Shina language

Shina (ݜݨیاٗ, Ṣiṇyaá, ), also known by its exonymGilgiti, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic branch in the Indo-European family, primarily spoken by the Shina people native to northern Pakistan, specifically Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan. A small community of Shina speakers is also found in the Gurez valley of Jammu and Kashmir and Dras valley of Ladakh in India. Outliers of Shina language such as Brokskat are found in Ladakh, Kundal Shahi in Azad Kashmir, Palula and Sawi in Chitral and Kunar, Ushojo in the Swat Valley and Kalkoti in Dir.

Until recently, there was no writing system for the language. A number of schemes have been proposed, but presently, there is no single writing system used by speakers of Shina. Shina is mostly a spoken language and not a written language.

Due to the effects of dominant languages in Pakistani media like Urdu and English, in addition to the religious significance of Arabic and Persian, Shina is continuously expanding its vocabulary base with loan words. This process is also ongoing with that of many other languages in Pakistan.