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Khowar
khw
Native to	Pakistan, China, Afghanistan
Native speakers	400,000
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Aryan Central zone Dardic Chitrali Khowar
Writing system	Khowar alphabet (Nastaʿlīq script), see other less-used writing systems below
Official status
Official language in	Pakistan
Regulated by	Khowar Academy, (Pakistan); Literary Association for Promotion of Khowar language, Chitral (Pakistan)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	khw
ELP	Khowar
Linguasphere	59-AAB-aa

Khowar (khw), also known as Chitrali, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic branch, spoken by 400,000 people in Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the Ghizer district of Gilgit-Baltistan (including the Yasin Valley, Phandar Ishkoman and Gupis), and in parts of Upper Swat. Speakers of Khowar have also migrated heavily to Pakistan's major urban centres with Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, having sizeable populations. It is spoken as a second language in the rest of Gilgit and Hunza. There are believed to be small numbers of Khowar speakers in Afghanistan, China, Tajikistan and Istanbul.

Khowar has been influenced by Iranian languages to a greater degree than other Dardic languages, and less by Sanskrit than Shina or the Kohistani languages. John Biddulph (Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh) was among the first westerners to study Khowar and claimed that further research would prove Khowar to be equally derived from "Zend" (Avestan, Old Persian) and Sanskrit.

The Norwegian Linguist Georg Morgenstierne wrote that Chitral is the area of the greatest linguistic diversity in the world. Although Khowar is the predominant language of Chitral, more than ten other languages are spoken here. These include Kalasha-mondr, Palula, Dameli, Gawar-Bati, Nuristani, Yidgha, Burushaski, Gojri, Wakhi, Kyrgyz, Persian and Pashto. Since many of these languages have no written form, letters are usually written in Urdu, Pakistan's national language.

Gallery

• Allama Iqbal’s poetry’s versified khowar translation by Rehmat Aziz Chitrali Allama Iqbal’s poetry’s versified khowar translation by Rehmat Aziz Chitrali
• Chitral Vision, Urdu and Khowar Language coloured newspaper of Chitral, Pakistan Chitral Vision, Urdu and Khowar Language coloured newspaper of Chitral, Pakistan

Chart

A native speaker of Khowar language and researcher Rehmat Aziz Chitrali has prepared the following chart regarding Romanization of khowar language.

Written language

Khowar has been written in the Nasta'liq script since the early twentieth century. Prior to that, the administrative and literary language of the region was Persian and works such as poetry and songs in Khowar were passed down in oral tradition. Today Urdu and English are the official languages and the only major literary usage of Khowar is in both poetry and prose composition. Khowar has also been written in the Roman script since the 1960s. Badshah Munir Bukhari worked on the language and its family.

Days of the week

According to Rehmat Aziz Chitrali, a linguistic researcher from Chitral, these names are used in Gilgit, Hunza, Nager, Chitral, Ghizer and Swat, and have been in use since time immemorial in the country of the Indus. It would seem as if the natives, while introducing the Sanskrit days of the week, adopted in other respects the mode of computing time already existing in the country. The Khowar names are from Persian.

Khowar media

Television channels

Khowar poet, journalist and researcher Rehmat Aziz Chitrali on Monday said Chitral district is rich in cultural heritage which needs to be promoted for next generations. In a message on the launch of Khowar language TV programme by Khyber News (KNTV) in Islamabad, Khowar poet Rachitrali said the step would help promote the rich heritage of Khowar.

Radio

These are not dedicated Khowar channels but play most programmes in Khowar.

Newspapers

References

Additional references

• Bashir, Elena (2001) Spatial Representation in Khowar. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
• Decker, D. Kendall (1992). Languages of Chitral. ISBN 969-8023-15-1.
• L’Homme, Erik (1999) Parlons Khowar. Langue et culture de l’ancien royaume de Chitral au Pakistan. Paris: L’Harmattan
• Morgenstierne, Georg (1936) Iranian Elements in Khowar. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. VIII, London.
• Badshah Munir Bukhari (2001) Khowar language. University publisher. Pakistan
• Morgenstierne, Georg (1947) Some Features of Khowar Morphology. Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap, Vol. XIV, Oslo.
• Morgenstierne, Georg (1957) Sanskritic Words in Khowar. Felicitation Volume Presented to S.K. Belvalkar. Benares. 84-98
• Mohammad Ismail Sloan (1981) Khowar-English Dictionary. Peshawar. ISBN 0-923891-15-3.
• Decker, Kendall D. (1992). Languages of Chitral (Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 5). National Institute of Pakistani Studies, 257 pp. ISBN 969-8023-15-1.

External links

• Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed), ed. (2005). "Ethnologue report for language code:khw". Ethnologue Languages of the World. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Retrieved 2009-01-11. {{cite web}}: |editor= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
• "Georg Morgenstierne". National Library of Norway. 2001. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
• Strand, Richard F. (2011). "Khow`ar Lexicon". Retrieved 2012-01-16.
• Strand, Richard F. (2012). "The Sound System of Khow`ar". Retrieved 2012-01-16.

• Dardic languages
• Languages of Chitral
• Khowar language
• Chitral District
• Languages of Gilgit-Baltistan