| Shina | |
|---|---|
| ݜݨیاٗ Ṣiṇyaá | |
| Pronunciation | [ʂinjaá] |
| Native to | Pakistan, India |
| Region | Gilgit-Baltistan, Kohistan, Drass, Gurez |
| Ethnicity | Shina |
Native speakers | 720,200 Shina (2018)[1] and Shina, Kohistani 458,000 (2018)[2] |
| Arabic script (Nastaʿlīq)[3] | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:scl – Standard Shinaplk – Kohistani Shina |
| Glottolog | shin1264 Shinakohi1248 Kohistani Shina |
Distribution of Shina language in Dark Orange | |
Shina (ݜݨیاٗ,شِْنْیٛا Ṣiṇyaá) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Shina people.[4][5] In Pakistan, Shina is the major language in Gilgit-Baltistan spoken by an estimated 1,146,000 people living mainly in Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan.[4][6] A small community of Shina speakers is also found in India, in the Guraiz valley of Jammu and Kashmir and in Dras tehsil of the Kargil district of Ladakh.[4] Outliers of Shina language such as Brokskat is found in Ladakh, Kundal Shahi in Azad Kashmir, Palula and Sawi in Chitral, Ushojo in the Swat Valley and Kalkoti in Dir.[4]
Until recently, there was no writing system of the language. A number of schemes have been proposed and there is no single writing system used by all of the speakers of Shina language.[7] Shina is also mostly a spoken language and not a written language. Most Shina speakers also do not write their language.
There are an estimated 1,146,000 speakers of both Shina and Kohistani Shina in Pakistan according to Ethnologue (2018), a majority of them residing in the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkwa and Gilgit-Baltistan. A small community of Shina speakers is also settled in Neelam valley of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.[8][9]
A small community of Shinar speakers is also settled in India in the far north of Kargil district bordering Gilgit-Baltistan. Their population is estimated to be around 32,200 according to 2011 census.[10]
| Shina alphabet |
|---|
| ا ب پ ت ٹ ث ج چ ح خ څ ځ ڇ د ڈ ذ ر ڑ ز ژ ڙ س ش ݜ ص ض ط ظ ع غ ڠ ف ق ک گ ل م ن ݨ ں و ہ (ھ) ء ی ے |
|
Extended Perso-Arabic script |
Shina is one of the few Dardic languages with a written tradition.[11] However, it was an unwritten language until a few decades ago[12] and there still is not a standard orthography.[13] Since the first attempts at accurately representing Shina's phonology in the 1960s there have been several proposed orthographies for the different varieties of the language, with debates centering on whether vowel length and tone should be represented.[14] For the Drasi variety spoken in the Indian union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, there have been two proposed schemes, one with the Perso-Arabic script and the other with the Devanagari script.[15]
One proposed alphabet for Shina is the following:[16][better source needed]
| Letter | Romanization | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| ا | ʿ | /ʔ/ |
| ب | b | /b/ |
| پ | p | /p/ |
| ت | t | /t/ |
| ٹ | ṭ | /ʈ/ |
| ث | (s) | /s/ |
| ج | ǰ | /d͡ʒ/ |
| چ | č | /t͡ʃ/ |
| ح | (h) | /h/ |
| خ | ǩ | /x/ |
| څ | c | /t͡s/ |
| ځ | j | /d͡z/ |
| ڇ | ċ | /ʈ͡ʂ/ |
| د | d | /d/ |
| ڈ | ḍ | /ɖ/ |
| ذ | (z) | /z/ |
| ر | r | /r/ |
| ڑ | ṛ | /ɽ/ |
| ز | z | /z/ |
| ژ | ž | /ʒ/ |
| ڙ | ż | /ʐ/ |
| س | s | /s/ |
| ش | š | /ʃ/ |
| ݜ | ṣ | /ʂ/ |
| ص | (s) | /s/ |
| ض | (d) | /d/ |
| ط | (t) | /t/ |
| ظ | (z) | /z/ |
| ع | ʿ | /ʔ/ |
| غ | ǧ | /ɣ/ |
| ڠ | ŋ | /ŋ/ |
| ف | f | /f/pʰ/ |
| ق | (k) | /k/ |
| ک | k | /k/ |
| گ | g | /ɡ/ |
| ل | l | /l/ |
| م | m | /m/ |
| ن | n | /n/ |
| ݨ | ṇ | /ɳ/ |
| ں | ˜ | /˜/ |
| و | w | /ʊ~w/ |
| ہ | h, x | /h/ɦ/ |
| ھ | _h | /ʰ/ |
| ء | ʿ | /ʔ/ |
| ی | y | /j/ |
| ے | e | /e/ |
The following is a description of the phonology of the Drasi variety spoken in India and the Kohistani variety in Pakistan.
The Shina principal vowel sounds:[17]
| Front | Mid | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrd. | rnd. | |||
| High | i | u | ||
| High-mid | e | o | ||
| Low-mid | ɛ | ə | ʌ | ɔ |
| Low | (æ) | a | ||
All vowels but /ɔ/ can be either long or nasalized, though no minimal pairs with the contrast are found.[17] /æ/ is heard from loanwords.[18]
In Shina there are the following diphthongs:[19]
In India, the dialects of the Shina language have preserved both initial and final OIA consonant clusters, while the Shina dialects spoken in Pakistan have not.[20]
| Labial | Coronal | Retroflex | Post-alv./ Palatal |
Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | Voiceless | p | t | ʈ | k | q[a] | ||
| Aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | ʈʰ | kʰ | ||||
| Voiced | b | d | ɖ | ɡ | ||||
| Breathy[a] | bʱ | dʱ | ɖʱ | ɡʱ | ||||
| Affricate | Voiceless | t͡s | ʈ͡ʂ | t͡ʃ | ||||
| Aspirated | t͡sʰ | ʈ͡ʂʰ | t͡ʃʰ | |||||
| Voiced | d͡z[b] | d͡ʒ[b] | ||||||
| Breathy | d͡ʒʱ[a] | |||||||
| Fricative | Voiceless | (f) | s | ʂ | ʃ | x[b] | h | |
| Voiced | z | ʐ | ʒ[b] | ɣ[b] | ɦ[b] | |||
| Nasal | m (mʱ)[a] | n | ɳ | ŋ | ||||
| Lateral | l (lʱ)[a] | |||||||
| Rhotic | r | ɽ[c] | ||||||
| Semivowel | ʋ~w | j | ||||||
Shina words are often distinguished by three contrasting tones: level, rising, and falling tones. Here is an example that shows the three tones:
"The" has a level tone and means the imperative "Do!"
When the stress falls on the first mora of a long vowel, the tone is falling. Thée means "Will you do?"
When the stress falls on the second mora of a long vowel, the tone is rising. Theé means "after having done".
