Pashayi languages explained

Pashayi
Also Known As:	Pashai
Nativename:	زبان پشه‌ای Zabân Pašhây
States:	Afghanistan
Ethnicity:	Pashayi people
Date:	2000–2011
Ref:	e18
Script:	Persian alphabet
Familycolor:	Indo-European
Fam2:	Indo-Iranian
Fam3:	Indo-Aryan
Fam4:	Dardic
Lingua:	59-AAA-a
Lc1:	aee
Ld1:	Northeastern
Lc2:	glh
Ld2:	Northwestern
Lc3:	psi
Ld3:	Southeastern
Lc4:	psh
Ld4:	Southwestern
Glotto:	pash1270
Glottorefname:	Pashayi
Map:	Map of Languages (in Districts) in Afghanistan.jpg

Pashayi or Pashai (پشه اې ژبه) is a group of Indo-Aryan languages spoken by the Pashai people in parts of Kapisa, Laghman, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Kunar and Kabul (Surobi District) provinces in Northeastern Afghanistan.^[1]

The Pashayi languages had no known written form prior to 2003.^[2] There are four mutually unintelligible varieties, with only about a 30% lexical similarity:

• Northeastern: Aret, Chalas (Chilas), Kandak, Korangal, Kurdar dialects
• Northwestern: Alasai, Bolaghain, Gulbahar, Kohnadeh, Laurowan, Najil, Nangarach, Pachagan, Pandau, Parazhghan, Pashagar, Sanjan, Shamakot, Shutul, Uzbin, Wadau dialects
• Southeastern: Damench, Laghmani, Sum, Upper and Lower Darai Nur, Wegali dialects
• Southwestern: Ishpi, Isken, Tagau dialects

A grammar of the language was written as a doctoral dissertation in 2014.^[3]

Phonology

Consonants

!Labial!Dental/
Alveolar!Palato-
alveolar!Retroflex!Dorsal!Glottal

Nasal		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
Plosive	voiceless	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
	voiced	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
Affricate	voiceless			pronounced as /ink/
	voiced			pronounced as /ink/
Fricative	voiceless		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	(pronounced as /ink/)	pronounced as /ink/	(pronounced as /ink/)
	voiced		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	(pronounced as /ink/)	pronounced as /ink/
	lateral		pronounced as /ink/
Rhotic	tap		pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
	trill		pronounced as /ink/
Approximant	lateral		pronounced as /ink/
	central	pronounced as /ink/ ~ pronounced as /ink/				pronounced as /ink/

• [h] is only phonemic in the Amla dialect.
• Sounds [f] and [q] can also occur, but only in loanwords and among Dari speakers.
• [ʂ] is more commonly heard among older speakers, but is lost among younger speakers, and is heard as a postalveolar [ʃ].
• [ʐ] is more commonly heard among older speakers, but is lost among younger speakers, and is heard as a postalveolar [ʒ].
• /ʋ/ is heard before front vowels /i e/. When occurring before or after central or back vowels /a u o/, it is heard as [w].
• According to Masica (1991) some dialects have a /pronounced as /ink//.

Vowels

Pashayi vowels!!Front!Central!Back

High	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
Mid	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Low		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/

• Only mid or low vowels have lengthened equivalents.
• /e/ can be heard as [ɛ] and /a/ can be heard as [ə] or [æ], in certain environments.

Further reading

• Lamuwal. Abd-El-Malek. Baker. Adam. Southeastern Pashayi. 43. 2. 243-246. 10.1017/S0025100313000133. 2013-08. yes.

Notes and References

1. Book: Masica, Colin P.. The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. 1991. 440.
2. Yun . Ju-Hong . 2003 . Pashai Language Development Project: Promoting Pashai language, literacy and community development . Conference on language development, language revitalization and multilingual education in minority communities in Asia. 6–8 November 2003. Bangkok, Thailand . 5 November 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181105202847/http://palaso.org/ldc/parallel_papers/ju-hong_yun.pdf . 5 November 2018 . dead.
3. Lehr. Rachel. A Descriptive Grammar of Pashai: The Language and Speech Community of Darrai Nur. PhD. 2014. University of Chicago. 978-1-321-22417-7. . en.