Sarikoli
Encyclopedia
The Sarikoli language is a member of the Pamir
subgroup of the Southeastern Iranian languages spoken by Tajiks in China
. It is officially referred to in China as the "Tajik language", although it is different from the language
spoken in Tajikistan
.
as spoken in Tajikistan
. It is also referred to as Tashkorghani, after the ancient capital of the Sarikoli kingdom (now a county of Xinjiang); however, this usage is not widespread among scholars.
The earliest written accounts in English, from the 1870s, generally use the name "Sarikoli".
in southern Xinjiang Province
, China
. The Chinese name for the Sarikoli language, as well as the usage of Sarikol as a toponym
, is Sèlēikùěr (色勒库尔). Speakers in China typically use Uyghur
and Chinese
to communicate with people of other ethnic groups
in the area. The rest are found in the Pakistani-controlled sector of Kashmir
, closely hugging the Pakistan-Chinese international borders.
It is mutually unintelligible with the related Wakhi language
.
to transcribe the sounds of Sarikoli in his book and dictionary, while Pakhalina, publishing in Russia, used an alphabet similar to that of the Wakhi language
in hers. Because the majority of Sarikoli-speakers attend schools using Uyghur
as the medium of instruction
, some may be able to write their language using the Uyghur alphabet
.
a [a], e [e], ɛy [ɛi̯] (dialectal æy or ay [æi̯ / ai̯]), ɛw [ɛu̯] (dialectal æw or aw [æu̯ /au̯]), ə [ə], i [i], o [o / ɔ], u [u], ы [ɯ] (dialectal ů [ʊ]). In some dialects also long variants of those vowels can appear: ā, ē, ī, ō, ū, ы̄, ǝ̄.
Sariqoli consonants according to Russian Iranologist transcription (IPA values in bracelets):
p /p/, b /b/, t /t/, d /d/, k /k / c/, g /ɡ ~ ɟ/, q /q/, c /ts/, ʒ /dz/, č /tɕ/, ǰ /dʑ/, s /s/, z /z/, x̌ /x/, γ̌ /ɣ/, f /f/, v /v/, θ /θ/, δ /ð/, x /χ/, γ /ʁ/, š /ɕ/, ž /ʑ/, w /w/, y /j/, m /m/, n /n / ŋ/, l /l/, r /r/
s and verb inflection
s regularly place stress on their first syllable, including the imperative
and interrogative
.
Pamir languages
The Pamir languages are a group of the Eastern Iranian languages, spoken by numerous people in the Pamir Mountains, primarily along the Panj River and its tributaries. This includes the Badakhshan Province of northeastern Afghanistan and the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province of eastern Tajikistan...
subgroup of the Southeastern Iranian languages spoken by Tajiks in China
Tajiks in China
Tajiks , are an ethnic group that lives in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
. It is officially referred to in China as the "Tajik language", although it is different from the language
Tajik language
Tajik, Tajik Persian, or Tajiki, is a variety of modern Persian spoken in Central Asia. Historically Tajiks called their language zabani farsī , meaning Persian language in English; the term zabani tajikī, or Tajik language, was introduced in the 20th century by the Soviets...
spoken in Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
.
Nomenclature
Sarikoli is officially referred to as "Tajik" (塔吉克语 Tǎjíkèyǔ) in China. However, it is not closely related to TajikTajik language
Tajik, Tajik Persian, or Tajiki, is a variety of modern Persian spoken in Central Asia. Historically Tajiks called their language zabani farsī , meaning Persian language in English; the term zabani tajikī, or Tajik language, was introduced in the 20th century by the Soviets...
as spoken in Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
. It is also referred to as Tashkorghani, after the ancient capital of the Sarikoli kingdom (now a county of Xinjiang); however, this usage is not widespread among scholars.
The earliest written accounts in English, from the 1870s, generally use the name "Sarikoli".
Distribution of speakers
The number of speakers is around 20,000; most reside in the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous CountyTaxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County
Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County is one of the counties of Kashgar Prefecture in western Xinjiang.- Geography :Tashkurgan County is located in the eastern part of the Pamir Plateau, where the Kunlun, Kara Kunlun, Hindukush and Tian Shan mountains come together, at the borders with Afghanistan ,...
in southern Xinjiang Province
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. The Chinese name for the Sarikoli language, as well as the usage of Sarikol as a toponym
Toponymy
Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
, is Sèlēikùěr (色勒库尔). Speakers in China typically use Uyghur
Uyghur language
Uyghur , formerly known as Eastern Turk, is a Turkic language with 8 to 11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Significant communities of Uyghur-speakers are located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and various other...
and Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
to communicate with people of other ethnic groups
Ethnic minorities in China
Ethnic minorities in China are the non-Han Chinese population in the People's Republic of China. The People's Republic of China officially recognizes 55 ethnic minority groups within China in addition to the Han majority. As of 2010, the combined population of officially recognised minority...
in the area. The rest are found in the Pakistani-controlled sector of Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
, closely hugging the Pakistan-Chinese international borders.
It is mutually unintelligible with the related Wakhi language
Wakhi language
Wakhi is an Indo-European language in the branch of Eastern Iranian language family and is intimately related to other Southeastern Iranian languages in the Pamir languages group.-Classification and Distribution:...
.
Orthography
The language has no official written form. Gawarjon, publishing in China, used IPAInternational Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
to transcribe the sounds of Sarikoli in his book and dictionary, while Pakhalina, publishing in Russia, used an alphabet similar to that of the Wakhi language
Wakhi language
Wakhi is an Indo-European language in the branch of Eastern Iranian language family and is intimately related to other Southeastern Iranian languages in the Pamir languages group.-Classification and Distribution:...
in hers. Because the majority of Sarikoli-speakers attend schools using Uyghur
Uyghur language
Uyghur , formerly known as Eastern Turk, is a Turkic language with 8 to 11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Significant communities of Uyghur-speakers are located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and various other...
as the medium of instruction
Medium of instruction
Medium of instruction is a language used in teaching. It may or may not be the official language of the country or territory. Where the first language of students is different from the official language, it may be used as the medium of instruction for part or all of schooling. Bilingual or...
, some may be able to write their language using the Uyghur alphabet
Uyghur Ereb Yéziqi
Uyghur Arabic script is an Arabic alphabet used for writing the Uyghur language, primarily by Uyghurs living in China. It is one of several Uyghur alphabets....
.
Vowels
Sarikoli vowels as used in Russian works (IPA values in bracelets):a [a], e [e], ɛy [ɛi̯] (dialectal æy or ay [æi̯ / ai̯]), ɛw [ɛu̯] (dialectal æw or aw [æu̯ /au̯]), ə [ə], i [i], o [o / ɔ], u [u], ы [ɯ] (dialectal ů [ʊ]). In some dialects also long variants of those vowels can appear: ā, ē, ī, ō, ū, ы̄, ǝ̄.
Consonants
Sarikoli has 29 consonants:Sariqoli consonants according to Russian Iranologist transcription (IPA values in bracelets):
p /p/, b /b/, t /t/, d /d/, k /k / c/, g /ɡ ~ ɟ/, q /q/, c /ts/, ʒ /dz/, č /tɕ/, ǰ /dʑ/, s /s/, z /z/, x̌ /x/, γ̌ /ɣ/, f /f/, v /v/, θ /θ/, δ /ð/, x /χ/, γ /ʁ/, š /ɕ/, ž /ʑ/, w /w/, y /j/, m /m/, n /n / ŋ/, l /l/, r /r/
Stress
Most words receive stress on the last syllable; however, a minority receive stress on their first syllable. Also, several noun declensionDeclension
In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
s and verb inflection
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
s regularly place stress on their first syllable, including the imperative
Imperative mood
The imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
and interrogative
Interrogative mood
In linguistics and grammar, the interrogative mood is an epistemic grammatical mood used for asking questions by inflecting the main verb...
.
Vocabulary
Although to a large extent the Sarikoli lexicon is quite close to those of other Eastern Iranian languages, but a large number are words are special to Sarikoli and the closely related Shughni, that are not found in other Eastern Iranian languages like Wakhi, Pashto or Avestan.| English gloss English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
Persian Persian language Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence... |
Tajik Tajik language Tajik, Tajik Persian, or Tajiki, is a variety of modern Persian spoken in Central Asia. Historically Tajiks called their language zabani farsī , meaning Persian language in English; the term zabani tajikī, or Tajik language, was introduced in the 20th century by the Soviets... |
Shughni Shughni language Shughni is one of the Pamir languages of the Southeastern Iranian language group. Its distribution is in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province in Tajikistan and Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan.... |
Sarikoli | Wakhi Wakhi language Wakhi is an Indo-European language in the branch of Eastern Iranian language family and is intimately related to other Southeastern Iranian languages in the Pamir languages group.-Classification and Distribution:... |
Pashto Pashto language Pashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and... |
Avestan Avestan language Avestan is an East Iranian language known only from its use as the language of Zoroastrian scripture, i.e. the Avesta, from which it derives its name... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| son | pesær (پسر) | pisar (писар) | puts | pɯts | putr | zoj | putra |
| fire | ɒtiʃ (اتش) | otaʃ (оташ) | joːts | juts | rɯχniɡ | wor | âtar |
| water | ɒb (اب) | ob (об) | xats | xats | jupk | obə | aiwyô, ap |
| hand | dæst (دست) | dast (даѕт) | ðust | ðɯst | ðast | lɑs | zasta |
| foot | pɒ (پا) | po (по) | poːð | peð | pɯð | pxa, pʂa | pad |
| tooth | dændɒn (دندان) | dandon (дандон) | ðinðʉn | ðanðun | ðɯnðɯk | ɣɑx, ɣɑʂ | ? |
| eye | tʃæʃm (چشم) | tʃaʃm (чашм) | tsem | tsem | tʂəʐm | stərɡa | cashman |
| horse | æsb (اسب) | asp (асп) | voːrdʒ | vurdʒ | jaʃ | ɑs | aspa |
| cloud | æbr (ابر) | abr (абр) | abri | varm | mur | uriədz | ? |
| wheat | gændom (گندم) | gandum (гандум) | ʒindam | ʒandam | ɣɯdim | ɣanəm | ? |
| meat | ɡuʃt (گوشت) | ɡuʃt (гушт) | ɡuːxt | ɡɯxt | ɡuʂt | ɣwəxa, ɣwəʂa | ? |
| many | besjɒr (بسيار) | bisjor (бисёр) | bisjoːr | pɯr | təqi | ɖer, pura | paoiri, paoirîsh, pouru |
| high | bolænd (بلند) | baland (баланд) | biland | bɯland | bɯland | lwəɻ | berezô, berezañt |
| far | dur (دور) | dur (дур) | ðar | ðar | ðir | ləre | dûra, dûrât |
| good | χub (خوب) | χub (хуб) | χub | tʃardʒ | baf | xə, ʂə | vohu |
| small | kutʃik (كوچك)) | χurd (хурд) | dzul | dzɯl | dzəqlai | ləɡ, ləʐ | ? |
| to say | goft (گفت) | guft (гуфт) | lʉvd | levd | xənak | wajəl | aoj-, mrû-, sangh- |
| to do | kærd (كرد) | kard (кард) | tʃiːd | tʃeiɡ | tsərak | kawəl | kar- |
| to see | did (ديد) | did (дид) | wiːnt | wand | winɡ | winəm | dî- |