Gawar-Bati language

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Gawar-Bati
Narsati
Gawar-Bati.svg
Native to Pakistan, Afghanistan
Region Chitral, Kunar Province
Native speakers
36,000 (2017–2021) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 gwt
Glottolog gawa1247
ELP Gawar-Bati

Gawar-Bati or Narsati is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Chitral region of northern Pakistan, and across the border in Afghanistan. It is also known as Aranduyiwar in Chitral because it is spoken in Arandu, which is the last village in lower Chitral and is also across the border from Berkot in Afghanistan. There are about 9,000 speakers of Gawar-Bati, with 1,500 in Pakistan, and 7,500 in Afghanistan. The name Gawar-Bati means "speech of the Gawar", [2] a people detailed by the Cacopardos in their study of the Hindu Kush. [3]

Contents

Study and classification

The Gawar-Bati language has not been given serious study by linguists, except that it is mentioned by George Morgenstierne (1926) and Kendall Decker (1992).

It is classified as an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic subgroup. However, the term Dardic is not linguistic but merely geographic. [4]

Phonology

The following tables set out the phonology of the Gawar-Bati language: [5]

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close iiːuuː
Mid (e)eː(o)oː
Open aaː

The status of short /e/ and /o/ is unclear.

Consonants

A breathy voiced series, /bʱ dʱ gʱ/, existed recently in older speakers—and may still do so.

Labial Coronal Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal mnɳ
Stop voiceless ptʈk
voiced bdɖɡ
aspirated pʰ[pff]tʰʈʰkʰ
Affricate voiceless tstʂtʃ
voiced dzdʐdʒ
aspirated tsʰtʂʰtʃʰ
Fricative voiceless sʂʃxh
voiced zʐʒɣ
Approximant jw
Lateral plainl
Fricative ɬ~l̥
Rhotic rɽ

Orthography

It is rarely written. This alphabet is used in Pakistan: [6]

Letterابپتٹثجچحخڄݮڅځدڈذرڑزژݫس
Transliteration ā, Øbptṭsǰčhxc̣j̣cjdḍzrṛzẓžs
IPA [aː], Ø[b][p][t][ʈ][s][d͡ʒ][t͡ʃ][h][x][ʈ͡ʂ][ɖ͡ʐ][t͡s][d͡z][d][ɖ][z][r~ɾ][ɽ][z][ʐ][ʒ][s]
Letterشݭصضطظعغفقکگلݪمنݨںهءویے
Transliteration šṣsztzʔǧfqkglłmnṇ˜hʔw, ū, oy, īe
IPA [ʃ][ʂ][s][z][t][z][ʔ][ɣ][f][q][k][ɡ][l][ɬ~l][m][n][ɳ][˜][h][ʔ][w], [uː], [oː][j], [iː][eː]
Letterتھپھٹھچھڄھڅھکھَُِ
Transliteration thphṭhčhc̣hchkhaiu
IPA [tʰ][pʰ][ʈʰ][t͡ʃʰ][ʈ͡ʂʰ][t͡sʰ][kʰ][a][i][u]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Gawar-Bati at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. ↑ Decker, Kendall D. (1992). Languages of Chitral. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, volume 5. Islamabad, Pakistan: National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University. pp. 153–154. ISBN   978-969-8023-15-7.
  3. ↑ Cacopardo, Alberto M.; Cacopardo, Augusto S. (2001). Gates of Peristan: History, Religion and Society in the Hindu Kush. Rome, Italy: IsIAO. pp. 227–248. OCLC   50292664.
  4. ↑ Bashir, Elena (2007). Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (eds.). The Indo-Aryan languages. Routledge. p. 905. ISBN   978-0415772945. 'Dardic' is a geographic cover term for those Northwest Indo-Aryan languages which [..] developed new characteristics different from the IA languages of the Indo-Gangetic plain. Although the Dardic and Nuristani (previously 'Kafiri') languages were formerly grouped together, Morgenstierne (1965) has established that the Dardic languages are Indo-Aryan, and that the Nuristani languages constitute a separate subgroup of Indo-Iranian.
  5. ↑ Edelman, D. I. (1983). The Dardic and Nuristani Languages. Moscow: Institut vostokovedenii︠a︡ (Akademii︠a︡ nauk SSSR). p. 139.
  6. ↑ Gawarbati Alif Be fli-online.org

Further reading

35°19′38″N71°35′05″E / 35.32722°N 71.58472°E / 35.32722; 71.58472

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