Balochi language

Balochi
بلوچی baločî Balóćí
Balochi in Perso-Arabic script (Nastaʿlīq style)
Native to	Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, UAE, Oman
Ethnicity	predominantly Baloch, some Brahui
Native speakers	7.6 million  (2007)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Iranian Northwestern Iranian Balochi
Official status
Official language in	Balochistan Province of Pakistan (provincial); Balochistan Province of Iran (provincial)
Regulated by	Balochi Academy (Pakistan)
Language codes
ISO 639-2	bal
ISO 639-3	bal – inclusive code Individual codes: bgp – Eastern Balochi bgn – Western Balochi bcc – Southern Balochi
Linguasphere	58-AAB-a > 58-AAB-aa (East Balochi) + 58-AAB-ab (West Balochi) + 58-AAB-ac (South Balochi) + 58-AAB-ad (Bashkardi)
Geographic distribution of Balochi and other Iranian languages

Balochi is a Northwestern Iranian language.^[2] It is the principal language of the Baloch of Balochistan. It is also spoken as a second language by some Brahui. It is designated as one of nine official languages of Pakistan.

History

Balochi is closely related to other Northwestern Iranian languages such as Kurdish. It has influences on other languages in Pakistan, including Sindhi.

Phonology

Vowels

The Balochi vowel system has at least eight vowels: five long vowels and three short vowels.^[3] The long vowels are /aː/, /eː/, /iː/, /oː/, and /uː/. The short vowels are /a/, /i/ and /u/. The short vowels have more centralized phonetic qualities than the long vowels.

Southern Balochi (at least as spoken in Karachi) also has nasalized vowels, most importantly /ẽː/ and /ãː/.^[4]

Consonants

The following consonants are common to both Western Balochi and Southern Balochi.^[5] The place of articulation of the consonants /s/, /z/, /n/, /ɾ/ and /l/ is claimed to be alveolar in Western Balochi, while at least the /ɾ/ is claimed to be dental in Southern Balochi. The stops /t/ and /d/ are claimed to be dental in both dialects.

Notes

In addition, /f/ is listed for Southern Balochi, but is found in few words. /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.

Grammar

The normal word order is subject–object–verb. Like many other Indo-Iranian languages, Balochi has split ergativity. In the present tense or future tense, the subject is marked as nominative, and the object is marked as accusative. In the past tense, however, the subject of a transitive verb is marked as oblique, and the verb agrees with the object.^[6]

Dialects

Western (Rakhshani)

• Sarhaddi Rakhshani
• Afghan Rakhshani
• Turkmen Rakhshani
• Panjguri Rakhshani
• Kalati Rakhshani
• Kharani Rakhshani
• Sarawani

Southern (Makrani)

• Coastal
• Lashari
• Kechi
• Karachi
• Sarbazi

Eastern (Suleimani Dialect)

• Bugti (Bambore)
• Marri-Rind (Sibi)
• Mazari-Domki (Upper Sindh, DG Khan Region)
• Mandwani & Jatoi dialects of Western Sindh

Writing system

Before the 19th century, Balochi was an unwritten language. The official written language was Persian, although Balochi was still spoken at the Baloch courts. British linguists and political historians wrote form with the Latin script, but following the independence of Pakistan, Baloch scholars adopted Urdu Arabic script. The first collection of poetry in Balochi, Gulbang by Mir Gul Khan Nasir was published in 1951 and incorporated the Urdu Arabic Script. But it was much later that Sayad Zahurshah Hashemi wrote a comprehensive guidance on the usage of Urdu Arabic script and standardized it as the Balochi Orthography in Pakistan. This earned Sayad Hashemi the title of 'the Father of Balochi'. Sayad's guidances are widely used in Eastern and Western Balochistan. In Afghanistan, however, Balochi is written in a modified Arabic script based on what is used for Farsi.

The Sayad Zahurshah Hashemi 'Urdu Arabic orthography'

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

Balochi Latin alphabet

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

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)

References

Further reading

Phonology

Grammar

External links

Southern Balochi test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

Eastern Balochi test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

• 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.
• Dames, Mansel Longworth. A text book of the Balochi language: consisting of miscellaneous stories, legends, poems and Balochi-English vocabulary. Lahore: Printed by the Superintendent, Govt. Print., Punjab, 1922.
• 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
• UCLA Language Materials Project: Baluchi – a general overview of Balochi with societal context and history of the language
• Balochi language – a website about the language
• EuroBalúči – Baluchi alphabet, grammar and music
•  "Baluchi". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. 

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