Shina language

Shina
Native to Pakistan, India
Region Gilgit-Baltistan, Gurais, Chitral,
Native speakers
 (500,000 cited 1981–1998)[1]
Arabic script
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Either:
scl – Shina
plk – Kohistani Shina
Glottolog shin1264  Shina[2]
kohi1248  Kohistani Shina[3]

Shina (Urdu: شینا‎ Šīnā) is a language from the Dardic sub-group of the Indo-Aryan languages family spoken by the Shina people, a plurality of the people in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, formerly known as the Northern Areas of Pakistan.[4]

Dialects are Gilgiti (the prestige dialect), Astori, Chilasi Kohistani, Drasi, Gurezi, Jalkoti, Kolai, and Palasi. Related languages spoken by ethnic Shina are Brokskat (the Shina of Baltistan and Drass), Domaa, Kohistani Shina, Palula, Savi, and Ushojo. Shina is the language of 40% people of Gilgit Baltistan. The valleys in which it is spoken include Nagar Shinaki(included Shainbar to Pisan), Southern Hunza Astore, Chilas, Darel, Tangir, Gilgit, Haramosh, Bagrote, Ghizer, Gurez, Drass,(Gultari Valley and Skardu ) Juglot Valley, Drotte Palas, Kolai, and Kohistan

Writing

Shina is usually written with a variation of the Urdu alphabet. The additional letters to write Shina are:

The language is also written in Devanagari script as well, using the nuqta dot for additional Shina sounds.

Phonology

Vowels

The Shina principal vowel sounds:[5]

Front Mid Back
unrounded rounded
High i u
Lower high e o
Higher low ɛ ə ʌ ɔ
Low a

All vowels but /ɔ/ can be either long or nasalized, though no minimal pairs with the contrast are found.[5]

Diphthongs

In Shina there are the following diphthongs:[6]

Consonants

Labial Coronal Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop Plain p t ʈ k
Aspirated pʰ tʰ ʈʰ kʰ
Voiced b d ɖ ɡ
Affricate Plain ts tʂ tʃ
Aspirated tsʰ tʂʰ tʃʰ
Voiced dz[lower-alpha 1] dʒ[lower-alpha 1]
Fricative Plain (f) s ʂ ʃ x[lower-alpha 1] h
Voiced z ʐ ʒ[lower-alpha 1] ɣ[lower-alpha 1] ɦ[lower-alpha 1]
Nasal m n ɳ ŋ
Lateral l
Rhotic r ɽ[lower-alpha 2]
Semivowel ʋ~w j
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 According to Rajapurohit (2012, p. 33–34)
  2. ↑ Degener (2008, p. 14) lists it as a phoneme

Tone

Shina has three contrasting tones: level, rising, and falling tones.

Example: 1.the............2.thée.........3.theé 1. The first example "the" has a level tone and is translated by the imperative "Do". 2. When the stress falls on the first mora of a long vowel, the tone is falling. Thus the second example means "Will you do?". 3. When the stress falls on the second mora of a long vowel, the tone is rising. Thus the third example means "After having done". There are many minimal pairs in Shina to prove that it contains three tones.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Shina at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Kohistani Shina at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Shina". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Kohistani Shina". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. ↑ "Mosaic Of Jammu and Kashmir".
  5. 1 2 Rajapurohit 2012, p. 28–31.
  6. ↑ Rajapurohit 2012, p. 32–33.

References

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