Balti language
Encyclopedia
Balti is a language
spoken in Baltistan
, in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan
and adjoining parts of Ladakh
. Baltistan, before 1948, was part of Ladakh province
. The Balti language is a dialect
of the Ladakhi language
, a form of Tibetan. It is mutually intelligible with Ladakhi proper and Burig
. Many of the written consonants that are silent in Standard Tibetan
are pronounced in the Balti language.
may be referred to as Balti. The Greeks derived Byaltae from ' onMouseout='HidePop("30603")' href="/topics/Ptolemy">Ptolemy
, also a general in the army of Alexander the Great, had named the region "Byaltae" in his book. In fact, Baltistan
is the Persian
translation of Baltiyul, "the Homeland of Balti." People of Balti
ethnicity are settled on both banks of the river Indus from Kargil
in the east to Haramosh in the west, and from Karakoram
range
in the north to Deosai plains in the south. The Balti ethnicity is primarily Tibetan
in origin, with some Dardic
admixture. However people migrated to this area in different periods of ancient times on account of different reasons, and after merging in the prevailing Tibetan society
, gave birth to a new civilization
. All these multi-racial groups speak Balti language
, which is a branch of ancient Tibetan. However in some rural areas, the Sheen people still speak Shina language
. To develop the Balti language literally, local intellectuals like Ghulam Hassan Lobsang has worked on Balti language. The first Balti Grammar has been written by Ghulam Hassan Lobsang in both English and Urdu versions, i.e. "Balti Grammar" and "Balti English Grammar". The latter was published by Bern University Switzerland in 1995.
The Balti have a reputation for being very forbearing, cheerful, and hospitable people. During the Rmakpon dynasty (from 12th century to 1840 A.D.) the Balti invaded Ladakh
and Tibet
in the east and Gilgit
and Chitral many times, thus making these people acknowledge the martial abilities of the Balti.
The modern population of Baltistan is a heterogeneous mixture of ethnic groups. Tibetans form the principal ethnic group in the area accounting for 60 per cent of the population. Outside Baltistan, there are several Balti communities located in Pakistan's urban areas further south, notably in Lahore
, Islamabad
and in Karachi
.
Balti script, which was replaced by the Persian script in the 17th century. The language spoken by the entire population of Baltistan is called Balti, an archaic dialect of Tibetan language. At present Balti has been heavily influenced by Turkish
and Urdu, and affected by Islamic literature in Persian
. As a result, Balti has deviated from the original Tibetan language.
The language spoken in Baltistan, generally known as Balti, was originally a Tibetan dialect. According to Professor Jampal Gyathso, a Chinese Scholar and expert in Epic of King Gesar and a Kham
pa (Tibetan) by origin, the present Balti language has all the linguistic characteristics and roots from the Tibetan language. According to his initial survey Balti resembles more the Kham dialect than other Tibetan dialects of U and Thsang
, Amdo
, and others. He further suggests that either the first Tibetan settlers of Baltistan could be the Kham
bas or at least majority of the settlers were Khambas. The people of Baltistan, dubbed as "mini Tibet," are related to the Tibetans and their language is a branch of the Tibetan language, retaining many features of archaic Tibetan pronunciation. The missionary, orientalist and linguist Heinrich August Jäschke (1817–1883) classified Balti as one of the westernmost Tibetan dialects. In his Tibetan–English Dictionary he defines it as "Bal (Balti), the most westerly of the districts in which the Tibetan language is spoken". Many other scholars also are of the view that Balti is a Tibetan dialect and not a separate language from the Tibetan
Recently a number of Balti scholars and social activists have tried to promote the use of the Tibetan Balti script, Yige, with the aim of helping to preserve indigenous Balti and Ladakhi culture and ethnic identity. Following a request from this community, the September 2006 Tokyo meeting of ISO/IEC 10646 WG2 agreed to encode two characters (U+0F6B TIBETAN LETTER KKA and TIBETAN U+0F6C LETTER RRA) in the ISO 10646
and Unicode
standards in order to support rendering Urdu loanwords present in modern Balti using Yige script.
Like other Tibetan dialects, Balti had no script of its own until Tibetans created a script for their language, introducing it through Tibetan Lama
s and other learned people. In 727
AD, when King Khri Lde-gTsug-Brtan conquered Baltistan and annexed it to his state, the Tibetan script
was formally introduced as the official script through government offices, religious books and rock inscriptions. The famous mandala
carving and the Tibetan inscription on a rock in village Manthal near Skardo
town, which dates back to early 8th century AD, is one of the best examples of these efforts. Until that time there was no difference between the Tibetan dialects of Lhasa or central Tibet and Baltistan; therefore, the Baltis faced no problem in reciprocal communication and usage.
Before the invasion of Tibetans in 727, the official language of both the Palola
shahi
s and the clergy was Brahmi
, brought into the area after the 4th legendary Buddhist Conference in Jalandhar
. There are still many rock-inscriptions from the 5th and 6th centuries in the Brahmi script. The Tibetans spread their own script with all their zest and zeal. The Tibetan script remained in use among the Balti until the 16th century when the Mullahs persuaded the Balti masses to use the Persian script for Balti. However, there was no endeavour to form fully corresponding Persian letters for Balti. Moreover, when the Rmakpon dynasty rose to its climax in the 16th century AD, it developed a strong political and cultural relationship with the Moghuls of India and used Persian
instead of Balti as its official language. With this, the Balti language, including its script, lost its strongest patron. The Dogra
s of Jammu
conquered Baltistan in 1840 AD and annexed it to their state. Since Pakistan gained control of the region in 1948, Urdu words have been introduced into local dialects and languages, including Balti. In modem times Balti has no names or vocabulary for dozens of newly invented and introduced things; instead, Urdu and English words are being used in Balti.
|szong ||go
styles of verse and vocables which amplify the beauty and melody of its poetry.
Nearly all the languages and dialects of the mountain region in the north of Pakistan including Pashto
, Khowar
and Shina
belong to the Indic or Iranian
language families, but Balti is the only language which belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan group of languages. As such, it has nothing in common with neighboring languages except some loanwords absorbed as a result of linguistic contact. Although Balti is, at the moment, cut off from its sister languages of Ladakh
, they have 80-90% of nouns, pronouns, verbs and other literary and grammatical character in common. Balti and Bodhi of Ladakh can be termed as separate dialects, but not separate languages.
The major issue facing the development of Balti literature is its centuries-long isolation from Tibet
, owing to political divisions and strong religious differences and even from its immediate neighbor Ladakh for the last 50 years. Separated from its linguistic kin, Balti is under pressure from more dominant languages such as Urdu. This is compounded by the lack of a suitable means of transcribing the language following the abandonment of its original Tibetan script. At the moment neither the Baltis have the awareness to revive their original script nor there is any institution which could restore it and persuade the people to use it again. Even if the script is revived, it would need modification to express certain Persian
and Urdu phonemes that occur in common loanwords within Balti.
The Balti Literature may be categorised as under:
, as well as with Amdo
and Kham
dialect of North Eastern Tibet
. However, they have adopted words from Shina
, Burushaski
and Persian
with the process of Islamization.
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
spoken in Baltistan
Baltistan
Baltistan , also known as بلتیول བལིུལ་ in the Balti language, is a region in northern Pakistan which forms Gilgit-Baltistan, bordering the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China. In addition, a part of Baltistan also falls into Jammu and Kashmir of India. It is situated in the Karakoram mountains...
, in Gilgit-Baltistan of 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...
and adjoining parts of Ladakh
Ladakh
Ladakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...
. Baltistan, before 1948, was part of Ladakh province
History of Ladakh
Information about Ladakh before the birth of the kingdom during the 10th century is scarce. Ladakh can hardly be considered a separate political entity before the establishment of the kingdom about 950 CE, after the collapse of the early Tibetan Empire and the border regions became independent...
. The Balti language is a dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
of the Ladakhi language
Ladakhi language
The Ladakhi language , now also called Bhoti, and by linguists more generally called Western Archaic Tibetan when the Balti and Burig or Purig or Purki dialects are included, is the predominant language in the Ladakh region of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India, and is also spoken in Baltistan...
, a form of Tibetan. It is mutually intelligible with Ladakhi proper and Burig
Burig
The Burig, or Purik, are another group of Tibetan Muslims with small Dardic admixture, who live south of the Balti in Ladakh. Most of them live in Ladakh and Baltistan, especially in Kargil, although significant numbers reside in Leh....
. Many of the written consonants that are silent in Standard Tibetan
Standard Tibetan
Standard Tibetan is the most widely used spoken form of the Tibetan languages. It is based on the speech of Lhasa, an Ü-Tsang dialect belonging to the Central Tibetan languages. For this reason, Standard Tibetan is often called Central Tibetan...
are pronounced in the Balti language.
Balti
All people living in BaltistanBaltistan
Baltistan , also known as بلتیول བལིུལ་ in the Balti language, is a region in northern Pakistan which forms Gilgit-Baltistan, bordering the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China. In addition, a part of Baltistan also falls into Jammu and Kashmir of India. It is situated in the Karakoram mountains...
may be referred to as Balti. The Greeks derived Byaltae from ' onMouseout='HidePop("30603")' href="/topics/Ptolemy">Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
, also a general in the army of Alexander the Great, had named the region "Byaltae" in his book. In fact, Baltistan
Baltistan
Baltistan , also known as بلتیول བལིུལ་ in the Balti language, is a region in northern Pakistan which forms Gilgit-Baltistan, bordering the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China. In addition, a part of Baltistan also falls into Jammu and Kashmir of India. It is situated in the Karakoram mountains...
is the 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...
translation of Baltiyul, "the Homeland of Balti." People of Balti
Balti people
The Balti are an ethnic group of Tibetan descent with some Dardic admixture located in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and Ladakh, a region in Jammu & Kashmir, India; as well as scattered in Pakistan's major urban centres of Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad/Rawalpindi. The Balti language belongs to the...
ethnicity are settled on both banks of the river Indus from Kargil
Kargil District
Kargil is a district of Ladakh, Kashmir, India. Kargil lies near the Line of Control facing Pakistan-occupied Kashmir's Baltistan to the west, and Kashmir valley to the south. Zanskar is part of Kargil district along with Suru, Wakha and Dras valleys...
in the east to Haramosh in the west, and from Karakoram
Karakoram
The Karakoram, or Karakorum , is a large mountain range spanning the borders between Pakistan, India and China, located in the regions of Gilgit-Baltistan , Ladakh , and Xinjiang region,...
range
Mountain range
A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...
in the north to Deosai plains in the south. The Balti ethnicity is primarily Tibetan
Tibetan people
The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to Tibet, which is mostly in the People's Republic of China. They number 5.4 million and are the 10th largest ethnic group in the country. Significant Tibetan minorities also live in India, Nepal, and Bhutan...
in origin, with some Dardic
Dard people
The Dards are a group of people defined by linguistic similarities, and not common ethnicity, predominantly found in Eastern Afghanistan, in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir and in the Northern Areas and North West Frontier Province of Pakistan...
admixture. However people migrated to this area in different periods of ancient times on account of different reasons, and after merging in the prevailing Tibetan society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
, gave birth to a new civilization
Civilization
Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...
. All these multi-racial groups speak Balti language
Balti language
Balti is a language spoken in Baltistan, in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan and adjoining parts of Ladakh. Baltistan, before 1948, was part of Ladakh province. The Balti language is a dialect of the Ladakhi language, a form of Tibetan. It is mutually intelligible with Ladakhi proper and Burig...
, which is a branch of ancient Tibetan. However in some rural areas, the Sheen people still speak Shina language
Shina language
Shina 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...
. To develop the Balti language literally, local intellectuals like Ghulam Hassan Lobsang has worked on Balti language. The first Balti Grammar has been written by Ghulam Hassan Lobsang in both English and Urdu versions, i.e. "Balti Grammar" and "Balti English Grammar". The latter was published by Bern University Switzerland in 1995.
The Balti have a reputation for being very forbearing, cheerful, and hospitable people. During the Rmakpon dynasty (from 12th century to 1840 A.D.) the Balti invaded Ladakh
Ladakh
Ladakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...
and Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
in the east and Gilgit
Gilgit
Gilgit is a city in northern PakistanGilgit may refer to other terms related with the area of the city:* Gilgit River* Gilgit Valley* Gilgit District* Gilgit Agency * Gilgit Airport...
and Chitral many times, thus making these people acknowledge the martial abilities of the Balti.
The modern population of Baltistan is a heterogeneous mixture of ethnic groups. Tibetans form the principal ethnic group in the area accounting for 60 per cent of the population. Outside Baltistan, there are several Balti communities located in Pakistan's urban areas further south, notably in Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
and in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
.
Script
Balti also refers to the TibetanTibetan script
The Tibetan alphabet is an abugida of Indic origin used to write the Tibetan language as well as the Dzongkha language, Denzongkha, Ladakhi language and sometimes the Balti language. The printed form of the alphabet is called uchen script while the hand-written cursive form used in everyday...
Balti script, which was replaced by the Persian script in the 17th century. The language spoken by the entire population of Baltistan is called Balti, an archaic dialect of Tibetan language. At present Balti has been heavily influenced by Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
and Urdu, and affected by Islamic literature in Persian
Persian literature
Persian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
. As a result, Balti has deviated from the original Tibetan language.
The language spoken in Baltistan, generally known as Balti, was originally a Tibetan dialect. According to Professor Jampal Gyathso, a Chinese Scholar and expert in Epic of King Gesar and a Kham
Kham
Kham , is a historical region covering a land area largely divided between present-day Tibetan Autonomous Region and Sichuan province, with smaller portions located within Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces of China. During the Republic of China's rule over mainland China , most of the region was...
pa (Tibetan) by origin, the present Balti language has all the linguistic characteristics and roots from the Tibetan language. According to his initial survey Balti resembles more the Kham dialect than other Tibetan dialects of U and Thsang
Ü-Tsang
Ü-Tsang , or Tsang-Ü, is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the other two being Amdo and Kham. Geographically Ü-Tsang covered the central and western portions of the Tibetan cultural area, including the Tsang-po watershed, the western districts surrounding and extending past Mount...
, Amdo
Amdo
Amdo is one of the three traditional regions of Tibet, the other two being Ü-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu River to the Drichu river . While culturally and ethnically a Tibetan area, Amdo has been administered by a...
, and others. He further suggests that either the first Tibetan settlers of Baltistan could be the Kham
Kham
Kham , is a historical region covering a land area largely divided between present-day Tibetan Autonomous Region and Sichuan province, with smaller portions located within Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces of China. During the Republic of China's rule over mainland China , most of the region was...
bas or at least majority of the settlers were Khambas. The people of Baltistan, dubbed as "mini Tibet," are related to the Tibetans and their language is a branch of the Tibetan language, retaining many features of archaic Tibetan pronunciation. The missionary, orientalist and linguist Heinrich August Jäschke (1817–1883) classified Balti as one of the westernmost Tibetan dialects. In his Tibetan–English Dictionary he defines it as "Bal (Balti), the most westerly of the districts in which the Tibetan language is spoken". Many other scholars also are of the view that Balti is a Tibetan dialect and not a separate language from the Tibetan
Recently a number of Balti scholars and social activists have tried to promote the use of the Tibetan Balti script, Yige, with the aim of helping to preserve indigenous Balti and Ladakhi culture and ethnic identity. Following a request from this community, the September 2006 Tokyo meeting of ISO/IEC 10646 WG2 agreed to encode two characters (U+0F6B TIBETAN LETTER KKA and TIBETAN U+0F6C LETTER RRA) in the ISO 10646
Universal Character Set
The Universal Character Set , defined by the International Standard ISO/IEC 10646, Information technology — Universal multiple-octet coded character set , is a standard set of characters upon which many character encodings are based...
and Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
standards in order to support rendering Urdu loanwords present in modern Balti using Yige script.
Like other Tibetan dialects, Balti had no script of its own until Tibetans created a script for their language, introducing it through Tibetan Lama
Lama
Lama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru .Historically, the term was used for venerated spiritual masters or heads of monasteries...
s and other learned people. In 727
727
Year 727 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 727 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Byzantine Empire :* Umayyad troops under Abdallah...
AD, when King Khri Lde-gTsug-Brtan conquered Baltistan and annexed it to his state, the Tibetan script
Tibetan script
The Tibetan alphabet is an abugida of Indic origin used to write the Tibetan language as well as the Dzongkha language, Denzongkha, Ladakhi language and sometimes the Balti language. The printed form of the alphabet is called uchen script while the hand-written cursive form used in everyday...
was formally introduced as the official script through government offices, religious books and rock inscriptions. The famous mandala
Mandala
Maṇḍala is a Sanskrit word that means "circle". In the Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions their sacred art often takes a mandala form. The basic form of most Hindu and Buddhist mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point...
carving and the Tibetan inscription on a rock in village Manthal near Skardo
Skardu
Skardu , is the main town of the region Baltistan and the capital of Skardu District, one of the districts making up Pakistan's Gilgit Baltistan....
town, which dates back to early 8th century AD, is one of the best examples of these efforts. Until that time there was no difference between the Tibetan dialects of Lhasa or central Tibet and Baltistan; therefore, the Baltis faced no problem in reciprocal communication and usage.
Before the invasion of Tibetans in 727, the official language of both the Palola
Palula
Palula , Ashreti, or Dangarikwar , is a language spoken by approximately 10,000 people in the valleys of Ashret and Biori, as well as in the village Puri in the Shishi valley, and at least by a portion of the population in the village Kalkatak, in the Chitral District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa...
shahi
Shahi
The Shahi , Sahi, also called Shahiya dynasties ruled one of the Middle kingdoms of India which included portions of the Kabulistan and the old province of Gandhara , from the decline of the Kushan Empire in the 3rd century to the early 9th century...
s and the clergy was Brahmi
Brahmi
Brāhmī is the modern name given to the oldest members of the Brahmic family of scripts. The best-known Brāhmī inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dated to the 3rd century BCE. These are traditionally considered to be early known examples of Brāhmī writing...
, brought into the area after the 4th legendary Buddhist Conference in Jalandhar
Jalandhar
Jalandhar is a city in Jalandhar District in the state of Punjab, India. It is located 144 km northwest of the state capital, Chandigarh...
. There are still many rock-inscriptions from the 5th and 6th centuries in the Brahmi script. The Tibetans spread their own script with all their zest and zeal. The Tibetan script remained in use among the Balti until the 16th century when the Mullahs persuaded the Balti masses to use the Persian script for Balti. However, there was no endeavour to form fully corresponding Persian letters for Balti. Moreover, when the Rmakpon dynasty rose to its climax in the 16th century AD, it developed a strong political and cultural relationship with the Moghuls of India and used 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...
instead of Balti as its official language. With this, the Balti language, including its script, lost its strongest patron. The Dogra
Dogra
The Dogras are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group in South Asia. Being a diversified group, the Dogras include both Savarnas such as Brahmins, Rajputs and Non-savarnas. The Dogras also incluide merchant castes such as Mahajans...
s of Jammu
Jammu
Jammu , also known as Duggar, is one of the three administrative divisions within Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state in India.Jammu city is the largest city in Jammu and the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir...
conquered Baltistan in 1840 AD and annexed it to their state. Since Pakistan gained control of the region in 1948, Urdu words have been introduced into local dialects and languages, including Balti. In modem times Balti has no names or vocabulary for dozens of newly invented and introduced things; instead, Urdu and English words are being used in Balti.
Areas
At present, the Balti language or dialect is spoken in the whole of Baltistan and it is said that Purki-dialect of Purig and Suru-Kartse valleys come in to the Balti group linguistically. However, at the moment Balti is spoken by nearly 0.4 million people living in Baltistan and about 0.1 million Baltis who live in different cities of Pakistan and working abroad.Evolution
The Balti language has always been at a disadvantage. Its original Tibetan script was changed to an artificial one based on Persian which never corresponded with the letters and requirements of the Balti, and as a result it lost its standard and Tibetan originality. Its folk-literature is not yet available in written form, but continues to be orally transmitted. On the contrary the Balti have been quite promising in the sense of literature in category, aptitude and profundity. Despite all handicaps the Balti language has retained many honorific words characteristic of the Tibetan dialects and many other languages. The first Balti grammar was written in Urdu version by Ghulam Hassan Lobsang, a milestone for the Balti language. Below are a few examples:| Ordinary Balti | Honorific | Ladakhi | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ata | Baba | Aba | Father |
| Ano/Amo | Zizi | Ama | Mother |
| Kaka | Kacho | Acho | Brother (elder) |
| Bustring | Zung | Nama | Woman / Wife |
| Momo | Jangmocho | Ajang | Maternal uncle |
| Nene | Nenecho | Ane | Aunt |
| Bu | Bucho | Tugu | Son |
| Fru | Nono | Busa | Boy |
| Apo | Apocho | Meme | Grandfather |
| Api | Apicho | Abi | Grandmother |
| Ashe | Ashcho | Singmo | Sister (elder) |
| Zo | bjes | Zo | Eat |
| Thung | bjes | Thung | Drink |
| Ong | Shokhs | Yong | Come |
| Song | Shokhs | Song | Go |
| Zer | Kasal-byung | Zer | Speak/Say |
| Ngid tong | gZim tong | Ngid tong | Sleep (go to) |
| Lagpa | Phyaq-laq/g | Lagpa | Hand/Arm |
| Khyang | Yang/Yari-phyaqpo | Khyorang | You |
| Kama | gzok-po | Leg |
|szong ||go
Literature
Though Balti has remained under adverse conditions, it has proved to be a very fertile language capable of creating several genres of folk and classical literature. We do not find any prose except proverbs (in hundreds) and some epics and sagas (such as those of King Kesar/Gesar, Rgyalucho-Lo-bZang and Rgyalu-Srasbu and some others), all in oral tradition. All other literature is in verse. Balti literature has adopted numerous PersianPersian 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...
styles of verse and vocables which amplify the beauty and melody of its poetry.
Nearly all the languages and dialects of the mountain region in the north of Pakistan including Pashto
Pashto language
Pashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and...
, Khowar
Khowar language
For 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 Shina
Shina language
Shina 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...
belong to the Indic or Iranian
Iranian languages
The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....
language families, but Balti is the only language which belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan group of languages. As such, it has nothing in common with neighboring languages except some loanwords absorbed as a result of linguistic contact. Although Balti is, at the moment, cut off from its sister languages of Ladakh
Ladakh
Ladakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...
, they have 80-90% of nouns, pronouns, verbs and other literary and grammatical character in common. Balti and Bodhi of Ladakh can be termed as separate dialects, but not separate languages.
The major issue facing the development of Balti literature is its centuries-long isolation from Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, owing to political divisions and strong religious differences and even from its immediate neighbor Ladakh for the last 50 years. Separated from its linguistic kin, Balti is under pressure from more dominant languages such as Urdu. This is compounded by the lack of a suitable means of transcribing the language following the abandonment of its original Tibetan script. At the moment neither the Baltis have the awareness to revive their original script nor there is any institution which could restore it and persuade the people to use it again. Even if the script is revived, it would need modification to express certain 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...
and Urdu phonemes that occur in common loanwords within Balti.
The Balti Literature may be categorised as under:
- Rgya-glu: This can be categorised as a classical one in the folk-verses for its meaning or deepness. It contains romantic songs, elegies, advice, complaints, historical events, and the like.
- Rtse-glu:This is a light type of poetry sung while dancing. In this kind of song, different topics and events of life, families and their social or cultural conditions, jokes, and the like are the subject matter.
- Yurmi-glu: This is a song sung by the women while working or weeding in the fields. In such songs, women recollect their childhood, love and longing for her parents, pleasant or unpleasant experience or feelings about her husband or other relatives.
- Ridagsi-glu: These are the songs composed in praise of mountain-goats of all sort. Some songs admire the beauty of wild-life, some depict motherhood in these animals for their kids and in some the poets lament the extinction of goats and sheep.
- Bar-glu: Also called Deewan, this can be described as the medieval stage between the Rgya-glu and the modern poetry (glu). This type of poetry also involves romantic and other general experiences.
- Glu: This can be described as the mGul-glu as it has only romantic feelings and flavour.
- Hamd: This is the form of verses in praise of God.
- Qaseeda: These are verses in praise of MuhammadMuhammadMuhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
and the twelve Imams, their family members according to Shia Islam. - Marsia: Versed elegy commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (the grandson of Muhammad , the 3rd Imam) in KarbalaKarbalaKarbala is a city in Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorate, and has an estimated population of 572,300 people ....
, other Imams, and the like. - Noha: These are versed elegies sung with rhythm while the (Shiaite) mourners beat their chests. This category is also attributed to the martyrs of Karbala and other family members of Muhammad.
- Bahr-e-Taweel: These verses are in long metre and consist of several stanzas of 9 to 14 lines. In this poetry, generally, the mortality of life and other similar topics are explored in a mystic way.
- Goshwara: This is similar to the Persian or Urdu "Masnavi" Narrative couplets. Usually the dignity and illustrious personalities and deeds of Muhammad and the Imams are narrated.
- GhazalGhazalThe ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...
: These are the odes of love and romance exactly on the principles of Persian and Urdu Ghazal and Nazm.
- Youq fangsay thalang paqzi na mandoq na mabour na
- Na drolbi laming yani si soq fangse chi thobtook
Nasir Karmi
- Sa-get-pi-glu: These are the songs praising or encouraging the farmers and agriculturists in modern time.
- Milli-naghma: These are like Urdu Milli-naghmas.
Vocabulary
The Balti language shares up to 90% of the vocabulary with the neighboring LadakhiLadakhi language
The Ladakhi language , now also called Bhoti, and by linguists more generally called Western Archaic Tibetan when the Balti and Burig or Purig or Purki dialects are included, is the predominant language in the Ladakh region of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India, and is also spoken in Baltistan...
, as well as with Amdo
Amdo
Amdo is one of the three traditional regions of Tibet, the other two being Ü-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu River to the Drichu river . While culturally and ethnically a Tibetan area, Amdo has been administered by a...
and Kham
Kham
Kham , is a historical region covering a land area largely divided between present-day Tibetan Autonomous Region and Sichuan province, with smaller portions located within Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces of China. During the Republic of China's rule over mainland China , most of the region was...
dialect of North Eastern Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
. However, they have adopted words from Shina
Shina language
Shina 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...
, Burushaski
Burushaski language
The Burushaski or Burushko language , is a language isolate . It is spoken by some 87,000 Burusho people in the Hunza, Nagar, Yasin, and Ishkoman valleys, and some parts of the Gilgit valley, in Gilgit–Baltistan in Pakistan and by about 300 Burusho people in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, India...
and 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...
with the process of Islamization.
See also
- Tibetan languages
- Standard TibetanStandard TibetanStandard Tibetan is the most widely used spoken form of the Tibetan languages. It is based on the speech of Lhasa, an Ü-Tsang dialect belonging to the Central Tibetan languages. For this reason, Standard Tibetan is often called Central Tibetan...
- Amdo Tibetan languageAmdo Tibetan languageThe Amdo language is the spoken language of the majority of the people of Amdo in northeastern Tibet, in Chinese states of Qinghai and some parts of Sichuan and Gansu . It is one of the four main spoken languages of Tibetan, the other three being Standard Tibetan Kham and Ladakhi...
- Khams Tibetan languageKhams Tibetan languageKhams Tibetan is the Tibetan language used by the majority of the people in the Kham region of eastern Tibet . It is one of the four main spoken languages of Tibetan, the other three being those of U-Tsang , Amdo and Western Tibetan...
- Ladakhi languageLadakhi languageThe Ladakhi language , now also called Bhoti, and by linguists more generally called Western Archaic Tibetan when the Balti and Burig or Purig or Purki dialects are included, is the predominant language in the Ladakh region of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India, and is also spoken in Baltistan...
External links
- Unicode
- Koshur: The Balti Language
- Tibetan script makes a comeback in Pakistan
- Proposal to add four Tibetan characters for Balti to the BMP of the UCS
- Andrew WestAndrew WestAndrew Christopher West is an English Sinologist. He initially devoted himself to studying Chinese novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties...
, Tibetan Extensions 2 : Balti - Pakistan's Northern Areas dilemma
- Northern Areas Development Gateway
- Pakistan's Northern Areas
- http://wikimapia.org/#lat=35.3029642&lon=75.6247973&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2
- A Bibliography of Tibetan Linguistics