Shina Language

Shina ( ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Shina people. In Pakistan, Shina is the major language in Gilgit-Baltistan spoken by an estimated 1,146,000 people living mainly in Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan.{{Cite book , last1=Saxena , first1=Anju , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8DAmULPQU0C&dq=shina+gilgit+ladakh&pg=PA137 , title=Lesser-Known Languages of South Asia: Status and Policies, Case Studies and Applications of Information Technology , last2=Borin , first2=Lars , date=2008-08-22 , publisher=Walter de Gruyter , isbn=978-3-11-019778-5 , pages=137 , language=en , quote=Shina is an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic group, spoken in the Karakorams and the western Himalayas: Gilgit, Hunza, the Astor Valley, the Tangir-Darel valleys, Chilas and Indus Kohistan, as well as in the upper Neelam Valley and Dras. Outliers of Shina are found in Ladakh (Brokskat), Chitral (Palula and Sawi), Swat (Ushojo; Bashir 2003: 878) and Dir (Kalkoti). A small community of Shina speakers is also found in India, in the Guraiz valley of Jammu and Kashmir and in Dras tehsil of the Kargil district of Ladakh. Outliers of Shina language such as Brokskat is found in Ladakh, Kundal Shahi in Azad Kashmir, Palula and Sawi in Chitral, Ushojo in the Swat Valley and Kalkoti in Dir.

Until recently, there was no writing system of the language. A number of schemes have been proposed and there is no single writing system used by all of the speakers of Shina language. Shina is also mostly a spoken language and not a written language. Most Shina speakers also do not write their language.

Distribution

In Pakistan

There are an estimated 1,146,000 speakers of both Shina and Kohistani Shina in Pakistan according to Ethnologue (2018), a majority of them residing in the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkwa and Gilgit-Baltistan. A small community of Shina speakers is also settled in Neelam valley of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

In India

A small community of Shinar speakers is also settled in India in the far north of Kargil district bordering Gilgit-Baltistan. Their population is estimated to be around 32,200 according to 2011 census.

Writing

{{Arabic-script sidebar, Shina
Shina is one of the few Dardic languages with a written tradition.{{sfn, Bashir, 2003, p=823, ps =. "Of the languages discussed here, Shina (Pakistan) and Khowar have developed a written tradition and a significant body of written material exists." However, it was an unwritten language until a few decades ago{{sfn, Schmidt, 2003/2004, p=61 and there still is not a standard orthography.{{sfn, Schmidt, Kohistani, 2008, p=14 Since the first attempts at accurately representing Shina's phonology in the 1960s there have been several proposed orthographies for the different varieties of the language, with debates centering on whether vowel length and tone should be represented.{{sfn, Bashir, 2016, p=806 For the Drasi variety spoken in the Indian union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, there have been two proposed schemes, one with the Perso-Arabic script and the other with the Devanagari script.

One proposed alphabet for Shina is the following:{{cite web, url=https://omniglot.com/writing/shina.htm , title=Shina's Writing System{{Better source needed, date=September 2021
{, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
! Letter !! Romanization !! IPA
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ا , , ʿ , , {{IPA, /ʔ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ب , , b , , {{IPA, /b/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, پ , , p , , {{IPA, /p/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ت , , t , , {{IPA, /t/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ٹ , , ṭ , , {{IPA, /ʈ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ث , , (s) , , {{IPA, /s/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ج , , ǰ , , {{IPA, /d͡ʒ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, چ , , č , , {{IPA, /t͡ʃ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ح , , (h) , , {{IPA, /h/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, خ , , ǩ , , {{IPA, /x/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, څ , , c , , {{IPA, /t͡s/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ځ , , j , , {{IPA, /d͡z/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ڇ , , ċ , , {{IPA, /ʈ͡ʂ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, د , , d , , {{IPA, /d/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ڈ , , ḍ , , {{IPA, /ɖ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ذ , , (z) , , {{IPA, /z/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ر , , r , , {{IPA, /r/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ڑ , , ṛ , , {{IPA, /ɽ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ز , , z , , {{IPA, /z/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ژ , , ž , , {{IPA, /ʒ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ڙ , , ż , , {{IPA, /ʐ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, س , , s , , {{IPA, /s/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ش , , š , , {{IPA, /ʃ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ݜ , , ṣ , , {{IPA, /ʂ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ص , , (s) , , {{IPA, /s/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ض , , (d) , , {{IPA, /d/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ط , , (t) , , {{IPA, /t/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ظ , , (z) , , {{IPA, /z/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ع , , ʿ , , {{IPA, /ʔ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, غ , , ǧ , , {{IPA, /ɣ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ڠ , , ŋ , , {{IPA, /ŋ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ف , , f , , {{IPA, /f/pʰ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ق , , (k) , , {{IPA, /k/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ک , , k , , {{IPA, /k/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, گ , , g , , {{IPA, /ɡ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ل , , l , , {{IPA, /l/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, م , , m , , {{IPA, /m/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ن , , n , , {{IPA, /n/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ݨ , , ṇ , , {{IPA, /ɳ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ں , , ˜ , , {{IPA, /˜/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, و , , w , , {{IPA, /ʊ~w/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ہ , , h, x , , {{IPA, /h/ɦ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ھ , , _h , , {{IPA, /ʰ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ء , , ʿ , , {{IPA, /ʔ/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ی , , y , , {{IPA, /j/
, -
, style="font-size:200%" , {{lang, scl, {{nq, ے , , e , , {{IPA, /e/

Phonology

The following is a description of the phonology of the Drasi variety spoken in India and the Kohistani variety in Pakistan.

Vowels

The Shina principal vowel sounds:{{sfn, Rajapurohit, 2012, p=28–31
{, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
, -
! rowspan="2", !! rowspan="2", Front !! rowspan="2", Mid !! colspan="2", Back
, -
! unrd. !! rnd.
, -
! High
, i , , , , , , u
, -
! High-mid
, e , , , , , , o
, -
! Low-mid
, ɛ , , ə , , ʌ , , ɔ
, -
!Low
, (æ)
, a , , , ,

All vowels but /ɔ/ can be either long or nasalized, though no minimal pairs with the contrast are found.{{sfn, Rajapurohit, 2012, p=28–31 /æ/ is heard from loanwords.{{Sfn, Schmit & Kohistani, 2008, p=16

Diphthongs

In Shina there are the following diphthongs:{{sfn, Rajapurohit, 2012, p=32–33
* falling: ae̯, ao̯, eə̯, ɛi̯, ɛːi̯, ue̯, ui̯, oi̯, oə̯;
* falling nasalized: ãi̯, ẽi̯, ũi̯, ĩũ̯, ʌĩ̯;
* raising: u̯i, u̯e, a̯a, u̯u.

Consonants

In India, the dialects of the Shina language have preserved both initial and final OIA consonant clusters, while the Shina dialects spoken in Pakistan have not.{{cite book , last=Itagi , first=N. H. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SQliAAAAMAAJ , title=Spatial aspects of language , publisher=Central Institute of Indian Languages , year=1994 , isbn=9788173420092 , page=73 , language=en , quote=The Shina dialects of India have retained both initial and final OIA consonant clusters. The Shina dialects of Pakistan have lost this distinction. , access-date=14 August 2017
{, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!colspan="2",
! Labial
! Coronal
! Retroflex
! Post-alv./
Palatal
! Velar
! Uvular
! Glottal
, -
! rowspan="4" , Stop
! Voiceless
, {{IPA, p
, {{IPA, t
, {{IPA, ʈ
,
, {{IPA, k
, {{IPA, q{{efn, name=Schmidt & Kohistani, Occurs in the Kohistani dialect, Schmidt (2008)
,
, -
! Aspirated
, {{IPA, pʰ
, {{IPA, tʰ
, {{IPA, ʈʰ
,
, {{IPA, kʰ
,
,
, -
! Voiced
, {{IPA, b
, {{IPA, d
, {{IPA, ɖ
,
, {{IPA, ɡ
,
,
, -
! Breathy{{efn, name=Schmidt & Kohistani, Occurs in the Kohistani dialect, Schmidt (2008)
, {{IPA, bʱ
, {{IPA, dʱ
, {{IPA, ɖʱ
,
, {{IPA, ɡʱ
,
,
, -
! rowspan="4" , Affricate
! Voiceless
,
, {{IPA, t͡s
, {{IPA, ʈ͡ʂ
, {{IPA, t͡ʃ
,
,
,
, -
! Aspirated
,
, {{IPA, t͡sʰ
, {{IPA, ʈ͡ʂʰ
, {{IPA, t͡ʃʰ
,
,
,
, -
! Voiced
,
, {{IPA, d͡z{{efn, name=Rajapurohit
,
, {{IPA, d͡ʒ{{efn, name=Rajapurohit
,
,
,
, -
! Breathy
,
,
,
, {{IPA, d͡ʒʱ{{efn, name=Schmidt & Kohistani, Occurs in the Kohistani dialect, Schmidt (2008)
,
,
,
, -
!rowspan="2", Fricative
! Voiceless
, {{IPA, (f)
, {{IPA, s
, {{IPA, ʂ
, {{IPA, ʃ
, {{IPA, x{{efn, name=Rajapurohit
,
, {{IPA, h
, -
! Voiced
,
, {{IPA, z
, {{IPA, ʐ
, {{IPA, ʒ{{efn, name=Rajapurohit
, {{IPA, ɣ{{efn, name=Rajapurohit
,
, {{IPA, ɦ{{efn, name=Rajapurohit
, -
!colspan="2", Nasal
, {{IPA, m {{IPA, (mʱ){{efn, name=Schmidt & Kohistani, Occurs in the Kohistani dialect, Schmidt (2008)
, {{IPA, n
, {{IPA, ɳ
,
, {{IPA, ŋ
,
,
, -
!colspan="2", Lateral
,
, {{IPA, l {{IPA, (lʱ){{efn, name=Schmidt & Kohistani, Occurs in the Kohistani dialect, Schmidt (2008)
,
,
,
,
,
, -
!colspan="2", Rhotic
,
, {{IPA, r
, {{IPA, ɽ{{efn, name=Degener
,
,
,
,
, -
!colspan="2", Semivowel
, {{IPA, ʋ~w
,
,
, {{IPA, j
,
,
,

{{notelist, refs=
{{efn, name=Rajapurohit, According to Rajapurohit (2012, p. 33–34)
{{efn, name=Degener, Degener (2008, p. 14) lists it as a phoneme

Tone

{{Unreferenced section, date=September 2015
Shina words are often distinguished by three contrasting tones: level, rising, and falling tones. Here is an example that shows the three tones:

"The" has a level tone and means the imperative "Do!"

When the stress falls on the first mora of a long vowel, the tone is falling. ''Thée'' means "Will you do?"

When the stress falls on the second mora of a long vowel, the tone is rising. ''Theé'' means "after having done".

See also

* Brokskat language
*Kundal Shahi language
*Ushoji language
*Kalkoti language
*Palula language
*Savi language

References

{{Reflist

Bibliography

*{{Cite book, last = Bashir, first = Elena L., author-link=Elena Bashir, year = 2003, chapter = Dardic, editor1= George Cardona , editor2=Dhanesh Jain , title = The Indo-Aryan languages, publisher = Routledge, isbn = 978-0-7007-1130-7, pages = 818–94, location = London, series = Routledge language family series. Y
*{{Cite book, last = Bashir, first = Elena L., author-link=Elena Bashir, date = 2016, chapter = Perso-Arabic adaptions for South Asian languages, editor1-last=Hock, editor1-first=Hans Henrich, editor1-link=Hans Henrich Hock, editor2-last=Bashir, editor2-first=Elena, editor2-link=Elena Bashir, title = The languages and linguistics of South Asia: a comprehensive guide, series = World of Linguistics, publisher = De Gruyter Mouton, location = Berlin, isbn = 978-3-11-042715-8, pages = 803–9
*{{Cite book, last = Rajapurohit, first = B. B., chapter = The problems involved in the preparation of language teaching material in a spoken language with special reference to Shina, date = 1975, others = V. I. Subramoniam, Nunnagoppula Sivarama Murty (eds.), title = Teaching of Indian languages: seminar papers, series = University publication / Department of Linguistics, University of Kerala, publisher = Dept. of Linguistics, University of Kerala, location = Trivandrum
*{{Cite book, last = Rajapurohit, first = B. B., date = 1983, title = Shina phonetic reader, series = CIIL Phonetic Reader Series, publisher = Central Institute of Indian Languages, location = Mysore
*{{cite book, last1=Rajapurohit, first1=B. B., title=Grammar of Shina Language and Vocabulary : (Based on the dialect spoken around Dras), date=2012, url=http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/~tjun/shina/Grammar_of_Shina_Language_And_Vocabulary.pdf
*{{Cite journal, last = Schmidt, first = Ruth Laila, year = 2003–2004, title = The oral history of the Daṛmá lineage of Indus Kohistan, journal = European Bulletin of Himalayan Research, issue = 25/26, pages = 61–79, issn = 0943-8254, url = http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/ebhr/pdf/EBHR_25&26_03.pdf, ref = {{harvid, Schmidt, 2003/2004
*{{Cite book, last1 = Schmidt, first1 = Ruth Laila, last2 = Kohistani, first2 = Razwal, date = 2008, title = A grammar of the Shina language of Indus Kohistan, series = Beiträge zur Kenntnis südasiatischer Sprachen und Literaturen, publisher = Harrassowitz, location = Wiesbaden, isbn = 978-3-447-05676-2

Further reading

*{{Cite book, last = Buddruss, first = Georg, date = 1983, chapter = Neue Schriftsprachen im Norden Pakistans. Einige Beobachtungen, editor-last1 = Assmann, editor-first1 = Aleida, editor-last2 = Assmann, editor-first2 = Jan, editor-last3 = Hardmeier, editor-first3 = Christof, title = Schrift und Gedächtnis: Beiträge zur Archäologie der literarischen Kommunikation, publisher = W. Fink, isbn = 978-3-7705-2132-6, pages = 231–44 A history of the development of writing in Shina
*{{Cite book, last1 = Degener, first1 = Almuth, last2 = Zia, first2 = Mohammad Amin, date = 2008, title = Shina-Texte aus Gilgit (Nord-Pakistan): Sprichwörter und Materialien zum Volksglauben, gesammelt von Mohammad Amin Zia, publisher = Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, isbn = 978-3-447-05648-9 Contains a Shina grammar, German-Shina and Shina-German dictionaries, and over 700 Shina proverbs and short texts.
*{{Cite book, last = Radloff, first = Carla F., date = 1992, editor-last1 = Backstrom, editor-first1 = Peter C., editor-last2 = Radloff, editor-first2 = Carla F., title = Languages of northern areas, series = Sociolinguistic survey of Northern Pakistan, volume = 2, publisher = National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, location = Islamabad, Pakistan, url = http://www.sil.org/sociolx/pubs/abstract.asp?id=32840
*{{Cite book, last1 = Rensch, first1 = Calvin R., last2 = Decker, first2 = Sandra J., last3 = Hallberg, first3 = Daniel G., date = 1992, title = Languages of Kohistan, series = Sociolinguistic survey of Northern Pakistan, publisher = National Institute of Pakistan Studies Quaid-i- Azam University, location = Islamabad, Pakistan
*{{Cite book, last = Zia, first = Mohammad Amin, date = 1986, title = Ṣinā qāida aur grāimar, publisher = Zia Publishers, location = Gilgit, language = ur
*{{Cite book, last = Zia, first = Mohammad Amin, title = Shina Lughat (Shina Dictionary) Contains 15000 words plus material on the phonetics of Shina.

External links

{{Incubator, scl

Sasken Shina
contains materials in and about the language

1992 Sociolinguistic Survey of Shina

Shina Language Textbook for Class5

Shina Language Textbook for Class6

{{Languages of Pakistan
{{Languages of Jammu and Kashmir
{{Dardic languages
{{Authority control

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shina Language
Dardic languages
Languages of Gilgit-Baltistan
Languages of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Languages of Jammu and Kashmir