Brahui language#Perso-Arabic script

[[File:Brahui-speakers by Pakistani District - 2017 Census.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.6|

Brahui is spoken in the central part of Pakistani Balochistan, mainly in the Kalat, Khuzdar and Mastung districts, but also in smaller numbers in neighboring districts, as well as in Afghanistan which borders Pakistani Balochistan; however, many members of the ethnic group no longer speak Brahui.{{sfn|Parkin|1989|p=37}} There are also an unknown (but very small) number of expatriate Brahuis in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf, and Turkmenistan.

There is no consensus as to whether Brahui is a relatively recent language introduced into Balochistan or the remnant of a formerly more widespread Dravidian language family. According to Josef Elfenbein (1989), the most common theory is that the Brahui were part of a Dravidian migration into north-western parts of the Indian subcontinent in the 3rd millennium BC, but unlike other Dravidians who migrated to the south, they remained in Sarawan and Jahlawan since before 2000 BC.{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/brahui|title=BRAHUI – Encyclopaedia Iranica|website=www.iranicaonline.org}} However, some other scholars see it as a recent migrant language to its present region. They postulate that Brahui could only have migrated to Balochistan from central India after 1000 AD. This is contradicted by genetic evidence that shows the Brahui population to be indistinguishable from neighbouring Balochi speakers, and genetically distant from central Dravidian speakers.{{cite journal |last1=Pagani |first1=Luca |last2=Colonna |first2=Vincenza |last3=Tyler-Smith |first3=Chris |last4=Ayub |first4=Qasim |title=An Ethnolinguistic and Genetic Perspective on the Origins of the Dravidian-Speaking Brahui in Pakistan |journal=Man in India |date=2017 |volume=97 |issue=1 |pages=267–278 |pmid=28381901 |pmc=5378296 }} The main Iranian contributor to Brahui vocabulary, Balochi, is a Northwestern Iranian language, and moved to the area from the west only around 1000 AD.{{sfn|Witzel|2008|p=1}}{{sfn|Elfenbein|1987}} One scholar places the migration as late as the 13th or 14th century.{{sfn|Sergent|1997|pp=129–130}} The Brahui lexicon is believed to be of: 35% Perso-Arabic origin, 20% Balochi origin, 20% Indo-Aryan origin, 15% Dravidian origin, and 10% unknown origin.{{Cite book |last=Bashir |first=Elena |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/31900835 |title=A contrastive analysis of Brahui and Urdu |date=1991 |publisher=Academy for Educational Development |oclc=31900835}}{{sfn|Krishnamurti|2003|p=27}}

Franklin Southworth proposed that Brahui is not a Dravidian language, but can be linked with the remaining Dravidian languages and Elamite to form the "Zagrosian family," which originated in Southwest Asia (southern Iran) and was widely distributed in South Asia and parts of eastern West Asia before the Indo-Aryan migration.{{cite journal |last=Southworth |first=Franklin |year=2011 |title=Rice in Dravidian and its linguistic implications |journal=Rice |volume=4 |pages=142–148 |doi=10.1007/s12284-011-9076-9 |doi-access=free}}

There are no important dialectal differences. Jhalawani (southern, centered on Khuzdar) and Sarawani (northern, centered on Kalat) dialects are distinguished by the pronunciation of *h, which is retained only in the north (Elfenbein 1997).

Brahui has been influenced by the Iranian languages spoken in the area, including Persian, Balochi and Pashto.{{sfn|Emeneau|1962|p={{Page needed|date=September 2010}}}}

Brahui vowels show a partial length distinction between long {{IPA|/aː eː iː oː uː/}} and diphthongs {{IPA|/aɪ̯ aʊ̯/}} and short {{IPA|/a i u/}}. Brahui does not have short /e, o/ due to influence from neighbouring Indo-Aryan and Iranic languages, the PD short *e was replaced by a, ē and i, and ∗o by ō, u and a in root syllables.{{sfn|Krishnamurti|2003|p=118}}

Brahui consonants show patterns of retroflexion but lack the aspiration distinctions found in surrounding languages and include several fricatives such as the voiceless lateral fricative {{IPA|[ɬ]}}, a sound not otherwise found in the region.{{sfn|Bashir|2016|p=274}}

Consonants are also very similar to those of Balochi, but Brahui has more fricatives and nasals (Elfenbein 1993).

• {{IPA|[h]}} of north corresponds to a glottal stop of south initially and intervocalically. Before a C in word-final position it is lost. Non-phonemic glottal stop before word-initial vowels, e.g. hust (N), ʔust (S) 'heart'.{{sfn|Krishnamurti|2003|p=77}}
• {{IPA|[ɬ]}} and {{IPA|[l]}} vary freely in many cases; contrast is limited to two or three items. Conditions for the emergence of {{IPA|[ɬ]}} are not clear.{{sfn|Krishnamurti|2003|p=77}}
• {{IPA|/ɽ/}} does not occur word-initially. {{IPA|/r/}} → {{IPA|/ɽ/}} before {{IPA|/t d s z/}} in northern Brahui (Elfenbein 1998: 394), e.g. xūrt → xūṛt 'tiny'.{{sfn|Krishnamurti|2003|p=77}}
• The consonants {{IPA|[p t k]}} freely alternate with aspirated counterparts in the northeast. Aspirated stops word-initially occur in loanwords in the south, where they freely vary with unaspirated stops.{{sfn|Krishnamurti|2003|p=77}}
• {{IPA|[ŋ]}} occurs before velar stops {{IPA|/k, g/}}.{{sfn|Krishnamurti|2003|p=58}}
• Brahui preserves the PD laryngeal *{{IPA|/H/}} as {{IPA|/h/}} in some words e.g. PD. *caH- ~ *ceH- > Br. kah-.{{sfn|Krishnamurti|2003|p=118}}

Stress in Brahui follows a quantity-based pattern, occurring either on the first long vowel or diphthong, or on the first syllable if all vowels are short.

File:BrahuiLam.svg}}" and is written in Nastaliq script.]]

Brahui is the only Dravidian language which is not known to have been written in a Brahmi-based script; instead, it has been written in the Arabic script since the second half of the 20th century.{{Cite web |url=http://www.worklib.ru/dic/%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B3%D1%83%D0%B8/ |title=Бесписьменный язык Б. |access-date=2015-06-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623210754/http://www.worklib.ru/dic/%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B3%D1%83%D0%B8/ |archive-date=2015-06-23 |url-status=dead }} Other Dravidian languages have also been historically written in the Arabic script by the Muslim minority speakers of each respective language, namely Arabi-Tamil and Arabi-Malayalam.

In Pakistan, an Urdu based Nastaʿlīq script is used in writing. Brahui orthography is unique in having the letter {{langx|ur|ڷ}} representing the sound {{IPAblink|ɬ}}. Table below presents the letters adopted for Brahui orthography:

More recently, a Roman-based orthography named Brolikva (an abbreviation of Brahui Roman Likvar) was developed by the Brahui Language Board of the University of Balochistan in Quetta and adopted by the newspaper Talár.

Below is the new promoted Bráhuí Báşágal Brolikva orthography:{{citation|publisher=Brahui Language Board, University of Balochistan|location=Quetta|url=https://sites.google.com/site/brahuilb/home|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103173656/https://sites.google.com/site/brahuilb/home|title=Bráhuí Báşágal|date=April 2009|access-date=2023-10-05|archive-date=2023-01-03}}

The letters with diacritics are the long vowels, post-alveolar and retroflex consonants, the voiced velar fricative and the voiceless lateral fricative.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

{{nq|مُچَّا اِنسَاںک آجو او اِزَّت نَا رِد اَٹ بَرےبَر وَدِى مَسُّنو. اوفتے پُهِى او دَلِىل رَسےںگَانے. اَندَادے وفتے اَسِ اےلو تون اِىلُمِى اے وَدِّفوئِى اے.}}

Muccá insáńk ájo o izzat ná rid aŧ barebar vadí massuno. Ofte puhí o dalíl raseńgáne. andáde ofte asi elo ton ílumí e vaddifoí e.

According to a 2009 UNESCO report, Brahui is one of the 27 languages of Pakistan that are facing the danger of extinction. It was classified as "unsafe", the least endangered level out of the five levels of concern (Unsafe, Definitely Endangered, Severely Endangered, Critically Endangered and Extinct).{{sfn|Moseley|2009|p={{page needed|date=November 2020}}}} This status has since been renamed to "vulnerable".

{{cite book |year=2010 |editor-last=Moseley |editor-first=Christopher |title=Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger |url=http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/endangered-languages/atlas-of-languages-in-danger/ |series=Memory of Peoples |edition=3rd |location=Paris |publisher=UNESCO Publishing |isbn=978-92-3-104096-2 |access-date=2015-04-11 }}

Talár is the first daily newspaper in the Brahui language.{{Cite journal |last1=Yousaf |first1=Muhammad |last2=Ali Sani |first2=Liaqat |date=2017 |title=Evolution of Brahui Journalism |url=http://web.uob.edu.pk/uob/Journals/Alburz/journals/Alburz-2017/eng/234-245%20Muhammad%20Yousaf.pdf |journal=Al-Burz |volume=9 |issue= |pages=234–245 |doi=10.54781/abz.v9i1.114 |issn=2071-9477 |access-date=19 February 2025 |via=web.uob.edu.pk}} It uses the new Roman orthography and is "an attempt to standardize and develop [the] Brahui language to meet the requirements of modern political, social and scientific discourse."{{citation|title=Haftaí Talár|url=http://www.talarpub.tk/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624214800/http://talarpub.tk/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-06-24|publisher=Talár Publications|access-date=2010-06-29}}

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{{refbegin}}

• {{Citation|title=South Asian Language Resource Center Workshop on Languages of Afghanistan and neighboring areas|date=December 2003|chapter=Brahui - Notes|first=Elena|last=Bashir|author-link=Elena Bashir|chapter-url=http://salrc.uchicago.edu/workshops/sponsored/121203/resources/brahui.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://salrc.uchicago.edu/workshops/sponsored/121203/resources/brahui.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|access-date=2010-06-29}}
• {{cite book |doi=10.1515/9783110423303-004 |chapter=Contact and convergence |title=The Languages and Linguistics of South Asia |year=2016 |last1=Bashir |first1=Elena |isbn=978-3-11-042330-3 |editor1-last=Hock|editor1-first=Hans Henrich|editor1-link=Hans Henrich Hock|editor2-last=Bashir|editor2-first=Elena|editor2-link=Elena Bashir|pages=241–374 }}
• Bray, Denys. The Brahui Language, an Old Dravidian Language Spoken in Parts of Baluchistan and Sind: Grammar. Gian Publishing House, 1986.
• {{cite journal |last1=Elfenbein |first1=J. |title=A Periplus of the 'Brahi Problem' |journal=Studia Iranica |volume=16 |issue=2 |date=1987 |pages=215–233 |doi=10.2143/SI.16.2.2014604 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Emeneau |first1=M. B. |title=Bilingualism and Structural Borrowing |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |date=1962 |volume=106 |issue=5 |pages=430–442 |jstor=985488 }}
• {{Cite book|title= The Dravidian Languages |last= Krishnamurti |first= Bhadriraju |year= 2003 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn= 978-0-521-77111-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=54fV7Lwu3fMC}}
• {{Citation|title=Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger|year=2009|publisher=UNESCO|editor-first=Christopher|editor-last=Moseley|url=http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=00206|oclc=435877932}}
• {{Cite journal|first=Robert|last=Parkin|journal=Indo-Iranian Journal|doi=10.1163/000000089790082944|pages=37–43|title=Some comments on Brahui kinship terminology|volume=32|issue=1|year=1989|url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00182435|jstor=24654607 |s2cid=161638780|url-access=subscription}}
• {{Citation|last=Sergent|first=Bernard|author-link=Bernard Sergent|title=Genèse de l'Inde|publisher= Bibliothèque scientifique Payot|year=1997|isbn=9782228891165|oclc=38198091}}
• {{cite book |last1=Witzel |first1=Michael |title=The Languages of Harappa: Early Linguistic Data and the Indus civilization |series=Kleine Schriften von Michael Witzel |volume=13 |date=2008 |doi=10.11588/xarep.00000120 |s2cid=165751802}}

{{refend}}

• {{cite book |title=Brahui Texts: Glossed and Translated Short Stories and Folktales |last1=Ali |first1=Liaquat |last2=Kobayashi |first2=Masato |series=Asian and African Lexicon |volume=66 |location=Tokyo |publisher=Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA); Tokyo University of Foreign Studies |date=2024 |isbn=9784863375321 |url=https://tufs.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/2000650 |lang=Brahui, English}}

{{Incubator|code= brh}}

• [http://www.ijunoon.com/Brahui/ Online Brahui Dictionary]
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=mrcOAAAAQAAJ Handbook of the Birouhi language By Allâh Baksh (1877)]
• [https://sites.google.com/site/brahuilb/home Brahui Language Board] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607085825/https://sites.google.com/site/brahuilb/home |date=2012-06-07 }}
• [https://sites.google.com/site/brahuilb/videos-1/untitledpost Bráhuí Báşágal (Brahui Alphabet)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114153726/https://sites.google.com/site/brahuilb/videos-1/untitledpost |date=2012-11-14 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080106095702/http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=207&menu=004 Profile of the Brahui language]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050421184249/http://www.southasiabibliography.de/Bibliography/Dravidian/Brahui___Birouhi/brahui___birouhi.html Partial bibliography of scholarly works on Brahui]
• [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/77229/Brahui-language Britannica Brahui language]
• [http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\drv\bra&first=0 Brahui basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database]

{{Dravidian languages}}

{{Languages of South Asia}}

{{Languages of Afghanistan}}

{{Languages of Pakistan}}

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Category:Arabic alphabets for South Asian languages

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