Zemiaki language

Zemiaki
J̌amlām-am bašā
Native to	Afghanistan
Region	Nuristan Province
Native speakers	(500 cited 1999)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Nuristani Southern Zemiaki
Language codes
ISO 639-3	(included in [nli])
Glottolog	zemi1238
ELP	Zemiaki

Zemiaki (Zamyaki) is a Nuristani language spoken by some 400–500 people in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan.

It is named after the settlement in which it is spoken, from the Pashto Zemyaki žə́ba "language of Zemyaki", the native equivalent being J̌amlām-am bašā. It is closely related to Waigali, and ancestors of the Zemyakis were, according to local tradition, Waigalis who migrated into the area several centuries ago. The language spoken in the surrounding areas is Pashto, and it has been a source of a large number of lexical borrowings, including several common conjunctions.

There is no grammatical gender, but number and person are marked on the verb, following a split-ergative pattern of agreement.

It was thought that Zemiaki is a dialect of Grangali, an Indo-Aryan language. However, its pronouns are characteristically Nuristani, with a close relationship to Waigali, which is confirmed by local tradition.

Vocabulary

Pronouns

Person		Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st	sg.	ake	ũ	ūba, umba
	pl.	ami		amba
2nd	sg.	tu		tuba
	pl.	me	ame	amemba

Numbers

1. yok
2. du
3. tre
4. -
5. -
6. -
7. -
8. -
9. -
10. doš

Bibliography

• Grünberg, A.L. (1999). "Zemiaki jazyk/dialekt". In Edelman, D.I. (ed.). Jazyki mira: Dardskie i nuristanskie jazyki (in Russian). Moscow: Indrik. pp. 123–125. ISBN 585759085X.