Shina is one of the few Dardic languages with a written tradition.[7] However, it was an unwritten language until a few decades ago.[8] Only in late 2010s has Shina orthography been standardized and primers as well as dictionaries have been published. [9][5]
Since the first attempts at accurately representing Shina's phonology in the 1960s there have been several proposed orthographies for the different varieties of the language, with debates centering on how to write several retroflex sound not present in Urdu and whether vowel length and tone should be represented.[10]
There are two main orthographic conventions now, one in Pakistani-controlled areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and in Kohistan, and the other in Indian-controlled area of Dras, Ladakh.
Below alphabet has been standardized, documented, and popularized thanks to efforts of literaturists such as Professor Muhammad Amin Ziya, Shakeel Ahmad Shakeel, and Razwal Kohistani, and it has been developed for all Shina language dialects, including Gilgit dialect and Kohistani dialect, which [9][5][11] The Kohistani Shina alphabet differs slightly from the Gilgiti variety. For example, it includes one additional letter ڦ, and it includes several additional digraphs to represent additional aspirated consonants unique to Kohistani. Furthermore, variations and personal preferences can be observed across Shina documents. For example, it is common to see someone use سً instead of ݜ for [ʂ], or use sukun◌ْ (U+0652) instead of small sideway noon◌ࣿ (U+08FF) to indicate short vowels. However, these variations are no longer an issue. Another issue is that of how to write loanwords that use letters not found in Shina language, for example letters "س / ث / ص", which all sound like [s] in Shina. Some documents preserve the original spelling, despite the letters being homophones and not having any independent sound of their own, similar to orthographic conventions of Persian and Urdu. Whereas other documents prefer to rewrite all loanwords in a single Shina letter, and thus simplify the writing, similar to orthographic conventions of Kurdish and Uyghur.
Shina vowels are distinguished by length, by whether or not they're nasalized, and by tone. Nasalization is represented like other Perso-Arabic alphabets in Pakistan, with Nun Ghunna (ن٘ـ / ـن٘ـ / ں). In Shina, tone variation only occur when there is a long vowel. There are conventions unique to Shina to show the three tones. In Shina conventions, specific diacritics are shown in conjunction with the letters aliv, waaw, buṛi ye, and ye (ا، و، یـ، ی، ے), as these letters are written down to represent long vowels. The diacritics inverted damma◌ٗ (U+0657) and superscript alef◌ٰ (U+0670) represent a rising tone and a falling tone respectively. Another diacritic, a small sideway noon◌ࣿ (U+08FF) is used to represent short vowels when need be.[12]
At the beginning of a word it can either come with diacritic, or it can come in form of aliv-madda (آ), or it can be stand-alone and silent, succeeded by a vowel letter. Diacritics اَ اِ، اُ can be omitted in writing.
The letter waaw can either represent consonant ([w/v]) or vowel ([oo]). It can also act as a carrier of vowel diacritics, representing several other vowels. At the beginning of a word, when representing a consonant, the letter waaw will appear as a standalone character, followed by the appropriate vowel. If representing a vowel at the beginning of a word, the letter waaw needs to be preceded by an alivا. When the letter waaw comes at the end of the word representing a consonant sound [w], a hamza is used ؤ to label it as such and avoid mispronunciation as a vowel.[12]
This letter differs from do-ac̣hi'ii hay (ھ) and they are not interchangeable. Similar to Urdu,do-chashmi hē (ھ) is exclusively used as a second part of digraphs for representing aspirated consonants. In initial and medial position, the letter hē always represents the consonant [h]. In final position, The letter hē can either represent consonant ([h]) or it can demonstrate that the word ends with short vowels a◌َہ / ـَہ, i◌ِہ / ـِہ, u◌ُہ / ـُہ.[12]
Used mid-word to indicate separation between a syllable and another that starts with a vowel. hamza on top of letters waaw and ye at end of a word serves a function too. When the letter waaw or ye come at the end of the word representing a consonant sound [w] or [y], a hamza is used ؤ / ئ / ـئ to label it as such and avoid mispronunciation as a vowel.[9][12]
The letter ye can either represent consonant ([j]) or vowels ([e]/[i]). It can also act as a carrier of vowel diacritics, representing several other vowels. At the beginning of a word, when representing a consonant, the letter ye will appear as a standalone character, followed by the appropriate vowel. If representing a vowel at the beginning of a word, the letter ye needs to be preceded by an alivا. When the letter ye comes at the end of the word representing a consonant sound [j], a hamza is used ئ to label it as such and avoid mispronunciation as a vowel. When representing a vowel at the end of a word, it can only be [i]. For vowel [e], the letter buṛi yeے is used.
There are five vowels in Kohistani Shina language. Each of the five vowels in Kohistani Shina have a short version and a long version. Shina is also a tonal language. Short vowels in Shina have a short high level tone ˥. Long vowels can either have "no tone", i.e. a long flat tone ˧, a long rising tone [˨˦], or a long falling tone (/˥˩/.
All five vowels have a defined way of presentation in Kohistani Shina orthographic conventions, including letters and diacritics. Although diacritics can and are occasionally dropped in writing. Short vowels [a], [i], and [u] are solely written with diacritics. Short vowels [e] and [o] are written with letters waw and buṛi ye. A unique diacritic, a small sideway noon◌ࣿ (U+08FF) is used on top of these letters to indicate a short vowel.[12] Long vowels are written with a combination of diacritics and letters aliv, waaw or ye.
Below table shows short vowels at the beginning, middle, and end of a word.[12][13]
Vowel at the beginning of the word
a
e
i
o
u
اَ
ایࣿـ / اےࣿ
اِ
اوࣿ
اُ
Vowel at the middle of the word
ـَ
یࣿـ / ـیࣿـ
ـِ
وࣿ / ـوࣿ
ـُ
Vowel at the end of the word
◌َہ / ـَہ
ےࣿ / ـےࣿ
◌ِہ / ـِہ
وࣿ / ـوࣿ
◌ُہ / ـُہ
Below table shows long vowels at the beginning, middle, and end of a word, with "no tone", i.e. a long flat tone ˧.[12][13]
Vowel at the beginning of the word
aa
ee
ii
oo
uu
آ
ایـ / اے
اِیـ / اِی
او
اُو
Vowel at the middle of the word
ا / ـا
یـ / ـیـ
◌ِیـ / ـِیـ
و / ـو
◌ُو / ـُو
Vowel at the end of the word
ا / ـا
ے / ـے
◌ِی / ـِی
و / ـو
◌ُو / ـُو
Below table shows long vowels at the beginning, middle, and end of a word, with a long rising tone [˨˦].[12][13]
Vowel at the beginning of the word
aá
eé
ií
oó
uú
آٗ
ایٗـ / اےٗ
اِیٗـ / اِیٗ
اوٗ
اُوٗ
Vowel at the middle of the word
اٗ / ـاٗ
یٗـ / ـیٗـ
◌ِیٗـ / ـِیٗـ
وٗ / ـوٗ
◌ُوٗ / ـُوٗ
Vowel at the end of the word
اٗ / ـاٗ
ےٗ / ـےٗ
◌ِیٗ / ـِی
وٗ / ـوٗ
◌ُوٗ / ـُوٗ
Below table shows long vowels at the beginning, middle, and end of a word, with a long falling tone (/˥˩/.[12][13]
↑ Bashir 2003, p.823. "Of the languages discussed here, Shina (Pakistan) and Khowar have developed a written tradition and a significant body of written material exists."
1 2 3 4 5 Radloff, Carla F. with Shakil Ahmad Shakil.1998. Folktales in the Shina of Gilgit. Islamabad: The National Institute of Pakistan Studies and Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Sources
Bashir, Elena L. (2003). "Dardic". In George Cardona; Dhanesh Jain (eds.). The Indo-Aryan languages. Routledge language family series. Y. London: Routledge. pp.818–94. ISBN978-0-7007-1130-7.
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