Khowar language

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Khowar is a Dardic language. It is spoken by 332,200 people. These people live in the upper Chitral District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Kho
Khowar
کھوار
Kho.svg
Native toPakistan
RegionChitral District
EthnicityKho people
Native speakers1,000  (2004)e19
Language family
Writing systemNastaliq alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3khw

Loanwords

Khowar has many loanwords taken from Hindustani, Persian, and Ghalchah. It also has words from Sanskrit and Ancient Greek.

In the 19th century, when the area was conquered by Hindustanis, many words from the Hindustani languages entered Kho, like afas from the Hindustani aas, which means hope; ruphi from the Hindustani rukna. which means to stop; usna from the Hindustani uthana, which means to lift up; and choghi from the Hindustani chori, which means to steal.

Alphabet

The Khowar alphabet is based on the Urdu alphabet.

Letter Name of letter Transcription IPA
ا alif ā/aa, a, i, u /ɑː/, /ə/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/
ب be b /b/
پ pe p /p/
ت te t /t̪/
ٹ ṭe /ʈ/
ث se (s) /s/
ج jīm j /d͡ʒ/
چ če č /t͡ʃ/
ح baṛī he (h) /h/
خ xe x /x/
ݯ çe ç /ʈ͡ʂ/
ݮ ǰīm ǰ /ɖ͡ʐ/
څ tse c /t͡s/
ځ dze dz/đ /d͡z/
د dāl d /d̪/
ڈ ḍāl /ɖ/
ذ zāl (z) /z/
ر re r /r/
ڑ ṛe /r~ɫ/
ز ze z /z/
ژ že ž/zh /ʒ/
ݱ ẓ̌e ẓ̌ /ʐ/, /ʑ/
س sīn s /s/
ش šīn š/sh /ʃ/
ݰ ṣīn /ʂ/, /ɕ/
ص su'ād (s) /s/
ض zu'ād (z) /z/
ط to'e (t) /t/
ظ zo'e (z) /z/
ع ‘ain ', a, i, u /ʔ/, /ə/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/
غ ǧain ǧ/gh /ɣ/
ف fe f /f/
ق qāf q /q/
ک kāf k /k/
گ gāf g /ɡ/
ل lām l /l/
ڵ łām ł /lʲ/
م mīm m /m/
ن nūn n /n/
ں nūn ǧunnā /◌̃/
و wā'o w, o, au, or ū /ʋ/, /oː/, /ɔ/ or /uː/
ہ čoṭī he h /h/
ھ do čašmī he _h /ʰ/
ء hamza ' /ʔ/
ى khowar ye y, ī /j/ or /iː/
ے barī ye ai or e /ɛː/, or /eː/

Khowar Language Media

Related pages

More reading

  • Elena Bashir, (2001) Spatial Representation in Khowar. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
  • Kendall D. Decker, (1992) Languages of Chitral ISBN 969-8023-15-1
  • Erik L’Homme, (1999) Parlons Khowar. Langue et culture de l’ancien royaume de Chitral au Pakistan. Paris: L’Harmattan
  • Georg Morgenstierne, (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
  • Georg Morgenstierne, (1947) Some Features of Khowar Morphology. Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap, Vol. XIV, Oslo.
  • Georg Morgenstierne, (1957) Sanskritic Words in Khowar. Felicitation Volume Presented to S.K. Belvalkar. Benares. 84-98 [Reprinted in Morgenstierne (1973): Irano-Dardica, 267-72]
  • Mohammad Ismail Sloan (1981) Khowar-English Dictionary. Peshawar. ISBN 0-923891-15-3.

References