Search

This study presents selected features in the phonology and grammar of Sauji, an Indo-Aryan language spoken in a village in the Kunar province in north-eastern Afghanistan. Sauji belongs to a cluster of (western) Shina languages - a subgroup of the Hindukush Indo-Aryan languages, which are spoken in large parts of northernmost Pakistan, north-eastern Afghanistan, and the disputed Kashmir region. As many languages in the Hindukush region, Sauji is largely underdescribed, hence the aim of this study was to provide a grammar sketch of the language, based on materials from field trips to the region. The results were compared to the closest related languages, to put the language into a broader context. Sauji is generally very similar to its closest linguistic relative, Palula, but also shows clear influence of Gawarbati, another Indo-Aryan language, on its phonology, lexicon, and some grammatical features. Denna studie presenterar ett urval av fonologiska och grammatiska drag i sauji, ett indoariskt språk som talas i en by i Kunarprovinsen i nordöstra Afghanistan. Sauji tillhör ett kluster av shinaspråk, som är en undergrupp av de hindukush-indoariska språken som talas i stora delar av nordligaste Pakistan, nord-östra Afghanistan och det omstridda Kashmirområdet. I likhet med många av språken i denna region är sauji knapphändigt beskrivet och därför är målet med den här studien att bidra med en grammatikskiss. Studien är baserat på data som har samlats in under fältarbete i regionen. Resultaten jämfördes med de närmast besläktade språken för att undersöka språket i en bredare kontext. Sauji är i stora drag väldigt likt palula, det närmast besläktade språket, men det har också visat sig att fonologin, lexikonet och även vissa grammatiska drag har påverkats mycket av gawarbati, ett annat indoariskt språk som talas i omgivningen. Language Contact and Relatedness in the Hindu Kush Region, Swedish Research Council (VR 421-2014-631)

In this thesis, 9 Indo-Aryan languages which have previously been classified as Shina languages were analyzed. A cognate analysis of basic vocabulary was conducted, in order to explore the relatedness of the languages. Furthermore, a selection of phonological, morphological, syntactic, and lexical features was analyzed, in order to explore areal patterns among the languages. The data mainly consisted of first-hand data, which has been collected for the project ”Language contact and relatedness in the Hindu Kush region”, but even previous descriptions of the languages were used. The results primarily confirmed hypotheses about the relatedness of the Shina languages, and showed interesting areal patterns.The data also suggested that the Shina languages share many typical features with other Hindu Kush Indo-Aryan languages, such as SOV word order, the use of postpositions, sex based grammatical gender, and moderately complex to complex syllable structures. Other features, such as aspiration, retroflexion, and case alignment in noun phrases showed more variation and could certainly be relevant for future studies on these languages. I den här uppsatsen har 9 indoariska språk som tidigare har klassificerats som shinaspråk analyserats. För att undersöka hur språken är besläktade med varandra har en kognatanalys av det grundläggande ordförrådet genomförts. Dessutom har ett urval fonologiska, morfologiska, syntaktiska, och lexikaladrag analyserats, i syfte att undersöka areala mönster hos språken. Datan för undersökningen bestod huvudsakligen av förstahandsdata, som har samlats in för projektet “Språkkontakt och släktskap i Hindukushregionen”, men även tidigare beskrivningar av språken har används. Resultaten bekräftade mestadels hypoteser om hur shinaspråken är besläktade med varandra, och visade intressanta areala mönster. Det visade sig att shinaspråken delar många drag med andra indoariska språk i Hindukushregionen, såsom SOV ordföljd, användning av postpositioner, grammatisk genus baserat på biologisk kön, och medelkomplexa till komplexa stavelsestrukturer. Andra drag, exempelvis aspiration, retroflexion,och kasuskongruens i nominalfraser, visade större variation och skulle kunna vara relevanta för framtida studier av dessa språk. Language Contact and Relatedness in the Hindu Kush Region, Swedish Research Council (VR 421-2014-631)

The main purpose of this volume is to provide a complement to "Towards a grammatical description of Palula" (Liljegren 2008) and "Palula vocabulary" (Liljegren & Haider 2011). A collection of texts representing various genres (historical narratives, ethnographic accounts, personal experiences, proverbs, etc.) have been transcribed and annotated, including morphological analysis, a free translation into English and an orthographic representation (Perso-Arabic based) of the transcribed text. The work is the result of linguistic research in and with the Palula community (Pakistan). Henrik Liljegren is a field linguist at Stockholm University, Sweden, and Naseem Haider, himself a native speaker of Palula, is a local researcher with the Forum for Language Initiatives in Islamabad. Language contact and relatedness in the Hindukush Region

The present study investigates discourse markers in Dardic languages (Indo-Aryan; Pakistan), focusing on the discourse markers ba and ta in Palula in comparison with other languages of the region, particularly Dameli in which two markers with the same form and similar functions have been observed. The results showed that Palula ba functions as a topic-marker, in addition to other functions, whereas ta only signals subsequence, except in an adversative construction ta... ba. In Dameli, both ba and ta function as topic-markers, in addition to other functions such as ta marking subsequence, and the ta... ba construction functions similarly to Palula. Interestingly, Kalasha and Gawri showed some similarities, as both have a topic-marker surfacing as ta and tä respectively, which can be used in the adversative constructions ta... o and tä... i respectively, both of which have another marker as the second element. No other language in the sample was found to have a construction similar to the ta... ba construction nor a marker similar in form and function to ba, but all have a subsequence marker resembling ta. These results indicated that the Palula markers ba and ta are part of an areal phenomenon encompassing at least the Chitral, Panjkora and Swat valleys, where Palula originally only had the Shina subsequence marker and later adapted the Dameli system into the language. Denna studie undersöker diskursmarkörer i dardiska språk (indoariska; Pakistan) med fokus på diskursmarkörer ba och ta i palula i jämförelse med andra språk i regionen, i synnerhet dameli i vilket två markörer med samma form och liknande funktion har observerats. Resultaten visade att palula ba fungerar som topikmarkör, tillsammans med andra funktioner, medan ta enbart signalerar subsekvens, förutom i den adversativa konstruktionen ta... ba. I dameli fungerar både ba och ta som topikmarkörer, tillsammans med andra funktioner så som att ta markerar subsekvens, och konstruktionen ta... ba fungerar i likhet med palula. Av intresse är att kalasha och gawri uppvisade en del likheter, så som att båda har topikmarkörer i form av respektive ta och tä, vilka kan användas i språkens respektive adversativa konstruktioner ta... o och tä... i, varav båda använder en annan markör för det andra elementet. Inget annat språk i urvalet observerades ha en konstruktion lik ta... ba eller en markör lik ba i form och funktion, men alla har en subsekvensmarkör lik ta. Dessa resultat indikerar att palulas markörer ba och ta är en del av ett arealt fenomen som innefattar åtminstone dalgångarna Chitral, Panjkora och Swat, och att palula ursprungligen enbart hade shinas subsekvensmarkör och därefter integrerade damelis system in i språket.

Data from four little-studied varieties of Indo-Aryan (Southern Palula, Northern Palula, Sawi and Kalkoti) spoken in the Hindu Kush is analyzed and discussed from a historical-comparative perspective. Evidence is presented showing that Kalkoti, until recently only tentatively classified, is part of this particular cluster of closely-related Shina varieties. An attempt is made at reconstructing some phonological and grammatical features of a common source speech, here named Proto-Dangari, and the order in which the present-day varieties may have split off. An important conclusion drawn is that Southern and Northern Palula probably are more distantly related than present-day similarities seem to indicate, the high degree of synchronic similarity instead being due to relatively recent convergence taking place in southern Chitral. It is hypothesized that the present speech communities are the result of two different westward routes of migration, one geographically linking Southern Palula (Ashreti) and Sawi with Chilas, the other linking Northern Palula (Biori) and Kalkoti with Tangir, both located in the same general area of the main Indus Valley.