Kalasha-mun language
Encyclopedia
Kalasha is an Indo-European language
in the Indo-Iranian
branch spoken by the Kalash people, further classified as a Dardic
language in the Chitral
Group. Georg Morgenstierne
maintains that "The Kalasha do not belong to the special Kafir branch of Indo-Iranian but speak a true Indo-Aryan language." The Kalasha language is phonologically atypical because it contrasts plain, long, nasal, and retroflex vowels as well as combinations of these (Heegård & Mørch 2004). According to the Chitrali researcher Rehmat Aziz Chitrali, the correct name of the language is Kalasha.
Kalasha is spoken by the Kalasha people who reside in the remote valleys of Bumburet, Birir and Rumbur, which are west of Ayun, which is ten miles down the river from Chitral
Town, high in the Hindu Kush
mountains in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan
. The Kalasha have their own religion, with gods and goddesses, although it is estimated that half of the Kalasha have converted to Islam. There are an estimated 6,000 speakers of Kalasha, of which 3,000 still follow the Kalasha religion and the other 3,000 have converted to Islam.
According to Badshah Munir Bukhari
, one of the world's leading authorities on this subject, "Kalasha" is also the ethnic name for the Nuristani inhabitants of a region southwest of the Kalasha Valleys, in the Waygal and middle Pech Valleys of Afghanistan's Nuristan Province. The term "Kalasha" seems to have been adopted by the Kalasha speakers of Chitral from the Nuristanis of Waygal, who for a time expanded up to southern Chitral several centuries ago. However, there is no close connection between the Indo-Aryan language Kalasha-mun and the Nuristani language Kalasha-ala
, which descend from different branches of the Indo-Iranian languages
.
Until the latter 20th century, Kalasha was an undocumented language. More recently, through the work of a Greek NGO and local Kalasha elders seeking to preserve their oral traditions, a new Kalasha alphabet has been created. Working in close collaboration with various international researchers and linguists, Kalasha linguist Taj Khan Kalash
organized first "Kalasha Orthography Conference" in Islamabad Pakistan. Having moved to Thessaloniki
, Greece
, to study linguistics in the Aristotle University, he and the Greek NGO Mesogaia took on the task of compiling the script and creating The Alphabet Book, a primer used to teach the alphabet to the Kalasha children. In 2004 he was able to raise funds to publish first alphabet book of Kalasha language based on Roman script designed by an Australian linguist, Gregory R. Cooper.
Of all the languages in the subcontinent, Kalasha is likely the most conservative, along with the nearby western Dardic language Khowar
. In a few cases, Kalasha is even more conservative than Khowar, e.g. in retaining voiced aspirate consonants, which have disappeared from most other Dardic languages.
Some of the typical retentions of sounds and clusters (and meanings) are seen in the following list. However, note some common New Indo-Aryan and Dardic features as well.
Examples of conservative features in Kalasha and Khowar are (note, NIA = New Indo-Aryan, MIA = Middle Indo-Aryan, OIA = Old Indo-Aryan):
History contains references to "Siah-Posh Kafirs
". Timur
fought with them. Babur
advised not to tangle with them. Alexander the Great encountered them. Genghis Khan
passed by them. However, there is a question whether these were the Red or the Black Kafirs, or both. It has been widely assumed that these were the Red Kafirs
who were thought of as fierce and independent, as opposed to the Black Kafirs, who were somewhat subservient to the King of Chitral. On the other hand, the word "Siah-Posh Kafirs" means "Black Robed Kafirs
", as "siah" means "black"; so it seems possible that it was the Black and not the Red Kafirs who fought against and defeated Tamurlane
.
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
in the Indo-Iranian
Indo-Iranian languages
The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of three language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Nuristani...
branch spoken by the Kalash people, further classified as a Dardic
Dardic languages
The Dardic languages are a sub-group of the Indo-Aryan languages spoken in northern Pakistan, eastern Afghanistan, and the Indian region of Jammu and Kashmir...
language in the Chitral
Chitral
Chitral or Chetrar , translated as field in the native language Khowar, is the capital of the Chitral District, situated on the western bank of the Kunar River , in Pakistan. The town is at the foot of Tirich Mir, the highest peak of the Hindu Kush, high...
Group. Georg Morgenstierne
Georg Morgenstierne
Georg Morgenstierne was a Norwegian professor of linguistics with the University of Oslo . He specialized in Indo-Iranian languages.- Studies :...
maintains that "The Kalasha do not belong to the special Kafir branch of Indo-Iranian but speak a true Indo-Aryan language." The Kalasha language is phonologically atypical because it contrasts plain, long, nasal, and retroflex vowels as well as combinations of these (Heegård & Mørch 2004). According to the Chitrali researcher Rehmat Aziz Chitrali, the correct name of the language is Kalasha.
Kalasha is spoken by the Kalasha people who reside in the remote valleys of Bumburet, Birir and Rumbur, which are west of Ayun, which is ten miles down the river from Chitral
Chitral
Chitral or Chetrar , translated as field in the native language Khowar, is the capital of the Chitral District, situated on the western bank of the Kunar River , in Pakistan. The town is at the foot of Tirich Mir, the highest peak of the Hindu Kush, high...
Town, high in the Hindu Kush
Hindu Kush
The Hindu Kush is an mountain range that stretches between central Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. The highest point in the Hindu Kush is Tirich Mir in the Chitral region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.It is the westernmost extension of the Pamir Mountains, the Karakoram Range, and is a...
mountains in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province 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...
. The Kalasha have their own religion, with gods and goddesses, although it is estimated that half of the Kalasha have converted to Islam. There are an estimated 6,000 speakers of Kalasha, of which 3,000 still follow the Kalasha religion and the other 3,000 have converted to Islam.
According to Badshah Munir Bukhari
Badshah Munir Bukhari
Badshah 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....
, one of the world's leading authorities on this subject, "Kalasha" is also the ethnic name for the Nuristani inhabitants of a region southwest of the Kalasha Valleys, in the Waygal and middle Pech Valleys of Afghanistan's Nuristan Province. The term "Kalasha" seems to have been adopted by the Kalasha speakers of Chitral from the Nuristanis of Waygal, who for a time expanded up to southern Chitral several centuries ago. However, there is no close connection between the Indo-Aryan language Kalasha-mun and the Nuristani language Kalasha-ala
Kalasha-ala language
Waigali or Waigeli is a language spoken by the Kalasha of the Nuristan Province in a few villages in the central part of the Kunar Province of Afghanistan. The native name is Kalasa-Alâ or simply Kalasa...
, which descend from different branches of the Indo-Iranian languages
Indo-Iranian languages
The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of three language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Nuristani...
.
Until the latter 20th century, Kalasha was an undocumented language. More recently, through the work of a Greek NGO and local Kalasha elders seeking to preserve their oral traditions, a new Kalasha alphabet has been created. Working in close collaboration with various international researchers and linguists, Kalasha linguist Taj Khan Kalash
Taj Khan Kalash
Tach Sharakat Kalash belongs to an endangered Indigenous culture and language community Kalasha living in the wilderness of Hindu Kush Mountains on the boarder of Pakistan with Afghanistan...
organized first "Kalasha Orthography Conference" in Islamabad Pakistan. Having moved to Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, to study linguistics in the Aristotle University, he and the Greek NGO Mesogaia took on the task of compiling the script and creating The Alphabet Book, a primer used to teach the alphabet to the Kalasha children. In 2004 he was able to raise funds to publish first alphabet book of Kalasha language based on Roman script designed by an Australian linguist, Gregory R. Cooper.
Of all the languages in the subcontinent, Kalasha is likely the most conservative, along with the nearby western Dardic language 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...
. In a few cases, Kalasha is even more conservative than Khowar, e.g. in retaining voiced aspirate consonants, which have disappeared from most other Dardic languages.
Some of the typical retentions of sounds and clusters (and meanings) are seen in the following list. However, note some common New Indo-Aryan and Dardic features as well.
| English | Kalasha | Old Indo-Aryan | New Indo-Aryan |
|---|---|---|---|
| bone | athi, aṭhí | asthi | Hindi -; Nepali ā̃ṭh ‘the ribs' |
| urine | mutra, mútra | mūtra | H. mūt |
| village | grom | grama | H. gā̃u;Sanskrit gramam |
| rope | rajuk, raĵhú-k | rajju | H. lej, lejur |
| smoke | thum | dhūma | H. dhūā̃, dhuwā̃ |
| meat | mos | maṃsa | H. mā̃s, mās, māsā |
| dog | shua, śõ.'a | śvan | H. -; Sinhal. suvan |
| ant | pililak,pilílak | pipīla, pippīlika | H. pipṛā |
| son | put, putr | putra | H. pūt |
| long | driga, dríga | dīrgha | H. dīha |
| eight | asht, aṣṭ | aṣṭā | H. āṭh |
| broken | china, čhína | chinna | H. chīn-nā 'to snatch'; |
| kill | nash | nash, naś, naśyati | H. nā̆s-nā ‘to be lost' |
Examples of conservative features in Kalasha and Khowar are (note, NIA = New Indo-Aryan, MIA = Middle Indo-Aryan, OIA = Old Indo-Aryan):
- Preservation of intervocalic /m/ (reduced to a nasalized /w/ or /v/ in late MIA elsewhere), e.g. Kal. grom, Kho. gram "village" < OIA grāma
- Non-deletion of intervocalic /t/, preserved as /l/ or /w/ in Kalasha, /r/ in Khowar (deleted in middle MIA elsewhere), e.g. Kho. brār "brother" < OIA bhrātṛ; Kal. ʃau < *ʃal, Kho. ʃor "hundred" < OIA śata
- Preservation of the distinction between all three OIA sibilants (dental /s/, palatal /ś/, retroflex /ṣ/); in most of the subcontinent, these three had already merged before 200 BC (early MIA)
- Preservation of sibilant + consonant, stop + /r/ clusters (lost by early MIA in most other places):
- Kal. aṣṭ, Kho. oṣṭ "eight" < OIA aṣṭā; Kal. hast, Kho. host "hand" < OIA hasta; Kal. istam "bunch" < OIA stamba; Kho. istōr "pack horse" < OIA sthōra; Kho. isnār "bathed" < OIA snāta; Kal. Kho. iskow "peg" < OIA *skabha; Kho. iśper "white" < OIA śvēta; Kal. isprɛs, Kho. iśpreṣi "mother-in-law" < OIA śvaśru; Kal. piṣṭ "back" < OIA pṛṣṭha; Kho. aśrū "tear" < OIA aśru.
- Kho. kren- "buy" < OIA krīṇ-; Kal. grom, Kho. grom "village" < OIA grāma; Kal. gŕä "neck" < OIA grīva; Kho. griṣp "summer" < OIA grīṣma
- Preservation of /ts/ in Kalasha (reinterpreted as a single phoneme)
- Direct preservation of many OIA case endings as so-called "layer 1" case endings (as opposed to newer "layer 2" case endings, typically tacked onto a layer-1 oblique case):
- Nominative
- Oblique (agentive?): Pl. Kal. -en, -an, Kho. -an, -an
- Genitive: Kal. -as (sg.), -an (pl.); Kho. -o (sg.), -an, -ān (pl.)
- Dative: Kho. -a < OIA dative -āya, elsewhere lost already in late OIA
- Instrumental: Kal. -an, Kho. -en < OIA -ēna
- Ablative: Kal. -ou, -ani, Kho. -ār
- Preservation of more than one verbal conjugation (e.g. Kho. mār-īm "I kill" vs. bri-um "I die")
- Preservation of OIA distinction between "primary" (non-past) and "secondary" (past) endings and of a past-tense "augment" in a-, both lost entirely elsewhere: Kal. pim "I drink", apis "I drank"; kārim "I do", akārim "I did"
- Preservation of a verbal preterite tense (see examples above), with normal nominative/accusative marking and normal verbal agreement, as opposed to the ergativeErgativeThe term ergative is used in grammar in three different meanings:* Ergative case* Ergative-absolutive language* Ergative verb...
-type past tenses with nominal-type agreement elsewhere in NIA (originally based on a participial passive construction)
History contains references to "Siah-Posh Kafirs
Siah-Posh Kafirs
Siah-Posh Kafirs was the former designation of the major and dominant group of the Hindukush Kafirs inhabiting the Bashgul valley of the Kafiristan, now called Nuristan. They were so-called because of the color of the robes they wore...
". Timur
Timur
Timur , historically known as Tamerlane in English , was a 14th-century conqueror of West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and great-great-grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived as the Mughal Empire in India until...
fought with them. Babur
Babur
Babur was a Muslim conqueror from Central Asia who, following a series of setbacks, finally succeeded in laying the basis for the Mughal dynasty of South Asia. He was a direct descendant of Timur through his father, and a descendant also of Genghis Khan through his mother...
advised not to tangle with them. Alexander the Great encountered them. Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
passed by them. However, there is a question whether these were the Red or the Black Kafirs, or both. It has been widely assumed that these were the Red Kafirs
Hindukush White-Robed Kafir people
Sfed-Posh or Lal-Posh Kafirs were designations for usually three clans, namely:# Wais or Waigulis# Askunus or Ashkuns# Presungulis, Vasi or Viron people...
who were thought of as fierce and independent, as opposed to the Black Kafirs, who were somewhat subservient to the King of Chitral. On the other hand, the word "Siah-Posh Kafirs" means "Black Robed Kafirs
Siah-Posh Kafirs
Siah-Posh Kafirs was the former designation of the major and dominant group of the Hindukush Kafirs inhabiting the Bashgul valley of the Kafiristan, now called Nuristan. They were so-called because of the color of the robes they wore...
", as "siah" means "black"; so it seems possible that it was the Black and not the Red Kafirs who fought against and defeated Tamurlane
Timur
Timur , historically known as Tamerlane in English , was a 14th-century conqueror of West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and great-great-grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived as the Mughal Empire in India until...
.