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Balochi language

 

 
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Balochi language
 
 
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Balochi (also Baluchi, Baloci or Baluci) is a Northwestern Iranian language. It is the principal languageLanguage

A language is a system of s, such as voice sounds, gestures or written symbols that encode or decode information....
 of the Baloch of BalochistanBalochistan (region)

Balochistan or Baluchistan is an arid region located in the Iranian Plateau in Southwest Asia and South Asia, between ...
, PakistanPakistan

Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan , is a country located in South Asia that overlaps with the Gre...
, eastern IranIran

'Throughout history, Iran has been of great geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia....
 and southern AfghanistanAfghanistan

Afghanistan ; Persian : ?????? ?????? ?????????, Pashto: ? ????????? ?????? ???????) is a landlocked country at ...
. It is also spoken as a second language by some BrahuiBrahui people

The Brahui people or Brohi people are an ethnic group of about 2.2 million people with the majority found in Kalat, Pa...
. It is designated as one of nine official languages of Pakistan.

Dialects

BalochiBalochi

Balochi or Baluchi may refer to:...
 has several dialects. The EthnologueEthnologue

Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service ...
 lists three major dialects: Eastern Balochi, Western Balochi and Southern Balochi while the Encyclopedia Iranica (from Elfenbein) lists six major dialects: Rakhshani (subdialects: Kalati, Panjguri and Sarhaddi), Saravani, LashariLashari

Lashari, sometimes also spelt Lasharie is a Baloch tribe....
, Kechi, Coastal Dialects, and Eastern Hill Balochi.

Phonology

Vowels

a, i, u, a?, i?, e?, u?, o?

Diphthongs

ai, au, a?i

Consonants

LabialLabial consonant

Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips or with the lower lip and the upper teeth ....
 AlveolarAlveolar consonant

Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that be...
 RetroflexRetroflex consonant

In phonetics, retroflex consonants are consonant sounds used in some languages....
 PalatalPalatal consonant

Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate ....
 VelarVelar consonant

Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue...
GlottalGlottal consonant

Glottal consonants are consonants articulated with the glottis....
StopStop consonant Summary

A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract....
*		 
FricativeFricative consonant

Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together....
**
TrillTrill consonant

In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation....
  
NasalNasal consonant

A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing a...
  
ApproximantApproximant consonant

Approximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants....
  


*Allophones for syllable final (-b, -t, -d) ? (-v, -?, -đ) (Eastern Hill Balochi only)

**Fricatives in unassimilated loanwords: f, x, ?

Grammar

The normal word order is Subject Object VerbSubject Object Verb

In linguistic typology, Subject Object Verb is the type of languages in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence ap...
. Like many other Indo-Iranian languages, Balochi has split ergativitySplit ergativity

Split ergativity is shown by languages that have a partly ergative behaviour, but employ another syntax or morphology in som...
. In the present tense or future tense, the subject is marked as nominative, and the object is marked as accusative. In the past tense, however, the subject of a transitive verb is marked as obliqueFacts About Oblique case

An oblique case in linguistics is a noun case of analytic languages that is used generally when a noun is the predicate of a...
, and the verb agrees with the object.

History

Balochi is closely related to other Northwestern Iranian languages such as KurdishKurdish language

The Kurdish language is an Indo-Iranian language spoken in the region called Kurdistan, including Kurdish populations in par...
 maybe due to a large removal of KurmanciKurmancî

Kurmanc? can refer to:Peoples:* Kurmanc? , an Iranian language group spoken in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria....
 Kurdish tribes from AleppoAleppo

Aleppo is a city and province in northern Syria....
 to Baluchistan.

Writing system

Before the 19th century, Balochi was an unwritten language. The official written language was Persian although Balochi was still spoken at the Baloch courts. British linguists and political historians wrote form with the Roman script, but following independence of Pakistan, Baloch scholars adopted Perso-Arabic scriptPerso-Arabic script

Perso-Arabic script is a writing system that is based on the Arabic alphabet....
. In Afghanistan, Balochi is written in a modified Arabic script based on what is used for PashtoPashto language

Pashto is the language spoken by the Pashtun people who inhabit Afghanistan, western Pakistan, and northern India....
.

Baluchi Roman orthography

The following Latin-script based orthography was adopted in the International Workshop on "Balochi Roman Orthography" (University of Uppsala, Sweden, May 28-30, 2000).

Alphabetical Order:

a á b c d d e f g g h i í j k l m n o p q r r s š t t u ú v w x y z ž ay aw

(33 letters and 2 diphthongs)

A/a amb (mango), angúr (grape), bagg (camel-caravan), sardar (naked-head), namb (mist)

Á/á dár (wood), árt (flour), bahá (price), pád (foot), áhag (to come), áhán (them)

B/b (be) barp (snow, ice), bám (dawn), bágpán (gardner), baktáwar (lucky)

C/c (che) cattr (umbrella), bacc (son), kárc (knife), Karácí, Kulánc, Cákar, Bálác

D/d (de) dard (pain), drad (rainshower), dárú (medicine), wád (salt)

D/d is same as R/r (re) so this latter is preferably used to simplify the orthography.

E/e eš (this), cer (below), eraht (end of date harvest), pešraw (leader, forerunner), kamer (ploughshare)

F/f (fe) To be used only in loan words where its use is inevitable, like Fráns (France), fármaysí (pharmacy)

G/g (ge) gapp (talk), ganok (mad), bág (garden), bagg (herd of camels), pádag (foot), Bagdád (Baghdad)

G/g (like ghaen in Perso-Arabic script) Only in loan words and in eastern dialects

H/h (he) hár (flood), máh (moon), koh (mountain), mahár (rein), hon (blood)

I/i (i) istál (star), idá (here), pit/piss (father), bigir (take), kirr (near)

Í/í (í) ímmán (faith), šír (milk), pakír (beggar), samín (breeze), gálí (carpet)

J/j (je) jang (war), janag (to beat), jing (lark), ganj (treasure), sajjí (roasted meat)

K/k (ke) Kirmán (Kirman), kárc (knife), náko (uncle), gwask (calf), kasán (small)

L/l (le) láp (stomach), gal (joy), gall (party, organization), gull (cheek), gul (rose)

M/m (me) mát/más (mother), bám (dawn), camm (eye), mastir (leader, bigger).

N/n (ne) nán/nagan/nagan (bread), nok (new, new moon), dann (outside), kwahn (old), náko (uncle)

O/o (o) oštag (to stop), ožnág (swim), roc (sun), dor (pain), socag (to burn)

P/p (pe) Pád (foot), šap (night), šapád (bare-footed), gapp (talk), aptád (70)

Q/q (qú) Used in loan words, like Qábús

R/r (re) Rustum (a name), rek (sand), barag (to take away), girag (to get), garrag (to bray), gurrag (to roar), šarr (good), sarag (head), sarrag (a kind of donkey's braying)

R/r (re) rák (post), rukkál (famine), garr (urial), gurr (last), gurrag (to chop).

S/s (se) sarag (head), kass (someone), kasán (little), bass (enough), ás (fire)

Š/š (še) šap (night), šád (happy), meš (sheep), šuwánag (shepherd), wašš (happy, tasty).

T/t (te) tagird (mat), tahná (alone) tás (bowl), kilítt (kay), masítt (mosque), battí (lantern)

T/t (te) tung (hole), tíllo (bell), batt (cooked rice), battág (eggplant).

U/u uštir (camel), šumá (you), ustád (teacher), gužn (hunger), buz (goat)

Ú/ú (ú, sounds like the "oo" in English word "root") úrt (thin), zúrag (to take), bizú (take), dúr (distant)

V/v (ve) used in loanwords only, like in the English word service, very.

W/w (we) warag (food, to eat), wardin (provision), dawár (abode), wád (salt), kawwás (learned)

X/x (khe) Xudá (God),

Y/y (ye) yád (remembrance), yár (friend), yázdah (eleven), biryání (roasted meat), raydyo (radio), yakk (one)

Z/z (ze) zarr (monay), zí (yesterday), muzz (wages), moz (banana), nazzíkk (nearby), bazgar (tenant)

Ž/ž (že) žand (tired), žáng (bells), pažm (wool), gažžag (to swell), gužnag (hungry).

ay (h)ayrán (surprise), ayrát (distribution), say (3), may (our), kay (who), šumay (your)

Aw/aw kawr (river), hawr (rain), kissaw (story), dawl (sort), dawr (jump), awlád (off-spring), kawl (promise), gawk (neck).

See also

  • Baloch
  • Other languages spoken by the BalochBaloch people

    The Baloch are an Iranian people inhabiting the region of Balochistan in Iran and Pakistan as well as neighboring areas of ...


External links



Dictionaries

  • Balochi to English, Persian, Spanish, Finnish and Swedish
  • English to Balochi Dictionary