Balochi language

Balochi (also Baluchi, Baloci or Baluci) is a Northwestern Iranian language<ref> Encyclopedia Iranica spoken in Afghanistan & Iran[۱]</ref>. It is the principal language of the Baloch of Balochistan, Pakistan, eastern Iran and southern Afghanistan. It is also spoken as a second language by some Brahui. It is designated as one of nine official languages of Pakistan.

Dialects

Balochi has several dialects. The Ethnologue lists three major dialects: Eastern Balochi, Western Balochi and Southern Balochi while the Encyclopedia Iranica (from Elfenbein) lists six major dialects: Rakhshani (subdialects: Kalati, Panjguri and Sarhaddi), Saravani, Lashari, Kechi, Coastal Dialects, and Eastern Hill Balochi.

Phonology

Vowels

a, i, u, aː, iː, eː, uː, oː

Diphthongs

ai, au, aːi

Consonants

پرونده:Moderniranianlanguagesmap24.PNG

Geographic distribution of Iranian languages. Balochi is represented as yellow.

	Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop*	p b	t d	ʈ ɖ	ʧ ʤ	k g
Fricative**		s z		ʃ ʒ		h}}
Trill		r	ɽ}}
Nasal	m	n			ŋ
Approximant	w	l		j

*Allophones for syllable final (-b, -t, -d) → (-v, -θ, -ð) (Eastern Hill Balochi only)

**Fricatives in unassimilated loanwords: f, x, ɣ

Grammar

The normal word order is Subject Object Verb. Like many other Indo-Iranian languages, Balochi has split ergativity. In the present tense or future tense, the subject is marked as nominative, and the object is marked as accusative. In the past tense, however, the subject of a transitive verb is marked as oblique, and the verb agrees with the object.<ref>Balochi</ref>

History

Balochi is closely related to other Northwestern Iranian languages such as Kurdish maybe due to a large removal of Kurmanci Kurdish tribes from Aleppo to Baluchistan.

Writing system

Before the 19th century, Balochi was an unwritten language. The official written language was Persian although Balochi was still spoken at the Baloch courts. British linguists and political historians wrote form with the Roman script, but following independence of Pakistan, Baloch scholars adopted Perso-Arabic script. In Afghanistan, Balochi is written in a modified Arabic script based on what is used for Pashto.

Baluchi Roman orthography

The following Latin-script based orthography was adopted in the International Workshop on "Balochi Roman Orthography" (University of Uppsala, Sweden, May 28-30, 2000).

Alphabetical Order:

a á b c d ď e f g ĝ h i í j k l m n o p q r ř s š t ť u ú v w x y z ž ay aw

(33 letters and 2 diphthongs)

A/a amb (mango), angúr (grape), bagg (camel-caravan), sardar (naked-head), namb (mist)

Á/á dár (wood), árt (flour), bahá (price), pád (foot), áhag (to come), áhán (them)

B/b (be) barp (snow, ice), bám (dawn), bágpán (gardner), baktáwar (lucky)

C/c (che) cattr (umbrella), bacc (son), kárc (knife), Karácí, Kulánc, Cákar, Bálác

D/d (de) dard (pain), drad (rainshower), dárú (medicine), wád (salt)

Ď/ď is same as Ř/ř (ře) so this latter is preferably used to simplify the orthography.

E/e eš (this), cer (below), eraht (end of date harvest), pešraw (leader, forerunner), kamer (ploughshare)

F/f (fe) To be used only in loan words where its use is inevitable, like Fráns (France), fármaysí (pharmacy)

G/g (ge) gapp (talk), ganok (mad), bág (garden), bagg (herd of camels), pádag (foot), Bagdád (Baghdad)

Ĝ/ĝ (like ĝhaen in Perso-Arabic script) Only in loan words and in eastern dialects

H/h (he) hár (flood), máh (moon), koh (mountain), mahár (rein), hon (blood)

I/i (i) istál (star), idá (here), pit/piss (father), bigir (take), kirr (near)

Í/í (í) ímmán (faith), šír (milk), pakír (beggar), samín (breeze), gálí (carpet)

J/j (je) jang (war), janag (to beat), jing (lark), ganj (treasure), sajjí (roasted meat)

K/k (ke) Kirmán (Kirman), kárc (knife), náko (uncle), gwask (calf), kasán (small)

L/l (le) láp (stomach), gal (joy), gall (party, organization), gull (cheek), gul (rose)

M/m (me) mát/más (mother), bám (dawn), camm (eye), mastir (leader, bigger).

N/n (ne) nán/nagan/nagan (bread), nok (new, new moon), dann (outside), kwahn (old), náko (uncle)

O/o (o) oštag (to stop), ožnág (swim), roc (sun), dor (pain), socag (to burn)

P/p (pe) Pád (foot), šap (night), šapád (bare-footed), gapp (talk), aptád (70)

Q/q (qú) Used in loan words, like Qábús

R/r (re) Rustum (a name), rek (sand), barag (to take away), girag (to get), garrag (to bray), gurrag (to roar), šarr (good), sarag (head), sarrag (a kind of donkey's braying)

Ř/ř (ře) řák (post), řukkál (famine), gařř (urial), guřř (last), guřřag (to chop).

S/s (se) sarag (head), kass (someone), kasán (little), bass (enough), ás (fire)

Š/š (še) šap (night), šád (happy), meš (sheep), šuwánag (shepherd), wašš (happy, tasty).

T/t (te) tagird (mat), tahná (alone) tás (bowl), kilítt (kay), masítt (mosque), battí (lantern)

Ť/ť (ťe) ťung (hole), ťíllo (bell), baťť (cooked rice), baťťág (eggplant).

U/u uštir (camel), šumá (you), ustád (teacher), gužn (hunger), buz (goat)

Ú/ú (ú, sounds like the "oo" in English word "root") úrt (thin), zúrag (to take), bizú (take), dúr (distant)

V/v (ve) used in loanwords only, like in the English word service, very.

W/w (we) warag (food, to eat), wardin (provision), dawár (abode), wád (salt), kawwás (learned)

X/x (khe) Xudá (God),

Y/y (ye) yád (remembrance), yár (friend), yázdah (eleven), biryání (roasted meat), raydyo (radio), yakk (one)

Z/z (ze) zarr (monay), zí (yesterday), muzz (wages), moz (banana), nazzíkk (nearby), bazgar (tenant)

Ž/ž (že) žand (tired), žáng (bells), pažm (wool), gažžag (to swell), gužnag (hungry).

ay (h)ayrán (surprise), ayrát (distribution), say (3), may (our), kay (who), šumay (your)

Aw/aw kawr (river), hawr (rain), kissaw (story), dawl (sort), dawr (jump), awlád (off-spring), kawl (promise), gawk (neck).

See also

• Baloch
• Other languages spoken by the Baloch
• Iranian Languages vocabulary comparison table

References

External links

• Ethnologue report on Balochi
• Balochi language
• Baluchi alphabet, grammar and music

Dictionaries

• http://www.eurobaluchi.com/dictionary/index.htm Balochi to English, Persian, Spanish, Finnish and Swedish
• Balochi Dictionary English to Balochi Dictionary