Waneci on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Waṇetsi (), commonly called Tarīno (), and sometimes Tsalgari (), is a distinct variety of
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 ...
and is considered by some to be a different language. In some cases, Wanetsi shares similarities with the
Pamir language of
Munji, being a sort of bridge between the former and Pashto.
It is perhaps a representation of a more archaic, or very early, form of Pashto.
It is spoken by the
Tareen
The Tareen (or Tarin) () is a Pashtun tribe inhabiting southern Afghanistan, and western region of Pakistan.Caroe O. ''The Pathans 550 B.C.- A.D. 1957'' Oxford University Press . Page 521.Muhammad Hyat Khan, "Hayat i Afghan" (Orig. in Persian 186 ...
in Balochistan,
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# ...
, primarily in
Harnai
Harnai (, ) town serves as the administrative headquarters of Harnai District in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. Until 2007, the town was in Sibi District.
It is located in the northeast of Balochistan province. The town is surrounded ...
(هرنای) (Harnai District) and Chawter (چوتېر) area in
Sanjawi
Sanjawi (), also spelled Sanzawi or Sinjawi, is a town in Balochistan, Pakistan, with a population of 124000. It serves as the capital of Sanjawi Tehsil – an administrative subdivision of Ziarat District.
Pashto and Wanetsi (Tareeno), which is ...
, Northern
Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...
, Pakistan.
The language is at risk due to lack of attention and not liking it as a language by foreigners.
History
Professor
Prods Oktor Skjærvø
Prods Oktor Skjærvø (sometimes written P.O. Skjaervo in English) is Emeritus Professor of Iranian Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, where he succeeded Richard Frye as Aga Khan Professo ...
states:
According to
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 ...
Waṇetsi branched off from the other
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 ...
dialects in the
Middle Iranian
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 language ...
stage:
Research
The first known linguistic research was conducted in 1929 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, Morgenst ...
on Waṇetsi. Since then linguists like Josef Elfenbein have worked and researched on this archaic Pashto dialect. In his book, Syed Khair Muhammad Arif, "Tarin aw Tarīno" has also included a small dictionary of Waṇetsi. ٙBut much work remains to be done on understanding Waṇetsi.
Poetry
The Waṇetsi Poet Nizamuddin Nizami Tarin, a
Spin Tarin from
Chawter, has also compiled poetry in the language. An excerpt from his poem in Waṇetsi:
Music
The singer Khayam Tareen (خيام ترين) has also sung songs in Waṇetsi.
Phonology
Consonants
* Waṇetsi has [] and [] for Pashto ښ and ږ, respectively.
* څ does not merge with [s] but can be pronounced as [] and ځ does not merge with [z] but can be pronounced as [].
*[] is dropable in Waṇetsi e.g. هغه becomes اغه
Vowels
* Josef Elfenbein states: "ī and ū are not phonemically distinct from i and u respectively, and are pronounced
i">Close_front_unrounded_vowel.html" ;"title="nowiki/>
iand [
Close back rounded vowel">u">Close front unrounded vowel">iand
urespectively when unstressed (and not [
Near-close near-front unrounded vowel">ɪ">nowiki/>Close back rounded vowel">urespectively when unstressed (and not
ɪand [
Near-close near-back rounded vowel">ʊ">nowiki/>Near-close near-front unrounded vowel">ɪand [
Near-close near-back rounded vowel">ʊas in Kākaṛī), and [
Vowel length">iː
The close front unrounded vowel, or high front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound that occurs in most spoken languages, represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet by the symbol i. It is similar to the vowel sound in the English ...
] and [
Vowel length, uː] when stressed."
* There is a marked spontaneous tendency to palatalize "ī" as "yī" and "ē" as "yē"; and to labialize "ū" as "wū" and "ō" as "wo". Initial delabialization is common in "wū" as "ū" and "wō" as "ō".
*The stressed short "á" is often lengthened, and an unstressed long "ā" shortened.
* The standard weakening of final vowels in Waṇetsi makes the masculine-feminine gender distinction much less audible:
and
are not phonemically distinct when unstressed in any position. But stressed final ә́ is kept apart from stressed á as in general Pashto.
Nasalisation
Waṇetsi also has
vowel nasalisation
A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel /ɑ̃/ () or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are p ...
which is transcribed as / ̃/ or ں in the Pashto alphabet.
Stress
Verbs
Like Pashto, verbs have final stress in the imperfective aspect and initial stress in the perfective aspect.
Examples:
Words
Stress can also change the meaning of words, as in Pashto.
Example:
Subdialects
Tarīno is subdivided into the Harnāi variety and the Chawter variety.
Grammatical comparison with general Pashto
Adpositions
Possessive
The possessive postposition غه is used instead of د
Example:
Idiomatic Expression
Tareeno also varies from Pashto in idiomatic expression.
Example: نهير /nahī́r/ “thought” - used with the verb to hit
Verbal Suffixes
First Person Suffix
The first person verbal suffixes also change:
Second Person Suffix
Some verbal suffixes like the feminine third person suffix
and ېare the same:
Third Person Suffix
= Past Suffix
=
Like standard Pashto the third person suffix for verbs with the root وتل the third person past suffix is different for the singular and plural.
Comparison with general Pashto
Poetry
The following is provided by Zamir Gulbahar (ظمير ګلبهار), a Tareeno poet from
Harnai
Harnai (, ) town serves as the administrative headquarters of Harnai District in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. Until 2007, the town was in Sibi District.
It is located in the northeast of Balochistan province. The town is surrounded ...
:
Lexical Comparison
The following list has been provided by the Waṇetsi poet Nizamuddin Nizami
Sentence Comparison
Sample 1
The following examples have been provided by Nizamuddin Nizami
Sample 2
The following examples have been provided by Nizamuddin Nizami
Sample 3
The following examples have been provided by Nizamuddin Nizami
Sample 4
The following examples have been provided by Nizamuddin Nizami
Grammar
Nouns - Morphology
Class 1
* Masculine Animate: mə́ser - elder (In general Pashto: mə́sər
* Masculine Animate: lewә́- wolf
* Masculine Animate: xar- donkey
* Masculine Animate: pšə́ - tom-cat (in general Pashto: piš)
* Masculine Inanimate: dārū́ - medicine
* Masculine Inanimate: kor - house
* Feminine Animate: pšī - cat (in general Pashto: piśó)
* Feminine Inanimate: lyār - way (in general Pashto: lār)
* Feminine Inanimate: xwā́šī - mother-in-law
* Feminine Inanimate: čaṛə́ - mother-in-law
* Feminine Inanimate: lergā́ - stick
Class 2
* Masculine Animate: yirźá - bear (in general Pashto: يږ
әẓ̌, yәg, yәź
* Masculine Animate: spa -dog (in general Pashto: spáy)
* Masculine Inanimate: wagaṛá -village (in general Pashto: kə́lay)
* Feminine Animate: spī - female-dog (in general Pashto spə́i)
Class 3
* Masculine Inanimate: špaźmi -moon (in general Pashto spoẓ̌mə́i, a feminine noun)
* Feminine Inanimate: méle -celebration (in general Pashto melá)
Class 4
* Masculine Animate: spor- horseman
* Masculine Inanimate: rebún - shirt
Class 5
* Masculine Animate: ğal
Agglutinative Formation
The (e)ya case is agglutinative.
Demonstratives
In Waṇetsi اغه
ɣafunctions for both Pashto دغه (this) and هغه (that).
Verb Infinitive
Where as General Pashto employs the ل
́lto the past stem to make it infinitive, Waṇetsi employs نګ
ngto the past stem to make it infinitive.
Bibliography
*
* J. H. Elfenbein, (1984). "The Wanetsi Connexion: Part I". ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland'' (1): 54–76.
* J. H. Elfenbein, (1984). "The Wanetsi Connexion: Part II". ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland'' (2): 229–241.
* J. H Elfenbein, (1967). "Lanḍa Zor Wəla Waṇecī". ''Archiv Orientální''. XXXV: 563–606.
See also
*
Pashto Dialects
Pashto dialects ( də Pəx̌tó žәbgóṭi) can be divided into two large varieties: Northern Pashto and Southern Pashto. Each of the two varieties of Pashto is further divided into a number of dialects. Northern Pashto is spoken in eastern ...
*
Pashto Grammar
*
Wazirwola
*
Ormuri language
Ormuri (Ormuri: اورموړی Pashto: اورموړی) also known as ''Baraki, Ormur, Ormui or Bargista '' is an Eastern Iranian language spoken in the Waziristan region of Pakistan. It is primarily spoken by the Burki people in the town of Ka ...
*
Pamiri languages
References
External links
Word list of terms in Waṇetsi and other languages
{{Authority control
__FORCETOC__
Pashto dialects