Kalash or Kalasha (also known as Kalasha-mun) is an Indo-European language in the Indo-Iranian branch, further classified as a Dardic language in the Chitral Group. However, this Dardic classification is questionable because only 53% of the commonly used words in Kalash have cognates in Khowar language. The Kalash language is phonologically atypical because it contrasts plain, long, nasal, and retroflex vowels as well as combinations of these (Heegård & Mørch 2004). The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP)-(also known as, Subha Sarhad)- is the smallest of the four provinces of Pakistan and is home to the Pashtuns (Afghans) and various other groups. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families A language family is a group of related languages said to have descended from a common proto-language. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ... The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. ... The Dardic languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... ISO 639-3 is an international standard for language codes. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone meaning sound, voice) is the study of the sounds of human speech. ... Unicode is an industry standard designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ... The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. ... The Dardic languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages. ... Chitral Valley and Tirich Mir, 7,708 m (25,289 ft) Chitral, or Chatrāl (Urdu: چترال),in native language kalasha its pronounced chetrar(chetr meaning field) is the name of a town , valley, river, district, and former princely state in the former Malakand Division of the Northwest Frontier Province of... Khowar is classified as a Dardic Language. ...

Kalash is spoken by the Kalash people (the proper name is "Kalasha"; "Kalash" is a somewhat perjorative name used by Khowar speakers) who reside in the remote valleys of Bumboret, Birir and Rumbur, which are west of Ayun, which is ten miles down the river from Chitral Town, high in the Hindu Kush mountains in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. The Kalash have their own religion, with gods and goddesses. Most have been converted to Islam, but there are still about 3,000 believers in old religion. There are an estimated 6,000 speakers of Kalash, of which 3,000 still follow the Kalash religion and the other 3,000 have converted to Islam. The Kalash (Nuristani: Kasivo, Greek: Καλάς) or Kalasha, are an ethnic group that lives in the Hindu Kush region of Pakistan. ... Chitral Valley and Tirich Mir, 7,708 m (25,289 ft) Chitral, or Chatrāl (Urdu: چترال),in native language kalasha its pronounced chetrar(chetr meaning field) is the name of a town , valley, river, district, and former princely state in the former Malakand Division of the Northwest Frontier Province of... The Hindu Kush or Hindukush (هندوکش in Persian) is a mountain range in Afghanistan as well as in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. ... North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) is geographically the smallest of the four provinces of Pakistan. ...

According to Richard Strand, who is the world's leading authority on this subject, "Kalasha" is the ethnic name for the Nuristani inhabitants of a region southwest of the Kalash Valleys, in the Waygal and middle Pech Valleys of Afghanistan's Nuristan Province. The term "Kalasha" seems to have been adopted by the Kalasha speakers of Chitral from the Nuristanis of Waygal, who for a time expanded up to southern Chitral several centuries ago [1]. However, there is no close connection between the Indo-Aryan language Kalasha-mun and the Nuristani language Kalasha-ala, which descend from different branches of the Indo-Iranian languages. Nurestan (also spelled Nuristan or Nooristan) (Persian: نورستان) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. ... The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. ...

Meanwhile, the Kafiristan Kafiri over in Kafiristan were converted to Islam by King Abdul Rehman in 1895. They are now known as Nuristani. The Kafirs were the historic inhabitants of Kafirstan, on the southern slopes of Hindukush. ... Kafiristan or Kafirstan (Land of the non believers in the Persian) was a historic name of Nurestan (Nuristan), a province in the Hindukush(Killer of Hindu Mountains) region of Afghanistan and Pakistan. ... Amir Abdur Rahman Khan Abdur Rahman Khan Abdur Rahman Khan (1844 - October 1, 1901), Emir of Afghanistan, was the third son of Afzul Khan, who was the eldest son of Dost Mahommed Khan, who had established the Barakzais family dynasty in Afghanistan. ... The Nuristani are a religious/ethnic group in the Nurestan Province of Afghanistan. ...

History contains references to "Siah-Posh Kafirs". Timur fought with them. Babur advised not to tangle with them. Alexander the Great encountered them. Genghis Khan passed by them. However, there is a question whether these were the Red or the Black Kafirs, or both. It has been widely assumed that these were the Red Kafirs who were thought of as fierce and independent, as opposed to the Black Kafirs, who were somewhat subservient to the King of Chitral. On the other hand, the word "Siah-Posh Kafirs" translates to mean "Black Robed Kafirs", as the word "siah" means "black", so it seems possible that it was the Black and not the Red Kafirs who fought against and defeated Tamurlane. The Black or Dark-Robed (Siah-Posh) Kafirs were the major division of the Kafir of Kafiristan (present-day Nuristan). ... Statue of Timur in Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan Tīmūr bin Taraghay Barlas (Chagatai Turkic: تیمور - Tēmōr, iron) (1336 – February 1405) was a 14th-century warlord of Turco-Mongol descent[1][2][3][4], conqueror of much of Western and central Asia, and founder of the Timurid Empire (1370–1405... Zāhir ud-Dīn Mohammad, commonly known as Bābur (February 14, 1483 – December 26, 1530) (Chaghatay/Persian: ; also spelled ), was a Muslim Emperor from Central Asia who founded the Mughal dynasty of India. ... Alexander the Great (Greek: ,[1] Megas Alexandros; July 356 BC–June 11, 323 BC), also known as Alexander III, king of Macedon (336–323 BC), was one of the most successful military commanders in history. ... For other uses, see Genghis Khan (disambiguation). ... White-Robed (Sfed-Posh) or Red-Robed (Lal-Posh) Kafirs were blanket names for usually three clans, namely: Kalasha (of former Kafiristan) or Wai Askunu or Ashkun Vasi or Prasun It is assumed, that the Vasi (Prasun) Kafirs were the originally inhabitants of Kafiristan (present Nuristan); and sometimes they also... The Black or Dark-Robed (Siah-Posh) Kafirs were the major division of the Kafir of Kafiristan (present-day Nuristan). ... Statue of Timur in Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan Tīmūr bin Taraghay Barlas (Chagatai Turkic: تیمور - Tēmōr, iron) (1336 – February 1405) was a 14th-century warlord of Turco-Mongol descent[1][2][3][4], conqueror of much of Western and central Asia, and founder of the Timurid Empire (1370–1405...

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 Kalash, Palula, Dameli, Gawar-Bati, Nuristani, Yidgha, Burushaski, Gujar, Wakhi, Kyrgyz, Persian and Pashto. Since many of these languages have no written form, letters are usually written in Urdu or Persian. Chitral Valley and Tirich Mir, 7,708 m (25,289 ft) Chitral, or Chatrāl (Urdu: چترال),in native language kalasha its pronounced chetrar(chetr meaning field) is the name of a town , valley, river, district, and former princely state in the former Malakand Division of the Northwest Frontier Province of... Khowar is classified as a Dardic Language. ... Palula, also known as Phalura and as Ashretiwar, is spoken by 7,000 to 15,000 people in Ashret and Biori Valleys, in the Chitral District of the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. ... Dameli is a language spoken by less than 5,000 people in the remote valley of Damil-Nisar, in the Chitral District of the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. ... Gawar-Bati is known in Chitral as Aranduyiwar, because it is spoken in Village Arandu, which is the last village in the bottom of Chitral and is across the Kunar River from Berkot in Afghanistan. ... Nuristani languages form a language sub-family of the Indo-Iranian languages localized between the Iranian languages and the Indo-Aryan languages Ashkun language Kamviri language Kati language (Bashgali) Prasuni language (Wasi-Weri) Tregami language Waigali language (Kalasha-Ala) Categories: Language stubs | Indo-Iranian languages ... Yidgha is a Pamir Language spoken in the Upper Lutkuh Valley of Chitral, west of Garam Chishma in Pakistan. ... Burushaski is a language isolate spoken by some 87,000 (as of 2000) Burusho people in the Hunza, Nagar, Yasin, and parts of the Gilgit valleys in northern Pakistan and Kashmir. ... Migrants in one of the several migratory waves that brought Indo-Europeans into South-Asia. ... The Wakhi Tajiki language is an Iranian language in the subbranch of Southeastern Iranian languages (see Pamir languages). ... Kyrgyz or Kirghiz (Кыргыз тили) is a Northwestern Turkic language, and, together with Russian, an official language of Kyrgyzstan. ... Persian (Local names: فارسی Fârsi or پارسی Pârsi)* is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan as well as by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... Pashto (‎, IPA: also known as Pakhto, Pushto, Pushtol, Pukhto ‎, Pashtoe, Pashtu, Pushtu or Pushtoo) is an Iranian language spoken by Pashtuns living in Afghanistan and western Pakistan. ... Urdu ( , , trans. ... Persian (Local names: فارسی Fârsi or پارسی Pârsi)* is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan as well as by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ...

References

• Bashir, Elena L. (1988) Topics in Kalasha Syntax: An Areal and Typological Perspective. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Michigan.

• Cacopardo, Alberto M., and Augusto S. Cacopardo (2001) Gates of Peristan: History, Religion, and Society in the Hindu Kush. Rome: Instituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente.

• Decker, Kendall D. (1992) Languages of Chitral http://www.ethnologue.com/show_work.asp?id=32850

• "Atlas Linguistique Des Parles Dardes Et Kafirs" by Gerard Fussman (two volumes). Maps showing distribution of words among people of Kafiristan.

• Heegård, Jan & Ida Elisabeth Mørch, 2004, "Retroflex vowels and other peculiarities in Kalasha sound system". In: Anju Saxena and Jadranka Gvozdanovic (eds.), Synchronic and Diachronic Aspects of Himalayan Linguistics, Selected Proceedings of the 7th Himalayan Languages Symposium held in Uppsala, Sweden. The Hague: Mouton.

• Jettmar, Karl (1985) Religions of the Hindu Kush ISBN 0-85668-163-6

• Kalasha. Retrieved July 19, 2006, from Ethnologue: Languages of the World, fifteenth edition. SIL International. Online version.

• Morgenstierne, Georg (1926) Report on a Linguistic Mission to Afghanistan. Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning, Serie C I-2. Oslo.

• The Kafirs of the Hindukush (1896) Sir George Scott Robertson.

• Strand, Richard F. (1973) "Notes on the Nûristânî and Dardic Languages." Journal of the American Oriental Society, 93.3: 297-305.

• Strand, Richard F. (2001) "The Tongues of Peristân," in Gates of Peristan: History, Religion and Society in the Hindu Kush, by Alberto M. Cacopardo and Augusto S. Cacopardo, 251-259. Rome: Instituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente.

Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization which studies lesser-known languages primarily to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language. ...

External links

• Richard Strand's Nuristan Site [2]
• Sam Sloan: Afiyat, a Beautiful Kalash Girl
• Reiko and Jun's Japanese Kalash Page
• Hindi/Urdu-English-Kalasha-Khowar-Nuristani-Pashtu Comparative Word List