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Khowar (کهووار), also known as Chitrali (چترالي) and Arniya, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic branch. The separate nature of the Dardic languages is still clear, however, they form close relationship with other Indo-Aryan languages, especially Kalasha.

It is spoken by the Kho people in Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the Ghizer district of Gilgit-Baltistan (including the Yasin Valley, Phandar Ishkoman and Gupis), and in parts of Upper Swat. Speakers of Khowar have also migrated heavily to Pakistan's major urban centres with Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, having sizeable populations. It is spoken as a second language in the rest of Gilgit and Hunza. There are believed to be small numbers of Khowar speakers in Afghanistan, China, Tajikistan and Istanbul.

Khowar is the predominant language of Chitral, and one of the 14 designated regional languages there.

Phonology

Khowar has a variety of dialects which may vary phonemically. The following tables lay out the basic phonology of Khowar.

Vowels

Khowar may also have nasalized vowels and a series of long vowels /aː/, /eː/, /iː/, /oː/, and /uː/. Sources are inconsistent on whether length is phonemic, with one author stating "vowel-length is observed mainly as a substitute one. The vowel-length of phonological value is noted far more rarely." Unlike the neighboring and related Kalasha language, Khowar does not have retroflex vowels.

Consonants

The phonemic status of /tsʰ/ is unclear in the sources

Tone

Khowar, like many Dardic languages, has either phonemic tone or stress distinctions.

Comparative Vocabulary

The names of the days of the week, in Khowar, are compared with their equivalents in Shina, Sanskrit, and English.

Dialects

• Standard Khowar
• Swati Khowar (Swat Kohistan)
• Lotkuhiwar (Lotkuh Valley)
• Gherzikwar (Ghizer Valley)
• Gilgiti Khowar (Gilgit-Baltistan), spoken by a few families in Gilgit city.

Writing system

Khowar has been written in the Nasta'liq script since the early twentieth century. Prior to that, the language was carried on through oral tradition. Today Urdu and English are the official languages and the only major literary usage of Khowar is in both poetry and prose composition. Khowar has also been written in the Roman script since the 1960s.

Khowar media

Television channels

Radio

These are not dedicated Khowar channels but play most programmes in Khowar.

Newspapers

Gallery

• Allama Iqbal's poetry's versified khowar translation by Rehmat Aziz Chitrali Allama Iqbal's poetry's versified khowar translation by Rehmat Aziz Chitrali

See also

• Kho people

References

1. Khowar at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/dardestan-
3. ^ Edelman, D. I. (1983). The Dardic and Nuristani Languages. Moscow: Institut vostokovedenii︠a︡ (Akademii︠a︡ nauk SSSR). p. 210.
4. ^ Bashir, Elena L. (1988), "Topics in Kalasha Syntax: An areal and typological perspective" (PDF), Ph.d Dissertation, University of Michigan: 37–40
5. Bashir, Elena L., Maula Nigah and Rahmat Karim Baig, A Digital Khowar-English Dictionary with Audio{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
6. Baart, Joan L. G. (2003), Tonal features in languages of northern Pakistan (PDF), National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University and Summer Institute of Linguistics, pp. 3, 6

Additional references

• Bashir, Elena (2001) Spatial Representation in Khowar. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
• Decker, D. Kendall (1992). Languages of Chitral. ISBN 969-8023-15-1.
• L'Homme, Erik (1999) Parlons Khowar. Langue et culture de l'ancien royaume de Chitral au Pakistan. Paris: L'Harmattan
• Morgenstierne, Georg (1936) Iranian Elements in Khowar. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. VIII, London.
• Badshah Munir Bukhari (2001) Khowar language. University publisher. Pakistan
• Morgenstierne, Georg (1947) Some Features of Khowar Morphology. Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap, Vol. XIV, Oslo.
• Morgenstierne, Georg (1957) Sanskritic Words in Khowar. Felicitation Volume Presented to S.K. Belvalkar. Benares. 84–98
• Mohammad Ismail Sloan (1981) Khowar-English Dictionary. Peshawar. ISBN 0-923891-15-3.
• Decker, Kendall D. (1992). Languages of Chitral (Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 5). National Institute of Pakistani Studies, 257 pp. ISBN 969-8023-15-1.

External links

• "Georg Morgenstierne". National Library of Norway. 2001. Retrieved 11 January 2009.
• Strand, Richard F. (2011). "Khow`ar Lexicon". Retrieved 16 January 2012.
• Strand, Richard F. (2012). "The Sound System of Khow`ar". Retrieved 16 January 2012.
• Chitrali, Rehmat Aziz. (2015). "The Khowar Language Text Editor". Retrieved 15 October 2015.

• Dardic languages
• Languages of Chitral
• Languages of Gilgit-Baltistan
• Khowar language
• Languages of Pakistan