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Khowar (khw), also known as Chitrali, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic branch, spoken by 240,000 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 has been influenced by Iranian languages to a greater degree than other Dardic languages, and less by Sanskrit than Shina or the Kohistani languages. John Biddulph (Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh) was among the first westerners to study Khowar and claimed that further research would prove Khowar to be equally derived from "Zend" (Avestan, Old Persian) and Sanskrit.

The Norwegian Linguist Georg Morgenstierne wrote that Chitral is the area of the greatest linguistic diversity in the world. Although Khowar is the predominant language of Chitral, more than ten other languages are spoken here. These include Kalasha-mondr, Palula, Dameli, Gawar-Bati, Nuristani, Yidgha, Burushaski, Gojri, Wakhi, Kyrgyz, Persian and Pashto. Since many of these languages have no written form, letters are usually written in Urdu, Pakistan's national language.

Khowar is designated as one of 14 regional languages of Chitral, Pakistan.

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 following consonants are common to both Chitrali Khowar and Gilgiti Khowar. The place of articulation of the consonants /s/, /z/, /n/, /ɾ/ and /l/ is claimed to be alveolar in Chitrali Khowar, while at least the /ɾ/ is claimed to be dental in Gilgit Khowar. The stops /t/ and /d/ are claimed to be dental in both dialects.

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

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Khowar has been written in the Nasta'liq script since the early twentieth century. Prior to that, the administrative and literary language of the region was Persian and works such as poetry and songs in Khowar were passed down in 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. Badshah Munir Bukhari worked on the language and its family.

According to Rehmat Aziz Chitrali’s research before the 19th century, Khowar was an unwritten language. At the time princely state of Chitral, the official written language was Persian, although Khowar was still spoken from Arandu to Yarkhun valley and Ghizer Valley of Nothern Pakistan. During an interview to Akbar Ali Qazi a Ismaili religious scholor, Rehmat Aziz Chitrali said that ‘’British linguists and political historians wrote form with the Latin script, but following the independence of Pakistan, Chitrali scholars adopted Urdu Arabic script’’. The first humorous collection of poetry in Khowar, Guldasta-e-Rahmat (گلدستہء رحمت) by Rehmat Aziz Chitrali was published in 1996 and incorporated the Urdu Arabic Script. Rehmat Aziz also wrote a comprehensive guidance on the usage of Urdu Arabic script and standardized it as the Khowar Orthography. He has created Khowar alphabets and Romanized Khowar alphabets . This earned Rehmat Aziz the title of 'the Father of Khowar'. Rachitrali's alphabets are widely used in Perso-Arabic Script and Roman script. In Pakistan, however, Khowar is written in a modified Arabic script based on what is used for Urdu but the foreigners are using Rehmat Aziz’s Khowar Romanized script in their articles.

The Rehmat Aziz's Khowar Orthography'

ا

آ

ﺃ

ب

پ

ت

ٹ

ټ

ث

ج

چ

ح

خ

څ

ځ

ڂ

ڇ

د

ڈ

ذ

ر

ڑ

ز

ژ

ڗ

س

ش

ص

ض

ط

ظ

ع

غ

ڠ

ف

ق

ڨ

ک

گ

ل

ڵ

م

مﬞ

ن

ں

ڼ

نگ

ﻦۢ

و

ۈ

ٶ

ﯘ

ۉ

ہ

ھ

ۃ

ء

ی

ﺉ

ۍ

ﻱ

ے

ۓ

Khowar Latin alphabet

The following Latin-based alphabet was created by Rehmat Aziz, Director Khowar Academy and adopted by the Khowar Workshop on "Khowar Roman Orthography" (Khowar Academy, Karachi, April 25, 1996)

Alphabetical order (51 letters):

a å b c ç ĉ ċ d e f g ġ h i j ĵ k l ł m ɱ n ň Ŋ o p q ǭ r ŗ s š Ş t ŧ ts u v w Ŵ ϣ ῶ x y Ý ў ÿ z zh ž ź

• A/a aaɱ (mango), angúR(finger), bagh (garden), sardar (Head man-nobleman), naam (name)
• å/á jhanDá (Flag)
• B/b (be) bam (bomb), baas (bus), bághbán (gardner), bakhtáwwar (lucky)
• C/ch (che) chat (roof), chor (four), chaku (knife)
• ç/çh (çhey) çhetraar (Chitral), çhetrari (Chitrali)
• ĉ/ĉe (ĉey) ĉeeǭ (Sound of Door opening and closing)
• ċ/ċhe (ċhey) ċhraaǭ (Sound of the cutting of branches of tree)
• d/d (daal) dowlat (wealth), dárman (medicine), dada (grand father)
• D/d (Daal) daq(boy), daqanan(boys), daku(robber)
• E/e ee (one), elaaj (cure), ee mosh (one man)
• F/f (fe) To be used only in loan words where its use is inevitable, like Fráns (France), fármaysí (pharmacy), fil(elephant), faidah(profit)
• G/g (ge) gap shap (talk), gunah (sin), bágh (garden), gulab (rose), Bagdád (Baghdad)
• Ghair (Others), GhaaR (sports), GhaRuchun (polo stick).
• ġ/ġ (like ġhaen ǭaaġ ǭaaġ (Sound of Crow)
• H/h (he) hár (defeat), máhar (dower), koh (mountain), Haroon (Haroon), hon (flood)
• I/i (i) istári (star), istaan (upper roof),india (India)
• i/i (i) immaan (faith), chhir (milk)
• J/j (je) jangal (forest), janjal (quarrel), Jinah (Muhammad Ali Jinah), grinj (rice)
• ĵ/ĵ (ĵeem) ĵenĵair (Chain)
• K/k (ke) Kimeri (woman), kahak (hen), kanu (blind), kaRbuki (doll), kash (store for flour)
• L/l (le) laket (locket), lal (elder brother), laten (lantern)
• ł/ł (łaam) Allah (Ałłah)
• M/m (meem) mukuR (monkey), mama (uncle), mas (month), meshTair (Master).
• ɱ/ɱ (ɱeem) aaɱ (mango)
• N/n (noon) naskaar (nose), nogh (new, new moon), nan (mother)
• ň/ň (ňooň) aaňboor
• ɳ/ɳ (ɳooɳ) ŧaɳ (sound of tongue)
• O/o (o) oshT (eight), onzok (a village in Khot Valley Chitral, Pakistan)
• P/p (pe) pong (foot), pakistan (Pakistan), palogh (apple), gapp (talk)
• Q/q (qú) qalam(pen), quraan(Quran)
• ǭ/ ǭ (like ǭaaf ǭaaġ ǭaaġ (Sound of Crow)
• R/r (re) Rehmat (a name), raah (road), rishwat (bribe)
• ŗ/ŗ (re) ŗuyiik(to bray), ŗung(without horns)
• S/s (se) sor (head), saf (all), sadah (simple), saal (year)
• š/šh (šheen) šher(lion), šhadi(marriage), šhor(hundred),
• Ş/Ş (Şeen) Şapik (bread), Şadágh (Khowar month), ŞhoŞp (Chitrali Dish(Halwa)), Şhaa (black), Şhawai (pearl).
• T/t (te) tu (you), ta (your) thás (bowl), tarikh (date, history)
• T/T (Te) Tung (without horns), Tali (bell), baT (cricket bat).
• ŧ/ŧ (ŧe) ŧaɳ (sound of tongue)
• ts/ts (tsey) tsetseq(Children)
• U/u uth (camel), urdu (Urdu), ustád (teacher)
• Ú/ú (ú, sounds like the "oo" in English word "root") úruru (noice)
• V/v (ve) used in loanwords only, like in the English word service, very. Veshku(basket)
• W/w (we) waraq (page), war (language), waskat (waist coat)
• Ŵ/Ŵ (Ŵaw) ŗoŴ(fox)
• ϣ/ϣ (ϣaϣ) druϣ (roots of a local bush)
• ῶ/w (ῶaῶ) khosh gaῶ (Yak)
• X/x (khe) X-ra (X-rays), xat (letter)
• Y/y (ye) yád (remembrance), yár (friend), buryání (meat in rice), ridif (radio), yor (sun)
• Ý/Ý (ye) xodaÝ (Allah)
• ў/ў (ye) chalaў (clothes)
• Z/z (ze) zor (power), zuwaalu (delicious), zindaghi (life),
• zh/zh (zhe) zharaap (socks)
• ž/ž (ž) žhindrik (a kind of horse's braying)
• ź/ź (ź) źeeǭ (sound of door opening and closing)
• hay (h) hayrán (surprise)
• Aw/aw awrat (woman),, awlád (off-spring), qawl (promise).

Chart

A native speaker of Khowar language and researcher Rehmat Aziz Chitrali has prepared the following chart regarding Romanization of khowar language.

Khowar media

Television channels

Khowar poet, journalist and researcher Rehmat Aziz Chitrali on Monday said Chitral district is rich in cultural heritage which needs to be promoted for next generations. In a message on the launch of Khowar language TV programme by Khyber News (KNTV) in Islamabad, Khowar poet Rachitrali said the step would help promote the rich heritage of Khowar.

Radio

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

Newspapers

Days of the week

According to Rehmat Aziz Chitrali, a linguistic researcher from Chitral, these names are used in Gilgit, Hunza, Nager, Chitral, Ghizer and Swat, and have been in use since time immemorial in the country of the Indus. It would seem as if the natives, while introducing the Sanskrit days of the week, adopted in other respects the mode of computing time already existing in the country. The Khowar names are from Persian.

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
• Chitral Vision, Urdu and Khowar Language coloured newspaper of Chitral, Pakistan Chitral Vision, Urdu and Khowar Language coloured newspaper of Chitral, Pakistan

See also

• Chitrali people

References

1. Khowar at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
2. ^ Edelman, D. I. (1983). The Dardic and Nuristani Languages. Moscow: (Institut vostokovedenii︠a︡ (Akademii︠a︡ nauk SSSR). p. 210.
3. ^ Bashir, Elena L. (1988), (PDF), Ph.d Dissertation, University of Michigan: 37 - 40 {{citation}}: Check |url= value (help)
4. Bashir, Elena L., Maula Nigah and Rahmat Karim Baig, A Digital Khowar-English Dictionary with Audio{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
5. See Rehmat Aziz Chitrali (2006) and Rachitrali (1990), respectively.
6. http://linguistlist.org/people/personal/get-personal-page2.cfm?PersonID=187988

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 2009-01-11.
• Strand, Richard F. (2011). "Khow`ar Lexicon". Retrieved 2012-01-16.
• Strand, Richard F. (2012). "The Sound System of Khow`ar". Retrieved 2012-01-16.

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