Khowar language

"Chitrali language" redirects here. For other Chitrali languages, see Languages of Chitral.

Khowar
Chitrali
کهووار
Native to	Pakistan
Region	Chitral District
Ethnicity	Kho people
Native speakers	unknown (240,000 cited 1992–2000)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Dardic Chitrali Khowar
Writing system	Khowar alphabet (Arabic script)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	khw
Glottolog	khow1242
Linguasphere	59-AAB-aa

Khowar letter jeem

Khowar (کهووار), also known as Chitrali (چترالي) and Arniya, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic branch.

It is spoken by the Kho people in Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the Ghizer district of Gilgit-Baltistan (including the Yasin Valley, Phandar Ishkoman and Gupis), and in parts of Upper Swat. Speakers of Khowar have also migrated heavily to Pakistan's major urban centres with Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, having sizeable populations. It is spoken as a second language in the rest of Gilgit and Hunza. There are believed to be small numbers of Khowar speakers in Afghanistan, China, Tajikistan and Istanbul.

Khowar is the predominant language of Chitral, and one of the 14 designated regional languages there.

Phonology

Khowar has a variety of dialects, which may vary phonemically. The following tables lay out the basic phonology of Khowar.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

Khowar may also have nasalized vowels and a series of long vowels /aː/, /eː/, /iː/, /oː/, and /uː/. Sources are inconsistent on whether length is phonemic, with one author stating "vowel-length is observed mainly as a substitute one. The vowel-length of phonological value is noted far more rarely." Unlike the neighboring and related Kalasha language, Khowar does not have retroflex vowels.

Consonants

		Labial	Coronal	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Post- velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n
Stop	voiceless	p	t	ʈ		k	(q)
	voiced	b	d	ɖ		g
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	ʈʰ		kʰ
Affricate	voiceless		ts	ʈʂ	tʃ
	voiced		dz	ɖʐ	dʒ
	aspirated		tsʰ (?)	ʈʂʰ	tʃʰ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʂ	ʃ	x		h
	voiced		z	ʐ	ʒ	ɣ
Approximant			l(ʲ) ɫ		j	w
Rhotic			ɾ

The phonemic status of /tsʰ/ is unclear in the sources

Tone

Khowar, like many Dardic languages, has either phonemic tone or stress distinctions.

Comparative Vocabulary

The names of the days of the week, in Khowar, are compared with their equivalents in Shina, Sanskrit, and English.

English	Shina	Sanskrit	Khowar
Sunday	Adit	Aditya vara	yak shambey
Monday	Tsunduro	Som vara	du shambey
Tuesday	Ungaroo	Mangala vara	sey shambey
Wednesday	Bodo	Budha vara	char shambey
Thursday	Bressput	Brhashpati vara	panch shambey
Friday	Shooker	Shukra vara	Adina
Saturday	Shimshere	Sanischa vara	shambey

Dialects

• Standard Khowar
• Swati Khowar (Swat Kohistan)
• Lotkuhiwar (Lotkuh Valley)
• Gherzikwar (Ghizer Valley)
• Gilgiti Khowar (Gilgit-Baltistan), spoken by a few families in Gilgit city.

Writing system

Khowar has been written in the Nasta'liq script since the early twentieth century. Prior to that, the language was carried on through oral tradition. Today Urdu and English are the official languages and the only major literary usage of Khowar is in both poetry and prose composition. Khowar has also been written in the Roman script since the 1960s.

Khowar media

Television channels

Main article: Television in Pakistan

TV Channel	Genre	Founded	Official Website
Khyber News TV (خیبر نیوز ٹیلی ویژن)	News and current affairs		http://www.khybernews.tv/
AVT Khyber TV (اے وی ٹی خیبر)	Entertainment		http://www.avtkhyber.tv/
K2 TV (کے ٹو)	Entertainment, news and current affairs		http://www.kay2.tv/

Radio

These are not dedicated Khowar channels but play most programmes in Khowar.

Main article: Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation

Radio Channel	Genre	Founded	Official Website
Radio Pakistan Chitral	Entertainment		http://www.radio.gov.pk/
Radio Pakistan Peshawar	Entertainment		http://www.radio.gov.pk/
Radio Pakistan Gilgit	Entertainment		http://www.radio.gov.pk/

Newspapers

See also: List of newspapers in Pakistan § Khowar

Newspaper	City(ies)	Founded	Official Website
Chitral Vision (چترال وژن)	Karachi, Chitral, Pakistan
Chitral Today			http://chitraltoday.net

Gallery

• 

  Allama Iqbal's poetry's versified khowar translation by Rehmat Aziz Chitrali

See also

• Kho people

References

Additional references

• Bashir, Elena (2001) "Spatial Representation in Khowar". Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
• L'Homme, Erik (1999) Parlons Khowar. Langue et culture de l'ancien royaume de Chitral au Pakistan. Paris: L'Harmattan
• Morgenstierne, Georg (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
• Morgenstierne, Georg (1947) "Some Features of Khowar Morphology". Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap, Vol. XIV, Oslo.
• Morgenstierne, Georg (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.
• Decker, Kendall D. (1992). Languages of Chitral (Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 5). National Institute of Pakistani Studies, 257 pp. ISBN 969-8023-15-1.