| Munji | |
| Nativename: | منجاني ألڤزأن Munjoni ālavzān |
| States: | Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan |
| Speakers: | 5,300 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Ethnicity: | Munji |
| Familycolor: | Indo-European |
| Fam2: | Indo-Iranian |
| Fam3: | Iranian |
| Fam4: | Eastern |
| Fam5: | Munji–Yidgha? |
| Script: | Perso-Arabic script[1] |
| Iso3: | mnj |
| Glotto: | munj1244 |
| Glottorefname: | Munji |
| Lingua: | 58-ABD-ba |
| Map2: | Lang Status 40-SE.svg |
The Munji language (Persian: مونجی, Pushto; Pashto: مونجی), also known as Munjani (Persian: مونجانی, Pushto; Pashto: مونجی ژبه, Munjani: منجاني ألڤزأن), Munjhan (Persian: مونجهان), and the Munjiwar language,[2] is a Pamir language spoken in the Munjan valley in the Kuran wa Munjan district of the Badakhshan province in northeast Afghanistan. It is similar to the Yidgha language, which is spoken in the Upper Lotkoh Valley of Chitral, west of Garam Chashma in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.[3]
Historically, Munji displays the closest possible linguistic affinity with the now-extinct Bactrian language.[4]
The Garam Chashma area became important during the Soviet–Afghan War. During the invasion, the Soviets were unable to stop the flow of arms and men back and forth across the Dorah Pass that separates Chitral, in Pakistan, from Badakshan in Afghanistan. The two dialects spoken in the area of Mamalgha Valley and the area of Munjan Valley differed, being the northern and southern dialects. The language has moved to parts of Chitral, after the War in Afghanistan forced the Munji-speaking people to flee to safer areas.[5]
Despite Dari being the predominant language of the region, attitudes towards Munji are highly positive, and among speakers, few predict a decline in use.[6]
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Affricate | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Tap/Trill | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
Munji language has 8 vowel phonemes, these are [ə],[a],[ɔ],[ʊ],[u],[ɪ],[ɛ],[i]. Five of these vowels are lengthened in pronunciation, [i], [u], [ɛ], [ɔ], [a]. And the three central vowels [ɪ], [ʊ], [ə] are pronounced as short. The short vowels are neutralized in unstressed syllables, so that even native speakers are not aware of which specific vowel they are using.
As for orthography, native Munji words that have the 5 long vowels, these vowels are written with explicit letters, as defined in orthographic conventions of Munji. The three short vowels are written using diacritics which are dropped in most cases. Loanwords entering Munji via Persian (Dari) (which can be native Persian words, or Arabic or Turkic or European words) are written as they would in Persian.
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Near-close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Open | pronounced as /link/ |
Attempts at compiling and standardizing an alphabet for Munji was first started in 2010. Samar linguistic institute, the Afghan branch of SIL International, an organization dedicated to preservation of language and development of literacy, has compiled a standardized orthography and various educational and linguistic material on Munji language. In 2017, the Munji orthography was given official confirmation by the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan, Afghanistan's official language regulator.[7]
The alphabet is derived from Persian alphabet, but consists of 10 additional letters. Some of these letters are to represent phonemes that do not exist in Persian (Dari), while others are to clarify and specify vowel and consonant phonemes for better clarity and less ambiguity.[8]
| Transliteration | IPA[9] | Forms | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial | |||||
| O o | pronounced as /link/ | - | U+0622 U+0627 | Vowel phoneme [ɔ] is represented with when at the beginning of a word, and with when in the middle or end of a word. | ||||
| Ā ā | pronounced as /link/ | - | U+0623 | Unique to Munji, not used as such in Persian (Dari). Similar letter exists in Turkmen orthography. Vowel phoneme [ä] is represented with whether at the beginning, middle, or end of a word. | ||||
| - / A a / U u / I i | pronounced as /link/ (pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/) | - | - | U+0627 | Letter alif at the beginning of a word can serve two functions. First, it precedes vowel letters [u], [i], or [ɛ]. Second, it acts as a vowel carrier for diacritics of the three short vowels of Munji, [ə], [ʊ], and [ɪ]. | |||
| B b | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| P p | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| T t | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| S s | pronounced as /link/ | Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. | ||||||
| J̌ ǰ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Č č | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| H h | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/ | Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. | ||||||
| X x | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| C c | pronounced as /link/ | Unique to Munji, not part of Persian (Dari) alphabet. Similar letter exists in Pashto, Khowar, Shughni, and Wakhani orthographies. | ||||||
| D d | pronounced as /link/ | - | - | |||||
| Z z | pronounced as /link/ | - | - | Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. | ||||
| R r | pronounced as /link/ | - | - | |||||
| Z z | pronounced as /link/ | - | - | |||||
| Ž ž | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/ | - | - | |||||
| S s | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Š š | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| X̌ x̌ | pronounced as /link/ | Unique to Munji, not part of Persian (Dari) alphabet. Similar letter exists in Pashto, Shughni, and Wakhani orthographies. | ||||||
| S s | pronounced as /link/ | Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. | ||||||
| Z z | pronounced as /link/ | Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. | ||||||
| T t | pronounced as /link/ | Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. | ||||||
| Z z | pronounced as /link/ | Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. | ||||||
| - | pronounced as /link//pronounced as /link/ | Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. | ||||||
| Gh gh | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| F f | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| V v | pronounced as /link/ | Unique to Munji, not part of Persian (Dari) alphabet. Similar letter exists in Shughni, Wakhani, and other orthographies beyond Afghanistan, such as Kurdish. | ||||||
| Q q | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| K k | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Ḱ ḱ | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /[c͡ç]/ | Unique to Munji, not part of Persian (Dari) alphabet. No similar letter exists in any other orthography. | ||||||
| G g | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Ǵ ǵ | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /[ɟ͡ʝ]/ | Unique to Munji, not part of Persian (Dari) alphabet. No similar letter exists in any other orthography. | ||||||
| L l | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| M m | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| N n | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| W w | pronounced as /link/ | - | - | |||||
| Ū ū | pronounced as /link/ | - | Unique to Munji, not used as such in Persian (Dari). Indicates a vowel, and when a word begins with this vowel phoneme, the letter needs to be preceded by alif . | |||||
| H h | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| A a | pronounced as /link/ | - | - | Only at the end of the word does this letter represent vowel phoneme [ə]. In the middle of words, this vowel is represented with diacritic which is usually dropped in writing. At the beginning of a word, the diacritic is placed on top of alif | ||||
| I i / Y y | pronounced as /link/ / pronounced as /link/ | - | Represents two phonemes based on context, [i] and [j]. If used at the beginning of a word, if representing consonant [j], it will be written standalone, if representing a vowel [i], it will be preceded by alif . Not used at the end of the word. Instead, either or are used for representing the phonemes [j] or [i] respectively. | |||||
| Y y | pronounced as /link/ | - | - | Unique to Munji, not part of Persian (Dari) alphabet. Similar letter exists in Pashto orthography. This letter is only used at the end of a word to represent the phoneme [j]. Elsewhere in a word, the letter ye is used. | ||||
| I i | pronounced as /link/ | - | - | Unique to Munji, not part of Persian (Dari) alphabet. Similar letter exists in Pashto orthography. This letter is only used at the end of a word to represent the phoneme [i]. Elsewhere in a word, the letter ye is used. | ||||
| E e | pronounced as /link/ | Unique to Munji, not part of Persian (Dari). Similar letter exists in Pashto and Uzbek orthographies. Indicates a vowel, and when a word begins with this vowel phoneme, the letter needs to be preceded by alif . | ||||||
Munji language has 8 vowel phonemes, these are A a [ə], Ā ā [a], O o [ɔ], U u [ʊ], Ū ū [u], Ə ə [ɪ], E e [ɛ], I i[i]. Five of these vowels are lengthened in pronunciation, [i], [u], [ɛ], [ɔ], [a]. And the three central vowels [ɪ], [ʊ], [ə] are pronounced as short.[9]
As for orthography, native Munji words that have the 5 long vowels, these vowels are written with explicit letters, as defined in orthographic conventions of Munji. The three short vowels are written using diacritics which are dropped in most cases. Loanwords entering Munji via Persian (Dari) (which can be native Persian words, or Arabic or Turkic or European words) are written as they would in Persian.[9]
| A a | Ā ā | O o | U u | Ū ū | Ə ə | E e | I i | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [ə] | [a] | [ɔ] | [ʊ] | [u] | [ɪ] | [ɛ] | [i] | |
| Vowels at the beginning of a word | ||||||||
| Vowels at the middle of a word | ||||||||
| Vowels at the end of a word | ||||||||
| - | - | |||||||
Below is a short passage of sample phrases.[10]
| Munji Arabic Alphabet | ||
|---|---|---|
| Latin Transliteration | Āminǵa jond yū məwa ba mazgha āst. Na səhatān na insonān jond foyda let. Ža āminǵin boyad zəyod əstəfoda kunām xusūson waxtika wažanki ghogi farmāj boyad zəyod xurāt. Va āminǵa maḱi mardum bolrāt. woqə’on yū məwa bolzəta āst. | |
| Translation | - |