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A Micro-Typological Study of Pashai Varieties in Afghanistan

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A Micro-Typological Study of Pashai Varieties in Afghanistan A micro-typological study of Pashai varieties in Afghanistan Vanessa Quasnik Department of Linguistics Independent Project for a Master’s degree 30hp Master’s program (120hp) Spring term 2019 Supervisor: Henrik Liljegren En mikrotypologisk studie av Pashai varieteter i Afghanistan Sammanfattning Hindukushregionen sträcker sig från Afghanistan över Pakistan till norra Indien och hyser de van- ligtvis så kallade dardiska språken. De dardiska språken tillhör de indo-ariska språken vilka i isolation och genom kontakt utvecklade eller bevarade drag som inte längre finns i indo-ariska språk utanför regionen. I det pågående projekt “Språkkontakt och språksläktskap i Hindukushregionen” samlades data från mer än 50 språk inklusive nio varietéer av det nordvästra indo-ariska språket Pashai som talas i västra Afghanistan. En kognatanalys och en analys av fonologiska, morfologiska, syntaktiska och lexikala drag genomfördes. Kognatanalysen visar att Pashai varieteterna formar kluster, en västra grupp av de tre västra varieteterna och en östra grupp av de sex östra varieteterna. Struktruanalysen visar en mer skiftande bild av tre potentiella kluster, en grupp av de två mest västra varieteterna, en nordöstra grupp och en centergrupp bestående av en västra varietet och två sydöstra varieteter. Några drag som anses vara delad av språken i regionen kan också konstateras i alla Pashaivarieteter som en subjekt-objekt-verb följd och postpositioner. Nyckelord Hindu Kush, Indoariska språk, microtypology, Pashai A micro-typological study of Pashai varieties in Afghanistan Abstract The Hindu Kush region stretches from Afghanistan over Pakistan to North India and is hometowhatis commonly known as the Dardic languages. The Dardic langagues are a group of Indo-Aryan languages that have in isolation and under contact developed or retained features that can not be found in Indo- Aryan languages outside the region. In the ongoing project ”Language contact and relatedness in the Hindu Kush region” data on over 50 languages has been collected including nine varieties of northwest Indo-Aryan Pashai spoken in west Afghanistan. A cognate analysis and an analysis of phonological, morphological, syntactical and lexical features were conducted.The cognate analysis shows that the Pashai varieties build to clusters, a western group consisting of the three western Pashai varieties and an eastern group consisting of six eastern varieties. The structural analysis shows a more diverse picture with three potential clusters, a group of the two most western varieties, a northeastern group and a central group consisting of one western variety and two southeastern varieties. Some features found to be shared by languages in the region are also found in all Pashai varieties like a subject-object-verb order and postpositions. Keywords Hindu Kush, Indo-Aryan languages, micro-typology, Pashai Contents 1 Introduction ........................................... 2 2 Background ........................................... 3 2.1 Hindu Kush-Karakoram ................................... 3 2.2 Pashai ............................................. 4 2.3 Micro-typology ........................................ 6 3 Method ............................................. 7 3.1 Data .............................................. 7 3.2 Method ............................................ 7 3.3 Cognate analysis ....................................... 8 3.4 Structural features ...................................... 9 3.4.1 Phonology ......................................... 9 3.4.1.1 Consonant inventory ................................... 9 3.4.1.2 Affricates ......................................... 9 3.4.1.3 Lateral fricative ...................................... 9 3.4.1.4 Retroflexion ........................................ 10 3.4.1.5 Aspiration ......................................... 10 3.4.1.6 Syllable structure ..................................... 10 3.4.2 Morphology ........................................ 10 3.4.2.1 Alignment of case marking ............................... 10 3.4.2.2 Grammatical gender ................................... 11 3.4.2.3 Demonstrative pronouns ................................ 11 3.4.3 Syntax ........................................... 11 3.4.3.1 Word order ........................................ 11 3.4.3.2 Polar question particle .................................. 11 3.4.3.3 Adpositions ........................................ 12 3.4.4 Lexicon ........................................... 12 3.4.4.1 Kinship .......................................... 12 3.4.4.2 Numerals ......................................... 14 4 Results .............................................. 15 4.1 Cognate analysis ....................................... 15 4.2 Structural features ...................................... 17 4.2.1 Phonology ......................................... 17 4.2.1.1 Consonant inventory ................................... 17 4.2.1.2 Affricates ......................................... 23 4.2.1.3 Lateral fricative ...................................... 23 4.2.1.4 Retroflexion ........................................ 24 4.2.1.5 Aspiration ......................................... 25 4.2.1.6 Syllable structure ..................................... 28 4.2.2 Morphology ........................................ 29 4.2.2.1 Alignment of case marking ............................... 29 4.2.2.2 Grammatical gender ................................... 31 4.2.2.3 Demonstrative pronouns ................................ 32 4.2.3 Syntax ........................................... 34 4.2.3.1 Word order ........................................ 34 4.2.3.2 Polar question marker .................................. 35 4.2.3.3 Adpositions ........................................ 36 4.2.4 Lexicon ........................................... 37 4.2.4.1 Kinship .......................................... 37 4.2.4.2 Numerals ......................................... 43 4.2.5 Summary .......................................... 45 5 Discussion ............................................ 49 5.1 Cognate analysis ....................................... 49 5.1.1 Pashai as a dialect continuum .............................. 49 5.1.2 Pashai and its neighbors ................................. 51 5.1.3 Conclusion ......................................... 51 5.2 Structural features ...................................... 52 5.2.1 Pashai as a dialect continuum .............................. 53 5.2.2 Pashai and its neighbors - lexical features ........................ 54 5.2.3 Conclusion ......................................... 56 5.3 Comparison of results .................................... 56 5.4 Method discussion ...................................... 57 6 Conclusions ........................................... 58 6.1 Research questions ...................................... 58 6.2 Future research ........................................ 59 References ............................................... 60 A Figures and Tables ....................................... 63 B Appendix I ........................................... 66 C Appendix II ........................................... 71 D Appendix III ........................................... 72 E Appendix IV .......................................... 75 Abbreviations Abbreviations and glosses 1 First person 2 Second person 3 Third person DAT Dative DEM Demonstrative HKIA Hindu Kush Indo-Aryan IA Indo-Aryan NE Northeast Pashai NW Northwest Pashai OBJ Object marker OBL Oblique PRF Perfect tense PL Plural POSTP Postposition PRS Present tense PRON Pronoun PST Past tense Q Question particle REFL Reflexive marker SE Southeast Pashai SG Singular SW Southwest Pashai ? unknown 1 1 Introduction The present micro-typological study investigates the Indo-Aryan dialect continuum Pashai spokenin northeast Afghanistan. Pashai is part of a larger linguistically diverse area, the Hindu Kush, a moun- tainous and therefore secluded area. The majority of languages spoken in the area are Northwest Indo- Aryan languages often called Dardic languages. Other languages belong to the Iranian and Nuristani languages, but also the Tibeto-Burman and Turkic language families. Due to their seclusion in the re- gion, the languages in the Hindu Kush have developed differently than other Indo-Aryan languages. They share features that can no longer be found in other Indo-Aryan languages like a three-sibilant system and consonant clusters (Bashir, 2003:822). Data on these languages has been collected in the ongoing project “Language contact and relatedness in the Hindukush region” (Liljegren, 2017). The data of nine Pashai varieties collected in this project is analyzed for cognates as well asphono- logical, morphological, syntactical and lexical features. The Pashai varieties in this study have been classified according to Morgenstierne into the four dialect groups and represent them as follows: South- west Pashai - Alasai; Southeast Pashai - Alingar Amla; Northwest Pashai - Alishang, Sanjan; Northeast Pashai - Aret, Chalas, Korangal, Shemal. The goal of this study is to analyze the differences andsimi- larities between these Pashai varieties. The research questions are: 1. Which clusters can be found in the Pashai varieties based on shared cognates? 1a. Which relations can be seen between Pashai and the neighboring languages included for the cognate analysis (Ashkun, Waigali, Dari, Parachi, Pashto)? 2. Which clusters can be found in the Pashai varieties based on the analysis of structural
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