Rushani language
| Rushani | |
|---|---|
| rix̌ůn ziv, риx̌ӯн зив | |
 | |
| Native to | Afghanistan,Tajikistan |
| Ethnicity | 73,800 Rushan people[1] |
Native speakers | (18,000 cited 1990)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | rush1239 |
| ELP | Rushani |
Rushaniis one of thePamir languagesspoken inAfghanistanandTajikistan. Rushaniis relatively closer to all NorthernPamiri languagessub-group whether it isShughni,Yazgulami,SarikuliorOroshorisharing many grammatical and vocabulary similarity with all of them especially withShughniand thus some linguists consider it a dialect ofShughni.
Rushanis divided into two parts byPanjriver where on right bank alongBartangriver to the East located Rushan district ofGBAO,Tajikistanand on the left side located several villages of Roshan area in northern part of the Sheghnan District, in theBadakhshan ProvinceofAfghanistanand theGorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Regionin Tajikistan. Afghani Roshan consists of six villages including Rubotin, Paguor, Chawed, York, Shaikhin and Chasnud, five of which are located on the bank of the riverPanj,which meets[clarification needed]at the border of Tajikistan.[2]Most Rushani speakers belong to theIsmailibranch ofShi'a Islam.[2]
Language use
[edit]Rushani, like Shughni, is only used in unofficial settings. All of the children in the community learn Rushani as their first language and rely heavily on it until they enroll in school. It is only then that they learn the official language of the country.[2]Adult speakers are all bi- or tri-lingual inTajikandRussian.
Traditionally Rushani was not a written language, with Rushani speakers writing inPersian.[3]Writing systems have been developed for the language usingCyrillicandLatinscripts, for example for use in translation of parts of the bible by theInstitute for Bible Translation.
Verbs
[edit]Rushani is unusual in having atransitive alignmentsystem – a so-calleddouble-obliqueclause structure – in the past tense. That is, in the past tense,[4]the agent and object of a transitive verb are both marked, while the subject of an intransitive verb is not. In the present tense, the object of the transitive verb is marked, the other two roles are not – that is, a typicalnominative–accusativealignment.[5]Seetransitive alignmentfor examples.
Literature
[edit]- Zarubin, I.I.Bartangskie i rushanskie teksty i slovar. Moskva: Izd-vo Akademii nauk SSSR, 1937.
- Payne, John, "Pamir languages" inCompendium Linguarum Iranicarum,ed. Schmitt (1989), 417–444.
- Payne, John. "The decay of ergativity in Pamir languages."Lingua51:147-186.
References
[edit]- ^abShughniatEthnologue(18th ed., 2015)(subscription required)
- ^abcMuller, K. 2010:Language in Community-Oriented and Contact-Oriented Domains: The Case of the Shughni of Tajakistan.SIL International.
- ^Dodykhudoeva, L. 2007:Revitalization of minority languages: comparative dictionary of key cultural terms in the languages and dialects of the Shugni-Rushani group. London: SOAS.
- ^or perhapsperfective aspect
- ^J.R. Payne, 'Language Universals and Language Types', in Collinge, ed. 1990.An Encyclopedia of Language.Routledge. From Payne, 1980.
External links
[edit]- Rushani[1]at the Endangered Languages Project