Kohistani languages
The Kohistani languages are a group of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Dardic group spoken in the Kohistan region of Pakistan, and surrounding areas. Most of the languages are severely endangered or nearly extinct, while Indus Kohistani, Gawri and Torwali are comparatively more widely spoken.
| Kohistani languages | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Kohistan, Pakistan |
| Ethnicity | Kohistani people |
| Linguistic classification | Indo-European
|
| Subdivisions |
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | kohi1251 |
The Kohistani languages are a group of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Dardic group spoken in the Kohistan region of Pakistan, and surrounding areas.[1][2] Most of the languages are severely endangered or nearly extinct, while Indus Kohistani, Gawri and Torwali are comparatively more widely spoken.[3]
Terminology
[edit]The term Kohistani is a Persian-derived term meaning "of the mountains." Historically, it was used by outsiders, particularly during the Mughal period and after 16th-century Pashtun expansions, to refer broadly to populations inhabiting mountainous regions of what is now northern Pakistan and adjoining areas.[2] The name was also applied by Pashtuns during their incursions to the region to "All other Muhammadans of Indian descent in the Hindu Kush valleys."[4]
Development
[edit]Linguistic evidence link the Kohistani languages with the Gandhari language, and were once more widespread in the region.[5][6][7][8][9]
The last to disappear was Tirahi, still spoken some years ago in a few villages in the vicinity of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, by descendants of migrants expelled from Tirah by the Afridi Pashtuns in the 19th century.[10] Georg Morgenstierne claimed that Tirahi is "probably the remnant of a dialect group extending from Tirah through the Peshawar district into Swat and Dir."[11] Nowadays, it must be entirely extinct and the region is now dominated by Iranian languages brought in by later immigrations, such as Pashto.[10]
Among the modern day Indo-Aryan languages still spoken today, Torwali shows the closest linguistic affinity possible to Niya, a dialect of Gāndhārī.[9][12]
Classification
[edit]In linguistic scholarship, Kohistani languages refers to a subgroup of closely related Indo-Aryan languages such as Indus Kohistani, Bateri, Chilisso, Gawri, Gawro, Torwali, Mankiyali, Wotapuri-Katarqalai, and Tirahi. These languages are mutually unintelligible, and speakers typically resort to a third language, most commonly Pashto or Urdu, for intergroup communication.[1]
However, in official Pakistani usage, the designation Kohistani has often been applied ambiguously and inconsistently. In provincial legislation and education policy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2011, as well as in the 2023 Pakistani census, Kohistani has been used to refer specifically to Indus Kohistani, spoken in Indus Kohistan. Other languages commonly identified by their speakers as Kohistani in a geographic or social sense, such as Torwali, Gawri, and Kohistani Shina (a Shina dialect), were not separately enumerated and were often recorded either under Kohistani or under "Other."[1][2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Torwali, Zubair (14 January 2023). "How to ignore a language". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
- ^ a b c Torwali, Zubair (21 February 2025). "What is 'Kohistani'?". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
- ^ Premsrirat, Suwilai; Hirsh, David (14 January 2025). "Establishing Multilingual Education Programs in Non-Dominant Language Communities". Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education in the Asia-Pacific Region. Channel View Publications. ISBN 978-1-80041-974-2.
- ^ Barth, Fredrik (1956). Indus and Swat Kohistan; an ethnographic survey. Internet Archive. Oslo, Forenede Trykkerier. p. 52.
The Pathans call them, and all other Muhammadans of Indian descent in the Hindu Kush valleys, Kohistanis.
- ^ Dani, Ahmad Hasan (2001). History of Northern Areas of Pakistan: Upto 2000 A.D. Sang-e-Meel Publications. pp. 64–67. ISBN 978-969-35-1231-1.
- ^ Saxena, Anju (12 May 2011). Himalayan Languages: Past and Present. Walter de Gruyter. p. 35. ISBN 978-3-11-089887-3.
- ^ Liljegren, Henrik (26 February 2016). A grammar of Palula. Language Science Press. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-3-946234-31-9.
Palula belongs to a group of Indo-Aryan (IA) languages spoken in the Hindukush region that are often referred to as "Dardic" languages... It has been and is still disputed to what extent this primarily geographically defined grouping has any real classificatory validity... On the one hand, Strand suggests that the term should be discarded altogether, holding that there is no justification whatsoever for any such grouping (in addition to the term itself having a problematic history of use), and prefers to make a finer classification of these languages into smaller genealogical groups directly under the IA heading, a classification we shall return to shortly... Zoller identifies the Dardic languages as the modern successors of the Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA) language Gandhari (also Gandhari Prakrit), but along with Bashir, Zoller concludes that the family tree model alone will not explain all the historical developments.
- ^ Cacopardo, Alberto M.; Cacopardo, Augusto S. (2001). Gates of Peristan: History, Religion and Society in the Hindu Kush. IsIAO. p. 253. ISBN 978-88-6323-149-6.
...This leads us to the conclusion that the ancient dialects of the Peshawar District, the country between Tirah and Swât, must have belonged to the Tirahi-Kohistani type and that the westernmost Dardic language, Pashai, which probably had its ancient centre in Laghmân, has enjoyed a comparatively independent position since early times". …Today the Kohistâni languages descendent from the ancient dialects that developed in these valleys have all been displaced from their original homelands, as described below.
- ^ a b Burrow, T. (1936). "The Dialectical Position of the Niya Prakrit". Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London. 8 (2/3): 419–435. ISSN 1356-1898. JSTOR 608051.
... It might be going too far to say that Torwali is the direct lineal descendant of the Niya Prakrit, but there is no doubt that out of all the modern languages, it shows the closest resemblance to it. A glance at the map in the Linguistic Survey of India shows that the area at present covered by "Kohistani" is the nearest to that area around Peshawar, where, as stated above, there is most reason to believe was the original home of the Niya Prakrit. That conclusion, which was reached for other reasons, is thus confirmed by the distribution of the modern dialects.
- ^ a b Dani, Ahmad Hasan (2001). History of Northern Areas of Pakistan: Upto 2000 A.D. Sang-e-Meel Publications. p. 56. ISBN 978-969-35-1231-1.
In the Peshawar district, there does not remain any Indian dialect continuing this old Gandhari. The last to disappear was Tirahi, still spoken some years ago in Afghanistan, in the vicinity of Jalalabad, by descendants of migrants expelled from Tirah by the Afridis in the 19th century. Nowadays, it must be entirely extinct and in the NWFP are only to be found modern Iranian languages brought in by later immigrants (Baluch, Pashto) or Indian languages brought in by the paramount political power (Urdu, Panjabi) or by Hindu traders (Hindko).
- ^ Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (26 July 2007). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. p. 991. ISBN 978-1-135-79710-2.
- ^ Salomon, Richard (10 December 1998). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages. Oxford University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-19-535666-3.
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