Balochi language

Balochi
Balochi
بلۏچی Balòci
	Balòci (Balochi) written Balo-Rabi in Nastaliq style.
Pronunciation	[bəˈloːt͡ʃiː]
Native to	Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan
Region	Balochistan
Ethnicity	Baloch
Native speakers	8.8 million (2017–2020)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Iranian Northwestern Balochi; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Balochi Standard Alphabet
Official status
Official language in	Pakistan Balochistan;
Regulated by	Balochi Academy, Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan ; Balochi Academy Sarbaz, Sarbaz, Iran
Language codes
ISO 639-2	bal
ISO 639-3	bal – inclusive code; Individual codes:; bgp – Eastern Balochi; bgn – Western Balochi; bcc – Southern Balochi
Glottolog	balo1260
Linguasphere	> 58-AAB-aa (East Balochi) + 58-AAB-ab (West Balochi) + 58-AAB-ac (South Balochi) + 58-AAB-ad (Bashkardi) 58-AAB-a > 58-AAB-aa (East Balochi) + 58-AAB-ab (West Balochi) + 58-AAB-ac (South Balochi) + 58-AAB-ad (Bashkardi)
	The position of Balochi language among Iranian languages.
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

This article contains Balochi text, written from right to left with some letters joined. Without proper rendering support, you may see unjoined Balochi letters or other symbols instead of Balochi script.

A speaker of Eastern Balochi

Balochi (بلۏچی, romanized: Balòci) is a Northwestern Iranian language, spoken primarily in the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. In addition, there are speakers in Oman, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Turkmenistan, East Africa and in diaspora communities in other parts of the world.^[3] The total number of speakers, according to Ethnologue, is 8.8 million.^[1] Of these, 6.28 million are in Pakistan.^[4]

According to Brian Spooner,^[5]

Literacy for most Baloch-speakers is not in Balochi, but in Urdu in Pakistan and Persian in Afghanistan and Iran. Even now very few Baloch read Balochi, in any of the countries, even though the alphabet in which it is printed is essentially identical to Persian and Urdu.

Balochi belongs to the Western Iranian subgroup, and its original homeland is suggested to be around the central Caspian region.^[6]

Classification

Balochi is an Indo-European language, spoken by the Baloch and belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the family. As an Iranian language, it is classified in the Northwestern group.

Glottolog classifies four different varieties, namely Koroshi, Southern Balochi and Western Balochi (grouped under a "Southern-Western Balochi" branch), and Eastern Balochi, all under the "Balochic" group.^[7]

ISO 639-3 groups Southern, Eastern, and Western Baloch under the Balochi macrolanguage, keeping Koroshi separate. Balochi, somehow near similarity with the Parthian and on the other hand, it has near kinship to the Avestan.^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]

Dialects

These dialects are broadly categorized into three main groups:^[13]

Eastern group (the Soleimani dialect group): Found mainly in eastern Balochistan, covering parts of Pakistan, particularly in areas like Quetta, Kalat, and Khuzdar.

Southern group (part of the Makrani dialect group): Spoken in the southern parts of Balochistan, including coastal areas like Gwadar, Chabahar, and southern Pakistan.^[13]

Western group (part of the Rakhshani dialect group) : Predominantly spoken in western Balochistan, including parts of Iran and Afghanistan. Commonly spoken in Sistan and Balochestan province and Khorasan in Iran.^[14]^[13]

Koroshi is also classified as Balochi.^[15]

There are two main dialects: the dialect of the Mandwani (northern) tribes and the dialect of the Domki (southern) tribes.^[16] The dialectal differences are not very significant.^[16] One difference is that grammatical terminations in the northern dialect are less distinct compared with those in the southern tribes.^[16] An isolated dialect is Koroshi, which is spoken in the Qashqai tribal confederation in the Fars province. Koroshi distinguishes itself in grammar and lexicon among Balochi varieties.^[17]

The Balochi Academy Sarbaz has designed a standard alphabet for Balochi.^[18]^{[better source needed]}

Phonology

Vowels

The Balochi vowel system has at least eight vowels: five long and three short.^[19]^{[page needed]} These are /aː/, /eː/, /iː/, /oː/, /uː/, /a/, /i/ and /u/. The short vowels have more centralized phonetic quality than the long vowels. The variety spoken in Karachi also has nasalized vowels, most importantly /ẽː/ and /ãː/.^[20]^{[page needed]} In addition to these eight vowels, Balochi has two vowel glides, that is /aw/ and /ay/.^[21]

Consonants

The following table shows consonants which are common to both Western (Northern) and Southern Balochi.^[22]^{[page needed]} The consonants /s/, /z/, /n/, /ɾ/ and /l/ are articulated as alveolar in Western Balochi. The plosives /t/ and /d/ are dental in both dialects. The symbol ń is used to denote nasalization of the preceding vowel.^[21]

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	ʈ	t͡ʃ	k	ʔ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiced	b	d	ɖ	d͡ʒ	ɡ	ʔ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s		ʃ		h^[b]
Fricative	voiced		z		ʒ^[c]		h^[b]
Rhotic			ɾ	ɽ^[d]
Nasal		m	n
Approximant		w	l		j

^ Official provincial status
^ Word-initial /h/ is dropped in Balochi as spoken in Karachi.
^ Words with /ʒ/ are uncommon.^{[dubious – discuss]}
^ The retroflex tap has a very limited distribution.

In addition, /f/ occurs in a few words in Southern Balochi. /x/ (voiceless velar fricative) in some loanwords in Southern Balochi corresponding to /χ/ (voiceless uvular fricative) in Western Balochi; and /ɣ/ (voiced velar fricative) in some loanwords in Southern Balochi corresponding to /ʁ/ (voiced uvular fricative) in Western Balochi.

In Eastern Balochi, it is noted that the stop and glide consonants may also occur as aspirated allophones in word initial position as [pʰ tʰ ʈʰ t͡ʃʰ kʰ] and [wʱ]. Allophones of stops in postvocalic position include for voiceless stops, [f θ x] and for voiced stops [β ð ɣ]. /n l/ are also dentalized as [n̪ l̪].^[23]

Intonation

Difference between a question and a statement is marked with the tone, when there is no question word. Rising tone marks the question and falling tone the statement.^[21] Statements and questions with a question word are characterized by falling intonation at the end of the sentence.^[21]

Falling Intonation – Statement
Language	Example
Latin	(Á) wassh ent.
Perso-Arabic with Urdu alphabet	.آ) وشّ اِنت)
English	He is well.

Falling Intonation – Question
Language	Example
Latin	(Taw) kojá raway?
Perso-Arabic with Urdu alphabet	تئو) کجا رئوئے؟)
English	Where are you going?

Questions without a question word are characterized by rising intonation at the end of the sentence.^[21]

Rising Intonation – Question
Language	Example
Latin	(Á) wassh ent?
Perso-Arabic with Urdu alphabet	آ) وشّ اِنت؟)
English	Is he well?

Both coordinate and subordinate clauses that precede the final clause in the sentence have rising intonation. The final clause in the sentence has falling intonation.^[21]

Rising Intonation – In clauses that precede the final clause
Language	Example
Latin	Shahray kuchah o damkán hechkas gendaga nabut o bázár angat band at.
Perso-Arabic with Urdu alphabet	شهرئے کوچه ءُ دمکان هچکَس گندگَ نبوت ءُ بازار انگت بند اَت.
English	Nobody was seen in the streets of the town, and the marketplace was still closed.

Grammar

The normal word order is subject–object–verb. Like many other Indo-Iranian languages, Balochi also features split ergativity. The subject is marked as nominative except for the past tense constructions where the subject of a transitive verb is marked as oblique and the verb agrees with the object.^[24] Balochi, like many Western Iranian languages, has lost the Old Iranian gender distinctions.^[6]

Numerals

Much of the Balochi number system is identical to Persian.^[25] According to Mansel Longworth Dames, Balochi writes the first twelve numbers as follows:^[26]

Cardinal numerals
Balochi	Standard Alphabet(Balòrabi)	English
Yak	یکّ	One^[a]
Do	دو	Two
Sae	سئ	Three
Chàr	چار	Four
Panch	پنچ	Five
Shash	شش	Six
Hapt	ھپت	Seven
Hasht	ھشت	Eight
Noh	نُھ	Nine
Dah	دَہ	Ten
Yàzhdah	یازدہ	Eleven
Dwàzhdah	دوازدھ	Twelve

Ordinal numerals
Balochi	Standard Alphabet(Balòrabi)	English
Awali / Pèsari	اولی / پݔسَری	First
Domi	دومی	Second
Sayomi	سئیُمی	Third
Cháromi	چارمی	Fourth
Panchomi	پنچُمی	Fifth
Shashomi	شَشُمی	Sixth
Haptomi	ھپتُمی	Seventh
Hashtomi	ھشتمی	Eighth
Nohmi	نُھمی	Ninth
Dahomi	دھمی	Tenth
Yázdahomi	یازدھمی	Eleventh
Dwázdahomi	دوازدھمی	Twelfth
Goďďi	گُڈڈی	Last

Notes

^ The latter ya is with nouns while yak is used by itself.

Writing system

Balochi was not a written language before the 19th century,^[27] and the Persian script was used to write Balochi wherever necessary.^[27] However, Balochi was still spoken at the Baloch courts.^{[citation needed]}

British colonial officers first wrote Balochi with the Latin script.^[28] Following the creation of Pakistan, Baloch scholars adopted the Persian alphabet. The first collection of poetry in Balochi, Gulbang by Mir Gul Khan Nasir was published in 1951 and incorporated the Arabic Script. It was much later that Sayad Zahoor Shah Hashemi wrote a comprehensive guidance on the usage of Arabic script and standardized it as the Balochi Orthography in Pakistan and Iran. This earned him the title of the 'Father of Balochi'. His guidelines are widely used in Eastern and Western Balochistan. In Afghanistan, Balochi is still written in a modified Arabic script based on Persian.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002, a conference was held to help standardize the script that would be used for Balochi.^[29]

Old Balochi Alphabet

The following alphabet was used by Syed Zahoor Shah Hashmi in his lexicon of Balochi Sayad Ganj (سید گنج) (lit. Sayad's Treasure).^[30]^[31] Until the creation of the Balochi Standard Alphabet, it was by far the most widely used alphabet for writing Balochi, and is still used very frequently.

آ، ا، ب، پ، ت، ٹ، ج، چ، د، ڈ، ر، ز، ژ، س، ش، ک، گ، ل، م، ن، و، ھ ہ، ء، ی ے

Standard Perso-Arabic Alphabet

The Balochi Standard Alphabet, standardized by Balochi Academy Sarbaz, consists of 29 letters.^[32] It is an extension of the Perso-Arabic script and borrows a few glyphs from Urdu. It is also sometimes referred to as Balo-Rabi or Balòrabi. Today, it is the preferred script to use in a professional setting and by educated folk.

Latin alphabet

The following Latin-based alphabet was adopted by the International Workshop on "Balochi Roman Orthography" (University of Uppsala, Sweden, 28–30 May 2000).^[33]

Alphabetical order

a á b c d ď e f g ĝ h i í j k l m n o p q r ř s š t ť u ú v w x y z ž ay aw (33 letters and 2 digraphs)

Letter	IPA	Example words^[34]
A / a	[a]	asp (horse), garm (warm), mard (man)
Á / á	[aː]	áp (water), kár (work)
B / b (bé)	[b]	barp (snow, ice), bám (dawn), bágpán (gardener), baktáwar (lucky)
Ch / ch (ché)	[tʃ]	chamm (eye), bacch (son), kárch (knife)
D / d (de)	[d]	dard (pain), drad (rainshower), pád (foot), wád (salt)
Dh / dh	[ɖ]	dhawl (shape), gwandh (short), chondh (piece)
E / e	[eː]	esh (this), pet (father), bale (but)
É / é		éraht (harvest), bér (revenge), shér (tiger) dér (late, delay), dém (face, front),
F / f (fe)	[f]	Only used for loanwords: fármaysí (pharmacy).
G / g (ge)	[g]	gapp (talk), ganók (mad), bág (garden), bagg (herd of camels), pádag (foot), Bagdád (Baghdad)
Gh / gh	[ɣ]	Like ĝhaen in Perso-Arabic script. Used for loanwords and in eastern dialects: ghair (others), ghali (carpet), ghaza (noise)
H / h (he)	[h]	hár (flood), máh (moon), kóh (mountain), mahár (rein), hón (blood)
I / i (i)	[iː]	imán (faith), shir (milk), pakir (beggar), samin (breeze), gáli (carpet)
J / j (jé)	[dʒ]	jang (war), janag (to beat), jeng (lark), ganj (treasure), sajji (roasted meat)
K / k (ké)	[k]	Kermán (Kirman), kárch (knife), nákó (uncle), gwask (calf), kasán (small)
L / l (lé)	[l]	láp (stomach), gal (joy), gal (party, organization), goll (cheek), gol (rose)
M / m (mé)	[m]	mát (mother), bám (dawn), chamm (eye), master (leader, bigger)
N / n (né)	[n]	nagan (bread), nók (new, new moon), dhann (outside), kwahn (old), nákó (uncle)
O / o	[u]	oshter (camel), shomá (you), ostád (teacher), gozhn (hunger), boz (goat)
Ó / ó (ó)	[oː]	óshtag (to stop), ózhnág (swim), róch (sun), dór (pain), sochag (to burn)
P / p (pé)	[p]	Pád (foot), shap (night), shapád (bare-footed), gapp (talk), haptád (70)
R / r (ré)	[ɾ]	rék (sand), barag (to take away), sharr (good), sarag (head)
Rh / rh (rhé)	[ɽ]	márhi (building), nájórh (sick)
S / s (sé)	[s]	sarag (head), kass (someone), kasán (little), bass (enough), ás (fire)
Sh / sh (shé)	[ʃ]	shap (night), shád (happy), mésh (sheep), shwánag (shepherd), wašš (happy, tasty)
T / t (té)	[t]	tagerd (mat), tahná (alone) tás (bowl), kelitt (key)
Th / th (thé)	[ʈ]	thong (hole), thilló (bell), batth (cooked rice), batthág (eggplant)
U / u (u)	[uː]	zurag (to take), bezur (take), dur (distant)
W / w (wé)	[w]	warag (food, to eat), warden (provision), dawár (abode), wád (salt), kawwás (learned)
Y / y (yé)	[j]	yád (remembrance), yár (friend), yázdah (eleven), beryáni (roasted meat), yakk (one)
Z / z (zé)	[z]	zarr (monay), zi (yesterday), mozz (wages), móz (banana), nazzíkk (nearby)
Zh / zh (zhé)	[ʒ]	zhand (tired), zháng (bells), pazhm (wool), gazzhag (to swell), gozhnag (hungry)
Latin digraphs
Ay / ay	[aj]	ayb (fault), say (three), kay (who)
Aw / aw	[aw]	awali (first), hawr (rain), kawl (promise), gawk (neck)

Soviet alphabet

In 1933, the Soviet Union adopted a Latin-based alphabet for Balochi as follows:

**The Balochi alphabet in Latin**
a	ə	ʙ	c	ç	d	ᶁ	e	f	g	h	i	j	k	ʟ
m	n	o	p	q	ʼ	r	s	t	ƫ	u	v	w	x	z	ƶ

The alphabet was used for several texts, including children's books, newspapers, and ideological works. In 1938, however, the official use of Balochi was discontinued.^[35]

Cyrillic alphabet

In 1989, Mammad Sherdil, a teacher from the Turkmen SSR, approached Balochi language researcher Sergei Axenov with the idea of creating a Cyrillic-based alphabet for Balochi. Before this, the Cyrillic script was already used for writing Balochi and was used in several publications but the alphabet was not standardized. In 1990, the alphabet was finished. It included the following letters:

**The Balochi alphabet in Cyrillic**
а	а̄	б	в	г	ғ	д	д̨	е	ё	ж	җ	з	и	ӣ	й	к	қ	л	м	н
о	п	р	ꝑ	с	т	т̵	у	ӯ	ф	х	ц	ч	ш	щ	ъ	ы	ь	э	ю	я

The project was approved with some minor changes (қ, ꝑ, and ы were removed due to the rarity of those sounds in Balochi, and о̄ was added). From 1992 to 1993, several primary school textbooks were printed in this script. In the early 2000s, the script fell out of use.^[36]

References

^ ^a ^b Balochi at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
Eastern Balochi at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
Western Balochi at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
Southern Balochi at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
^ "worldhistory". titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
^ Spooner, Brian (2011). "10. Balochi: Towards a Biography of the Language". In Schiffman, Harold F. (ed.). Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors. Brill. p. 319. ISBN 978-9004201453. It [Balochi] is spoken by three to five million people in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Oman and the Persian Gulf states, Turkmenistan, East Africa, and diaspora communities in other parts of the world.
^ "Table 11 – Population by Mother Tongue, Sex and Rural/Urban" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
^ Spooner, Brian (2011). "10. Balochi: Towards a Biography of the Language". In Schiffman, Harold F. (ed.). Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors. Brill. p. 320. ISBN 978-9004201453.
^ ^a ^b Elfenbein, J. (1988). "Baluchistan iii. Baluchi Language and Literature". Encyclopedia Iranica. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
^ "Glottolog 4.3 – Balochic". glottolog.org. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
^ "Towards a Historical Grammar of Balochi : Studies in Balochi Historical Phonology and Vocabulary" (PDF). Open University. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
^ "Discourse Features in Balochi of Sistan: (Oral Narratives)". Uppsala University. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
^ "An Old Phonological Study of Balochi and Persian". ResearchGate. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
^ "Getting to know the dialects of Sistan and Baluchistan; from north to south". Hamshahri (in Persian). 14 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
^ "A discussion in Iranian linguistics" (in Persian). Retrieved 31 January 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c "The Balochi Language Project". Uppsala University. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
^ Sedighi, Anousha (2023). Iranian and Minority Languages at Home and in Diaspora. De Gruyter. ISBN 9783110694314.
^ Ethnologue report for Southwestern Iranian languages
^ ^a ^b ^c Dames 1922, p. 1.
^ Borjian, Habib (December 2014). "The Balochi dialect of the Korosh". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 67 (4): 453–465. doi:10.1556/AOrient.67.2014.4.4.
^ "Main Balochi Language( Rèdagèn Balòci Zubàn )". Balochi Academy Sarbaz. 16 February 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
^ Farrell 1990. Serge 2006.
^ Farrell 1990.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Jahani, Carina (2019). A Grammar of Modern Standard Balochi. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.
^ Serge 2006. Farrell 1990.
^ JahaniKorn 2009, pp. 634–692.
^ "Balochi". National Virtual Translation Center. Archived from the original on 18 November 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
^ Korn, Agnes (2006). "Counting Sheep and Camels in Balochi". Indoiranskoe jazykoznanie i tipologija jazykovyx situacij. Sbornik statej k 75-letiju professora A. L. Grjunberga (1930–1995). Nauka. pp. 201–212. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
^ Dames 1922, pp. 13–15.
^ ^a ^b Dames 1922, p. 3.
^ Hussain, Sajid (18 March 2016). "Faith and politics of Balochi script". Balochistan Times. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
^ "Script for Balochi language discussed". Dawn. Quetta. 28 October 2002. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
^ Shah Hashemi, Sayad Zahoor. "The First Complete Balochi Dictionary". Sayad Ganj. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
^ "Sayad Zahoor Shah Hashmi: A one-man institution". Balochistan Times. 14 November 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
^ "Balochi Standarded Alphabet". BalochiAcademy.ir. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
^ "Baluchi Roman ORTHOGRAPHY". Phrasebase.com. Archived from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
^ Jahani, Carina (2019). A grammar of modern standard Balochi. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Iranica Upsaliensia. Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet. ISBN 978-91-513-0820-3.
^ Axenov, Sergei (2000). Language in Society: Eight Sociolinguistic Essays on Balochi. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Iranica Upsaliensia. Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet. pp. 71–78. ISBN 91-554-4679-5.
^ Kokaislova P., Kokaisl P. (2012). Центральная Азия и Кавказ (in Russian). ISSN 1403-7068.

Bibliography

Dames, Mansel Longworth (1922). A Text Book of the Balochi Language: Consisting of Miscellaneous Stories, Legends, Poems, and a Balochi-English Vocabulary. Lahore: Punjab Government Press. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
Farrell, Tim (1990). Basic Balochi: an introductory course. Naples: Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale". OCLC 40953807.
Jahani, Carina; Korn, Agnes (2009). "Balochi". In Windfuhr, Gernot (ed.). The Iranian languages. Routledge Language Family Series (1st ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 634–692. ISBN 978-0-7007-1131-4.
Serge, Axenov (2006). The Balochi language of Turkmenistan: a corpus based grammatical description. Stockholm: Uppsala Universitet. ISBN 978-91-554-6766-1. OCLC 82163314.
Jahani, Carina; Korn, Agnes, eds. (2003). The Baloch and Their Neighbours: Ethnic and Linguistic Contact in Balochistan in Historical and Modern Times. In cooperation with Gunilla Gren-Eklund. Wiesbaden: Reichert. ISBN 978-3-89500-366-0. OCLC 55149070.
Jahani, Carina, ed. (2000). Language in society: eight sociolinguistic essays on Balochi. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala University. ISBN 978-91-554-4679-6. OCLC 44509598.

External links

Media related to Balochi language at Wikimedia Commons
Collett, N. A. A grammar, phrase book and vocabulary of Baluchi: (as spoken in the Sultanate of Oman). 2nd ed. [Camberley]: [N.A. Collett], 1986.
Dames, Mansel Longworth. A sketch of the northern Balochi language, containing a grammar, vocabulary and specimens of the language. Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 1881.
Mumtaz Ahmad. Baluchi glossary: a Baluchi-English glossary: elementary level. Kensington, Md.: Dunwoody Press, 1985.
EuroBalúči online translation tool – translate Balochi words to or from English, Persian, Spanish, Finnish and Swedish
iJunoon English to Balochi Dictionary
EuroBalúči – Baluchi alphabet, grammar and music
"Baluchi" . Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.
Jahani, C. 2019. A Grammar of Modern Standard Balochi

[2] Official provincial status

[24] Word-initial /h/ is dropped in Balochi as spoken in Karachi.

[25] Words with /ʒ/ are uncommon.^{[dubious – discuss]}

[26] The retroflex tap has a very limited distribution.

[31] The latter ya is with nouns while yak is used by itself.

[e26-1] Balochi at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
Eastern Balochi at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
Western Balochi at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
Southern Balochi at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)

[3] "worldhistory". titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de. Retrieved 20 February 2022.

[Spooner2011-4] Spooner, Brian (2011). "10. Balochi: Towards a Biography of the Language". In Schiffman, Harold F. (ed.). Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors. Brill. p. 319. ISBN 978-9004201453. It [Balochi] is spoken by three to five million people in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Oman and the Persian Gulf states, Turkmenistan, East Africa, and diaspora communities in other parts of the world.

[5] "Table 11 – Population by Mother Tongue, Sex and Rural/Urban" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2023.

[6] Spooner, Brian (2011). "10. Balochi: Towards a Biography of the Language". In Schiffman, Harold F. (ed.). Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors. Brill. p. 320. ISBN 978-9004201453.

[Elfenbein_1988-7] Elfenbein, J. (1988). "Baluchistan iii. Baluchi Language and Literature". Encyclopedia Iranica. Retrieved 30 December 2014.

[8] "Glottolog 4.3 – Balochic". glottolog.org. Retrieved 13 May 2021.

[9] "Towards a Historical Grammar of Balochi : Studies in Balochi Historical Phonology and Vocabulary" (PDF). Open University. Retrieved 31 January 2024.

[10] "Discourse Features in Balochi of Sistan: (Oral Narratives)". Uppsala University. Retrieved 31 January 2024.

[11] "An Old Phonological Study of Balochi and Persian". ResearchGate. Retrieved 31 January 2024.

[12] "Getting to know the dialects of Sistan and Baluchistan; from north to south". Hamshahri (in Persian). 14 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2024.

[13] "A discussion in Iranian linguistics" (in Persian). Retrieved 31 January 2024.

[:Uppsala-14] "The Balochi Language Project". Uppsala University. Retrieved 17 December 2024.

[:Anousha-15] Sedighi, Anousha (2023). Iranian and Minority Languages at Home and in Diaspora. De Gruyter. ISBN 9783110694314.

[16] Ethnologue report for Southwestern Iranian languages

[Dames1-17] Dames 1922, p. 1.

[18] Borjian, Habib (December 2014). "The Balochi dialect of the Korosh". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 67 (4): 453–465. doi:10.1556/AOrient.67.2014.4.4.

[19] "Main Balochi Language( Rèdagèn Balòci Zubàn )". Balochi Academy Sarbaz. 16 February 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2023.

[20] Farrell 1990. Serge 2006.

[21] Farrell 1990.

[:0-22] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Jahani, Carina (2019). A Grammar of Modern Standard Balochi. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.

[23] Serge 2006. Farrell 1990.

[27] JahaniKorn 2009, pp. 634–692.

[28] "Balochi". National Virtual Translation Center. Archived from the original on 18 November 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2015.

[29] Korn, Agnes (2006). "Counting Sheep and Camels in Balochi". Indoiranskoe jazykoznanie i tipologija jazykovyx situacij. Sbornik statej k 75-letiju professora A. L. Grjunberga (1930–1995). Nauka. pp. 201–212. Retrieved 16 January 2020.

[30] Dames 1922, pp. 13–15.

[Dames3-32] Dames 1922, p. 3.

[33] Hussain, Sajid (18 March 2016). "Faith and politics of Balochi script". Balochistan Times. Retrieved 16 January 2020.

[34] "Script for Balochi language discussed". Dawn. Quetta. 28 October 2002. Retrieved 16 January 2020.

[35] Shah Hashemi, Sayad Zahoor. "The First Complete Balochi Dictionary". Sayad Ganj. Retrieved 16 January 2020.

[36] "Sayad Zahoor Shah Hashmi: A one-man institution". Balochistan Times. 14 November 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2020.

[37] "Balochi Standarded Alphabet". BalochiAcademy.ir. Retrieved 16 January 2020.

[38] "Baluchi Roman ORTHOGRAPHY". Phrasebase.com. Archived from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.

[39] Jahani, Carina (2019). A grammar of modern standard Balochi. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Iranica Upsaliensia. Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet. ISBN 978-91-513-0820-3.

[40] Axenov, Sergei (2000). Language in Society: Eight Sociolinguistic Essays on Balochi. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Iranica Upsaliensia. Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet. pp. 71–78. ISBN 91-554-4679-5.

[41] Kokaislova P., Kokaisl P. (2012). Центральная Азия и Кавказ (in Russian). ISSN 1403-7068.

[1]

[a]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[b]

[c]

[d]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[a]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]