Dardic Languages

This paper presents a preliminary ethnobotanical lexicon of plant names in the Kalam Kohistani language, spoken in the mountainous north of Pakistan. The list includes 203 Kalam Kohistani plant lexemes, with their English and Urdu glosses; 137 of these are tentatively identified with their Latin scientific names. Many of the glosses include brief notes on the occurrence and local uses of the plants. The paper ends with an index of 116 English common plant names with their Kalam Kohistani equivalents, followed by an index of scientific names.

The main purpose of this work is to provide a cartographic representation of the process of Islamization of the vast area of “Kafir” cultures and Indo-European languages here styled “Peristan”. This area once extended from present-day Nuristan to the borders of Kashmir over a surface of some 80.000 square km. The Kalasha of lower Chitral are now the last surviving heirs of this area. Only recently scientific research has produced new elements to reconstruct the history of this process, which had so far remained obscure. After a brief analysis of the different forms of perception of ethnic and religious identities in the area, the paper deals with the relationship between the process of Islamization and that of subjection to the authority of states from ca. 1500 CE to this day. Then the sources on which the cartography is based are discussed. The result is a somewhat unexpected image of what was once “Kafiristan”, perhaps the most remote and tenacious barbaricum of the Asian continent, and one of the largest.

All forms of 'six' in the daughter languages can and should be traced to one prototype, *swék1s, as appears from this study, where special attention has been given to regular sound change, to "rules" on irregular sound change, and to dialect geography. Forms for 'sixth', 'sixteen', sixty' have also been dealt with, as well as the Slavic cardinals in -(t)ь and the I-Ir tens in -tí-.
[Note: sections on Kashmiri and "Taxila" need far-reaching corrections.]

The main purpose of this volume is to provide a complement to "Towards a grammatical description of Palula" (Liljegren 2008) and "Palula vocabulary" (Liljegren & Haider 2011). A collection of texts representing various genres (historical narratives, ethnographic accounts, personal experiences, proverbs, etc.) have been transcribed and annotated, including morphological analysis, a free translation into English and an orthographic representation (Perso-Arabic based) of the transcribed text. The work is the result of linguistic research in and with the Palula community (Pakistan). Henrik Liljegren is a field linguist at Stockholm University, Sweden, and Naseem Haider, himself a native speaker of Palula, is a local researcher with the Forum for Language Initiatives in Islamabad.

Many languages within the northwestern region of Indo-Aryan display contrastive lexical tone. Most of these languages, and their tone systems, have not yet been extensively studied. I briefly survey these languages and propose an initial division into three groups, based (rather simple-mindedly) on the number of contrasting tones in a language (two vs. three vs. more than three). Geographically, the three groups correspond to three distinct areas on the map. I discuss each group and show how they are different from one another, not only with respect to tone itself, but also in the way tone interacts with word stress in those languages.

This paper presents some novel and hard-to-access data from Kalkoti, an Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern Pakistan. The particular focus is on showing how this Shina variety in a relatively short time span has drifted apart from its closest known genealogical relatives and undergone significant linguistic convergence with a Kohistani variety in whose vicinity Kalkoti is presently spoken. Among other features, we explore what seems like an ongoing process of tonogenesis as well as structural “copying” in the realm of tense and aspect.

Data from four little-studied varieties of Indo-Aryan (Southern Palula, Northern Palula, Sawi and Kalkoti) spoken in the Hindu Kush is analyzed and discussed from a historical-comparative perspective. Evidence is presented showing that Kalkoti, until recently only tentatively classified, is part of this particular cluster of closely-related Shina varieties. An attempt is made at reconstructing some phonological and grammatical features of a common source speech, here named Proto-Dangari, and the order in which the present-day varieties may have split off. An important conclusion drawn is that Southern and Northern Palula probably are more distantly related than present-day similarities seem to indicate, the high degree of synchronic similarity instead being due to relatively recent convergence taking place in southern Chitral. It is hypothesized that the present speech communities are the result of two different westward routes of migration, one geographically linking Southern Palula (Ashreti) and Sawi with Chilas, the other linking Northern Palula (Biori) and Kalkoti with Tangir, both located in the same general area of the main Indus Valley.

The article analyzes the correspondence of the goddess names (ə)Xšum in Sogdian and Chorasmian, Bactrian Þομαγο, Ομμα (?) on one side, and Kati Kuṣum'äī, Kalasha Kuṣumai, on the other. We suppose that these are all variants of a single Iranian theonym which was borrowed into the Kafiri and Dardic languages from East Iranian, proto-Munji *Xš ̣umá. We analyze the proposed etymologies of the names of goddesses, the possible coincidences of their roles in pantheon, and critically review iconographic proposals.

В статье анализируется соответствие имен богинь: согдийского и хорезмийского (ə)Xšum, бактрийского Þομαγο, Ομμα (?) с одной стороны, и кати Kus ̣um'äī, калаша Kus ̣umai, с другой. Мы предполагаем, что это варианты одного и того же иранского теонима, в кафирские и дардские он был заимствован из восточноиранского, прото-мунджанского *Xš ̣umá. Анализируются предложенные этимологии имен богинь, возможные совпадения их ролей в пантеоне, критически пересматриваются предложения по их иконографии.

Ключевые слова: хорезмийский язык, согдийский язык, бактрийский язык, кафирские (нуристанские) языки, кати, дардские языки, калаша, теонимы, домусульманский пантеон восточных иранцев, заимствования

The language of the documents found in the Southeast of present day Xinjiang, mainly in the Niya  oasis,  is  usually  reckoned  among  the  Middle  Indo-Aryan  languages.  Some  scholars, however,  believe  it  to  be  a  possible  ancestor  of certain  Dardic  dialects.  In  the  present  article an attempt is made to resolve this controversy, and to establish the exact position of the Niya Prakrit in the Indo-Iranian group. The author concludes that the language in question can by no means be classified as Dardic, though in the past its speakers may have been neighbors of the Dards.

The current paper is an invitation to a virtual journey to Gilgit-Baltistan (former Northern Areas), a high mountain region in the north of Pakistan, endowed with an amazing variety of languages spoken on its territory. The travel itinerary includes stops at Skardu (Baltistan), Gojal (upper Hunza valley), Karimabad (central Hunza valley), Taus (Yasin valley) and Gilgit town. At each destination the traveller is introduced to the languages used by its inhabitants: Balti, Wakhi, Burushaski, Domaakí, Pashto and Shina. Local personalities, scholars and a foreign researcher share key information about their language's geographical distribution, speaker numbers and dialectal division. Special attention is given to expositions of the language attitude of the concerned speaker communities, as well as to the description of local efforts directed at creating language-specific alphabets and the promotion of mother tongue education. The interlocutors' narratives are complemented by black-and-white photographs and references to recent academic publications dedicated to the languages and peoples of Gilgit-Baltistan.

The Kalasha society (Pagan people of the District Chitral-KP) is divided into two spheres; onjesta (pure) and pragata (impure) by means of religion and culture (collectively called dastoor). According to the Kalasha dastoor the women falls in pragata sphere and most polluted during their specific days therefore they cannot stay at home during menstruation period each month and during giving the birth to child. This studies intend to explore and discuss bashali, the seclusion home for the Kalasha women with socio-cultural and religious perspectives. The bashali home is constructed exterior to villages, downwards of the valley as in the Kalasha dastoor upper valleys and villages are onjesta. A divinity of fertility is placed inside the bashali for blessing and comfort during the birth of child. This paper intends to trace the change in behaviours of the Kalasha women who, in limited numbers, are reluctant to attend bashali in their periods while majority enjoys to stay at bashali as they take it as the escape from routine life and spend a good leisure time there. This paper intends to discuss different rituals attached to bashali and the Kalasha women.

The Northwestern fringe of the Tibetan-speaking area, now forming a part of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India and of Pakistani-controlled Northern Areas, was in the past an area of intensive ethnic and language contact. This contact resulted in the linguistic assimilation of the local pre-Tibetan population by the Tibetans. More than a century ago it was hypothesized that this pre-Tibetan population may have spoken a certain Dardic language. The article attempts to check this hypothesis through the etymological analysis of the vocabulary of Northwestern Tibetan dialects. The results of this analysis suggest the existence of a significant Indo-Iranian, probably Dardic, lexical stratum, as well as of numerous lexemes borrowed from some early form of Burushaski. The author seeks to define the dialectal distribution of Indo-Iranian and Burushaski loanwords in the area under study.

This study attempts to explore, investigate and analyse causes and consequences of the pliability of the cultural heritage of Pakistan which is showing the signs of disappearing on the eve of extremism in Pakistan particularly of the Kalasha by focusing on the Kalasha people. The Kalasha were raided by the Muslims in the 14th century. The demarcation of Durand Line (Pak-Afghan border) in 1893 became their lifeline when they fell to the British Indian government while their tribe fellows at the other side of the Pak-Afghan border in Afghanistan were forcefully converted as a whole in 1896. Somehow, the Kalasha of Pakistan were leading their life according to their dastoor (culture & religion) and then military coup of 1977 brought ill-fate for them under pseudo Islamization of military ruler Gen. Zia-ul-Haq. The Talibanization/extremism suppressed the Kalasha indigenous tribe. The event of 9/11 devastatingly hit the tribe for their faith and their strategic location. As reactions and...

The languages belonging to the group commonly known as the “Dardic languages” are on some
levels insufficiently researched and have barely been subject to any comparative research on
their finer grammatical structures, such as their tense and aspect systems. This comparative
study analyses three Dardic languages spoken in the central Dardic speaking area (Khowar,
Gawri, Palula) in view of their tense and aspect system, to find out how similar the languages
are in this respect. The comparison is based on Dahl‟s 1985 Tense and Aspect questionnaire,
partly to have an equal, comparable data set, and partly to be able to tie the results to the greater
field of language typology. The study shows that the languages studied have a common primary
focus on IPFV:PFV distinction, where past tense often is a secondary implicature following
perfective aspect. There are notable differences in how and if the languages mark future tense
and habitual aspect. The subject merits further studies on an extended sample and with more
languages from the Dardic group

In an earlier paper evidence was presented to show that Kalam Kohistani, a Dardic language of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, has five contrastive patterns of lexical pitch (Baart 1995). The present paper studies how these five lexical tones (or rather 'melodies') may synchronically change their shapes through interaction with sentence intonation, through morphological process, and through interaction with the melodies of neighbouring words and morphemes. Attention is also devoted to interactions of tone and segmental structure.

The present article attempts to partially restore the overall picture of language contact in the historical region of Zhangzhung (northwestern Tibet) prior to its conquest by the Tibetans in the late 1 st millennium A.D. The pre-Tibetan language of Zhangzhung, known chiefly from a number of fragments in medieval Tibetan texts, belongs to the West Himalayan group of the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. However, the vocabulary of this language contains a significant Indo-Iranian etymological stratum. The author shows that certain words belonging to this stratum have exact cognates in Tibetan dialects of Ladakh and Baltistan. Based on the analysis of Indo-Iranian elements in the Zhangzhung language, it is concluded that the pre-Tibetan population of Zhangzhung was likely to have been in a fairly close contact with Aryan, probably Dardic-speaking inhabitants of areas further down the Indus.

В статье делается попытка частично восстановить картину языковых контактов в исторической области Шангшунг на северо-западе Тибета в эпоху, предшествовавшую завоеванию этой области тибетцами во 2-ой половине I тыс. н.э. Язык дотибетского населения Шангшунга, известный, главным образом, по ряду фрагментов в средневековых тибетских текстах, относится к западногималайской группе тибето-бирманской ветви сино-тибетской языковой семьи. При этом, однако, в лексике этого языка имеется значительный по объему индоиранский этимологический пласт. Автор показывает, что
некоторые слова, относящиеся к данному пласту, обнаруживают точные соответствия в тибетских диалектах Ладакха и Балтистана. На основании анализа индоиранских элементов в шангшунгском языке делается вывод о том, что дотибетское население области Шангшунг, вероятно, находилось в достаточно тесном контакте с арийскими (возможно, дардскими) по языку жителями областей, расположенных ниже по течению Инда.

Recent research has shown that the vocabulary of certain Northwestern Tibetan dialects contains  a  significant  number  of  Indo-Iranian  loanwords.  It  is,  however,  still  unclear  if  these  loanwords  have  been  borrowed  from  a  single  or  from  several  sources,  and  whether  their  presence  is  the  result  of  substratum  or  adstratum  interference.  Likewise,  the  exact  genetic  position  of  the  donor-language(s)  within  the  Indo-Iranian  group  so  far  remains  undeter-mined. The study of all these issues should, no doubt, be based on facts of historical phonol-ogy. In this article I attempt to identify the most conspicuous historical-phonological features of  the  Indo-Iranian  elements  found  in  Northwestern  Tibetan  varieties.  Furthermore,  I  make  some  preliminary  conclusions  concerning  the  linguistic  geography  of  the  region  in  the  pre-Tibetan period, as well as the direction and relative chronology of Tibetan migrations.

This study attempts to explore, investigate and analyse causes and consequences of the pliability of the cultural heritage of Pakistan which is showing the signs of disappearing on the eve of extremism in Pakistan particularly of the Kalasha by focusing on the Kalasha people. The Kalasha were raided by the Muslims in the 14th century. The demarcation of Durand Line (Pak-Afghan border) in 1893 became their lifeline when they fell to the British Indian government while their tribe fellows at the other side of the Pak-Afghan border in Afghanistan were forcefully converted as a whole in 1896. Somehow, the Kalasha of Pakistan were leading their life according to their dastoor (culture & religion) and then military coup of 1977 brought ill-fate for them under pseudo Islamization of military ruler Gen. Zia-ul-Haq. The Talibanization/extremism suppressed the Kalasha indigenous tribe. The event of 9/11 devastatingly hit the tribe for their faith and their strategic location. As reactions and chain reactions of War on Terror many extremists and terrorist groups mushroomed, especially in tribal agencies and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan recently threatened the Kalasha to convert their faith or to be ready for genocide. The Kalasha people are seeking their survival through their unique identity. They could earn soft image trait for Pakistan, but unfortunately, extremism, terrorism and ill-governance of the state losing it for decades. If the government failed to protect them, we will lose a unique tribe and culture.

This paper is an addition to the recent advances in the field of rock art research and aims to accentuate the significance of rocks and boulders in the production of rock art. I argue that the rock itself must be recognized as an important element in rock art production even in cases where there are no discernible connections between the rock art images and the irregularities found in the rock surface. The paper concerns rock carvings from the Taru Thang site in Ladakh in northern India and builds on ethnography drawn from the Dardic-speaking people of the western Himalayas. I argue that the rocks must be understood as devices of communication between hunters and their supernatural allies, and that the images represent messages conveyed through the rock interface. In these acts of communication, the geological irregularities of the rock surface serve no purpose and have been avoided rather than included in the compositions.

В статье обосновывается положение, что тюркское слово курут, корт (и заимствованные из тюркского источника слова соседних языков) обнаруживает связь с др.-инд. kīlāţa и его производными, зафиксированными сейчас в основном в дардских и нуристанских языках.

Shina is an endangered Indo-Aryan (Dardic) language spoken in Gilgit, Northern Pakistan. The present study investigates the acoustic correlates of Shina’s three-way stop laryngeal contrast across five places of articulation. A wide range of acoustic correlates were measured including fundamental frequency (F0), spectral tilt (H1*-H2*, H1*-A1*, H1*-A2*, and H1*-A3*), and cepstral peak prominence (CPP). Voiceless aspirated stops were characterized by higher fundamental frequency, spectral tilt, and cepstral peak prominence, compared to voiceless unaspirated and voiced unaspirated stops. These results suggest that Shina is among those languages which have a raising effect of aspiration on the pitch and spectral tilt onsets of the following vowels. Positive correlations among fundamental frequency, spectral tilt, and cepstral peak prominence were observed. The findings of this study will contribute to the phonetic documentation of endangered Dardic languages.

The study is a typological profile of 31 Indo-Aryan (IA) languages in
the Hindukush-Karakoram-Western Himalayan region (covering NE Afghanistan, N Pakistan, and parts of Kashmir). Native speakers were recruited to provide comparative data. This data, supplemented by reputable descriptions or field notes, was evaluated against a number of WALS- or WALS-like features, enabling a fine-tuned characterization of each language, taking different linguistic domains into account (phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon). The emerging patterns were compared with global distributions as well as with characteristic IA features and well-known areal patterns. Some features, mainly syntactic, turned out to be shared with IA in general, whereas others do have scattered reflexes in IA outside of the region but are especially prevalent in the region: large consonant inventories, tripartite pronominal case alignment, a high frequency of left-branching constructions, and multi-degree deictic systems. Yet other features display a high degree of diversity, often bundling subareally. Finally, there was a significant clustering of features that are not characterizing IA in general: tripartite affricate differentiation, retroflexion across several subsets, aspiration contrasts involving voiceless consonants only, tonal contrasts and 20-based numerals. This clustering forms a “hard core” at the centre of the region, gradually fading out toward its peripheries.

This grammar provides a grammatical description of Palula, an Indo-Aryan language of the Shina group.
The language is spoken by about 10,000 people in the Chitral district in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. This is the first extensive description of the formerly little-documented Palula language, and is one of only a few in-depth studies available for languages in the extremely multilingual Hindukush-Karakoram region. The grammar is based on original fieldwork data, collected over the course of about ten years, commencing in 1998. It is primarily in the form of recorded, mainly narrative, texts, but supplemented by targeted elicitation as well as notes of observed language use. All fieldwork was conducted in close collaboration with the Palula-speaking community, and a number of native speakers took active part in the process of data gathering, annotation and data management. The main areas covered are phonology, morphology and syntax, illustrated with a large number of example items and utterances, but also a few selected lexical topics of some prominence have received a more detailed treatment as part of the morphosyntactic structure. Suggestions for further research that should be undertaken are given throughout the grammar. The approach is theory-informed rather than theory-driven, but an underlying functional-typological framework is assumed. Diachronic development is taken into account, particularly in the area of morphology, and comparisons with other languages and references to areal phenomena are included insofar as they are motivated and available. The description also provides a brief introduction to the speaker community and their immediate environment.

The Hindukush Indo-Aryan (‘Dardic’) languages (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir) display a great range of variation in alignment patterns. The diversity is primarily evidenced in the case-marking of core argument noun phrases and verbal person marking properties. Along these parameters, six distinct alignment types emerge, each, in combination with language-specific developments, reflecting contact-induced changes that can be attributed to three significant areas or subareas that conflate in the region: first, a large Persian-dominated area overlapping with the Western part of the region, characterized by overt patient marking; second, an area in the East with e.g. ancient Tibetan influences, characterized by overt agent marking; and third, an area in the South bordering on the influential Hindi-Urdu belt, stretching over large parts of the Indian Subcontinent, characterized by patient agreement in the perfective.