Kohistani Shina Explained

Kohistani Shina
Nativename:{{nq|ݜݨیاٗ کستِین٘و زبان
Also Known As:Kohistani, Kohistyo, Palasi-Kohistani
States:Pakistan
Region:Kohistan District, Pakistan
Speakers:458,000
Date:2018
Ref:[1]
Familycolor:Indo-European
Fam2:Indo-Iranian
Fam3:Indo-Aryan
Fam4:Eastern Dardic
Fam5:Shinaic and jalkot
Fam6:Kohistani–Ushoji Shina.jalkutia[2]
Dia1:Palas, jalkot suppat valley
Dia2:Jalkoti
Dia3:Kolai
Script:Perso-Arabic script (Nastaliq)
Iso3:plk
Glotto:kohi1248
Glottorefname:Kohistani Shina

Kohistani Shina is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the former Kohistan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northern Pakistan. According to Ethnologue, Kohistani Shina is mutually intelligible with the Shina variety of Chilas, but not with the standard dialect of Gilgit.[1] Bateri and Kalkoti speakers speak Kohistani Shina as a second language.[3] Indus Kohistani loanwords can be found in the language. A grammar and a dictionary of the language have been published.[4] [5] [6]

Alphabet

Shina is one of the few Dardic languages with a written tradition. However, it was an unwritten language until a few decades ago. Only in late 2010s has Shina orthography been standardized and primers as well as dictionaries have been published.[7] [5]

Since the first attempts at accurately representing Shina's phonology in the 1960s there have been several proposed orthographies for the different varieties of the language, with debates centering on how to write several retroflex sound not present in Urdu and whether vowel length and tone should be represented.

There are two main orthographic conventions now, one in Pakistani-controlled areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and in Kohistan, and the other in Indian-controlled area of Dras, Ladakh.

Below alphabet has been standardized, documented, and popularized thanks to efforts of literaturists such as Professor Muhammad Amin Ziya, Shakeel Ahmad Shakeel, and Razwal Kohistani, and it has been developed for all Shina language dialects, including Gilgit dialect and Kohistani dialect, which [7] [5] [8] The Kohistani Shina alphabet differs slightly from the Gilgiti variety. For example, it includes one additional letter ڦ, and it includes several additional digraphs to represent additional aspirated consonants unique to Kohistani. Furthermore, variations and personal preferences can be observed across Shina documents. For example, it is common to see someone use سً instead of ݜ for pronounced as /link/, or use sukun ◌ْ (U+0652) instead of small sideway noon ◌ࣿ (U+08FF) to indicate short vowels. However, these variations are no longer an issue. Another issue is that of how to write loanwords that use letters not found in Shina language, for example letters "س / ث / ص", which all sound like [s] in Shina. Some documents preserve the original spelling, despite the letters being homophones and not having any independent sound of their own, similar to orthographic conventions of Persian and Urdu. Whereas other documents prefer to rewrite all loanwords in a single Shina letter, and thus simplify the writing, similar to orthographic conventions of Kurdish and Uyghur.

Shina vowels are distinguished by length, by whether or not they're nasalized, and by tone. Nasalization is represented like other Perso-Arabic alphabets in Pakistan, with Nun Ghunna (ن٘ـ / ـن٘ـ / ں). In Shina, tone variation only occur when there is a long vowel. There are conventions unique to Shina to show the three tones. In Shina conventions, specific diacritics are shown in conjunction with the letters aliv, waaw, buṛi ye, and ye (ا، و، یـ، ی، ے), as these letters are written down to represent long vowels. The diacritics inverted damma ◌ٗ (U+0657) and superscript alef ◌ٰ (U+0670) represent a rising tone and a falling tone respectively. Another diacritic, a small sideway noon ◌ࣿ (U+08FF) is used to represent short vowels when need be.[9]

Consonants

Below table shows Shina consonants.[7] [5]

NameFormsIPATransliteration[10] Notes
ShinaIsolatedFinalMedialInitial

aliv
pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, silent– / aaAt the beginning of a word it can either come with diacritic, or it can come in form of aliv-madda, or it can be stand-alone and silent, succeeded by a vowel letter. Diacritics can be omitted in writing.

be
pronounced as /link/b

pe
pronounced as /link/p

te
pronounced as /link/t

te
pronounced as /link/

se
pronounced as /link/s Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter siin س .

ǰom
pronounced as /link/ǰ

če
pronounced as /link/č

tse
pronounced as /link/ts Letter borrowed from Pashto alphabet.

c̣e
pronounced as /link/ Unique letter for Shina language. Some Shina literatures and documents use two horizontal lines instead of four dots, use instead of .

he
pronounced as /link/h Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter hay ہ .

khe
pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/kh Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with digraph letter khe کھ .

daal
--pronounced as /link/d

ḍaal
--pronounced as /link/

zaal
--pronounced as /link/z Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter ze ز .

re
--pronounced as /link/r U+0631

ṛe
--pronounced as /link/

ze
--pronounced as /link/z

že / ǰe
--pronounced as /link/‍~pronounced as /link/‍ž / ǰ Only used in loanwords of Persian and European origin. Can be replaced with letter jom ج .

ẓe
--pronounced as /link/ Unique letter for Shina language. Some Shina literatures and documents use two horizontal lines instead of four dots, use instead of .

siin
pronounced as /link/s

šiin
pronounced as /link/š

ṣiin
pronounced as /link/ Unique letter for Shina language. Some Shina literatures and documents use two horizontal lines instead of four dots, use instead of .

swaad
pronounced as /link/s Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter siin س .

zwaad
pronounced as /link/z U+0636Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter ze ز .

tooy
pronounced as /link/t Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter te ت .

zooy
pronounced as /link/z Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter ze ز .

ayn
pronounced as /link/, silent- U+0639Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter aliv ا .

gayn
pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/g U+063AOnly used in loanwords of Arabic and Turkic origin. Can be replaced with letter gaaf گ.

fe / phe
pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/f / ph Only used in loanwords. Can be replaced with digraph letter phe پھ .

ve
pronounced as /link/v Unique letter for Shina language. Some Shina literatures and documents use two horizontal lines instead of four dots, use instead of .

qaaf / kaaf
pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/q / k Only used in loanwords of Arabic and Turkic origin. Can be replaced with letter kaaf ک .

kaaf
pronounced as /link/k

gaaf
pronounced as /link/g

ngaaf / gaaf gunna
pronounced as / /ŋ//ng U+06B1Unique letter for Kohistani Shina language.

laam
pronounced as /link/l U+0644

miim
pronounced as /link/m

nuun
pronounced as /link/n

nuuṇ
pronounced as /link/

nū̃ / nūn gunna
pronounced as / /◌̃//◌̃ For middle of word:
U+0646
plus
U+0658
For end of word:
U+06BA

waaw
--pronounced as /link/ / pronounced as /link/w / ō The letter waaw can either represent consonant ([w/v]) or vowel ([oo]). It can also act as a carrier of vowel diacritics, representing several other vowels. At the beginning of a word, when representing a consonant, the letter waaw will appear as a standalone character, followed by the appropriate vowel. If representing a vowel at the beginning of a word, the letter waaw needs to be preceded by an aliv ا . When the letter waaw comes at the end of the word representing a consonant sound [w], a hamza is used ؤ to label it as such and avoid mispronunciation as a vowel.

hai
pronounced as /link/h This letter differs from do-ac̣hi'ii hay (ھ) and they are not interchangeable. Similar to Urdu,do-chashmi hē (ھ) is exclusively used as a second part of digraphs for representing aspirated consonants. In initial and medial position, the letter always represents the consonant [h]. In final position, The letter can either represent consonant ([h]) or it can demonstrate that the word ends with short vowels a, i, u .

hamza
---pronounced as /link/, silent Used mid-word to indicate separation between a syllable and another that starts with a vowel. hamza on top of letters waaw and ye at end of a word serves a function too. When the letter waaw or ye come at the end of the word representing a consonant sound [w] or [y], a hamza is used ؤ / ئ / ـئ to label it as such and avoid mispronunciation as a vowel.

ye / leekhii ye
pronounced as /link/ / pronounced as /link/ / pronounced as /link/ y / e / i The letter ye can either represent consonant ([j]) or vowels ([e]/[i]). It can also act as a carrier of vowel diacritics, representing several other vowels. At the beginning of a word, when representing a consonant, the letter ye will appear as a standalone character, followed by the appropriate vowel. If representing a vowel at the beginning of a word, the letter ye needs to be preceded by an aliv ا . When the letter ye comes at the end of the word representing a consonant sound [j], a hamza is used ئ to label it as such and avoid mispronunciation as a vowel. When representing a vowel at the end of a word, it can only be [i]. For vowel [e], the letter buṛi ye ے is used.

buṛi ye
--pronounced as /link/ / pronounced as /link/e / y U+06D2The letter buṛi ye only occurs in final position. The letter buṛi ye represents the vowel "ē" [eː] or the consonant "y" [j].

bhe
pronounced as /link/bh A digraph, counted as a letter.

phe
pronounced as /link/ph A digraph, counted as a letter.

the
pronounced as /link/th A digraph, counted as a letter.

ṭhe
pronounced as /link/ṭh A digraph, counted as a letter.

ǰhom
pronounced as /link/ǰh A digraph, counted as a letter.

čhe
pronounced as /link/čh A digraph, counted as a letter.

tshe
pronounced as /link/tsh A digraph, counted as a letter.

c̣he
pronounced as /link/c̣h A digraph, counted as a letter.

dhe
pronounced as /link/dh A digraph, counted as a letter.

ḍhe
pronounced as /link/ḍh A digraph, counted as a letter.

rhe
pronounced as /link/rh A digraph, counted as a letter.

zhe
pronounced as /link/zh A digraph, counted as a letter.

ẓhe
pronounced as /link/ẓh A digraph, counted as a letter.

khe
pronounced as /link/kh A digraph, counted as a letter.

ghe
pronounced as /link/gh A digraph, counted as a letter.

lhe
pronounced as /link/lh A digraph, counted as a letter.

mhe
pronounced as /link/mh A digraph, counted as a letter.

nhe
pronounced as /link/nh A digraph, counted as a letter.

Vowels

There are five vowels in Kohistani Shina language. Each of the five vowels in Kohistani Shina have a short version and a long version. Shina is also a tonal language. Short vowels in Shina have a short high level tone pronounced as /˥/. Long vowels can either have "no tone", i.e. a long flat tone pronounced as /˧/, a long rising tone pronounced as /link/, or a long falling tone (pronounced as //˥˩//.

All five vowels have a defined way of presentation in Kohistani Shina orthographic conventions, including letters and diacritics. Although diacritics can and are occasionally dropped in writing. Short vowels [a], [i], and [u] are solely written with diacritics. Short vowels [e] and [o] are written with letters waw and buṛi ye. A unique diacritic, a small sideway noon ◌ࣿ (U+08FF) is used on top of these letters to indicate a short vowel.[9] Long vowels are written with a combination of diacritics and letters aliv, waaw or ye.

Below table shows short vowels at the beginning, middle, and end of a word.[9] [10]

Vowel at the beginning of the word
a e i o u
Vowel at the middle of the word
Vowel at the end of the word

Below table shows long vowels at the beginning, middle, and end of a word, with "no tone", i.e. a long flat tone pronounced as /˧/.[9] [10]

Vowel at the beginning of the word
aa ee ii oo uu
Vowel at the middle of the word
Vowel at the end of the word

Below table shows long vowels at the beginning, middle, and end of a word, with a long rising tone pronounced as /link/.[9] [10]

Vowel at the beginning of the word
Vowel at the middle of the word
Vowel at the end of the word

Below table shows long vowels at the beginning, middle, and end of a word, with a long falling tone (pronounced as //˥˩//.[9] [10]

Vowel at the beginning of the word
áa ée íi óo úu
Vowel at the middle of the word
Vowel at the end of the word

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Shina,jalkutia Kohistani .
  2. Web site: Glottolog 4.8 - Kohistanic Shina . 2023-07-10 . 2023-11-05 . . Hammarström . Harald . https://web.archive.org/web/20231106021321/https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/kohi1247 . 2023-11-06 . live . . Harald Hammarström . Forkel . Robert . . 10.5281/zenodo.7398962 . Haspelmath . Martin . Martin Haspelmath . Bank . Sebastian . free.
  3. Notes on Kalkoti: A Shina Language with Strong Kohistani Influences . 10.1349/PS1.1537-0852.A.423 . 2013 . Liljegren . Henrik . Linguistic Discovery . 11 . free .
  4. Book: Schmidt . Ruth Laila . Kohistani . Razval . Zarin . Mohammad Manzar . A Grammar of the Shina Language of Indus Kohistan . 2008 . Otto Harrassowitz Verlag . 9783447056762 . 264 .
  5. Book: Kohistani . Razval . Complete Shina Kohistani Qaida By Razwal Kohistani . 2020-09-21 . 2nd . Urdu.
  6. Web site: Kohistani Shina-Urdu dictionary published . 22 October 2021 .
  7. Ziya, Muhammad Amin, Prof. (2010, October). Gilti Shina Urdu Dictionary / ݜِناٗ - اُردو لغت. Publisher: Zia Publications, Gilgit. ضیاء پبلیکبشنز، گلیٗتISBN 978-969-942-00-8 https://archive.org/details/MuhammadAmeenZiaGiltiShinaUrduDictionary/page/n5/mode/1up
  8. Pamir Times (September 5, 2008), "Shina language gets a major boost with Shakeel Ahmad Shakeel’s efforts"https://pamirtimes.net/2008/09/05/shina-language-gets-a-major-boost-with-shakeel-ahmad-shakeels-efforts/
  9. Shakeel Ahmad Shakeel. (2008). Sheena language An overview of the teaching and learning system / شینا زبان نظام پڑھائی لکھائی کا جائزہ. https://z-lib.io/book/14214726
  10. Radloff, Carla F. with Shakil Ahmad Shakil.1998. Folktales in the Shina of Gilgit. Islamabad: The National Institute of Pakistan Studies and Summer Institute of Linguistics. https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/13/82/56/138256623622760949003113935743299913976/742_CRadloff_Folktales_Gilgit_of_Shina_1998.pdf