Pamir Languages

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Pamir Languages

Postby Limagne » 2013-03-13, 23:13

There was no thread for those small yet intriguing languages spoken in one of the most remote places in the world.

The Pamir mountains are home to some of the most fascinating languages of the Indo-European family.

The Pamir languages belong to the Eastern branch of the Iranian family. They are thus related to Pashto.

Shughni (which is mostly spoken in Tajikistan) is said to have the most native speakers. According to J. Payne, Shughni serves as a local lingua frinca between the different Pamiri groups. Dialects include Roshani, Bartangi and Roshorvi.

Sarikoli is the main language in the chinese Pamir. It is sometimes regarded as a dialect of Shughni even though it has been somewhat influenced by the neighbouring Wakhi.

Munji and Yidgha are two smaller Pamir languages to be found in Afghanistan (Munjian valley, Badakhshan) and Pakistan (Ludukh valley). They are considered to be closely related to Shughni.

Yazghulami is a minor language spoken around Andarbag in Tajikistan.

Ishkashimi and its variants (Zebaki and Sanglichi) are spoken across the border region of Ishkashim (Tajikistan/Afghanistan).

Wakhi comes second as far as the number of speakers is concerned. It is used mostly in the Wakhan corridor in Afghanistan as well as the in Gilgit-Baltistan region in Pakistan.

Those languages are presumably not mutually intelligible but they form a sprachbund. Since they are not the culturally dominating languages of the region where they are natively spoken, the surrounding Pashto, Urdu, Uyghur and Persian/Tajik have exerted a noticeable influence over them.

It should be noted that the Pamiri people has not been granted any official status as a minority in Tajikistan and Afghanistan. In China and in Pakistan on the other hand, it seems that efforts have been made to preserve the languages.


Materials
are unfortunately very scarce. A few works on Wakhi have been published in French. There is also some literature on Shughni in Russian and Tajik.

Parlons Wakhi - Karim Khan Saka [I have a copy of it, it's a fantastic book]
La langue wakhi I : Corpus de littérature orale - Dominique Indjoudjian
La langue Wakhi II : Essai grammatical et dictionnaire - Dominique Indjoudjian

Compendium Linguarum Iranicum - R. Schmitt

Links of interest

The Pamir Times
Razaik - Learn Wakhi
Xik Wakhi - Wakhi on the roof of the world
Learn Wakhi
Learn Wakhi 2
Wakhi Tajik Culture Association
Xikwor, Sadoye Bom Dunyo
Wakhi Dictionary
Wakhi Language Book
Photos of the Pamir
Shughni language page

Music

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xu0uvn ... UDy5FeM5QI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dCltyGFbsw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISR3qKj3c0g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaptNKw1azE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCYhm3ufKn8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TONQHrqowp8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkV9-5tDJEw
Last edited by Limagne on 2013-05-03, 13:49, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby Meera » 2013-03-14, 17:53

Well I have heard of the Pamir languages but never actually met anyone who spoke one or actually heard the languages. Very interesting stuff, Limagne! Merci!
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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby Limagne » 2013-03-18, 19:31

Yeah, I guess it must be terribly hard to come across a native speaker outside of the Pamir.

Anyway, I've just found an article from a scholarly publication that deals with the specificities of the Pamir languages. It's in French though.

Les langues indo-iraniennes des Pamirs et de l’Hindou Kouch
François Jacquesson

http://asiecentrale.revues.org/index687.html

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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby Serge » 2013-04-21, 10:53


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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby Limagne » 2013-05-03, 9:56


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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby Limagne » 2013-06-04, 11:23


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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby Limagne » 2014-03-18, 18:53


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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby melski » 2014-03-18, 23:22

I knew nothing of those languages before reading this thread, but the music is really beautiful, especially the acapella tracks like the munajat. Merci Limagne, la musique de ces langues est vraiment magnifique !
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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby vijayjohn » 2015-01-29, 20:43

Which language are "Pomir Kuen" and "Dil Dile Kenum" in? Shughni?

This is another song in Shughni. It's called "Tut Ajab Berahm":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGU4tS2GMqo
And this is another. I think "Lidush" is the name of the singer, not part of the title of the song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cEKBk6g8kc
This is apparently a song in the Rushani dialect of Shughni:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHauM62ya5s
And I think this song is in Sarikoli (with a translation into Chinese in the subtitles). There's apparently a Chinese version of this song, too, with much simpler lyrics than the original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW8xd2wAirk

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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby vijayjohn » 2016-01-04, 8:49

Here are some more songs that appear to be in Sarikoli:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoSVo4OPY5k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsdb0HisdoE
(Sorry for the poor audio quality in this one)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9c2rsAg2mM
Here's another instrumental Sarikoli dance, like the Raqse Sarikoli that Limagne posted earlier :lol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj9KIO7jYIM
And here a another song in Shughni:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FkNat0gaKE
And one more I think in Rushani? (I finally figured out that was probably the language "Shams" performs in! :D):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kUDhe-nNBI
Last edited by vijayjohn on 2016-01-04, 10:53, edited 3 times in total.
Reason: Replaced last link with a song that might be more likely to be in Rushani rather than Tajik!

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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby vijayjohn » 2016-11-13, 3:16

These are two songs by Imatikhudo Amrikhudoyev (Иматихудо Амрихудоев). I'm guessing that they're both from Tajikistan. The titles of both of them begin with "Язгулям." The first one of these is called "Khanda Ba Lab." Does this mean that one or both of these songs is in Yazghulami, or are they just in Tajik/Persian? I seem to be bad at telling the difference between Persian and some of the other Iranian languages at least sometimes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9diOnnGxUw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO9CBb94ByI

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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby eskandar » 2016-11-30, 23:22

They're both in Persian; I recognized the second one right away as a famous ghazal by Hafez. Maybe the title indicates that the songs are sung in a style associated with the Yazghulami people :?: - just a guess.
Please correct my mistakes in any language.

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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby Limagne » 2017-02-05, 12:43

A Shughni Grammar - Baxtibekov, 1979 (in Tajiki)

http://www.twirpx.com/file/1506050/

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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-02-06, 4:37

Thanks, Limagne, and a late thanks to eskandar as well! :)

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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby vijayjohn » 2018-01-03, 8:42

I think I might have finally found one song each in Ishkashimi, Yazghulami, and Yidgha as well as one in Khufi, which I didn't even know existed until no! Khufi is apparently a language variety that's usually considered a dialect of Shughni, but Wikipedia says Khufi and Bartangi are distinct enough to the point where they should perhaps be considered separate languages.

This is apparently a song in Ishkashimi by Tavakali Shirinbek called "Amshtoki Qadbaland":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2xLoC8pM_U
This song is apparently in Yazghulami:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2FiHwGXXRo
This is an interesting though very short documentary with one song in Yidgha (0:51-1:07):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c2xGHobuv8
I'm not sure, but I think maybe these songs might be in Khufi (or they could just be more songs in Standard Persian/Tajik for all I know :P):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lROKBk146o
These are videos in Bartangi with subtitles in Bartangi (written in something sort of close to IPA) and English:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ok6Um6ubtU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHN5UzC9O0
These are similar videos from the same channel (the Endangered Language Alliance) in Wakhi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIEyBalLyNE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7i51CjssFM
And these are in Shughni:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqkOGjaLYuQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnfwsUkuRL0

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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby Limagne » 2020-12-29, 12:09


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Re: Pamir Languages

Postby vijayjohn » 2021-06-12, 4:53

I might be missing something, but that song sounds to me like it's just in Tajik.

This folder has one resource about Pamiri languages and another about Shughni, by the way, both in English: https://mega.nz/folder/x4VG3DRL#lqecF4q ... r/YkMgnIoK.


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