Dehwari language
| Dehwari | |
|---|---|
| دهواری Dehwārī | |
 | |
| Native to | Pakistan |
| Region | Balochistan province: Kalat and Mastung |
| Ethnicity | Dehwar, Brahui |
Native speakers | 19,000 (2018)[1] |
Indo-European
| |
Early forms | |
| Persian alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | deh |
| Glottolog | dehw1238 |
Dehwari (دهواری, Dehwārī) is a Persian dialect[2] spoken by some 19,000 Dehwar people in Balochistan, Pakistan as of 2018.[1] Most Dehwari speakers are concentrated in Mastung, Khuzdar, Nushk, Kharan, Sarlath District, Dalbandin, and Kalat.
Interaction with Brahui
[edit]Dehwari was introduced to the Brahui in the seventeenth century and the modern-day language uses many Dehwari loanwords in its vocabulary.[3] In turn, Brahui has heavily influenced the language, which has made Dehwari a Persian dialect containing heavy Brahui (Dravidian) adstratum.[4] This has made Dehwari speakers bilingual in both Dehwari and Brahui, and some in Balochi, Urdu, and even English.[5]
Decline
[edit]The drop of speakers in Dehwari was recorded in the 1921 Indian Census, with Pashto facing the same consequences in Kalat and Mastung.[6] In the 1931 Indian Census, the Dehwari population outside of Kalat and Mastung was only 1,795.[7]
See also
[edit]- Madaklashti, a Persian dialect spoken in Chitral, northern Pakistan
- Hazaragi, a Persian dialect spoken by Hazara diaspora in Pakistan
References
[edit]- 1 2 Dehwari at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Dehwari". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- ↑ Sani, Liaquat Ali (2018). "Brahui as Native Language for a Native Dehwari Child. A case study of under Three-year old Child at Ishkina, District Mastung" (PDF). Balochistan Review. XXXIX (2). University of Balochistan, Quetta: 61–70. ISSN 1810-2174. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-09-11. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
- ↑ "Balochi Language & Literature".
- ↑ "Balochi is the principal language". 25 February 2011.
- ↑ Egye, E. H. H. (1921). Census of India, 1921 (4 ed.). Government Central Press, 1923. p. 83.
- ↑ Census of India, 1931 (Volume 1, Part 2 ed.). Government of India central publication branch, 1933. 1931. p. 511.
