Indus Kohistani or simply Kohistani (کوستَیں ژیب, Kōstaiñ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the former Kohistan District of Pakistan.[3] The language was referred to as Maiyã (Mayon) or Shuthun by early researchers, but subsequent observations have not verified that these names are known locally.[4]
| Kohistani (Indus Kohistani) | |
|---|---|
| Kostaie | |
| کوستَیں Kōstaiñ | |
 | |
| Region | Indus Kohistan (Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan, Kolai-Palas districts as well as Tangir and Darel valleys)[1] |
| Ethnicity | Indus Kohistanis |
Native speakers | (200,000 cited 1992)[2] |
Indo-European
| |
| Perso-Arabic script (Nastaliq) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mvy |
| Glottolog | indu1241 |
 Kohistani is a minor language of Pakistan which is mainly spoken in the Kohistan region, it is given a space in this map. | |
Phonology
editThe phonology of Indus Kohistani varies between its major dialects as shown below.[5]
Vowels
edit| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open | a aː |
In the Kanyawali dialect, the back vowels /u/ and /o/ are described as variants of each other, as are the front vowels /i/ and /e/.
Consonants
edit
The consonant inventory of Indus Kohistani is shown in the chart below. (Consonants particular to the Kanyawali Dialect of Tangir and those found only in the Kohistan Dialects are color-coded respectively.)
| Labial | Coronal | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | Voiced | m | n | ɳ | ||||
| Breathy Voiced | (mʱ) | |||||||
| Stop | Voiceless | p | t | ʈ | k | (q) | ||
| Aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | ʈʰ | kʰ | ||||
| Voiced | b | d | ɖ | ɡ | ||||
| Breathy Voiced | bʱ | dʱ | ɖʱ | ɡʱ | ||||
| Affricate | Voiceless | ts | tʂ | tʃ | ||||
| Aspirated | tsʰ | tʃʰ | ||||||
| Voiced | dʒ | |||||||
| Fricative | Voiceless | f | s | ʂ | ʃ | x | h | |
| Voiced | v | z | ʐ | ʒ | ɣ | |||
| Lateral | l | |||||||
| Rhotic | Voiced | r | ɽ | |||||
| Breathy Voiced | rʱ | ɽʱ | ||||||
| Semivowel | j | w | ||||||
The phonemes /x/, /ɣ/, and /q/ are mainly found in loan words. The status of /q/ in the Kanyawali Dialect is unclear. The sounds /f, v/ can also be bilabial [ɸ, β].[6]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Frembgen, Jurgen Wasin (1999). "Indus Kohistan An Historical and Ethnographie Outline". Central Asiatic Journal. 43 (1): 71. JSTOR 41928174.
- ^ Kohistani (Indus Kohistani) at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (2007-07-26). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. p. 874. ISBN 978-1-135-79711-9.
- ^ Zoller 2005, p. 2.
- ^ Edelman 1983, pp. 246, 253.
- ^ Zoller 2005, p. 36.
Bibliography
edit- Edelman, D. I. (1983). The Dardic and Nuristani Languages. Moscow: (Institut vostokovedenii︠a︡ (Akademii︠a︡ nauk SSSR).
- Zoller, Claus Peter (2005). A grammar and dictionary of Indus Kohistani. Vol. 1: Dictionary. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-017947-7.