Gawar-Bati
Narsati
Native toAfghanistan, Pakistan
RegionKunar,province , Chitral
Native speakers
75,000 (2017–2024)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3gwt
Glottologgawa1247
ELPGawar-Bati

Gawar-Bati or Narsati is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Kunar, Nari of Eastern Afghanistan, and across the border in Pakistan , It is also known as Kohistani in Kunar. Gawar-Bati has estimated speakers of 75,000. 5,0000 of them are living in ,Kunar,Nari,Afghanistan and 25,000 of them are in Chitral, Pakistan.

Study and classification

The Gawar-Bati language has not been given serious study by linguists, except that it is mentioned by George Morgenstierne (1926) and Kendall Decker (1992).

It is classified as an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic subgroup. However, the term Dardic is not linguistic but merely geographic.[2]

Phonology

The following tables set out the phonology of the Gawar-Bati language:[3]

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i iː u uː
Mid (e) eː (o) oː
Open a aː

The status of short /e/ and /o/ is unclear.

Consonants

A breathy voiced series, /bʱ dʱ gʱ/, existed recently in older speakers—and may still do so.

Labial Coronal Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɳ
Stop voiceless p t ʈ k
voiced b d ɖ ɡ
aspirated pʰ [pf f] tʰ ʈʰ kʰ
Affricate voiceless ts tʂ tʃ
voiced dz dʐ dʒ
aspirated tsʰ tʂʰ tʃʰ
Fricative voiceless s ʂ ʃ x h
voiced z ʐ ʒ ɣ
Approximant j w
Lateral plain l
Fricative ɬ ~ l̥
Rhotic r ɽ

Orthography

It is rarely written. This alphabet is used in Pakistan:[4]

Letter ا ب پ ت ٹ ث ج چ ح خ ڄ ݮ څ ځ د ڈ ذ ر ڑ ز ژ ݫ س
Transliteration ā, Ø b p t ṭ s ǰ č h x c̣ j̣ c j d ḍ z r ṛ z ẓ ž s
IPA [aː], Ø [b] [p] [t] [ʈ] [s] [d͡ʒ] [t͡ʃ] [h] [x] [ʈ͡ʂ] [ɖ͡ʐ] [t͡s] [d͡z] [d] [ɖ] [z] [r~ɾ] [ɽ] [z] [ʐ] [ʒ] [s]
Letter ش ݭ ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ک گ ل ݪ م ن ݨ ں ه ء و ی ے
Transliteration š ṣ s z t z ʔ ǧ f q k g l ł m n ṇ ˜ h ʔ w, ū, o y, ī e
IPA [ʃ] [ʂ] [s] [z] [t] [z] [ʔ] [ɣ] [f] [q] [k] [ɡ] [l] [ɬ~l] [m] [n] [ɳ] [˜] [h] [ʔ] [w], [uː], [oː] [j], [iː] [eː]
Letter تھ پھ ٹھ چھ ڄھ څھ کھ َ ِ ُ
Transliteration th ph ṭh čh c̣h ch kh a i u
IPA [tʰ] [pʰ] [ʈʰ] [t͡ʃʰ] [ʈ͡ʂʰ] [t͡sʰ] [kʰ] [a] [i] [u]

Notes and references

  1. ^ Gawar-Bati at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Bashir, Elena (2007). Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (eds.). The Indo-Aryan languages. Routledge. p. 905. ISBN 978-0415772945. 'Dardic' is a geographic cover term for those Northwest Indo-Aryan languages which [..] developed new characteristics different from the IA languages of the Indo-Gangetic plain. Although the Dardic and Nuristani (previously 'Kafiri') languages were formerly grouped together, Morgenstierne (1965) has established that the Dardic languages are Indo-Aryan, and that the Nuristani languages constitute a separate subgroup of Indo-Iranian.
  3. ^ Edelman, D. I. (1983). The Dardic and Nuristani Languages. Moscow: Institut vostokovedenii︠a︡ (Akademii︠a︡ nauk SSSR). p. 139.
  4. ^ Gawarbati Alif Be fli-online.org

Further reading

External links

35°19′38″N 71°35′05″E / 35.32722°N 71.58472°E / 35.32722; 71.58472

Languages of Pakistan
Indo-Aryan languages
Categories