Khowar language

Khowar letter jeem

Khowar, also known as Chitrali, Qashqari and Arniya, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic branch.^[3]

"Kho" means the people of Chitral, "War" means language. It is spoken by the Kho people in Chitral district, Ghizer district of Gilgit-Baltistan (including the Yasin Valley, Golaghmuli Valley, Phandar Ishkoman and Gupis), and in parts of Upper Swat. Speakers of Khowar have also migrated heavily to Pakistan's major urban centres with Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, having significant populations. It is spoken as a second language in the rest of Gilgit and Hunza. There are believed to be small numbers of Khowar speakers in Afghanistan, China, Tajikistan and Istanbul.

Khowar is the predominant language of Chitral, and one of the 14 designated regional languages there.

Names

The native name of the language is Khō-wār,^[4] meaning "language" (wār) of the Kho people. During the British Raj it was known to the English as Chitrālī (a derived adjective from the name of the Chitral region) or Qāshqārī.^[4] Among the Pathans and Badakshis it is known as Kashkār.^[5] Another name, used by Leitner in 1880, is Arnyiá^[6] or Arniya, derived from the Shina language name for the part of the Yasin where Khowar is spoken.^[4]

Phonology

Khowar has a variety of dialects, which may vary phonemically.^[7] The following tables lay out the basic phonology of Khowar.^[8][9]

Vowels

Khowar may also have nasalized vowels and a series of long vowels /aː/, /eː/, /iː/, /oː/, and /uː/. Sources are inconsistent on whether length is phonemic, with one author stating "vowel-length is observed mainly as a substitute one. The vowel-length of phonological value is noted far more rarely."^[7] Unlike the neighboring and related Kalasha language, Khowar does not have retroflex vowels.^[8]

Consonants

The phonemic status of /tsʰ/ is unclear in the sources

Tone

Khowar, like many Dardic languages, has either phonemic tone or stress distinctions.^[10]

Writing system

Since the early twentieth century Khowar has been written in the Khowar alphabet, which is based on the Urdu alphabet and uses the Nasta'liq script. Prior to that, the language was carried on through oral tradition. Today Urdu and English are the official languages and the only major literary usage of Khowar is in both poetry and prose composition. Khowar has also been occasionally written in a version of the Roman script called Roman Khowar since the 1960s.

Comparative Vocabulary

The names of the days of the week, in Khowar, are compared with their equivalents in Shina, Sanskrit, and English. (It should be noted however that all the Khowar names except for that of 'Friday' are taken from the Dari Persian language; compare the name for 'Monday' with the Persian name of the city Dushambe.)

Dialects

• Standard Khowar
• Swati Khowar (Swat Kohistan)
• Lotkuhiwar (Lotkuh Valley)
• Gherzikwar (Ghizer Valley)
• Gilgiti Khowar (Gilgit-Baltistan), spoken by a few families in Gilgit city.

Khowar media

Television channels

Radio

These are not dedicated Khowar channels but play most programmes in Khowar.

Newspapers

Gallery

• 
  Allama Iqbal's poetry's versified khowar translation by Rehmat Aziz Chitrali

See also

• Kho people

References

Additional references

• Bashir, Elena (2001) "Spatial Representation in Khowar". Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
• Decker, D. Kendall (1992). Languages of Chitral. ISBN 969-8023-15-1. 
• L'Homme, Erik (1999) Parlons Khowar. Langue et culture de l'ancien royaume de Chitral au Pakistan. Paris: L'Harmattan
• Morgenstierne, Georg (1936) "Iranian Elements in Khowar". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. VIII, London.
• Badshah Munir Bukhari (2001) Khowar language. University publisher. Pakistan
• Morgenstierne, Georg (1947) "Some Features of Khowar Morphology". Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap, Vol. XIV, Oslo.
• Morgenstierne, Georg (1957) Sanskritic Words in Khowar. Felicitation Volume Presented to S. K. Belvalkar. Benares. 84–98 [Reprinted in Morgenstierne (1973): Irano-Dardica, 267–72]
• Mohammad Ismail Sloan (1981) Khowar-English Dictionary. Peshawar. ISBN 0-923891-15-3.
• Decker, Kendall D. (1992). Languages of Chitral (Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 5). National Institute of Pakistani Studies, 257 pp. ISBN 969-8023-15-1.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Khowar language.

Khowar language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

• "Georg Morgenstierne". National Library of Norway. 2001. Retrieved 11 January 2009. 
• Strand, Richard F. (2011). "Khow`ar Lexicon". Retrieved 16 January 2012. 
• Strand, Richard F. (2012). "The Sound System of Khow`ar". Retrieved 16 January 2012. 
• Chitrali, Rehmat Aziz. (2015). "The Khowar Language Text Editor". Retrieved 15 October 2015. 

Languages of Pakistan
Official languages	Urdu English
Provincial languages	Punjabi Pashto Sindhi Balochi
Minority languages (by administrative unit)	Azad Kashmir Dogri Gujari Kashmiri Pothohari Balochistan Brahui Dehwari Hazaragi Khetrani Wanetsi FATA Ormuri Wazir Gilgit-Baltistan‎ Balti Purgi Burushaski Domaaki Khowar Kundal Shahi Munji Shina Waigali Wakhi ‎Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Burushaski Badeshi Bateri Chilisso Dameli Gawar-Bati Gowro Hindko Kagani Kalami Kalasha Kalkoti Kamviri Khowar Maiya Palula Torwali Ushoji Yidgha Punjab Bagri Dogri Rajasthani Western Punjabi Pothohari Saraiki other varieties Sindh Aer Bagri Bhaya Dhatki Goaria Gujarati Jadgali Jandavra Jogi Koli Parkari Kutchi Loarki Marwari Memoni Mewari Od Rajasthani
Related topics	Indo-Aryan languages Dardic languages Iranic languages Pakistani Sign Language Arabic Persian Hindustani Hindi Chagatai