Dardic languages

The terms "Dardic" and "Dardistan" were coined by G. W. Leitner in the late nineteenth century; derived from the Greek and Latin term Daradae, which is itself derived from the Sanskrit term for the people of the region, Daradas.[6] In Vedic records, Daradas is identified to be the Gilgit region, in the Gilgit-Baltistan region (part of ancient Baloristan)[7][8] along the river Sindhu (Indus). However, these terms are not used endonymically by Dardic people.

George Abraham Grierson (1919), with scant data, postulated a family of "Dardic languages", which he characterised as an independent branch of the Indo-Iranian languages. Grierson's Dardic language family originally encompassed three subfamilies; "Kafiri" (now called Nuristani), "Central" and "Dard" languages. However, Grierson's formulation of Dardic is now considered to be incorrect in its details, and has therefore been rendered obsolete by modern scholarship. However, it continues to be cited as a reference, in various publications.[9]

Georg Morgenstierne (1961), after a "lifetime of study," came to the view that only the "Kafiri" (Nuristani) languages formed an independent branch of the Indo-Iranian languages separate from Indo-Aryan and Iranian families, and determined that the Dardic languages were unmistakably Indo-Aryan in character.[10]

Dardic languages contain absolutely no features which cannot be derived from old [Indo-Aryan language]. They have simply retained a number of striking archasisms, which had already disappeared in most Prakrit dialects... There is not a single common feature distinguishing Dardic, as a whole, from the rest of the [Indo-Aryan] languages... Dardic is simply a convenient term to denote a bundle of aberrant [Indo-Aryan] hill-languages which, in their relative isolation, accented in many cases by the invasion of Pathan tribes, have been in varying degrees sheltered against the expand influence of [Indo-Aryan] Midland (Madhyadesha) innovations, being left free to develop on their own.[11]

According to a model proposed by Asko Parpola, the Dardic languages are directly descended from the Rigvedic dialect of Vedic Sanskrit.[12]

In general, however, Morgenstierne's scheme corresponds to recent scholarly consensus.[13] As such, Dardic's position as a legitimate genetic subfamily has been repeatedly called into question; it is widely acknowledged that the grouping is more geographical in nature, as opposed to linguistic.[3] Indeed, Buddruss rejected the Dardic grouping entirely, and placed the languages within Central Indo-Aryan.[14] Other scholars, such as Strand[15] and Mock,[16] have similarly voiced doubts in this regard.

However, Kachru contrasts "Midland languages" spoken in the plains, such as Punjabi and Hindustani, with "Mountain languages", such as Dardic.[17] Kogan has also suggested an 'East-Dardic' sub-family; comprising the 'Kashmiri', 'Kohistani' and 'Shina' groups.[18][19]

The case of Kashmiri is peculiar. Its Dardic features are close to Shina, often said to belong to an eastern Dardic language subfamily. Kachru notes that "the Kashmiri language used by Kashmiri Hindu Pandits has been powerfully influenced by Indian culture and literature, and the greater part of its vocabulary is now of Indian origin, and is allied to that of Sanskritic Indo-Aryan languages of northern India".[17]

While it is true that many Dardic languages have been influenced by non-Dardic languages, Dardic may have also influenced neighbouring Indo-Aryan lects in turn, such as Punjabi,[20] the Pahari languages, including the Central Pahari languages of Uttarakhand,[20][21] and purportedly even further afield.[22][23] Some linguists have posited that Dardic lects may have originally been spoken throughout a much larger region, stretching from the mouth of the Indus (in Sindh) northwards in an arc, and then eastwards through modern day Himachal Pradesh to Kumaon. However, this has not been conclusively established. [24][25][26]

Dardic languages have been organized into the following subfamilies:[27]

• Kashmiri languages: Kashmiri, Kishtwari
• Shina languages: Brokskad, Kundal Shahi, Shina, Ushojo, Kalkoti, Palula, Savi
• Chitral languages: Kalasha, Khowar
• Kohistani languages: Bateri, Chilisso, Gowro, Indus Kohistani, Kalami, Tirahi, Torwali, Wotapuri-Katarqalai
• Pashayi
• Kunar languages: Dameli, Gawar-Bati, Nangalami, Shumashti

In other classifications, Pashai may be included within Kunar; and Kashmiri within Shina.

Poguli is has been judged to be intermediate between Kashmiri and Western Pahari (Kaul 2006).

The languages of the Dardic group share some common defining characteristics, including the loss of aspirated sounds, in addition to word order that is seemingly unique for Indo-Iranian languages.

• Dardistan
• Dard people
• Nuristani languages

1.^ The Khowar word for 'earth' is more accurately represented, with tonality, as buúm rather than buum, where ú indicates a rising tone.

2.^ The word drolid actually includes a Kashmiri half-vowel, which is difficult to render in the Urdu, Devnagri and Roman scripts alike. Sometimes, an umlaut is used when it occurs in conjunction with a vowel, so the word might be more accurately rendered as drölid.

3.^ Sandhi rules in Sanskrit allow the combination of multiple neighboring words together into a single word: for instance, word-final 'ah' plus word-initial 'a' merge into 'o'. In actual Sanskrit literature, with the effects of sandhi, this sentence would be expected to appear as Eṣá ékóśvósti. Also, word-final 'a' is Sanskrit is a schwa, [ə] (similar to the ending 'e' in the German name, Nietzsche), so e.g. the second word is pronounced [éːkə]. Pitch accent is indicated with an acute accent in the case of the older Vedic language, which was inherited from Proto-Indo-European.

4.^ Hindi-Urdu, and other non-Dardic Indo-Aryan languages, also sometimes utilize a "verb second" order (similar to Kashmiri and English) for dramatic effect.[32] Yeh ek ghoṛā hai is the normal conversational form in Hindi-Urdu. Yeh hai ek ghoṛā is also grammatically correct but indicates a dramatic revelation or other surprise. This dramatic form is often used in news headlines in Hindi-Urdu, Punjabi and other Indo-Aryan languages.

Academic literature from outside South Asia

• Morgenstierne, G. Irano-Dardica. Wiesbaden 1973;
• Morgenstierne, G. Die Stellung der Kafirsprachen. In Irano-Dardica, 327-343. Wiesbaden, Reichert 1975
• Decker, Kendall D. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, Volume 5. Languages of Chitral.

Academic literature from South Asia

• The Comparative study of Urdu and Khowar. Badshah Munir Bukhari National Language Authority Pakistan 2003. [No Reference]
• National Institute of Pakistani Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University & Summer Institute of Linguistics

• Koul, Omkar N. (2008), "Dardic Languages", in Vennelakanti Prakāśam (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the Linguistic Sciences: Issues and Theories, Allied Publishers, pp. 142–147, ISBN 978-81-8424-279-9
• Masica, Colin P. (1993), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-29944-2