Shughni language

Shughni or Khughni (in the local language: хуг̌ну̊н зив tr. khughnön ziv; Tajik: шуғнонӣ, Persian: شغنانی), is one of the Pamir languages of the Southeastern Iranian language group.^[2][1] Its distribution is in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in Tajikistan, Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan, Chitral district in Pakistan and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China.^[2][3]

Shughni
Shugnani-Rushani
xuǧnůn ziv/хуг̌ну̊н зив, pomiray/помирай зив/خُغنُوْن زِڤ
Native to	Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China
Ethnicity	Shughnan
Native speakers	(50,000 Shughni proper, ca. 75,000 all varieties cited 1990)^[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Eastern Iranian Shugni–Yazgulami Shughnani Shughni
Dialects	Shughni proper Rushani dialect Oroshori dialect Khufi dialect Bartangi dialect
Writing system	Arabic, Cyrillic, Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sgh
Glottolog	shug1248
ELP	Shughni Oroshor
Shughni is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Shughni-Rushani tends towards SOV word order, distinguishes a masculine and feminine gender in nouns and some adjectives, as well as the 3rd person singular of verbs. Shughni distinguishes between an absolutive and an oblique case in its system of pronouns. Rushani is noted for a typologically unusual 'double-oblique' construction, also called a 'transitive case', in the past tense. Normally Soviet school scientists consider Rushani as a close but independent language to Shughni, while Western school scientists codes Rushani as a dialect of Shughni due to Afghanistan Rushani speakers living in the Sheghnan district of Badakhshan Province.

Dialects

Rushani, Bartangi, Oroshori (Roshorvi), Khufi and Shughni proper are considered to be dialects. However, Bartangi and Khufi are quite distinct and may be separate languages.

Phonology

Vowels

The following are the vowels of Shughni:

Shughni vowels

	Front		Central	Back
Close	i			u
Near-close	ɪ			ʊ
Close-mid	e	ø	(ə)	o
Open-mid	ɛ			ɔ
Open	a~æ		ɑ

Long vowels occur as /iː, eː, oː/.

Consonants

The following are the consonants of Shughni:^[4]

Shughni consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar		Post- alveolar	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
			plain	sibilant
Nasal		m	n			ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	t͡s	t͡ʃ	k	q
	voiced	b	d	d͡z	d͡ʒ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	θ	s	ʃ	x	χ	(h)
	voiced	v	ð	z	ʒ	ɣ	ʁ
Approximant			l		j	w
Rhotic			r

• /r/ can be realised as a trill [r] or a tap [ɾ].
• Velar sounds /x, ɣ/ can also be realised as more fronted palatal sounds [ç, ʝ].

Vocabulary

Chart of Sounds in Shughni

Letter		Phoneme	English equivalent	Usage in Shugni
Latin	Cyrillic			Latin Orthography	Cyrillic Orthography
A/a	А а	a	apple, angry	bad, akuniath, aram, anor	бад, акуниат̌, арам, анор
Aa/aa	А̄ а̄	aː	Harvard, march	xhaab, daav, zamunaa, baad	ха̄б, да̄в, замуна̄, ба̄д
Ai/ai	Ай ай	aj	bite, fire	taiyor, arai, aiyuum, maile	тайор, арай, аййӯм, майлэ
B/b	Б б	b	big, able	biyor, balad, abor	бийор, балад, абор
Ch/ch	Ч ч	t͡ʃ	church, chair	chiiz, chiid, choi, chorik	чӣз, чӣд, чои, чорик
D/d	Д д	d	dead, dried	daak, diidor, murd, dar	да̄к, дӣдор, мурд, дар
Dh/dh	Д̌ д̌	ð	this, mother	dhid, dhust, dhud, pidhid, podh	д̌ид, д̌уст, д̌уд, пид̌ид, под̌
Dz/dz	З̌ з̌	d͡z	buds, lads (approximate)	dzulik, pindz, wixhidz, majdzuunj	з̌улик, пинз̌, в̌ихиз̌, маҷз̌ӯнҷ
E/e	Э э	ɛ	elephant, egg	elak, qate, qine, biide	элак, қатэ, қинэ, бӣдэ
Ee/ee	Ээ ээ	eː	déjà vu, soufflé	tseem, teez, deer, Apreel	цээм, тээз, дээр, Апрээл
Ey/ey	Эй эй	ɛj	aid, ancient	peydow, xheydow,	пэйдов̌, хэйдов̌
F/f	Ф ф	f	fat, roof	fort, famtow, faand, boft	форт, фамтов̌, фа̄нд, бофт
G/g	Г г	g	girl, big	gaap, gandaa, gardha, yiga	га̄п, ганда̄, гард̌а, йига
Gh/gh	Г̌ г̌	ɣ	sound not used in English	ghaats, ghalat, bogh, shagh	г̌а̄ц, г̌алат, бог̌, шаг̌
H/h	Ҳ ҳ	h	hat	Marginal phoneme^[example needed]
I/i	И и	ɪ	big, lift	nist, yiwath, khirs, chis	нист, йив̌ат̌, х̌ирс, чис
Ii/ii	Ӣ ӣ	iː	feet, beat	tiidow, miidow, shiintow, zhiiwj	тӣдов̌, мӣдов̌, шӣнтов̌, жӣв̌ҷ
J/j	Ҷ ҷ	d͡ʒ	jam, barge	jumla, jazo, majlis, ajab	ҷумла, ҷазо, маҷлис, аҷаб
Jh/jh	Ғ ғ	ʁ	sound not used in English	jhinik, saajh, majh, sipajh	ғиник, са̄ғ, мағ, сипағ
K/k	К к	k	book, kit	kitob, maak, tukmaa, kiinaa	китоб, ма̄к, тукма̄, кина̄
Kh/kh	Х̌ х̌	x	loch, Khorog (only for some speakers)	khaat, sakht, bakht, kharid	х̌а̄т, сах̌т, бах̌т, х̌арид
L/l	Л л	l	like, feel	lap, liing, tambal, balad	лап, лӣнг, тамбал, балад
M/m	М м	m	mouse, meet	mund, tamand, famtow, shaam	мунд, таманд, фамтов̌, ша̄м
N/n	Н н	n	nut, mean	naan, qand, fanaa, baandak	на̄н, қанд, фана̄, ба̄ндак
O/o	О о	o	pot, shop	oyandaa, ofarin, boft, nolaan	ойанда̄, офарин, бофт, нола̄н
Oo/oo	Оо оо	oː	boot, poodle	noor, joor, mood, moon	ноор, ҷоор, моод, моон
P/p	П п	p	paint, top	parwiin, lap, pardhedow, pool	парв̌ӣн, лап, пард̌эдов̌, поол
Q/q	Қ қ	q	sound not used in English	qamoch, qand, nuqtaa, qiin	қамоч, қанд, нуқта̄, қӣн
R/r	Р р	r	rabbit, rob	raang, tsarang, roosht, rukhsat	ра̄нг, царанг, роошт, рух̌сат
S/s	С с	s	sit, miss	sarake, baas, kasal, safar	саракэ, ба̄с, касал, сафар
Sh/sh	Ш ш	ʃ	shout, bush	shamol, maash, bashand, shogird	шамол, ма̄ш, башанд, шогирд
T/t	Т т	t	title, time	tavaar, turd, sust, chust	тава̄р, турд, суст, чуст
Th/th	Т̌ т̌	θ	think, moth	achath, khobath, aquniath, thiir	ачат̌, х̌обат̌, ақуниат̌, тӣр
Ts/ts	Ц ц	t͡s	blitz, fits (approximate)	tsavor, buts, tsarang, xhats	цавор, буц, царанг, хац
U/u	У у	u	look, should	duzd, mund, tuid, buts	дузд, мунд, туид, буц
Uu/uu	Ӯ ӯ	uː	earn, fern	luuvd, uun, yuudand, okhoruun	лӯвд, ӯн, йӯданд, ох̌орӯн
V/v	В в	v	vet, leave	viidow, helav, vaz, virod	вӣдов̌, ҳэлав, ваз, вирод
W/w	В̌ в̌	w	few, wait	chiidow, wiintow, boware, wazmin	чӣдов̌, в̌ӣнтов̌, бов̌арэ, в̌азмӣн
Xh/xh	Х х	χ	Bach	xheidow, xhats, tuxhna, duxhman	хэйдов̌, хац, тухна, духман
Y/y	Й й	j	yellow, yet	yordam, yelav, oyandaa, boyad	йордам, йэлав, ойанда̄, бойад
Z/z	З з	z	zoo, blaze	zamiin, bozor, zardak, ziird	замӣн, бозор, зардак, зӣрд
Zh/zh	Ж ж	ʒ	pleasure, déjà vu	zholaa, zhiiwj, ghazhd, zhow	жола̄, жӣв̌ҷ, г̌ажд, жов̌

Orthography

Cyrillic alphabet

The Shughni Cyrillic alphabet is as follows:^{[citation needed]}

А а	А̄ а̄	Б б	В в	В̌ в̌	Г г	Ғ ғ	Г̌ г̌	Ғ̌ ғ̌	Д д	Д̌ д̌
Е е	Ё ё	Ж ж	З з	З̌ з̌	И и	Ӣ ӣ	Й й	К к	Қ қ	Л л
М м	Н н	О о	П п	Р р	С с	Т т	Т̌ т̌	У у	Ӯ ӯ	У̊ у̊
Ф ф	Х х	Ҳ ҳ	Х̌ х̌	Ц ц	Ч ч	Ҷ ҷ	Ш ш	Ъ ъ	Э э

Literature

• Edelman, D. (Joy) I. and Leila R. Dodykhudoeva (2009). "Shughni." In: Gernot Windfuhr (ed.), The Iranian Languages, 787-824. London & New York: Routledge.
• Olson, Karen (2017). Shughni Phonology Statement. SIL International.
• Zarubin, I. I. (1960). Shugnanskie teksty i slovar. Moskva: Izd-vo Akademii nauk SSSR.

References

1. Shughni at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Karamšoev, Dodchudo K. (1988–99). Šugnansko-russkij slovar. 3 vols. Moskva: Nauka. ISBN 5-02-016991-9 (Vol. 2), ISBN 5-02-018101-3 /ISBN 5-02-017858-6 (Vol. 3)
3. Windfuhr, Gernot (2013-05-13). Iranian Languages. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-79704-1.
4. Arno, James C. (2007). "Shughni" (PDF) – via people.umass.edu.

External links

 

Shughni language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

• Shughni Language Page
• The Shughni Grammar Project
• Shughni Wikipedia main page