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Older assignment "Practicing the basics"

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Assignment 3: "Drafting a starter article"

Ishkashimi language

Ishkashimi - (Ishkashimi: škošmī zəvuk/rənīzəvuk) is a non-written Iranian language. Its distribution is in the Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan, Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in Tajikistan, and Chitral region of Pakistan.

The total number of speakers is c. 2500, most of whom are now dispersed throughout Tajikistan and Afghanistan and small villages within the vicinity. Based on this number, Ishkashimi is threatened to becoming critically endangered or extinct in the next 100 years whereas other significant languages are being spoken in schools, homes, etc. These languages are Tajik language in Tajikistan and Dari language in Afghanistan, and they contribute to the decline in the use of Ishkashimi, which at the moment has a status of endangered language. Besides, information about Ishkashimi language is limited due to the lack of extensive and systematic research and the lack of a written system .

Ishkashimi is closely related to Zebaki and Sanglechi dialects (in Afghanistan). It was grouped until recently with the Sanglechi dialect under the parent family Sanglechi-Ishkashimi (sgl), but a more comprehensive linguistic analysis showed significant differences between these speech varieties. Phonology and grammar of Ishkashimi language is similar to phonology and grammar of the closely related Zebaki dialect .

Classification

Ishkashimi is an Iranian Language of the Indo-European family . Originally Ishkashimi was considered to belong to the Sanglechi-Ishkashimi family of Eastern Iranian languages. But recent research showed that such a combination was inappropriate for these dialects due to the significant linguistic differences between them. And on January 18, 2010 the parent language had retired and been split into what are now Sanglechi and Ishkashimi dialects . This subfamily has furthermore been considered a part of a group of Pamir languages together with the Wakhi language, and a subgroup comprising Shughni, Rushani, Sarikoli, Yazgulyam, etc. However, this is an areal rather than genetic grouping .

Geographic Distribution

Ishkashimi language has approximately 2500 speakers, of which 1500 speakers are in the Ishkashim and Wakham districts and a variety of villages in the Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan, and 1000 speakers are in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in Tajikistan, Ryn and Sumjin villages, and the Ishkoshim town.

Official status

Ishkashimi does not have an official status in the regions of its use. The Ishkashimi language vitality, despite the positive attitudes towards the language, is declining due to dominance of other languages like Dari in Afghanistan and Tajik in Tajikistan in the variety of domains, such as education, home, religion, etc. [[Beck]] For example, due to Dari being the language of the education system, almost all Ishkashimi speakers, and especially the younger ones, have high Dari proficiency. Education can get complicated with the use of two languages, so schools preferably to use Dari. Instructions are solely in Dari, but rarely will teachers speak Ishkashimi to students for explanations. Similar to schools, religion is widely practiced with Dari especially for preaching and prayers. Meanwhile, when it comes to mass media and the government, Dari is exclusively used. Despite the seemingly balanced use of Ishkashimi and Dari inside and outside of the private domain, the vitality of Ishkashimi is more than likely to decline due to the high exposure of Dari in Afghanistan. However, in the private and community domains, for example, family and close friends, a majority will choose to speak Ishkashimi. Even with the gap between elders and children, there seems to be little difficulty communicating since children grow up with both languages. But there is an understanding in the community of the possible extinction of Ishkashimi, becauce of its limited use.

Dialects/Varieties

There is a Afghan and Tajik Ishkashimi variety of Ishkashimi language, and they are considered to be mutually comprehensible, as some sociolinguistic questionnaires demonstrated.

Written sources

The first attempts by linguists to collect and organize data about the Ishkashimi language were made around the beginning of the 19th century, and were later continued by Russian and Ishkashimi linguists.

Vocabulary

Taboo words

 Taboo words were formed and added into Ishkashimi language as a result of use of ancient epithets and of derivation of the words from other languages, often followed by the change of their meaning and pronunciation. Some of the taboo Ishkashimi words, which are also similarly seen as taboo in other Pamir languages, are:

•  Xirs - for bear
• Sabilik - for wolf
• Urvesok - for fox
• Si - for hare
•  Purk - for mouse/rat

Taboo words

Writing system

Ishkashimi is a non-written language that does not have a writing system or literature, and in the previous centuries the Persian language, which dominated the region, was used to write down some of the traditional folklore . There were, however, some efforts made at the end of the twentieth century to implement a writing system based on Cyrillic alphabet.

Written sources

The first attempts by linguists to collect and organize data about the Ishkashimi language were made around the beginning of the 19th century, and were later continued by Ishkashimi and Russian linguists, like Pakhalina. Before any systematic description and documentation of Ishkashimi language, the researchers collected some random vocabulary examples and mentioned the language in the works about Iranian languages. Only in the end of the twentieth century linguists created a more comprehensive description of Ishkashimi language.

Bibliography

• Bauer, B. L., & Pinault, G. J. (Eds.). (2003). Language in time and space: a festschrift for Werner Winter on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Mouton De Gruyter. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=q_WhLdCr3UEC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=+Language+in+time+and+space+bauer&ots=LagAnhReyj&sig=2TRoQJV8R6TF-LSzmqHgx906Y9k#v=onepage&q=Language%20in%20time%20and%20space%20bauer&f=false
• Dodykhudoeva L., R., & Ivanov V., B. Data Elicitation in Endangered Pamiri communities: Interdependence of Language and History. p.3.
• Beck, S. (2012). The effect of accessibility on language vitality: the Ishkashimi and the Sanglechi speech varieties in Afghanistan. Linguistic Discovery, 10(2), pp.196-234.
• Grierson, G. A. (1921). Specimens of Languages of the Eranian Family: Compiled and Edited by George Abraham Grierson. Superintendent Government Printing, India. pp. 505-508.
• Ishkashimi. Glottolog. Retrieved from http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/sang1316
• Ishkashimi. Ethnologue. Retrieved from https://www.ethnologue.com/language/isk
• Karvovskaya, L. (2013). ‘Also’ in Ishkashimi: additive particle and sentence connector. Interdisciplinary Studies on Information Structure Vol. 17, p.75.  
• Müller, K., Abbess, E., Paul, D., Tiessen, C., & Tiessen, G. (2010). Ishkashimi: A Father’s Language (Survey report). Retrieved from http://www-01.sil.org/silesr/2010/silesr2010-013.pdf
• Steblin-Kamensky, I. M. . (1998). "EŠKĀŠ(E)MĪ (Ishkashmi)." In Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition. Retrieved from http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eskasemi-language.  
• Wendtland, A. (2009). The position of the Pamir languages within East Iranian. Orientalia Suecana, 58, pp.173-186. 

External links

• Encyclopaedia Iranica - Eskasemi (Ishkashimi)
• The Languages of Tajikistan in Perspective by Iraj Bashiri
• The Formation and Consolidation of Pamiri Ethnic Identity in Tajikistan (Doctoral Dissertation) by Suhrobsho Davlatshoev
• Ishkashimi story with English translation recorded by George Abraham Grierson (1920)
• Ishkashimi-English Vocabulary List
• English-Ishkashimi- Zebaki-Wakhi-Yazghulami Vocabulary
• Grierson G. A. Ishkashmi, Zebaki, and Yazghulami, an account of three Eranian dialects. (1920) [1] [2]
• Grierson G. A. Specimens of Languages of the Eranian Family. Vol X. Linguistic Survey of India. (1968)