Kundal Shahi language

Indo-Aryan language of Pakistan
Kundal Shahi
کنڈل شاہی
Kunḍal Šāhī
Native toPakistan
RegionNeelam Valley
Native speakers
700 (2005)[1]
Language family
Indo-European
  • Indo-Iranian
    • Indo-Aryan
      • Eastern Dardic
        • Shinaic
          • Kundal Shahi
Language codes
ISO 639-3shd
Glottologkund1257
34°33′17″N 73°50′38″E / 34.5548°N 73.8439°E / 34.5548; 73.8439

Kundal Shahi (کنڈل شاہی, Kunḍal Šāhī) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 700 people in the Kundal Shahi village of Neelam Valley in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan.[2] It is an endangered language and its speakers are shifting to Hindko.[3]

Phonology

The following tables set out the phonology of Kundal Shahi.[4]

Vowels

Kundal Shahi is unusual amongst Dardic languages in that it has front rounded vowels.[5]

Front Central Back
unrounded rounded unrounded rounded
Close i y u
Close-Mid e øː ə o
Open-Mid ɛ ɛː ʌ ɔ ɔː
Open a

Consonants

Like Kashmiri, Kundal Shahi is unusual amongst Dardic languages in that it lacks retroflex fricatives and affricates.[5]

Labial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɳ (ŋ)
Plosive/
Affricate
voiceless p t ʈ k
aspirated ʈʰ tʃʰ
voiced b d ɖ ɡ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ x h
voiced z
Lateral l
Flap ɾ ɽ
Approximant j w

Tone

Kundal Shahi, like many Dardic languages, has either phonemic tone or, as in Kundal Shahi, pitch accent.[6] Words may have only one accented mora, which is associated with high pitch; the remaining mora have a default or low pitch.[5]

Endangered

Kundal Shahi is severely endangered with less than 500 speakers, most of whom are over the age of 40.[7]

References

  1. ^ Kundal Shahi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "Kundal Shahi". Ethnologue.
  3. ^ A. Rehman, Khawaja; L. G. Baart, Joan (2005). "A First Look at the Language of Kundal Shahi in Azad Kashmir" (PDF). SIL International.
  4. ^ Baart & Rehman 2005, pp. 10–13.
  5. ^ a b c Baart & Rehman 2005.
  6. ^ Baart 2003, pp. 3, 6.
  7. ^ "A first look at the language of Kundal Shahi in Azad Kashmir". 28 January 2013.

Bibliography

  • 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
  • Baart, Joan L. G.; Rehman, Khawaja A. (2005). "A first look at the language of Kundal Shahi in Azad Kashmir". SIL Electronic Working Papers.

Further reading

  • Rehman, Khawaja A. (2011). "Ergativity In Kundal Shahi, Kashmiri And Hindko". In Mark Turin; Bettina Zeisler (eds.). Himalayan languages and linguistics: studies in phonology, semantics, morphology and syntax. Brill's Tibetan studies library, Languages of the greater Himalayan region. Leiden: Brill. pp. 219–234. ISBN 978-90-04-19448-9.
  • Rehman, Khawaja A. (2011). Language Shift In the Neelam Valley: A Case Study of the Kundal Shahi Language (PhD). Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

External links

  • ELAR archive of Documentation of the Kundal Shahi Language, Kundal Shahi, Pakistan
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