindustani and Persian, and more distantly related to other Indo-European languages like Lithuanian and Icelandic. However, its classification within the Indo-Iranian branch was debated until recent scholarship settled its position as a third branch distinct from Indo-Aryan or

, though extensive Indo-Aryan influence can be detected. Proto-Nuristani is the reconstructed ancestral language of all the modern-day Nuristani languages, representing the latest point at which the languages were still unified as a single language. Proto-Nuristani began breaking off into distinct languages from around the 8th century BCE. The influences from surrounding Indo-Aryan and

Iranian languages The Iranian languages, also called the Iranic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian langu ...

onto early Nuristani languages have been highly complex, due to different patterns of migration and settlement by various Nuristani-speaking tribes through their history. The Nuristani languages continued their development as the primary languages of the Nuristani peoples, who maintained a history of interaction with surrounding Indo-Aryan peoples and later the Afghan people, who became dominant in the region. In the 1890s, the region of

was finally incorporated into

due to geopolitical pressure. Today, ethnic Nuristanis make up over 99% of the population of

. The Nuristani languages are spoken by about 78% of the total Nuristani population, and by 84% in villages. Today, Indo-Aryan Dardic languages like

Khowar Khowar (, ''Khōwār'', ), also known by its common exonym Chitrali, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic group, primarily spoken by the Kho (Chitrali) people, native to the Chitral region and surrounding areas of Pakistan. Khowar is th ...

, Pashai, and

, and

Eastern Iranian languages The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages, having emerged during the Iranian languages#Middle Iranian, Middle Iranian era (4th century BC to 9th century AD). The Avestan, Avestan language is often classified as early E ...

like Munji,

Sanglechi Sanglechi is a Pamiri language spoken in villages in the Zebak District of Afghanistan: Dashte Rubat, Esketul, Faruq, Flaxmadek, Sar-Sanglech, and Takya. It is also spoken in Tajikistan, where it is called Sanglich. The name comes from the Sangl ...

, and Yidgha are natively spoken in the neighboring regions of

, leading to language contact. Dameli, a neighboring Indo-Aryan language, has a significant amount of vocabulary borrowed from Nuristani languages, and thus was previously classified as a Nuristani language. However, the morphology and the pronominal system of Dameli are characteristically Indo-Aryan, leading to its re-classification as Dardic.

Vocabulary

The most archaic layer of Nuristani lexicon is the common inheritance from

, shared with other

. For example, Tregami '' tre'' is cognate with English '' three'', Russian '' три (tri)'', and Spanish '' tres''. Much of Nuristani lexicon traces back to the Proto-Indo-Iranian language of the late 3rd millennium BCE (cf. Ashkun '' ćës'' "markhor hair" and Marathi '' kes'' "hair"). Due to the relative isolation of the

region until the turn of the 20th century, the Nuristani languages were thought to have retained some inherited words from the ancient Indo-Iranian religion, predating Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. However, recent research on Nuristani theonyms shows robust semantic and linguistic correspondences with Indo-Aryan religious terminologies, which points to a significant post-Vedic Hindu influence on Nuristani theology and religious vocabulary. Remnants of inherited Indo-Iranian elements may have survived in some Prasun theonyms with hitherto unknown etymologies. In contrast, there is no trace of any Zoroastrian influence on Nuristani vocabulary, suggesting that Nuristani languages were not widely spoken in areas where Zoroastrianism was practiced. Nuristani-speaking peoples have since long participated in enduring social contact with Indo-Aryan speakers, leading to a large number of early Indo-Aryan loanwards and relative semantic closeness among the shared cognates between Indo-Aryan and Nuristani languages. There have been important historical exchanges between the Nuristani religious practices and earlier forms of

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

. For instance, Katë '' Indrë'' may be linked to the Hindu deity

Indra Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes Indra is the m ...

, from which it derives Katë '' indrõ'' "rainbow" (''Indra-bow'') and '' indrëṣ'' "earthquake" (''Indra-impulse'').

Middle Indo-Aryan languages The Middle Indo-Aryan languages (or Middle Indic languages, sometimes conflated with the Prakrits, which are a stage of Middle Indic) are a historical group of languages of the Indo-Aryan family. They are the descendants of Old Indo-Aryan (OI ...

like Gandhari have shared a broader cultural and linguistic milieu with Nuristani languages for many centuries in the

Gandhara Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...

region. In addition, Nuristani languages borrowed words for "law" and "judge" from the Iranian

Bactrian language Bactrian (, , meaning "Iranian") was an Eastern Iranian language formerly spoken in the Central Asian region of Bactria (present-day Afghanistan) and used as the official language of the Kushan and the Hephthalite empires. Name It was long tho ...

around the 1st century CE, suggesting some degree of contact with Bactrian-speaking state institutions, possibly the

Kushan empire The Kushan Empire (– CE) was a Syncretism, syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Afghanistan, Eastern Iran, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbe ...

. The most recent influx of loanwords into Nuristani is from Persian and

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

since the incorporation

into

in the 1890s. The chart below compares some basic vocabulary among the modern-day Nuristani languages.

Syntax

Many Nuristani languages have subject–object–verb (SOV) word order, like most of the other Indo-Iranian languages, and unlike the nearby Dardic

Kashmiri language Kashmiri ( ) or Koshur (Kashmiri: , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic languages, Dardic branch spoken by around 7 million Kashmiris of the Kashmir region, primarily in the Kashmir Valley and surrounding hills o ...

, which has verb-second word order.

Sample sentences

Katë

Prasun

References

Bibliography

* Decker, Kendall D. (1992). ''Languages of Chitral''. In: ''Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan 5''. Islamabad: National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University and Summer Institute of Linguistics. . * Grjunberg, A. L. (1971). ''K dialektologii dardskich jazykov (glangali i zemiaki). Indijskaja i iranskaja filologija: Voprosy dialektologii.'' Moscow. * Jakob Halfmann (2023). ''Lād "law": a Bactrian loanword in the Nuristani languages'', in ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', London, United Kingdom. * Morgenstierne, Georg (1926). ''Report on a Linguistic Mission to Afghanistan''. Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning, Serie C I-2. Oslo. . * Jettmar, Karl (1985). Religions of the Hindu Kush * Mallory, J. P. ''In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth''. Thames and Hudson, 1989. * Mallory, James P.; Adams, Douglas Q. "Indo-Iranian Languages". In: '' Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture''. Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997. * Strand, Richard F.
NURESTÂNI LANGUAGES
in

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English-language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

* Strand, Richard F.
- Kâmboǰâs and Sakas in the Holly-Oak Mountains.pdf

External links

Reiko and Jun's Kalash Page

Hindi/Urdu-English-Kalasha-Khowar-Nuristani-Pashtu Comparative Word List

This site is the primary source on the linguistics and ethnography of Nuristân and neighboring regions, collected and analyzed over the last forty years by the leading scholar on Nuristân. {{Authority control Nuristani languages Languages of Afghanistan Languages of Pakistan