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Tirahi is a nearly extinct if not already extinct
Indo-Aryan language The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pa ...
spoken in a few villages in the southeast of
Jalalabad Jalalabad (; Dari/ ps, جلال‌آباد, ) is the fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 356,274, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part of the country, about from the capital Kabul. Jala ...
in the Nangarhar Province of eastern
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 ...
. It is spoken by older adults, who are likewise fluent in
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 ...
. The Tirahis were expelled from
Tirah The Tirah also spelled Terah ( ps, تیراہ) also called the Tirah Valley (), is a mountainous tract located in the Khyber district, lying between the Khyber Pass and the Khanki Valley in Pakistan. Society Lying close to the Pak-Afghan borde ...
in the present-day
Khyber District Khyber District ( ps, خېبر ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas; with the merger of FATA with Khyber Pak ...
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 ...
, Pakistan, by the
Afridi The Afrīdī ( ps, اپريدی ''Aprīdai'', plur. ''Aprīdī''; ur, آفریدی) are a Pashtun tribe present in Pakistan, with substantial numbers in Afghanistan. The Afridis are most dominant in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal ...
Pashtuns.
Georg Morgenstierne Georg Valentin von Munthe af Morgenstierne (2 January 1892 – 3 March 1978) was a Norwegian professor of linguistics with the University of Oslo (UiO). He specialized in Indo-Iranian languages. Studies During the years 1923 to 1971, Morgenst ...
claimed that Tirahi is "probably the remnant of a dialect group extending from Tirah through the
Peshawar district Peshawar District ( ps, پېښور ولسوالۍ, hnd, , ur, ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is located about 160 km west of the Pakistan's capital Islamabad. The district headquarter is ...
into
Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...
and Dir."


Geographic distribution

Spoken in the Nangarhar Province of Northeastern Afghanistan, there are about 100 native speakers today, if any. This is mainly due to the majority of the Tirahi people having assimilated into the dominant
Pashtun 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 r ...
culture. Tirahi is also spoken in a couple of villages southeast of the Afghan city of
Jalalabad Jalalabad (; Dari/ ps, جلال‌آباد, ) is the fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 356,274, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part of the country, about from the capital Kabul. Jala ...
, such as Jaba, Mitarani, and Bara-khel.


Classification

Tirahi is an
Indo-Aryan language The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pa ...
. Further, Tirahi is part of the sub-group of
Kohistani languages The Dardic languages (also Dardu or Pisaca) or Hindu-Kush Indo-Aryan languages, are a group of several Indo-Aryan languages spoken in northern Pakistan, northwestern India and parts of northeastern Afghanistan. The term "Dardic" is stated to b ...
along with languages such as Bateri, Chilisso, Gowro, and others. However, Tirahi also shares with languages spoken further to the east, such as Kashmiri. As a Dardic Language, Tirahi strongly preserves some vocabulary of spoken Sanskrit (cow - dēn in Tirahi, dhēnuh in Sanskrit, hand - ast in Tirahi, hastah in Sanskrit). Being a language spoken in Afghanistan, Tirahi shares various words and grammatical constructs with
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 ...
, a language spoken throughout Afghanistan to which many Tirahi speakers have become accustomed to speaking. Since Tirahi is entirely separated from the other Dardic languages, located south of the Kabul River and west of the
Khyber Pass The Khyber Pass (خیبر درہ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversing ...
, rendering it wholly encased by Pashto. Tirahi also shares some vocabulary with Kashmiri and Shina such as the Tirahi ''mala'', for a father, the Kashmiri ''mol'', and the Shina ''malo''.Grierson, G. (1925). On the Tirahi language. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (New Series), 57(03), 405-416.


Grammar

Tirahi shows much influence from
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 ...
in phonology, lexicon and even morphology. However, its vocabulary exhibits a connection to Kohistani dialects. Therefore, Tirahi seems to occupy an intermediate position between
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 ...
and the Kohistani group. Morgenstirne claims that Tirahi is "probably the remnant of a dialect group extending from Tirahi through the
Peshawar district Peshawar District ( ps, پېښور ولسوالۍ, hnd, , ur, ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is located about 160 km west of the Pakistan's capital Islamabad. The district headquarter is ...
into
Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...
and Dir."


Nouns and Adjectives

Tirahi is an
inflected In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and def ...
language, having 5 cases:
Nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Eng ...
, Oblique,
Genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can a ...
,
Dative In grammar, the dative case ( abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob ...
, and
Ablative In grammar, the ablative case (pronounced ; sometimes abbreviated ) is a grammatical case for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the grammars of various languages; it is sometimes used to express motion away from something, among other uses. T ...
. Adjectives, verbs, and nouns usually agree according to gender. Consonant-final nouns add e or a along with their traditional endings. There appears to be an indefinite article, added to the end of the word as an -ī, similar to
Farsi Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...
.


Pronouns

1st person pronouns: 2nd person pronouns:


Verbs

# Non finite forms ## Infinitive: stem + an (''karan -'' 'to do/make') # Tense-aspect forms ## Imperative Singular: stem, Imperative Plural: stem + V ## Present-future: root + endings - 1st: - m, 2nd: -s, 3rd: -e, 1st plural: -en ## Definite Present: da/de + present-future


Example Sentences

* ''Abo-e kata dur thi?'' ('Village' + 'how much far' + 'is') ** "How far is your village?" * ''Pali de kham'' ('Bread' + Definite Future + 'Eat') ** "I am eating bread." * ''La brok odasta ga'' ('He' + 'Very' + 'Hungry' + 'become/go') ** "He became very hungry" * ''Ao mara ga-m'' ('I' + 'die' + 'become') ** "I died/am dead"


References


External links


YouTube sample of Tirahi
{{Indo-Aryan languages Dardic languages Languages of Afghanistan