Wakhi language

Wakhi (, , X̌ikwor, [xikwɔr]) is an Eastern Iranic language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family, spoken primarily by the Wakhi people native to the Wakhan District of northern Afghanistan, as well as neighboring areas of Pakistan, Tajikistan, and China.

Classification and distribution

Wakhi is one of several languages that belong to the areal Pamir language group. It is believed to be a descendant of the Eastern Iranian Scytho-Khotanese language once spoken in the Eastern Iranian Kingdom of Khotan.

The Wakhi people are occasionally called Pamiris and Guhjali. It is spoken by the inhabitants of the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan, parts of Gilgit-Baltistan (the former NAs) of Pakistan, the Gorno-Badakhshan region of Tajikistan, and Xinjiang in Western China. The Wakhi use the self-appellation 'X̌ik' (ethnic) and suffix it with 'wor'/'war' to denote their language as 'X̌ik-wor' themselves. The noun 'X̌ik' comes from *waxša-ī̆ka- (an inhabitant of *Waxša- 'Oxus', for Wakhan, in Wakhi 'Wux̌.' There are other equivalents for the name Wakhi (Anglicised) or Wakhani (Persian), Vakhantsy (Russian), Gojali/Gojo (Dingrik-wor/Shina), Guyits/Guicho (Burushaski), Wakhigi/Wakhik-war (Kivi-wor/Khow-wor) and Cert (Turkish).

The language belongs, as yet to be confirmed according to studies and sources, to the southern group of the Pamir languages, in the Iranian group of the Indo-European family (450) of languages, where the Ishkashmi, Shighni/...nani and Wakhi languages are included. The Wakhi live in six countries. In the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, the Wakhi people mainly live in Gojal, Ishkoman, and Darkut, as well as in Chitral District's Broghol. They live in parts of Wakhan in Afghanistan, Gorno-Badakhshan in Tajikistan, and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China, Russia, and Turkey.

In Afghanistan

In the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan, Wakhi is spoken from Putur, near Ishkashim, to the upper reaches of the Wakhan River.

In Tajikistan

In Tajikistan, the Wakhi and other communities that speak one of the Pamir languages refer to themselves as Pamiri or Badakhshani, and there has been a movement to separate their identity from that of the majority of Persian-speaking Tajiks. Linguists universally refer to Wakhi as an East Iranian language independent of Tajik Persian, but many Tajik nationalists insist that Wakhi and other Pamir languages are dialects of Tajik Persian.

In Pakistan

In Gilgit-Baltistan, Wakhi is spoken in the sparsely populated upper portions of five of the northernmost valleys: Hunza, Gojal, Ishkoman, Yasin, Gupis, and Yarkhun. The Hunza Valley has the largest Wakhi population in Pakistan. The Wakhis of Ishkoman live primarily in the Karambar valley, the town of Imit, and beyond. In Yasin, they live mainly in the vicinity of Darkot, and in Yarhkun, they are found in Baroghil and a few other small villages in the high, upper portion of the valley.

In Pakistan, the central organization of the Wakhi is the Wakhi Cultural Association Pakistan (WCA). This organization is registered with the Government of Pakistan and collaborates with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Lok Virsa Pakistan. The Association is working to preserve the Wakhi language and culture and document their poetry and music.

Radio Pakistan Gilgit relays the Wakhi radio programme "Sadoyah Boomy Dunyo", the "Voice of the Roof of the World." The Wakhi Cultural Association has arranged more than twenty programmes since 1984, which include cultural shows, musical nights, and large-scale musical festivals with the collaboration of Lok Virsa Pakistan, the Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan (AKCSP), and Pakistan television. In 2000, the WCA won a "Best Programme" organizer award in the Silk Road Festival from the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. A computerized codification of the Pakistani version of the Wakhi script has been released, which will help to promote the language development program and documentation of Wakhi poetry, literature, and history.

In China

Wakhi is also spoken in the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, in the Xinjiang province of China, mainly in the township of Dafdar.

In Russia

There are approximately 21,000 Wakhi in Russia, Most of them have migrated from Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

In Turkey

There are some Wakhi villages in Turkey in the eastern regions, where they have migrated from Afghanistan in 1979 during the Soviet-Afghan war.

Phonology

Vowels

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!Front!!Central!!Back

!Close

|||||

!Mid

|||||

!Open

|colspan="3"|

Consonants

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! Labial

! Dental

! Alveolar

! Alveolo- palatal

! Retroflex

! Velar

! Uvular

! Glottal

|-align=center

! Nasal

|-align=center

! Plosive

|-align=center

! Affricate

|-align=center

! Fricative

|-align=center

! align="left" | Approximant

|-align=center

! Rhotic

Orthography

Traditionally, Wakhi was not a written language. Wakhi people live in 4 countries, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and China, and are in contact with speakers of various other languages. Writing systems have been developed for the language using Persian, Cyrillic, and Latin scripts, each with inspirations from neighboring languages and orthographic conventions. However, due to the pluricentric nature of Wakhi dialects, marginalization in favour of a more significant national/regional language, remoteness, and political instability, no one orthographic standard has managed to rise to the level of a singular unifying writing system.

Persian script

The Persian script for the Wakhi language has been derived from the Persian alphabet used in Afghanistan. However, there are sounds in Wakhi that are not found in Persian. Here, two diverging conventions have emerged, one in Afghanistan and another in Pakistan (and Pakistani-controlled Gilgit-Baltistan). Pashto has inspired letters in Afghanistan to represent missing sounds in Wakhi, especially the various retroflex sounds missing in Persian. Urdu and orthographies of other languages of Gilgit-Baltistan have been the inspiration for the orthography of Wakhi in Pakistan.

Afghan Persian alphabet

The below table is the Afghan version of the Persian alphabet for the Wakhi language. The alphabet has been derived from the alphabet of Dari Persian, Afghanistan's main national languages. Pashto, the other national language of Afghanistan, has been the source of letters for phonemes that don't exist in Persian. This orthographic standard has similarities to the orthographies of other Pamir languages, such as Shughni and Munji.

Stylistically, while in Afghanistan Naskh is the more common script, in Pakistan, similar with Urdu and other orthographies of Northern Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Gilgit-Baltistan, Nastaliq is the more common script.

{|class="wikitable Unicode" dir="rtl"

|+ Wakhi Persian Letters (Pakistan)

! Persian (Latin) <nowiki>[</nowiki>IPA<nowiki>]</nowiki>

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | 1 ‌ - (A a/E e/I i/U u) [∅]([ɨ][ɔ][e][i])

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | 2 (A a) [a]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (B b) [b]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (P p) [p]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (T t) [t̪]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Ṭ ṭ) [ʈ]

! Persian (Latin) <nowiki>[</nowiki>IPA<nowiki>]</nowiki>

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | 3 (S s) [s]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | 3 () [θ]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (J̌ ǰ) [d͡ʒ]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Ž ž) [ʒ]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Č č) [t͡ʃ]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Č̣ č̣) [ʈ͡ʂ]

! Persian (Latin) <nowiki>[</nowiki>IPA<nowiki>]</nowiki>

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (H h) [h]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (X x) [χ]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (X̌ x̌) [x]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (C c) [t͡s]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (D d) [d̪]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Ḍ ḍ) [ɖ]

! Persian (Latin) <nowiki>[</nowiki>IPA<nowiki>]</nowiki>

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | 4 (Z z) [z]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | 4 (Δ δ) [ð]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (R r) [r]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Z z) [z]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Ʒ ʒ) [d͡z]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Ẓ̌ ẓ̌) [ʐ]

! Persian (Latin) <nowiki>[</nowiki>IPA<nowiki>]</nowiki>

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (J̣̌ ǰ̣) [ɖ͡ʐ]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (S s) [s]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Š š) [ʃ]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Ṣ̌ ṣ̌) [ʂ]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (S s) [s]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Z z) [z]

! Persian (Latin) <nowiki>[</nowiki>IPA<nowiki>]</nowiki>

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (T t) [t̪]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Z z) [z]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | ( - ) [∅]/[ʔ]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Ɣ γ) [ʁ]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Ɣ̌ ɣ̌) [ɣ]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (F f) [f]

! Persian (Latin) <nowiki>[</nowiki>IPA<nowiki>]</nowiki>

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (V v) [v]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (Q q) [q]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (K k) [k]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (G g) [ɡ]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (L l) [l]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (M m) [m]

! Persian (Latin) <nowiki>[</nowiki>IPA<nowiki>]</nowiki>

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | (N n) [n]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | 5 (O o/U u/W w) [ɔ][u][w]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | 7 (H h/ - a) [h][a]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | 8,9 (E e/I i/Y y) [e][i][j]

| style="width:7em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" | 9 (- e) [e]

Notes:

Letter alef at the beginning of a word can serve two functions. First, it precedes vowel letters "" [e] and [i], or "" [ɔ]. Second, it acts as a vowel carrier for diacritics of the vowel, "" [ɨ].
Vowel phoneme [a] is represented with "" when at the beginning of a word, and with "" when in the middle or end of a word.
While the letter se "" represents the phoneme [θ], this letter in loanwords that have entered Dari Persian have come to be pronounced as [s]. Due to consistent contact with Dari Persian and Urdu, those loanwords have entered Wakhi via Dari Persian and Urdu (which is an Indo-Aryan language that has been historically heavily influenced by Persian), with their Persian pronunciation. Unlike Persian, Wakhi does have a separate phoneme [θ]. Some sources use the letter se "", whereas others use a new letter, te with 4 dots "" that has been introduced so that there can be distinguishment between the native sound [θ] and the sound [s] produced by the letter se "" in loanwords.
While the letter zal "" represents the phoneme [ð], this letter in loanwords that have entered Dari Persian and Urdu have come to be pronounced as [z]. Due to consistent contact with Dari Persian and Urdu, those loanwords have entered Wakhi via Dari Persian and Urdu (which is an Indo-Aryan language that has been historically heavily influenced by Persian), with their Persian pronunciation. Unlike Persian and Urdu, Wakhi does have a separate phoneme [ð]. Some sources use the letter zal "", whereas others use a new letter, dal with 2 dots "" that has been introduced so that there can be distinguishment between the native sound [ð] and the sound [z] produced by the letter zal "" in loanwords.
Represents three phonemes based on context, [w], [ɔ], and [u]. If used at the beginning of a word, if representing consonant [w], it will be written standalone "". If representing a vowel [ɔ], it will be preceded by alef "". If representing the vowel [u], it will be preceded by a [w] consonant, carrying a zammah diacritic "".
At the end of a word, the letter he "" can either represent a consonant sound [h] or a vowel sound [a] depending on context.
The letter ye represents three phonemes based on context, [e], [i] and [j]. If used at the beginning of a word, if representing consonant [j], it will be written standalone "", if representing a vowel [e] or a vowel [i], it will be preceded by alef "".
There are two types of final ye. in At the end of a word, if representing the consonant [j] or the vowel [i], the small ye "" is used. If representing the vowel [e], the big ye "" is used.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|+Wakhi Persian Vowels (Pakistan)

! A a || E e || I i || Ə ə || Ы ы || O o || U u

! [a] || [e] || [i] || [ə] || [ɨ] || [ɔ] || [u]

! colspan="7" | Vowels at the beginning of a word

|-dir="rtl"

|

| colspan="2" |

| -

|

! colspan="7" | Vowels at the middle of a word

|-dir="rtl"

|

| colspan="2" |

| -

|

! colspan="7" | Vowels at the end of a word

|-dir="rtl"

|

| colspan="2" |

|

Cyrillic script

When Wakhi is written in Cyrillic, the sounds are usually represented by these letters:

{|class="wikitable Unicode"

|-align=center

!Letter

|A a||Ā ā||Ā̒ ā̒||B b||C c||Č č||Č̣ č̣||D d||Ḍ ḍ||Δ δ||E e||Ə ə||F f||G g||Ɣ ɣ*||Ɣ̌ ɣ̌*||H h||I i||J̌ ǰ||J̣̌ ǰ̣||K k||L l||M m||N n

|-align=center

!IPA

|[a]|| || ||[b]||[t͡s]||[t͡ʃ]||[ʈ͡ʂ]||[d̪]||[ɖ]||[ð]||[e]||[ə]||[f]||[ɡ]||[ʁ]||[ɣ]||[h]||[i]||[d͡ʒ]||[ɖ͡ʐ]||[k]||[l]||[m]||[n]

|-align=center

!Letter

|O o||Ō ō||Ō̒ ō̒||P p||Q q||R r||S s||Š š||Ṣ̌ ṣ̌||T t||Ṭ ṭ||Θ θ||U u||U̒ u̒||Ū̒ ū̒||V v||W w||X x||X̌ x̌||Y y||Z z||Ž ž||Ẓ̌ ẓ̌||Ʒ ʒ||Ы ы

|-align=center

!IPA

|[ɔ]|| || ||[p]||[q]||[r]||[s]||[ʃ]||[ʂ]||[t̪]||[ʈ]||[θ]||[u]|| || ||[v]||[w]||[χ]||[x]||[j]||[z]||[ʒ]||[ʐ]||[d͡z]||[ɨ]

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Ɣ ɣ, Ɣ̌ ɣ̌ are Greek gammas as lowercase, and large Greek gammas as capitals. Latin gamma is the closest character available in Unicode.

Vocabulary

The Wakhi lexicon exhibits significant differences with the other Pamir languages. Gawarjon's comparison of the dialects of Sarikoli and Wakhi spoken in China is reproduced below.

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Lexical comparison of seven Iranian languages

! English gloss

! Persian

! Tajik

! Shughni

! Sarikoli

! Pashto

! Wakhi

! Avestan

| one || (یک) || (як) || || || (يو) || || aēuua-

| meat || (گوشت) || (гушт) || || || (غوښه) || || ?

| son || (پسر) || (писар) || || || (زوی) || || puθra-

| fire || (اتش) || (оташ) || || || (اور) || || ātar-

| water || (اب) || (об) || || || (اوبه) || || āp-, ap-

| hand || (دست) || (даст) || || || (لاس) || || zasta-

| foot || (پا) || (по) || || || (پښه) || || pāδ-

| tooth || (دندان) || (дандон) || || || (غاښ) || || daṇt-

| eye || (چشم) || (чашм) || || || (سترګه) || || cašman-

| horse || (اسب) || (асп) || || || (masculine), (feminine) (آس,اسپه)|| || aspa-

| cloud || (ابر) || (абр) || || || (اوريځ) || || maēγa-, aβra-

| wheat || (گندم) || (гандум) || || || (غنم) || || gaṇtuma-

| many || (بسيار) || (бисёр) || || || (ډېر) || || pouru-

| high || (بلند) || (баланд) || || || (لوړ) || || bərəzaṇt-

| far || (دور) || (дур) || || || (لرې) || || dūra-

| good || (خوب) || (хуб) || || || (ښه) || || vohu-, vaŋhu-

| small || (کوچک) || (хурд) || || || (لږ) || || ?

| to say || (گفت) || (гуфт) || || || (ويل) || || aoj-, mrū-, saŋh-

| to do || (کرد) || (кард) || || || (کول) || || kar-

| easiness || (آسانی) || (осонй) || || || (اسانتیا) || || usi-

| to see || (ديد)/ bin (present stem) || (дид)/ bin(бин) || || || (لید)/ win (present stem)|| || dī-, vaēn-

Publications

In Pakistan multiple books have been published since 1980s.

X̌ikwor zik by Master Haqiqat, Religious hymns by Riaz Ahmed Riaz.

Qaida e Wakhi Zaban by Ahmed Jami Sakhi.

Magazines and Parlon Wakhi by Karim Khan Saka.

"Beyoz-e-Bulbul" by Nazir Ahmad Bulbul.

A collection of old and new poems folklores compiled by Bulbulik Heritage Center, Gulmit.

Sample text

Sample text from a Bible translation published in 2001 is shown here below:

| dir="rtl" |

| dir="rtl" |

References

External links

English-Ishkashimi-Zebaki-Wakhi-Yazghulami Vocabulary
Wakhi poetry
Wakhi language book by Haqiqat Ali (1985)

Wakhi language

Classification and distribution

In Afghanistan

In Tajikistan

In Pakistan

In China

In Russia

In Turkey

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Orthography

Persian script

Afghan Persian alphabet

Cyrillic script

Vocabulary

Publications

Sample text

See also

References

Further reading

External links