Kamkata-vari (') is the largest

Nuristani language The Nuristani languages, formerly known as Kafiri languages, are one of the three groups within the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian language family, alongside the much larger Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages, Iranian g ...

. It contains the main dialects

Kata-vari Kata-vari is a dialect of the Kamkata-vari language spoken by the Kata in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The most used alternative names are ''Kati'', ''Kativiri'' or ''Bashgali''. It is spoken by approximately 40,000 people (mostly in Afgh ...

Kamviri Kamviri () is a dialect of the Kamkata-vari language spoken by 5,000 to 10,000 of the Kom people of Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are slight dialectal differences of the Kamviri speakers of Pakistan. The most used alternative names are ''Kati' ...

and

Mumviri Mumviri is a dialect of the Nuristani Kamkata-vari language, spoken by perhaps 1,500 of the Mumo people of Afghanistan. There are only slight differences to the Kata-vari, Mumviri has Kamviri phonetic features. The most used alternative name i ...

. Kata-vari and Kamviri are sometimes erroneously reckoned as two separate languages, but according to linguist

Richard Strand Richard F. Strand is a linguist and anthropological researcher who is best known for his research into Nuristani languages and other little-known languages of Afghanistan and neighboring areas of Pakistan. He was trained at Cornell University. ...

they form one language. The Kamkata-vari language is spoken by 40,000–60,000 people, from the

Kata ''Kata'' is a Japanese word ( 型 or 形) meaning "form". It refers to a detailed choreographed pattern of martial arts movements made to be practised alone. It can also be reviewed within groups and in unison when training. It is practised ...

Kom Kom or KOM may refer to: Ethnic groups * Kom people (Afghanistan), a Nuristani tribe in Afghanistan and Pakistan * Kom people (Cameroon), an ethnic group of northwest Cameroon * Kom people (India) a subgroup of the Kuki in north-eastern India * ...

, Mumo, Kshto and some smaller Black-Robed tribes in parts of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. There are dialectal differences of the Kamkata-vari speakers of Pakistan. The most used alternative names for the language are ''Kati'' or ''Bashgali''.

Classification

It belongs to the

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in hist ...

and is in the Nuristani group of the Indo-Iranian branch.

Dialects

There are four main dialects: Eastern Kata-vari, Western Kata-vari, Kamviri and Mumviri. The last two are sometimes erroneously defined as separate languages. Eastern Kata-vari and Kamviri are commonly both referred to as ''Shekhani'' in

Chitral Chitral ( khw, , lit=field, translit=ćhitrār; ur, , translit=ćitrāl) is situated on the Chitral River in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Chitral District and before that as the capital of Chitral ...

Status

Literacy rates are low: below 1% for people who have it as a

first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

and between 15% and 25% for people who have it as a

second language A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language (first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a fo ...

. The Katavari dialect can be heard on radio in Afghanistan.

References

External links

* * * * * * Nuristani languages of Afghanistan Languages of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Nuristani languages {{ie-lang-stub