Dardic languages
Encyclopedia
The Dardic languages also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
: दार्दी भाषाएँ) are a sub-group of the Indo-Aryan
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages constitutes a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family...
languages spoken in northern Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, eastern Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, and the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n region of Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...
. Kashmiri
Kashmiri language
Kashmiri is a language from the Dardic sub-group and it is spoken primarily in the Kashmir Valley, in Jammu and Kashmir. There are approximately 5,554,496 speakers in Jammu and Kashmir, according to the Census of 2001. Most of the 105,000 speakers or so in Pakistan are émigrés from the Kashmir...
is the most prominent Dardic language, with an established literary tradition and official recognition as one of the national language
National language
A national language is a language which has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a people and perhaps by extension the territory they occupy. The term is used variously. A national language may for instance represent the national identity of a nation or country...
s of India.
Position in Indo-Iranian languages
The Dardic group has traditionally been defined as a sub-group of the Indo-Aryan languagesIndo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages constitutes a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family...
which experienced strong influence from the Nuristani
Nuristani languages
The Nuristani languages are one of the three groups within the Indo-Iranian language family, alongside the much larger Indo-Aryan and Iranian groups. They are spoken primarily in eastern Afghanistan...
and East Iranian
Eastern Iranian languages
The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages emerging in Middle Iranian times .The Avestan language is often classified as early Eastern Iranian. The largest living Eastern Iranian language is Pashto, with some 50 million speakers between the Hindu Kush mountains in...
languages. Nuristani
Nuristani languages
The Nuristani languages are one of the three groups within the Indo-Iranian language family, alongside the much larger Indo-Aryan and Iranian groups. They are spoken primarily in eastern Afghanistan...
, a group of languages spoken in northeast Afghanistan, has sometimes been included in Dardic, but is today generally regarded as an independent group, as one of the three sub-groups of Indo-Iranian, following the studies of Georg Morgenstierne
Georg Morgenstierne
Georg Morgenstierne was a Norwegian professor of linguistics with the University of Oslo . He specialized in Indo-Iranian languages.- Studies :...
in 1973 to 1975.
There is still some dispute regarding the ultimate classification of the Dardic languages. The very existence of the family has been called into question by some, though the Dardic languages share common features different from Indo-Aryan, such as the so-called Dardic metathesis (karma => krama).
Except for Kashmiri
Kashmiri language
Kashmiri is a language from the Dardic sub-group and it is spoken primarily in the Kashmir Valley, in Jammu and Kashmir. There are approximately 5,554,496 speakers in Jammu and Kashmir, according to the Census of 2001. Most of the 105,000 speakers or so in Pakistan are émigrés from the Kashmir...
, all of the Dardic languages are small minority language
Minority language
A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities.-International politics:...
s which have not been sufficiently studied. In many cases they are spoken in areas difficult to access due to mountainous terrain and/or armed conflicts in the region. All of the languages (including Kashmiri) have been historically influenced by more prominent (non-Dardic) neighboring languages.
While it is true that many Dardic languages have been influenced by non-Dardic neighbors, Dardic may in turn also have left a discernible imprint on non-Dardic Indo-Aryan languages, such as Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
and allegedly even far beyond. It has also been asserted that some Pahari languages
Pahari languages
The Pahari languages are a geographic group of Indic languages spoken in the lower ranges of the Himalayas, from Nepal in the east to the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir in the west.-Classification:The Pahari languages fall into three groups:*Eastern, consisting...
of Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand , formerly Uttaranchal, is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the Land of Gods due to the many holy Hindu temples and cities found throughout the state, some of which are among Hinduism's most spiritual and auspicious places of pilgrimage and worship...
demonstrate Dardic influence. Although it has not been conclusively established, some linguists have hypothesized that Dardic may, in ancient times, have enjoyed a much bigger linguistic zone, stretching from the "mouth of the Indus" (i.e. Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
) northwards in an arc, and then eastwards through modern day Himachal Pradesh to Kumaon.
Characteristics of Dardic languages
The languages of the Dardic group share some common defining characteristics, including the loss of aspirated sounds and word ordering that is unique for Indo-Iranian languages.Loss of aspiration
Virtually all Dardic languages have experienced a partial or complete loss of aspirated consonants. Khowar uses the word buum for earth (Sanskrit: bhumi), Pashai uses the word duum for smoke (Hindi: dhuan) and Kashmiri uses the word dod for milk (Sanskrit: dugdha, Hindi: doodh). Tonality has developed in some (but not all) Dardic languages, such as Khowar and Pashai, as a compensation. Punjabi and Western Pahari languages similarly lost aspiration but have virtually all developed tonality to partially compensate (e.g. Punjabi kar for house, compare with Hindi ghar).Dardic metathesis and epenthesis
Both ancient and modern Dardic languages demonstrate a marked tendency towards metathesisMetathesis (linguistics)
Metathesis is the re-arranging of sounds or syllables in a word, or of words in a sentence. Most commonly it refers to the switching of two or more contiguous sounds, known as adjacent metathesis or local metathesis:...
where a "pre- or postconsonantal 'r' is shifted forward to a preceding syllable". This was seen in Ashokan rock edicts (erected 269 BCE to 231 BCE) in the Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
region, where Dardic dialects were and still are widespread. Examples include a tendency to misspell the Sanskrit words priyadarshi (one of the titles of Emperor Ashoka
Ashoka
Ashok Maurya or Ashoka , popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests...
) as priyadrashi and dharma as dhrama. Modern-day Kalasha uses the word driga (Sanskrit: dirgha, meaning long). Palula uses drubalu (Sanskrit: durbala, weak) and brhuj (Sanskrit: bhurja, birch tree). Kashmiri uses drolid (Sanskrit: daridra, impoverished) and krama (Sanskrit: karma, work or action). Western Pahari languages (such as Dogri), Sindhi
Sindhi language
Sindhi is the language of the Sindh region of Pakistan that is spoken by the Sindhi people. In India, it is among 22 constitutionally recognized languages, where Sindhis are a sizeable minority. It is spoken by 53,410,910 people in Pakistan, according to the national government's Statistics Division...
and Lahnda (Western Punjabi)
Lahnda languages
The Lahnda or Western Punjabi Languages are an Indo-Aryan languages dialect continuum that are Mutually intelligible and are spoken in South Asia.According to the Ethnologue they include:...
also share this Dardic tendency to metathesis though they are considered non-Dardic, for example in the Punjabi word drakhat (from Persian: darakht, tree).
Dardic languages also display a tendency for consonantal epenthesis
Epenthesis
In phonology, epenthesis is the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially to the interior of a word. Epenthesis may be divided into two types: excrescence, for the addition of a consonant, and anaptyxis for the addition of a vowel....
, where consonants are inserted or altered in a word. Kashmiri, for instance, has a marked tendency to switch k to ch and j to z (e.g. Sanskrit jan/person or living being, related to Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
cognate jān/life, is altered to zan/person in Kashmiri) . Punjabi and Western Pahari share the epenthesis tendency also, though they are non-Dardic (e.g. compare Hindi dekho/look to Punjabi vekho and Kashmiri vuchiv).
Verb position in Dardic
Unlike most other Indo-Aryan (or Iranian) languages, several Dardic languages present "verb second" as the normal grammatical form. This is similar to many Germanic languages, such as EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
| Language | ||
|---|---|---|
| English (Germanic) | This is a horse. | We will go to Tokyo. |
| Kashmiri (Dardic) | Yi chhu akh gur. | As gachhav Tokyo. |
| Sanskrit (Indo-Aryan) | Esha eka ashva asti. | Vayaṃ Tokyo gacchāmaḥ. |
| Dari Persian | In yak hasb ast. | Maa ba Tokyo khaahem raft. |
| Hindi-Urdu (Indo-Aryan) | Ye ek ghora hai. | Hum Tokyo jaenge. |
| Punjabi (Indo-Aryan) | Ae ikk kora ai. | Assi Tokyo javange. |
List of Dardic languages
Dardic languages can be organized into the following subfamilies:- Pashai languages, which includes PashayiPashayi languagePashayi - also known as Pashai - is a language spoken by the Pashai people in parts of Kapisa, Laghman, Nuristan, Kunar, and Nangarhar Provinces in Northeastern Afghanistan....
- Kunar languages, which includes Gawar-BatiGawar-Bati languageGawar-Bati is known in Chitral as Aranduyiwar, because it is spoken in Village Arandu, which is the last village in the bottom of Chitral and is across the Kunar River from Berkot in Afghanistan. Chitral keeps a military base in Arandu to guard against an attack by Afghanistan.There are 9,000...
, Dameli, ShumashtiShumashti languageShumashti – also known as Shumasht – is a language spoken in parts of western Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan.It belongs to the Indo-European language family, and is on the Dardic group of the Indo-Iranian branch....
and NangalamiNangalami languageNangalami, or Grangali, is a Dardic language of Afghanistan....
(includes Grangali) - Chitral languages, which includes KhowarKhowar languageFor the ethnic group, see under Chitrali people.Khowar , also known as Chitrali, is a Dardic language spoken by 400,000 people in Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the Ghizer district of Gilgit-Baltistan , and in parts of Upper Swat...
and Kalasha - Kohistani languages, which includes KalamiKalami languageKalami is a Dardic language spoken in northern Pakistan.The language is also known as Gawri or Garwi , but this name is considered pejorative by some speakers.-Classification:...
, TorwaliTorwali languageThe Torwali , or Turvali, language is spoken in Kohistan and Swat districts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. The language is indigenous to the Torwali people who live in scattered hamlets in the mountainous upper reaches of the Swat valley, above the Pashto-speaking town of Madyan up...
, Kalkoti, Indus Kohistani, Bateri, ChilissoChilisso languageChilisso is a Dardic language in the Kohistani language group spoken by about 2,300 people in eastern Kohistan....
, Gowro, Wotapuri-Katarqalai and Tirahi - Shina languages, including ShinaShina languageShina is a Dardic language spoken by a plurality of people in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan and Dras in Ladakh of Indian-Administered Kashmir. The valleys in which it is spoken include Astore, Chilas, Dareil, Tangeer, Gilgit, Ghizer, and a few parts of Baltistan and Kohistan. It is also spoken in...
, Brokskad (the Shina of Baltistan and Ladakh), Ushojo, DomaakiDomaaki languageDomaakí – also known as Dumaki or Domaá – is a language spoken by a few hundred people living in the Northern Areas of Pakistan.It belongs to the Indo-European language family, and can be affiliated to the Dardic group of the Indo-Iranian branch....
, Palula and Savi - Kashmiri languages, including KashmiriKashmiri languageKashmiri is a language from the Dardic sub-group and it is spoken primarily in the Kashmir Valley, in Jammu and Kashmir. There are approximately 5,554,496 speakers in Jammu and Kashmir, according to the Census of 2001. Most of the 105,000 speakers or so in Pakistan are émigrés from the Kashmir...
, Poguli, Rambani, and Kishtwari
Sources
- Morgenstierne, G. Irano-Dardica. Wiesbaden 1973;
- Morgenstierne, G. Die Stellung der Kafirsprachen. In Irano-Dardica, 327-343. Wiesbaden, Reichert 1975
- Decker, Kendall D. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, Volume 5. Languages of Chitral.
- The Comparative study of Urdu and Khowar. Badshah Munir BukhariBadshah Munir BukhariBadshah Munir Bukhari Badshah Munir Bukhari Badshah Munir Bukhari (Urdu: بادشاہ منیر بخاری; is a linguist from Northern Pakistan. A native of Chitral, he is an Professor in linguistics and a member of the Department of Urdu, University of Peshawar....
National Language Authority Pakistan 2003. - National Institute of Pakistani Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University & Summer Institute of Linguistics http://www.sil.org/sociolx/pubs/32850_SSNP05.pdf
- Dardic language tree