Geographic Distribution
Spoken in the Nangarhar Province of Northeastern Afghanistan, there are about 100 native speakers today, if any. This is mainly due to the majority of the Tirahi people having assimilated into the dominant Pashtun culture of Afghanistan. In its place, Tirahi connects the Dardic languages spoken in Dardistan with languages which reach down to the mouth of the Indus River, showing Dardic influence. Thus, it could be the missing link connecting a chain of languages between the Hindu Kush and Goa.[5] In possibly being the missing link, Dardic influence can even be found in the Central Indian Bhil Languages as well as the Konkani dialect of Marathi.[3] Tirahi is also spoken in a couple of villages southeast of the Afghan city of Jalalabad,[4] such as Jaba, Mitarani, and Bara-khel.[5]
Classification and Related Languages
Tirahi is a Dardic language, along with Kalasha, Gawar-Bati, and Pashayi languages.[6] Further, Tirahi is part of the sub-group of Kohistani languages along with languages such as Bateri, Chilisso, Gowro, and others. However, Tirahi also shares with languages spoken farther to the east, such as Kashmiri.[6] As a Dardic Language, Tirahi strongly preserves some vocabulary of spoken Sanskrit (cow - dēn in Tirahi, dhēnuh in Sanskrit, hand - ast in Tirahi, hastah in Sanskrit).[6] Being a language spoken in Afghanistan, Tirahi shares various words and grammatical constructs with Pashto, a language spoken throughout Afghanistan to which many Tirahi speakers have become accustomed to speaking. Since Tirahi is entirely separated from the other Dardic languages, located south of the Kabul River and west of the Khyber Pass, rendering it wholly encased by Pashto.[4] Tirahi also shares some vocabulary with Kashmiri and Shina such as the Tirahi mala, for a father, the Kashmiri mol, and the Shina malo.[3]
Grammar
Tirahi shows much influence from Pashto in phonology, lexicon and even morphology. However, its vocabulary exhibits a connection to Kohistani dialects. Therefore, Tirahi seems to occupy an intermediate position between Pashto and the Kohistani group.[7] Morgenstirne claims that Tirahi is "probably the remnant of a dialect group extending from Tirahi through the Peshawar district into Swat and Dir"[8]
Nouns and Adjectives
Tirahi is an inflected language, having 5 cases: Nominative, Oblique, Genitive, Dative, and Ablative. Adjectives, verbs, and nouns usually agree according to gender. Consonant-final nouns add e or a along with their traditional endings.[9] There appears to be an indefinite article, added to the end of the word as an -ī, similar to Farsi.[6]
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | | Nominative | mala - 'father' | mala | adam - 'man' | adam-a |
| Oblique | mala | mal-an | adam-a | adam-an |
| Dative | mala-s | mala | adam-a-s | adam-an |
| Ablative | mala-si | mala-si | adam-a-si | adam-an |
| Genitive | mala-ma | mala-si | adam-a-ma | adam-an-si |
Pronouns
1st person pronouns:
| Singular | Plural | | Nominative | au, ao | mā, ao |
| Oblique | mē | mēn |
| Dative | ma-si | ma-si |
| Genitive | myāna (m), myāni (s), myāna (p?) | N/A |
2nd person pronouns:
| Singular | Plural | | Nominative | tu, to | tao |
| Oblique | tē | tā |
| Dative | ta-si | N/A |
| Genitive | cā-na (m), cā-nī (m), cā-nī (f), cā-na (mfp) | tāma, tema |
Verbs
- Non finite forms
- Infinitive: stem + an (karan - 'to do/make')
- Tense-aspect forms
- Imperative Singular: stem, Imperative Plural: stem + V
- Present-future: root + endings - 1st: - m, 2nd: -s, 3rd: -e, 1st plural: -en
- Definite Present: da/de + present-future
Example Sentences
- Abo-e kata dur thi? ('Village' + 'how much far' + 'is')
- "How far is your village?"
- Pali de kham ('Bread' + Definite Future + 'Eat')
- La brok odasta ga ('He' + 'Very' + 'Hungry' + 'become/go')
- Ao mara ga-m ('I' + 'die' + 'become')
References
1. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/tra|title=Tirahi|website=Ethnologue|access-date=2016-04-27|quote=It is very likely that this language is extinct. The Tirahi are “a group of unclear origin, almost completely assimilated by Pashtun” (Pstrusinska and Gray 1990).}}
2. ^{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9WroLC__7EUC|title=Encyclopaedia of the Linguistic Sciences: Issues and Theories|last=Prakāśaṃ|first=Vennelakaṇṭi|date=2008-01-01|publisher=Allied Publishers|isbn=9788184242799|page=143|language=en}}
3. ^1 Grierson, G. (1925). On the Tirahi language. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (New Series), 57(03), 405-416.
4. ^1 {{cite journal|last1=Voegelin|first1=C.F.|last2=Voegelin|first2=F.M.|title=Languages of the World: Indo-European Fascicle One|journal=Anthropological Linguistics|date=1965|volume=7|page=286}}
5. ^{{cite journal|last1=Stein|first1=Aurel|title=Notes on Tirahi. The Speakers of Tirahi|journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|date=Jul 1925|volume=3|pages=401–402}}
6. ^1 2 3 4 {{Cite journal|last=Grierson|first=George|date=March 1925|title=On The Tirahi Language|jstor=25220761|journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|page=408|doi=|pmid=}}
7. ^{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C9MPCd6mO6sC|title=The Indo-Aryan Languages|last=Jain|first=Dhanesh|last2=Cardona|first2=George|date=2003-01-01|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780700711307|page=857|language=en}}
8. ^{{Cite journal|last=Turner|first=R. L.|date=1934-01-01|title=Review of Report on a Linguistic Mission to North-Western India|jstor=25201006|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|issue=4|pages=801–803}}
9. ^{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C9MPCd6mO6sC|title=The Indo-Aryan Languages|last=Jain|first=Dhanesh|last2=Cardona|first2=George|date=2003-01-01|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780700711307|pages=857–9, also for all grammatical information below|language=en}}
External links
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzr9HH9fXBY YouTube sample of Tirahi]
2 : Dardic languages|Languages of Afghanistan