Khowar language

Khowar (کهووار), is an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic group spoken in Chitral and Gilgit region of Pakistan.[3]

"Khowar" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Khowa, Khovar, or Khuwar.
"Chitrali language" redirects here. For other uses, see Chitrali language (disambiguation).

Khowar
کهووار
Khowar written in the Arabic script
Native toPakistan
RegionChitral District
EthnicityKho
Native speakers
290,000 (2004)[1]
Khowar alphabet (Arabic script)
Language codes
ISO 639-3khw
Glottologkhow1242
ELPKhowar[2]
Linguasphere59-AAB-aa
Khowar is a minor language of Pakistan which is mainly spoken in Chitral, it is given a space in this map.
Khowar special letter

Khowar is spoken by the Kho people in the whole of Chitral, as well as in the Gupis-Yasin and Ghizer districts of Gilgit, and in parts of Upper Swat (Mateltan Village). 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 region.

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 (a valley in Gilgit-Baltistan) where Khowar is spoken.[4]

History

Morgenstierne noted that "Khowar, in many respects [is] the most archaic of all modern Indian languages, retaining a great part of Sanskrit case inflexion, and retaining many words in a nearly Sanskritic form."[7]:3

Phonology

Khowar has a variety of dialects, which may vary phonemically.[8] The following tables lay out the basic phonology of Khowar.[9][10][11]

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close iu
Mid ɛ ɔ
Open ɑ

Khowar may also have nasalized vowels and a series of long vowels /ɑː/, /ɛː/, /iː/, /ɔː/, 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."[8] Unlike the neighboring and related Kalasha language, Khowar does not have retroflex vowels.[9]

Consonants
Labial Coronal Retroflex Palatal Velar Post-
velar		 Glottal
Nasal m n
Stop voiceless p t ʈ k q
voiced b d ɖ g
aspirated pʰ tʰ ʈʰ kʰ
Affricate voiceless ts ʈʂ tɕ
voiced dz ɖʐ dʑ
aspirated tsʰ ʈʂʰ tɕʰ
Fricative voiceless f s ʂ ɕ x h
voiced z ʐ ʑ ɣ
Approximant ʋ l(ʲ) ɫ j (w)
Rhotic ɾ

Allophones of /x ɣ h ʋ ɾ/ are heard as sounds [χ ʁ ɦ w ɹ].[11]

Tone

Khowar, like many Dardic languages, has either phonemic tone or stress distinctions.[12]

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.

Dialects
  • Standard Khowar
  • Chitrali Khowar(Torkhow and Mulkhow Valley)
  • Chitrali Khowar (Chitral Town)
  • Swati Khowar (Swat Kohistan)
  • Lotkuhiwar (Lotkuh Valley/ Gramchashma Valley)
  • Gherzikwar (Ghizer Valley)
  • Gilgiti Khowar (Gilgit-Baltistan), spoken by a few families in Gilgit city.

Khowar media

Television channels
See also: Television in Pakistan
TV Channel Genre Founded Official Website
Khyber News TV (خیبر نیوز ٹیلی ویژن)News and current affairs http://www.khybernews.tv/
AVT Khyber TV (اے وی ٹی خیبر)Entertainment http://www.avtkhyber.tv/
K2 TV (کے ٹو)Entertainment, news and current affairs http://www.kay2.tv/
Zeal News (ذیل نیوز) News and Current Affairs 2016 http://www.khowar.zealnews.tv

Radio

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

See also: Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation
Radio Channel Genre Founded Official Website
Radio Pakistan Chitral FM93Entertainmenthttp://www.radio.gov.pk/
Radio Pakistan PeshawarEntertainmenthttp://www.radio.gov.pk/
Radio Pakistan GilgitEntertainmenthttp://www.radio.gov.pk/
FM97 Chitral Entertainment http://www.hotfm.com.pk

Newspapers
See also: List of newspapers in Pakistan § Khowar
Newspaper City(ies) Founded Official Website
Chitral Vision (چترال وژن) Karachi, Chitral, Pakistan   https://www.chitralvision.com
Chitral Today     http://chitraltoday.net

References
  1. Khowar at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016)
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Khowar.
  3. electricpulp.com. "DARDESTĀN – Encyclopaedia Iranica".
  4. Grierson, George A. (1919). Linguistic Survey of India. Volume VIII, Part 2, Indo-Aryan family. North-western group. Specimens of the Dardic or Piśācha languages (including Kāshmiri). Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. p. 133.
  5. O'Brien, Donatus James Thomond (1895). Grammar and vocabulary of the K̲h̲owâr dialect (Chitrâli). Lahore: Civil and military gazette press. p. i.
  6. Leitner, Gottlieb William (1880). Kafiristan. Section 1: the Bashgeli Kafirs and their language. Lahore: Dilbagroy. p. 43. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  7. Morgenstierne, Georg (1974). "Languages of Nuristan and surrounding regions". In Jettmar, Karl; Edelberg, Lennart (eds.). Cultures of the Hindukush: selected papers from the Hindu-Kush Cultural Conference held at Moesgård 1970. Beiträge zur Südasienforschung, Südasien-Institut Universität Heidelberg. Bd. 1. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner. pp. 1–10. ISBN 978-3-515-01217-1.
  8. Edelman, D. I. (1983). The Dardic and Nuristani Languages. Moscow: Institut vostokovedenii︠a︡ (Akademii︠a︡ nauk SSSR). p. 210.
  9. Bashir, Elena L. (1988), "Topics in Kalasha Syntax: An areal and typological perspective" (PDF), Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Michigan: 37–40
  10. Bashir, Elena L.; Nigah, Maula; Baig, Rahmat Karim, A Digital Khowar-English Dictionary with Audio
  11. Liljegren, H.; Khan, A. (2017). "Khowar". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 47: 219–229.
  12. Baart, Joan L. G. (2003), Tonal features in languages of northern Pakistan (PDF), National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University and Summer Institute of Linguistics, pp. 3, 6

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.
  • Zeal News

″https://www.chitraltoday.net/2015/06/cultural-diversity-of-chitral/#:~:text=Chitral%20is%20also%20the%20most,lived%20together%20peacefully%20for%20centuries.

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