Eastern Kata-vari also locally known as ''Shekhani'' is a variety of the
Kata-vari language spoken in
Chitral district
Chitral District ( ur, ) was the largest district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, covering an area of 14,850 km², before splitting into Upper Chitral District and Lower Chitral District in 2018. Part of the Malakand Div ...
of
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...
province of
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 ...
. The
Kamviri language is also known as Shekhani. The
Khowar
Khowar () or Chitrali, is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken in Chitral and surrounding areas in Pakistan.
Khowar is the lingua franca of Chitral, and it is also spoken in the Gupis-Yasin and Ghizer districts of Gilgit-Baltistan, as we ...
name for the dialect is ''Sheikhwar'' which means "Language of the
Sheikh
Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
s or
converts." Some linguists consider Shekhani or Eastern Kata-vari a different language due to the isolation from other
Nuristani languages
The Nuristani languages, formerly known as Kafiri languages, are one of the three groups within the Indo-Iranian language family, alongside the much larger Indo-Aryan and Iranian groups. They have approximately 130,000 speakers primarily in ea ...
other than Kamviri. Kamviri Shekhani is different than Eastern Kata-vari which is also called Shekhani.
In August 2022, Pakistani linguist, Rehmat Aziz Chitrali proposed a keyboard to
Khowar Academy, Chitral.
Speakers
The speakers of Eastern Kata-vari migrated from
Kamdesh
Kāmdēsh ( ps, کامدېش, fa, کامدیش), or Kamdeish, is a town in the Landai Sin Valley, and the center of the Kamdesh District in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. It is located at the general area of Yurmir () which is beside the meetin ...
in
Nuristan
Nuristan, also spelled as Nurestan or Nooristan (Dari: ; Kamkata-vari language, Kamkata-vari: ), is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It is divided into seven Districts of Afghanistan, districts ...
in modern-day
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 ...
to
Lutkuh Valley in
Chitrali Princely State in
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
during the 19th century. Most Shekhani speakers speak either
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...
or Khowar as a second language. Many Shekhani speakers often marry the minority
Pashtuns
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
in the area.
Phonology
Consonants
* Sounds /ʒ ɽ ɣ/ occur from neighboring languages. /f x/ are borrowed from loanwords mainly from Khowar or
Yidgha.
*/ʈ/ can also be heard as an allophone
*
is heard as an allophone of /i/.
* /v/ can also be heard as bilabial
or a labial approximant
Vowels
* Mid /ə/ can be heard as a close central
References
Nuristani languages of Afghanistan
Languages of Chitral
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