Tregami (Trigami), or Katar Gambiri, is a language spoken in the villages of Gambir, Kaṭâr, and Devoz in the Tregâm Valley off the lower Pech River[2] in the Watapur District of Kunar Province in Afghanistan. The area is in the Hindu Kush along the border with Pakistan. Tregami belongs to the Nuristani group of the Indo-Iranian language family. It is spoken by approximately 3,500 people (2011). Most individuals speak Pashto in addition to Tregami.[1]
| Tregami | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Afghanistan |
| Region | Nuristan Province, Kunar Province |
Native speakers | 3,500 (2011)[1] |
Early forms | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | trm |
| Glottolog | treg1243 |
| ELP | Tregami |
Tregami is a close relative of Waigali, spoken in Ghaziabad District to the east, with which it has a lexical similarity of 75% to 80%.[1] Although Tregami villages are close in proximity, there is a slight difference between the dialects of Katar and Gambir.[3] The language has been influenced by the neighboring Indo-Aryan languages[which?] and by the Nuristani Kata-vari dialect.[4]
Name
editThe native name is unknown. The exonym Tregâm, from Wotapuri-Katarqalai, literally means "three villages", referencing Gambir, Kaṭâr, and Devoz.
Sociolinguistic situation
editTregami is an unwritten[1] moribund language in the process of being replaced by Pashto, the predominant language of the region. Most Tregami are bilingual in Pashto, and the Tregami people don't have the resources to revive their language.
Vocabulary
editPronouns
edit| Person | Nominative | Accusative | Genitive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | sg. | e | žũ | |
| pl. | âva | žâmâ | ||
| 2nd | sg. | tu | to | |
| pl. | vi | eme | imârâ | |
Numbers
edit- yo
- du
- tre
- čâtâ
- põč
- ṣu
- sut
- voṣṭ
- nũ
- dåš
References
edit- ^ a b c d Tregami at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Iranica Online
- ^ Strand, Richard F. (1973). "Notes on the Nūristāni and Dardic Languages". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 93 (3): 297–305. doi:10.2307/599462. JSTOR 599462.
- ^ "Encyclopædia Iranica | Articles". www.iranicaonline.org. Archived from the original on 2011-04-29.
Further reading
edit- Strand, Richard. "The Trêgami". Retrieved 2015-05-08.
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