Tirahi language

Spoken in the Nangarhar Province of Northeastern Afghanistan, there are about 100 native speakers today, if any. This is mainly due to the majority of the Tirahi people having assimilated into the dominant Pashtun culture. Tirahi is also spoken in a couple of villages southeast of the Afghan city of Jalalabad,{{cite journal|last1=Voegelin|first1=C.F.|last2=Voegelin|first2=F.M.|title=Languages of the World: Indo-European Fascicle One|journal=Anthropological Linguistics|date=1965|volume=7|page=286}} such as Jaba, Mitarani, and Bara-khel.{{cite journal|last1=Stein|first1=Aurel|title=Notes on Tirahi. The Speakers of Tirahi|journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|date=Jul 1925|volume=3|pages=401–402}}

Tirahi is an Indo-Aryan language.{{Cite journal|last=Grierson|first=George|date=March 1925|title=On The Tirahi Language|jstor=25220761|journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|issue=3|page=408}} Further, Tirahi is part of the sub-group of Kohistani languages along with languages such as Bateri, Chilisso, Gowro, and others. However, Tirahi also shares with languages spoken further to the east, such as Kashmiri. As a Dardic Language, Tirahi strongly preserves some vocabulary of spoken Sanskrit (cow - dēn in Tirahi, dhēnuh in Sanskrit, hand - ast in Tirahi, hastah in Sanskrit). Being a language spoken in Afghanistan, Tirahi shares various words and grammatical constructs with Pashto, a language spoken throughout Afghanistan to which many Tirahi speakers have become accustomed to speaking. Since Tirahi is entirely separated from the other Dardic languages, located south of the Kabul River and west of the Khyber Pass, rendering it wholly encased by Pashto. Tirahi also shares some vocabulary with Kashmiri and Shina such as the Tirahi mala, for a father, the Kashmiri mol, and the Shina malo.Grierson, G. (1925). On the Tirahi language. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (New Series), 57(03), 405-416.

Tirahi shows much influence from Pashto in phonology, lexicon and even morphology. However, its vocabulary exhibits a connection to Kohistani dialects. Therefore, Tirahi seems to occupy an intermediate position between Pashto and the Kohistani group.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C9MPCd6mO6sC|title=The Indo-Aryan Languages|last1=Jain|first1=Dhanesh|last2=Cardona|first2=George|date=2003-01-01|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780700711307|page=857|language=en}} Morgenstirne claims that Tirahi is "probably the remnant of a dialect group extending from Tirahi through the Peshawar district into Swat and Dir."{{Cite journal|last=Turner|first=R. L.|date=1934-01-01|title=Review of Report on a Linguistic Mission to North-Western India|jstor=25201006|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|issue=4|pages=801–803| volume=66| doi=10.1017/S0035869X00112675}}

Tirahi is an inflected language, having 5 cases: Nominative, Oblique, Genitive, Dative, and Ablative. Adjectives, verbs, and nouns usually agree according to gender. Consonant-final nouns add e or a along with their traditional endings.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C9MPCd6mO6sC|title=The Indo-Aryan Languages|last1=Jain|first1=Dhanesh|last2=Cardona|first2=George|date=2003-01-01|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780700711307|pages=857–9, also for all grammatical information below|language=en}} There appears to be an indefinite article, added to the end of the word as an -ī, similar to Farsi.

1st person pronouns:

2nd person pronouns:

1. Non finite forms
2. Infinitive: stem + an (karan - 'to do/make')
3. Tense-aspect forms
4. Imperative Singular: stem, Imperative Plural: stem + V
5. Present-future: root + endings - 1st: - m, 2nd: -s, 3rd: -e, 1st plural: -en
6. Definite Present: da/de + present-future

• Abo-e kata dur thi? ('Village' + 'how much far' + 'is')
• "How far is your village?"
• Pali de kham ('Bread' + Definite Future + 'Eat')
• "I am eating bread."
• La brok odasta ga ('He' + 'Very' + 'Hungry' + 'become/go')
• "He became very hungry"
• Ao mara ga-m ('I' + 'die' + 'become')
• "I died/am dead"

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzr9HH9fXBY YouTube sample of Tirahi]

{{Indo-Aryan languages}}

Category:Dardic languages

Category:Languages of Afghanistan