Kata-vari dialect explained

Kata-vari
Also Known As:Kati
Nativename:Kâta-vari
States:Afghanistan, Pakistan
Region:Nuristan, Kunar, Chitral
Date:2017
Ref:e25
Familycolor:Indo-European
Fam2:Indo-Iranian
Fam3:Nuristani
Fam4:Northern
Fam5:Kamkata-vari
Script:Arabic script
Iso3:bsh
Glotto:kati1270
Glottorefname:Kati

Kata-vari (Kâta-vari) is a dialect of the Kamkata-vari language spoken by the Kata in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The most used alternative names are Kati, Kativiri or Bashgali.

It is spoken by approximately 40,000 people (mostly in Afghanistan, just over 3,700 in Pakistan), and its speakers are Muslim. Literacy rates are low: below 1% for people who have it as a first language, and between 15% and 25% for people who have it as a second language.

There are two main sub-dialects: Eastern Kata-vari and Western Kata-vari. In Afghanistan, Western Kata-vari is spoken in the Ramgal, Kulam, Ktivi and Paruk valleys of Nuristan. Eastern Kata-vari is spoken in the upper Landai Sin Valley. In Pakistan, Eastern Kata-vari or Shekhani is spoken in Chitral District, in Gobor and the upper Bumboret Valley.

The dialect of Ktivi has lost nasalization, so that ǰâře- pronounced as /d͡ʒaˈɻe/ "to kill" corresponds to Kamviri ǰâňa- pronounced as /d͡ʒaˈɽ̃ɘ/. For this article, most cited forms will be based on the Ktivi dialect.

Name

The name derives from Kâta pronounced as /kaˈtɘ/, the ethnonym of the Kata people in Kamkata-vari, with the suffix vari pronounced as /βɘˈɾi / "language, speech". Cognates of the ethnonym in other Nuristani languages include Waigali Kẫta pronounced as /kãˈtɐ/.

Phonology

Consonants

LabialDental/
Alveolar
Palato-
alveolar
RetroflexPalatalVelar
Plosivevoicelesspronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
voicedpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Affricatevoicelesspronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
voicedpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Fricativevoiceless(pronounced as /link/)pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/(pronounced as /link/)
voicedpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/(pronounced as /link/)pronounced as /link/(pronounced as /link/)
Nasalpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Tappronounced as /link/(pronounced as /link/)
Approximantlateralpronounced as /link/
centralpronounced as /link/(pronounced as /link/)

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Highpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Midpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Lowpronounced as /link/

Vocabulary

Pronouns

PersonNominativeAccusativeGenitive
1stsg.uzeieiema
pl.imu
2ndsg.tiututuma
pl.šo

Numbers

  1. ev
  2. diu
  3. tre
  4. štavo
  5. puč
  6. ṣu
  7. sut
  8. uṣṭ
  9. nu
  10. duć

References

External links