Brahui language

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Brahui بروہی
Spoken in:	Balochistan
Total speakers:	2.2 million (1998 estimate)
Language family:	Dravidian Northern Brahui
Writing system:	Perso-Arabic
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	`—`
ISO 639-3:	`brh`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

The Brahui (بروہی) or Bravi (براوِ) language, spoken by the Brahui, is mainly spoken in Balochistan, Pakistan, although it is also spoken in Afghanistan and Iran. The 2005 edition of Ethnologue reports some 2.2 million speakers, 90% of whom live in Pakistan. In Pakistan it is mainly spoken in the Kalat region of Balochistan.

Although it is a Dravidian language, it has been heavily influenced by the Iranian languages spoken in the area such as Balochi.

Brahui was often considered to be a remnant of a formerly more widespread Dravidian language family that was speculated to have reduced during invasion or migration of Indo-European people as per Indo Aryan Invasion / Migration theory. It was also sometimes speculated that Brahui might be a direct legacy of the Indus Valley Civilisation. However, one polar opposite view is that Brahuis migrated up to Baluchistan in the 13 or 14th century.^[1]

But its presence has now been explained by a late immigration that took place after 1000 CE^[2]

[edit] Notes

^ Sergent, Genèse de l'Inde
^ J. H. Elfenbein, "A periplous of the 'Brahui problem'", Studia Iranica 16 (1987), 215-233, quoted after `The Languages of Harappa' by Michael Witzel Feb. 2000, p. 1 [1]