Shughni language

Shughni^[a] or Shughnani-Rushani 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
xuɣ̌nůni ziv خُږنۈنے زِڤ хуг̌ну̊ни зив
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 Shughni–Yazgulami Shughni
Dialects	Shughni proper Oroshori
Writing system	Latin, Persian, Cyrillic
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sgh
Glottolog	shug1248
ELP	Shughni
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].

Orthography

Shughni people live in both Afghanistan and Tajikistan. For the past 100 years, each country has had diverging literary traditions and orthographic standards. On either side of the border, Shughni literaturists, being previously an unwritten language, has relied heavily on the existing orthographic standards and conventions in coming up with an orthography for Shughni language.

In Tajikistan, Persian alphabet was discarded in 1928, being replaced by Latin alphabet, and 11 years afterwards in 1939, Latin alphabet being replaced by Cyrillic alphabet. Tajik Cyrillic alphabet is of course based on Russian orthography, and similar to that of Uzbek language in neighboring Uzbekistan. Thus, the alphabets developed in Tajikistan for Shughni language, have been Cyrillic and Latin.

In Afghanistan, Dari (Afghan Persian), with the well-established Persian script, is the literary language of the nation. Pashto language too, with its own alphabet, derived from Persian, but with unique features and conventions, is the co-official language of Afghanistan. Thus, the Shughni orthography being developed by literaturists in Afghanistan has been derived from Persian, and borrowing letters from Pashto as needed.

Persian alphabet

The process of compiling a Persian derived alphabet for Shughni has been a long and iterative one, over a period starting from 2004, with the publication of the first book on phonology and orthography of Shughni language by Khair Mohammad Haidari.^[5]

This was followed by a 2011 publication by Dr. Nur Ali Dost from Montreal-based "Sohravardi Foundation for Iranian Studies".,^[6] a 2011 compilation by Mazhab Shah Zahoori ^[7] and two other by Alishah Sabbar and Calgary-based Dr. Khush Nazar Parmerzad.^[8]

This led to controversy, correspondence, and collaboration between Shughni literaturists and academics, who over the following years, agreed upon specific set of consonants, and a specific standardized way of representing vowels.^[9][10]

The Afghan government has officially adopted Shughni orthography as well, and the Ministry of Education has created textbooks to be used in Badakhshan Province.^[11]

Letters

Below table demonstrates the 44-letter Persian-derived Shughni alphabet.^[10][12][13]

Forms				IPA	Cyrillic equivalent	Latin equivalent	Unicode	Notes
Isolated	Final	Medial	Initial
آ / ا‎	ـا‎	-	آ‎	[ɔ]	О о	O o	U+0622 U+0627	Vowel phoneme [ɔ] is represented with "آ‎" when at the beginning of a word, and with "ـا / ا‎" when in the middle or end of a word.
ا‎	-	-	ا‎	[∅] ([a][ʊ][e~ɪ])	- / А а / И и / У у	‌ - / A a / I i / U u	U+0627	Letter alif at the beginning of a word can serve two functions. First, it precedes vowel letters "اۈ‎" [ɵ], "او‎" [u], "ایـ / اي‎" [i], or "اېـ / اې‎" [e]. Second, it acts as a vowel carrier for diacritics of the three short vowels of Shughni, "اَ‎" [a], "اُ‎" [ʊ], and "اِ‎" [ɛ~ɪ].
ب‎	ـب‎	ـبـ‎	بـ‎	[b]	Б б	B b	U+0628
پ‎	ـپ‎	ـپـ‎	پـ‎	[p]	П п	P p	U+067e
ت‎	ـت‎	ـتـ‎	تـ‎	[t]	Т т	T t	U+062a
ث‎	ـث‎	ـثـ‎	ثـ‎	[s]	С с	S s	U+062b	Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Pronounced as it would be in Dari.
ٿ‎	ـٿ‎	ـٿـ‎	ٿـ‎	[θ]	Т̌ т̌	Θ θ/ϑ	U+067F	Unique to Shughni, not part of Persian (Dari) alphabet. While the letter se "ث‎" represents the phoneme [θ] in Arabic, this new letter has been introduced so that there can be distinguishment between the native sound [θ] and the sound [s] produced by the letter "ث‎" in loanwords of Arabic-origin entering via Persian. Some authors have used letter se with a dot underneath "ݑ‎" or have used the letter se "ث‎" for both purposes.
ج‎	ـج‎	ـجـ‎	جـ‎	[d͡ʒ]	Ҷ ҷ	J j	U+062c
چ‎	ـچ‎	ـچـ‎	چـ‎	[t͡ʃ]	Ч ч	Č č	U+0686
ح‎	ـح‎	ـحـ‎	حـ‎	[∅] ([h])	Ҳ ҳ	H h	U+0686	Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. In most cases, the letter he "ح‎" is silent.
خ‎	ـخ‎	ـخـ‎	خـ‎	[χ]	Х х	X x	U+062e
څ‎	ـڅ‎	ـڅـ‎	څـ‎	[t͡s]	Ц ц	C c	U+0685	Letter adopted from Pashto. Similar letter exists in Khowar, Munji, and Wakhani orthographies.
ځ‎	ـځ‎	ـځـ‎	ځـ‎	[d͡z]	Ҙ ҙ	Ʒ ʒ	U+0681	Letter adopted from Pashto. Similar letter exists in Khowar, Munji, and Wakhani orthographies.
د‎	ـد‎	-	-	[d]	Д д	D d	U+062f
ذ‎	ـذ‎	-	-	[z]	З з	Z z	U+0630	Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Pronounced as it would be in Dari.
ڎ‎	ـڎ‎	-	-	[ð]	Д̌ д̌	Δ δ	U+068E	Unique to Shughni, not part of Persian (Dari) alphabet. While the letter zol "ذ‎" represents the phoneme [ð] in Arabic, this new letter has been introduced so that there can be distinguishment between the native sound [ð] and the sound [z] produced by the letter "ث‎" in loanwords of Arabic-origin entering via Persian. Some authors have used the letter zol "ذ‎" for both purposes.
ر‎	ـر‎	-	-	[r]	Р р	R r	U+0631
ز‎	ـز‎	-	-	[z]	З з	Z z	U+0632
ژ‎	ـژ‎	-	-	[ʒ]	Ж ж	Ž ž	U+0698
ږ‎	ـږ‎	-	-	[ɣ]	Г̌ г̌	Ɣ̌ ɣ̌	U+0696	Letter adopted from Pashto.
س‎	ـس‎	ـسـ‎	سـ‎	[s]	С с	S s	U+0633
ش‎	ـش‎	ـشـ‎	شـ‎	[ʃ]	Ш ш	Š š	U+0634
ښ‎	ـښ‎	ـښـ‎	ښـ‎	[x]	Х̌ х̌	Ẋ ẋ	U+069a	Letter adopted from Pashto. Similar letter exists in Munji, and Wakhani orthographies.
ص‎	ـص‎	ـصـ‎	صـ‎	[s]	С с	S s	U+0635	Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin.
ض‎	ـض‎	ـضـ‎	ضـ‎	[z]	З з	Z z	U+0636	Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin.
ط‎	ـط‎	ـطـ‎	طـ‎	[t]	Т т	T t	U+0637U	Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin.
ظ‎	ـظ‎	ـظـ‎	ظـ‎	[z]	З з	Z z	U+0638	Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin.
ع‎	ـع‎	ـعـ‎	عـ‎	[∅]/[ʔ]	-	-	U+0639	Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin.
غ‎	ـغ‎	ـغـ‎	غـ‎	[ʁ]	Ғ ғ	Ɣ ɣ	U+063a
ف‎	ـف‎	ـفـ‎	فـ‎	[f]	Ф ф	F f	U+0641
ڤ‎	ـڤ‎	ـڤـ‎	ڤـ‎	[v]	В в	V v	U+06a4	Letter adopted from Kurdish. Similar letter exists in Munji and Wakhani.
ق‎	ـق‎	ـقـ‎	قـ‎	[q]	Қ қ	Q q	U+0642
ک‎	ـک‎	ـکـ‎	کـ‎	[k]	К к	K k	U+06a9
گ‎	ـگ‎	ـگـ‎	گـ‎	[g]	Г г	G g	U+06af
ل‎	ـل‎	ـلـ‎	لـ‎	[l]	Л л	L l	U+0644
م‎	ـم‎	ـمـ‎	مـ‎	[m]	М м	M m	U+0645
ن‎	ـن‎	ـنـ‎	نـ‎	[n]	Н н	N n	U+0646
و‎	ـو‎	-	او / و‎	[w]/[uː]	В̌ в̌ Ӯ ӯ	W w Ū ū	U+0648	Represents two phonemes based on context, [w] and [u]. If used at the beginning of a word, if representing consonant [w], it will be written standalone "و‎", if representing a vowel [u], it will be preceded by alif "او‎".
ۈ‎	ـۈ‎	-	اۈ‎	[ɵ]	У̊ у̊	Ů ů	U+06C8	Letter unique to Shughni, combination of letter wāw "و‎" and superscript alif "◌ٰ‎", reflecting that the letter represents a vowel phoneme that's approximately between [u] and [ɔ]. Similar letter exists in Uyghur, representing the phoneme [y].
ه‎	-	ـهـ‎	هـ‎	[Ø]/[◌ː] ([aː]/[ɛː]) ([h])	(А̄ а̄)	(Ā ā)	U+0647	Silent letter in most cases. Lengthens the vowel preceding it, vowels [aː] "ـَ‎"
	ـه‎	-	-	[a] ([h])	А а А̄ а̄	A a Ā ā		Only at the end of the word does this letter represent vowel phoneme [a]. In the middle of words, this vowel is represented with diacritic (ـَ‎) which is usually dropped in writing. At the beginning of a word, the diacritic is placed on top of alif (اَ‎).
ی‎	ـی‎	ـیـ‎	ایـ / یـ‎	[j]/[i]	Й й Ӣ ӣ	Y y Ī ī	U+06cc	Represents two phonemes based on context, [j] and [i]. If used at the beginning of a word, if representing consonant [j], it will be written standalone "یـ‎", if representing a vowel [i], it will be preceded by alif "ایـ‎".
ې‎	ـې‎	ـېـ‎	اېـ‎	[e]	Е е Э э	E e Ȇ ȇ	U+06d0	Unique to Shughni, not part of Persian (Dari). Similar letter exists in Pashto and Uzbek orthographies. Indicates a vowel, and when a word begins with this vowel phoneme, the letter needs to be preceded by alif (اېـ‎).
ے‎	ـے‎	-	-	[ɛ]~[i]	И и	I i	U+06D2
ئ‎	ـئ‎	ـئـ‎	-	[Ø]/[ʔ]	- / Ъ ъ		U+0626	Limited use for writing of some diphthongs and mid-word glottal stops

Vowels

Shughni language consists of 10 vowels. There are 3 short vowels, which have 3 corresponding long vowels, and there are 4 additional long vowels. One of the topics of controversy in the process of compiling and standardizing Shughni orthography, was how to express all 9 of the vowels. In this process, letters from Pashto and Urdu have been borrowed (ې‎ and ے‎), a new letter has been created (اۈ‎) and due to a lack of the sound [h], the letter he (هـ ـهـ‎) has been repurposed from a consonant grapheme to a vowel one.^[10]

Below tables demonstrate how vowels are to be written in different positions within a word. Note that some vowels don't occur in specific positions in Shughni phonology. Also note that diacritics are generally dropped in writing. Also note that there exists free variation between the short vowels in colloquial Shughni.^[10]

А а	И и	У у	А̄ а̄	Ě ě	О о	У̊ у̊	Е е	Ӣ ӣ	Ӯ ӯ
A a	I i	U u	Ā ā	Ȇ ȇ	O o	Ů ů	E e	Ī ī	Ū ū
[a]	[ɛ~ɪ]	[ʊ]	[aː]	[ɛ]	[ɔ]	[ɵ]	[e]	[i]	[uː]
Vowels at the beginning of a word
اَ / ا‎	اِ / ا‎	اُ / ا‎	اَهـ‎	اِهـ‎	آ‎	اۈ‎	اېـ‎	ایـ‎	او‎
Vowels at the middle of a word
◌َ‎	◌ِ‎	◌ُ‎	◌َهـ / ـَهـ‎	◌ِهـ / ـِهـ‎	ا / ـا‎	ۈ / ـۈ‎	ېـ / ـېـ‎	یـ / ـیـ‎	و / ـو‎
Vowels at the end of a word
ه / ـه‎	ے / ـے‎	و / ـو‎	-	-	ا / ـا‎	ۈ / ـۈ‎	ې / ـې‎	ی / ـی‎	و / ـو‎

Cyrillic and Latin alphabets

Cyrillic (Latin) [IPA] Persian	А а (A a) [a] اَ / ◌َ / ه ـه ‎	А̄ а̄ (Ā ā) [aː] اَهـ / ◌َهـ ـَهـ‎	Б б (B b) [b] ب‎	В в (V v) [v] ﭪ‎	В̌ в̌ (W w) [w] و‎	Г г (G g) [g] گ‎	Ғ ғ (Ɣ ɣ) [ʁ] غ‎	Г̌ г̌ (Ɣ̌ ɣ̌) [ɣ] ږ‎
Cyrillic (Latin) [IPA] Persian	Д д (D d) [d] د‎	Д̌ д̌ (Δ δ) [ð] ڎ‎	Е е (E e) [e]/[je] اېـ / ـېـ / ې‎	Ӗ ӗ (Ȇ ȇ) [ɛ] ‎اِهـ / ◌ِهـ ـِهـ‎	Ж ж (Ž ž) [ʒ] ژ‎	З з (Z z) [z] ز، ذ، ض، ظ‎	Ҙ ҙ (Ʒ ʒ) [d͡z] ځ‎	И и (I i) [ɛ~ɪ] اِ / ◌ِ / ے‎
Cyrillic (Latin) [IPA] Persian	Ӣ ӣ (Ī ī) [i] ایـ / ـیـ / ی ‎	Й й (Y y) [j] یـ / ی‎	К к (K k) [k] ک‎	Қ қ (Q q) [q] ق‎	Л л (L l) [l] ل‎	М м (M m) [m] م‎	Н н (N n) [n] ن‎	О о (O o) [ɔ] آ / ا ـا ‎
Cyrillic (Latin) [IPA] Persian	П п (P p) [p] پ‎	Р р (R r) [r] ر‎	С с (S s) [s] ‌س، ث، ص‎	Т т (T t) [t] ت، ط‎	Т̌ т̌ (Θ θ/ϑ) [θ] ٿ‎	У у (U u) [ʊ] اُ‌ / ◌ُ / و‎	Ӯ ӯ (Ū ū) [u] او / ـو ‎	У̊ у̊ (Ů ů) [ɵ] اۈ / ـۈ‎
Cyrillic (Latin) [IPA] Persian	Ф ф (F f) [f] ف‎	Х х (X x) [χ] خ‎	Ҳ ҳ (H h) [∅]([h]) هـ، ح‎	Х̌ х̌ (Ẋ ẋ) [x] ښ‎	Ц ц (C c) [t͡s] څ‎	Ч ч (Č č) [t͡ʃ] چ‎	Ҷ ҷ (J j) [d͡ʒ] ج‎	Ш ш (Š š) [ʃ] ش‎
Cyrillic (Latin) [IPA] Persian	Э э (E e) [e] اېـ / ـېـ / ې‎

Sample Text

Below is a sample text, the first few passages from translations of a British nursery rhyme, The Old Woman and Her Pig.^[14]

Persian Script	یے کمپیر ږنِکِک خو چید زِدیداوَند ڤَدت یے ځُلِکِک جُکچِن شش پولے یے ڤِرود. یه یے لۈد اِدی:‌ «وُز کو مے ځُلِکِک شش پولے قتے چیز زِهم؟» — «وُز بازار سَهم خو یے خوگبُڅ خَریتُم.» یه تَر بازار سَت خو یے خوگبُڅے خَریت چود.‎
Cyrillic Script	Йи кампӣр г̌никик хӯ чӣд зидӣдов̌анд вадт йи ҙуликик ҷукчин шаш пӯли йи вирӯд. Йа йи лу̊д иди: «В̌уз кӯ ми ҙуликик шаш пӯли қти чӣз зӗм?» —«В̌уз бозор са̄м хӯ йи хӯгбуц харӣтум.» Йа тар бозор сат хӯ йи хӯгбуци харӣт чӯд.
Latin Script	Yi kampīr ɣ̌inikik xu čīd zidīdowand vad at ye ʒulikik jukčin xoɣ̌ pūlȇ virūd. Yayȇ bād lůd idi: «Wuz ku mȇ ʒulikik xoɣ̌ pūl qatȇ čīz zȇm?» —«Wuz tar bozor sām xu yȇ xūgbuc xarītum.» Yā tar bozor sat xu yȇ xūgbuci xarītȇ čūd.
Persian Translation	پیرزنی در حال جارو کردن خانه‌اش بود و یک سکه خورد و کج شده شش پنسی را پیدا کرد. او به خودش گفت که: «با این سکه خورد شش پنسی چه کنم؟»—«من به بازار می روم و یک خوکچه را می خرم.» پیرزن به بازار رفت و یک خوکچه را خرید.
Persian Translation (Tajik)	Пиразан хонаашро руфта истода буд, ки сиккаи шикастаи шаш пенсӣро ёфт. Худ ба худ гуфт: «Ин сиккаи шикастаи шаш пенсӣро чӣ кунам?» — «Ба бозор рафта, як хукча мехарам.» Пиразан ба бозор рафта, хукча харид.
Pashto Translation	یوه بوډۍ ښځه په خپل کور کې جاړو کوله کله چې هغې د شپږو پیسو ټوټه وموندله. له ځان سره يې وويل: "زه د دې موندلې شوي شپږ پیسو سره څه وکړم؟" - "زه به بازار ته لاړه شم او يو سور به واخلم." بوډۍ بازار ته لاړه او یو خنزیر یې واخیست.

Notes

1. xuɣ̌nůni ziv, хуг̌ну̊ни зив, خُږنۈنے زِڤ; Tajik: шуғнонӣ, Persian: شغنانی

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.