Western Katë dialect
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (October 2024) |
| Western Katë | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Afghanistan |
| Region | Nuristan, Kunar |
Native speakers | 140,000 (2017)[1] |
| Arabic script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bsh |
| Glottolog | kati1270 |
Western Katë is a dialect of the Katë language spoken by the Kata in parts of Afghanistan. The most used alternative names are Kata-vari or Kati.
Together with the Northeastern dialect, it is spoken by approximately 40,000 people (mostly in Afghanistan, just over 3,700 in Pakistan), and its speakers are Muslim. Literacy rates are low: below 1% for people who have it as a first language, and between 15% and 25% for people who have it as a second language.
There are several subdialects spoken in the Ramgal, Kulam, Ktivi and Paruk valleys of Nuristan.
Innovations
[edit]According to Halfmann (2024), the primary innovations of the Western dialect include loss of nasalization, a progressive suffix -n-, and a past copula stem st-.
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Palato- alveolar |
Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | ʈ | k | ||
| voiced | b | d | ɖ | ɡ | |||
| Affricate | voiceless | t͡s | t͡ʃ | t͡ʂ | |||
| voiced | d͡ʒ | d͡ʐ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | (f) | s | ʃ | ʂ | (x) | |
| voiced | v | z | (ʒ) | ʐ | (ɣ) | ||
| Nasal | m | n | ɳ | ŋ | |||
| Tap | ɾ | (ɽ) | |||||
| Approximant | lateral | l | |||||
| central | ɻ | (j) | |||||
- Sounds /ʒ ɽ ɣ/ occur from neighboring languages. /f x/ are borrowed from loanwords.
- /ʈ/ can also be heard as an allophone [ɽ].
- [j] is heard as an allophone of /i/.
- /v/ can also be heard as bilabial [β] or a labial approximant [w].
Vowels
[edit]| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | ə | u |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Low | a |
- Mid /ə/ can be heard as a close central [ɨ].
Vocabulary
[edit]Pronouns
[edit]| Person | Direct | Oblique | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | sg. | vúze, vúzë (Ktivi) | ye, yéme |
| pl. | yimó, yimú (Ktivi) | ||
| 2nd | sg. | tyu | tu |
| pl. | šo | ||
Numbers
[edit]- e, ev
- dyu
- tre
- štëvó
- puč
- ṣu
- sut
- vuṣṭ
- nu
- duċ
- yaníċ
- diċ
- triċ
- šturéċ, štruċ (Ktivi)
- pčiċ
- ṣeċ
- stiċ
- ṣṭiċ
- neċ
- vëċë́
Further reading
[edit]- Halfmann, Jakob (2024). A Grammatical Description of the Katë Language (Nuristani) (PhD thesis). Universität zu Köln.
References
[edit]- ^ Western Katë at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- Grjunberg, Aleksandr L. (1980). Jazyk Kati: Teksty, Grammatičeskij Očerk. Moskva: Glavnaya Redaktsija Vostočnoj Literatury.
- Strand, Richard F. (1973). Notes on the Nūristāni and Dardic Languages. Journal of the American Oriental Society.
- Strand, Richard F. (2010). "Nurestâni Languages". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition. Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- Strand, Richard F. (2011). "Kâtʹa-vari Lexicon". Retrieved 22 November 2020.
External links
[edit]
- Strand, Richard F. (1997–2013). "Nuristan: Hidden Land of the Hindu-Kush". Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- Strand, Richard F. (1997). "The kâtʹa, kʹom, mumʹo, kṣtʹo, biniʹo, ǰâmčʹo, and ǰâšʹa". Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- Strand, Richard F. (1998). "The kâtʹa". Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- Strand, Richard F. (2011). "Kâtʹa-vari Lexicon". Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- Strand, Richard F. (2011). "The Sound System of Kt'ivřâ·i vari". Retrieved 16 January 2012.