Zemiaki language explained

Zemiaki
Nativename:J̌amlām-am bašā
States:Afghanistan
Region:Nuristan Province
Speakers:500
Date:1999
Familycolor:Indo-European
Fam2:Indo-Iranian
Fam3:Nuristani
Fam4:Southern
Iso3:none
Iso3comment:(included in [nli])
Glotto:zemi1238
Glottorefname:Zemiaki
Notice:Indic

Zemiaki (Zamyaki) is a Nuristani language spoken by some 400–500 people in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan.

It is named after the settlement in which it is spoken, from the Pashto Pushto; Pashto: Zemyaki žə́ba "language of Zemyaki", the native equivalent being J̌amlām-am bašā. It is closely related to Waigali, and ancestors of the Zemyakis were, according to local tradition, Waigalis who migrated into the area several centuries ago. The language spoken in the surrounding areas is Pashto, and it has been a source of a large number of lexical borrowings, including several common conjunctions.

There is no grammatical gender, but number and person are marked on the verb, following a split-ergative pattern of agreement.

It was thought that Zemiaki is a dialect of Grangali, an Indo-Aryan language. However, its pronouns are characteristically Nuristani, with a close relationship to Waigali, which is confirmed by local tradition.

Vocabulary

Pronouns

PersonNominativeAccusativeGenitive
1stsg.akeũūba, umba
pl.amiamba
2ndsg.tutuba
pl.meameamemba

Numbers

  1. yok
  2. du
  3. tre
  4. -
  5. -
  6. -
  7. -
  8. -
  9. -
  10. doš

Bibliography