Pahari and Pothwari: A sociolinguistic survey Michael Lothers and Laura Lothers SIL International 2010 SIL Electronic Survey Report 2010-012, April 2010 Copyright © 2010 Michael Lothers, Laura Lothers, and SIL International All rights reserved Acknowledgements Ken and Sandy Decker began a survey of the Pahari language of Pakistan in 1988 but were unable to complete it because they had to fulfill other responsibilities. Their journals, wordlists, and notes helped orient us to the area and the language. I, Michael, had the opportunity to interview Ken in 1998 as we were making preparations for our own research work. Baber Pervaiz was the first person to work with us on the survey. He made arrangements so that I could take wordlists from Ayubia, Dewal, Ghora Gali, Kohala, Lora, Mosyari, Muzaffarabad, Nilabutt, and Osia. He also gathered about 90 questionnaires primarily from the Murree area. Most of these arrangements were made through the Government Degree College in Murree with his friends who commuted from villages in the Murree area. He worked with us from August until December 1999 when he took a job as a receptionist at Murree Christian School. On August 5, 2002, several armed men broke into the school where he worked. He was among six people killed at the school when he went to help a guard who had been shot. We appreciate his help at the beginning of this survey. His friendly, outgoing personality set people at ease and made him a pleasure to work with. In January 2001, Asim Abbasi began working with us on the survey and in language analysis. Asim made arrangements for wordlists in some areas that were remaining (Bharakao and Dungagali). He collected wordlists independently in Mirpur/Kotli, Muzaffarabad, and Gujarkhan. He collected questionnaires from areas farther beyond the Murree area including Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, the galliat (hilly area) in south-eastern Abbottabad District, and Bharakao. He collected and helped me analyze texts from his own village and from Gujarkhan to use for comprehension testing with a Recorded Text Test (RTT) in the Murree area. He also made arrangements for administering the RTT and helped me to administer it. After we had to leave Pakistan in September 2001, Asim continued working with us on this project. He continued to gather II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III and process more texts. He helped us answer some follow-up questions for the survey. Chapter 6, which surveys Pothwari areas, was possible because he sent questionnaires and recorded interviews from Pakistan. Many other friends helped as well. Amjed Butt, besides helping me learn Pahari, has also helped prepare the RTT and gather data. One of Laura’s friends, Rubina, also helped her gather data from women in this survey. Together they went to three villages to administer the RTT. Mark and Lara Robinson, Hasarat, and Farman Ali helped with the information in this survey related to Hindko. The wordlists from Mansehra and Abbottabad were provided by the Robinsons and by Rensch, Hallberg and O’Leary (1992). Farman Ali helped me to gather questionnaires in Abbottabad. He also helped me to gather texts from both Nawanshahr (near Abbottabad) and Mansehra for the RTT. He helped me analyze the texts and administer them in Abbottabad and Mansehra. Thanks also to the participants in this survey who were willing to share their language and time with us. We appreciate those who told stories or gave of their time to answer questions for a questionnaire, give a wordlist, take an RTT, or just to talk informally about their language. Carla Radloff, who was involved in the Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, also made herself available during the survey to answer questions and to help set the scope of this survey. We appreciate her helpful editorial comments. We also want to express our appreciation to TEAM Pakistan for sponsoring our stay in Pakistan. We spent the better part of three very good years living in Murree. TEAM not only sponsored our stay in Pakistan, they also opened housing to us in both Abbottabad and Murree. We have appreciated their leadership, encouragement, and logistical support. Michael Lothers and Laura Lothers IV TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 1.1 Geography 1.2 Language classification 1.3 Background 1.3.1 Historical summary 1.3.2 Population 1.3.3 Prominent family groups and way of life 1.3.4 Development and promotion of Pahari and Pothwari 1.4 Goals of the survey 1.5 Summary of findings 1.6 Organization of this report 2. Data and Methodology 2.1 Lexical similarity 2.1.1 Wordlist collection and analysis methodology 2.1.2 Locations of wordlist collection 2.2 Comprehension of recorded speech 2.2.1 Recorded Text Test (RTT) methodology 2.2.2 Locations and data for RTT 2.3 Participant intuitions and opinions from interviews: Methodology and data collection locations 3. Lexical similarity and intelligibility 3.1 Lexical similarity 3.2 Intelligibility 3.2.1 Recorded Text Tests 3.2.2 Dialect intuition from questionnaire 3.3 Dialect attitudes 3.4 Summary 4. Language use, vitality, and attitudes 4.1 Language use 4.2 Language vitality 4.3 Language attitudes 4.3.1 Attitude toward speaking Pahari 4.3.2 Attitude toward reading Pahari (literacy attitude) 4.4 Summary ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V 5. Language area 5.1 Introduction and analysis methodology 5.2 Travel patterns and language contact 5.3 Central Pahari areas 5.3.1 Places where Pahari is understood and respected 5.3.2 Places where Pahari is considered the same 5.4 Borderline Pahari areas 5.4.1 Places where Pahari transitions to a new language 5.4.2 Places where Pahari is not understood, respected, or spoken well 5.5 Summary 6. The view from Pothwari areas 6.1 Goals 6.2 Methodology and locations for data collection 6.3 Results 6.3.1 Attitude toward mother tongue 6.3.2 Language use and vitality 6.3.3 Attitudes toward mother-tongue literacy and literature 6.3.4 Attitudes toward dialects 6.4 Summary 7. Summary and recommendations 7.1 Pahari language survey 7.1.1 Pahari language attitudes and vitality 7.1.2 Languages and dialects related to Pahari 7.2 Pothwari language survey 7.2.1 Pothwari language attitudes and vitality 7.2.2 Pothwari speakers’ attitudes toward other dialects Appendix A. Background and methodology A.1 Maps A.2 Methodology A.2.1 Wordlist collection A.2.2 Procedure for counting lexical similarity A.2.3 Phonetic symbols used in the survey A.2.4 Standard wordlist items in English and in Urdu A.2.5 Recorded Text Test (RTT) Appendix B. Pahari survey data B.1 Wordlists B.2 Recorded Text Tests for intelligibility VI TABLE OF CONTENTS B.3 Questionnaire B.4 Demographic information B.4.1 Demographic summary for orally administered questionnaires B.4.2 Demographic information about wordlists B.4.3 Demographic information about RTT storytellers B.4.4 Demographic informatin about RTT participants Appendix C. Pothwari survey data C.1 Questionnaire C.2 Demographic summary References “Lahndi” Some publications in Pahari and Pothwari 1. Introduction Northern Pakistan boasts a rich variety of linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Much has been learned about the sociolinguistic situation of this part of the world through recent research, such as the Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan (O’Leary 1992). Cultural societies in various language communities are supporting mother-tongue literacy and production of vernacular literature as a means of preserving the rich ethnic heritage of this area. The Punjabi dialect chain in the Indo-Aryan language family includes millions of speakers in northern Pakistan. This is one area where the sociolinguistic situation has not been investigated. Understanding the composition of this chain is a large task. Many questions arise as researchers attempt to come to a clear picture of the language situation. How many people use a certain language variety? Is it a dialect or a language? How does the use of and the attitude toward the mother tongue compare to that of the national language or other regional languages? What is the vitality of languages used in a given area? The answers to these questions are significant to the development of vernacular literature and the promotion of mother-tongue literacy. Choosing a well-respected and widely understood dialect for development of printed and oral materials is an important factor in literacy and literature development. Knowledge about language vitality and domains of use is important for language planners who make decisions about future education and training. We are privileged to share with you this snapshot of the Pahari- Pothwari language complex. We address questions of dialect versus language and the number of dialects through synchronic, descriptive means rather than a historical, phonological comparison. We have used oral interviews, questionnaires, wordlists, comprehension testing, and our own observation from the two and a half years we lived in Murree, Pakistan. We are grateful to the many people who shared their knowledge of their language and their lives with us. We hope this study will provide more understanding and recognition of 1 2 1. INTRODUCTION the value of their language. We also hope that it will stimulate further research and development of Pahari and Pothwari. The Pahari-Pothwari language complex includes three major but mutually intelligible dialects: Pahari, Pothwari and Mirpuri. Those speaking the latter, Mirpuri, also refer to their language as Pahari. The actual names used have some variation among speakers, but we will begin by defining the area covered by each dialect. 1.1 Geography Pahari, which means “mountainous,” is primarily spoken in the Murree tehsil of the Rawalpindi District in northern Pakistan.