Balochi language

Balochi
	بلۏچی Balòci
	Balochi in Balo-Rabi and Latin script
Native to	Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan
Region	Balochistan
Ethnicity	Balochis and some Brahuis
Native speakers	7.6 million (2007)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Iranian Northwestern Balochi; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	Koroshi;
Official status
Regulated by	Balochi Academy, Quetta, Pakistan
Language codes
ISO 639-2	bal
ISO 639-3	bal – inclusive code; Individual codes:; bgp – Eastern Balochi; bgn – Western Balochi; bcc – Kachi Dialect(Southern Balochi); ktl – Koroshi
Glottolog	balo1260[2]
Linguasphere	58-AAB-a > 58-AAB-aa (East Balochi) + 58-AAB-ab (West Balochi) + 58-AAB-ac (South Balochi) + 58-AAB-ad (Bashkardi)
	Geographic distribution of Balochi (yellow) and other Iranian languages

Balochi (بلۏچی‎, Balòci) is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken primarily in the Balochistan region divided between Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan.

Phonology

Vowels

The Balochi vowel system has at least eight vowels: five long and three short.[3] These are /aː/, /eː/, /iː/, /oː/, /uː/, /a/, /i/ and /u/. The short vowels have more centralized phonetic quality than the long vowels. The variety spoken in Karachi also has nasalized vowels, most importantly /ẽː/ and /ãː/.[4]

Consonants

The following table shows consonants which are common to both Northern and Southern Balochi.[5] The consonants /s/, /z/, /n/, /ɾ/ and /l/ are articulated as alveolar in Western Balochi. The plosives /t/ and /d/ are dental in both dialects.

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palato- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	p b	t d		ʈ ɖ			k ɡ	ʔ
Affricate					t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Fricative			s z		ʃ ʒ[cn 1]			h[cn 2]
Tap			ɾ	ɽ[cn 3]
Nasal	m		n
Approximant	w		l			j

Notes

Words with /ʒ/ are uncommon.
Word-initial /h/ is dropped in Balochi as spoken in Karachi.
The retroflex tap has a very limited distribution.

In addition, /f/ occurs in a few words in Southern Balochi. /x/ (voiceless velar fricative) in some loanwords in Southern Balochi corresponding to /χ/ (voiceless uvular fricative) in Western Balochi; and /ɣ/ (voiced velar fricative) in some loanwords in Southern Balochi corresponding to /ʁ/ (voiced uvular fricative) in Western Balochi.

In Eastern Balochi, it is noted that the stop and glide consonants may also occur as aspirated allophones in word initial position as [pʰ tʰ ʈʰ t͡ʃʰ kʰ] and [wʱ]. Allophones of stops in postvocalic position include for voiceless stops, [f θ x] and for voiced stops [β ð ɣ]. /n l/ are also dentalized as [n̪ l̪].[6]

Grammar

The normal word order is subject–object–verb. Like many other Indo-Iranian languages, Balochi also features split ergativity. The subject is marked as nominative except for the past tense constructions where the subject of a transitive verb is marked as oblique and the verb agrees with the object.[7]

Numerals

Much of the Balochi number system is borrowed from Persian.[8] According to Mansel Longworth Dames, Bolochi writes the first twelve numbers as follows:[9]

Cardinal numerals
Balochi	Kachi Dialect	English
Yak	Yak	One[lower-alpha 1]
Ya	Yak	One[lower-alpha 1]
Do	Do	Two
Sai	Sæ	Three
Chyār	Càr	Four
Phanch	Panc	Five
Shash	Šaš	Six
Hapt	Hapt	Seven
Havd	Hapt	Seven
Hasht	Hašt	Eight
Hazhd	Hašt	Eight
Nuh	Noh	Nine
Dah	Dah	Ten
Yāzhdah	Yàzdah	Eleven
Yazdāh	Yàzdah	Eleven
Dwāzhdnh	Dowàzdah	Twelve
Dwāzdah	Dowàzdah	Twelve

Ordinal numerals
Balochi	Kachi Dialect	English
Peshī	Pèsari - Pèši	First
Duhmī, gudī	Domi - Goďďi	Second
Saimī, sohmī	Saemi	Third
Chyarumī	Càromi	Fourth
Phaṅchumī	Pancumi	Fifth
Shashumī	Šašomi	Sixth
Haptumī	Haptomi	Seventh
Hashtumī	Haštomi	Eighth
Nuhmī	Nohomi	Ninth
Dahmī	Dahomi	Tenth
Yāzdamī	Yàzdahim	Eleventh
Dwāzdamī	Dowàzdahomi	Twelfth

Notes

The latter ya is with nouns while yak is used by itself.

Dialects

There are two main dialects: the dialect of the Mandwani (northern) tribes and the dialect of the Domki (southern) tribes.[10] The dialectal differences are not very significant.[10] One difference is that grammatical terminations in the northern dialect are less distinct compared with those in the southern tribes.[10] An isolated dialect is Koroshi, which is spoken in the Qashqai tribal confederation in the Fars province. Koroshi distinguishes itself in grammar and lexicon among Balochi varieties.[11]

Writing system

Balochi was not a written language before the 19th century,[12] and the Persian script was used to write Balochi wherever necessary.[12] However, Balochi was still spoken at the Baloch courts.

British colonial officers first wrote Balochi with the Latin script.[13] Following the creation of Pakistan, Baloch scholars adopted the Persian alphabet. The first collection of poetry in Balochi, Gulbang by Mir Gul Khan Nasir was published in 1951 and incorporated the Arabic Script. It was much later that Sayad Zahoor Shah Hashemi wrote a comprehensive guidance on the usage of Arabic script and standardized it as the Balochi Orthography in Pakistan and Iran. This earned him the title of the 'Father of Balochi'. His guidelines are widely used in Eastern and Western Balochistan. In Afghanistan, Balochi is still written in a modified Arabic script based on Persian.

In 2002, a conference was held to help standardise the script that would be used for Balochi.[14]

Orthography

The following alphabet was used by Syed Zahoor Shah Hashmi in his lexicon of Balochi Sayad Ganj (سید گنج) (lit. Sayad's Treasure).[15][16]

آ، ا، ب، پ، ت، ٹ، ج، چ، د، ڈ، ر، ز، ژ، س، ش، ک، گ، ل، م، ن، و، ھ ہ، ء، ی ے

Kachi dialect(Southern Balochi) standarded Alphabets

The Balochi alphabet, standardized by Balochi Academy Sarbaz, consists of 29 letters.[17]

Latin	Arabic	Example words
A / a	ءَ	Aps(Horse) - Apserk(Cold)
À / à (aa)	آ	Àp(Water) - Àmàd(Ready)
B / b	بـ / ـبـ / ـب	Bàl(Wing) - Bàsk(Arm)
C / c (ch)	چـ / ـچـ / ـچ	Coll(Channel)
D / d	د	Dast(hand)
Ď / ď (dh)	ڈ ⇦ ذ	Ďàmp(Fucking)
E / e (é)	ءِ	Ezm(art) Ezmkàr(artist)
È / è (ie)	ݔـ / ـݔـ / ـے	Èràn(Iran)
G / g	گـ / ـگـ / ـگ	Guhàr(Sister) Gal(happy) Gall(group)
H / h	هـ / ـهـ / ـہ	Hapt(seven) Hodà(god)
I / i (í)	ایـ / ـیـ / ـی	Pir(old) Sir(wedding)
J / j	جـ / ـجـ / ـج	Jost(question) Jàh(place)
K / k	کـ / ـکـ / ـک	Kaur(river) Kamm(little)
L / l	لـ / ـلـ / ـل	Laiť(lamp)
M / m	مـ / ـمـ / ـم	Mam(beer) Mà(we,us) Man(I)
N / n	نـ / ـنـ / ـن	Nàl(one of Balochi Promise)
O / o (ó)	ءُ	Poll(flower)
Ò / ò (ou)	ۏ	Òpàr(hope)
P / p	پـ / ـپـ / ـپ	Pàd(foot) Pašk(shirt)
R / r	ر	Rang(color) Ròp(Clean) Ròpag(cleaner)
S / s	سـ / ـسـ / ـس	Sàng(marriage)
Š / š (sh)	شـ / ـشـ / ـش	Šap(night)
T / t	تـ / ـتـ / ـت	Tors(fear)
Ť / ť (th)	ٹـ / ـٹـ / ـٹ ⇦ ث‍ـ / ـثـ / ـث	Ťulàsk(tower)
U / u (ú)	ـو / او	Luď
W / w	و	Wàd(salt) Waď(kind)
Y / y	یـ / ـیـ	Yak(one)
Z / z	ز	Zend(live) Zit(soon) Zòr(power)
Ž / ž (zh)	ژ	Žand(tierd)
Ligatures / digraphs
Æ / æ (ae)	ـئ	Sae(three) Tau ae(you are)
Ai / ai (ay)	ئی	Tai(yours) Mai(our)
Au / au (aw)	ؤ	Kaur(river) Maut(death

Latin alphabet

The following Latin-based alphabet was adopted by the International Workshop on "Balochi Roman Orthography" (University of Uppsala, Sweden, 28–30 May 2000).[18]

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 digraphs)

Letter	Example words
A / a	bawar (snow/ice), cattre (umbrella), bachek (son)
Á / á	dárman (medicine), wádh (salt)
B / b (be)
C / c (che)
D / d (de)
Ď / ď	Is the same as Ř / ř (ře) so this latter is preferably used to simplify the orthography.
E / e
F / f (fe)	Only used for loanwords: Fráns (France), fármaysí (pharmacy).
G / g (ge)
Ĝ / ĝ	Like ĝhaen in Perso-Arabic script. Used for loanwords and in eastern dialects: ghair (others), ghali (carpet), ghaza (noise)
H / h (he)
I / i (i)
Í / í (í)
J / j (je)
K / k (ke)
L / l (le)
M / m (me)
N / n (ne)
O / o (o)
P / p (pe)
Q / q (qú)
R / r (re)
Ř / ř (ře)
S / s (se)
Š / š (še)	eš (this)
T / t (te)
Ť / ť (ťe)
U / u
Ú / ú (ú)	Sounds like the "oo" in English word "root".
V / v (ve)	Exclusively used for loanwords (like in the English words: service, very).
W / w (we)	hawa (wind)
X / x (khe)	Xudá (God)
Y / y (ye)	biryání (meat in rice)
Z / z (ze)	zor (power)
Ž / ž (že)	mauž (waves)
Latin digraphs
Ay / ay
Aw / aw

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References

Mikael Parkvall, "Världens 100 största språk 2007" (The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in Nationalencyklopedin
Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Balochic". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
Farrell 1990. Serge 2006.
Farrell 1990.
Serge 2006. Farrell 1990.
JahaniKorn 2009, pp. 634–692.
"Balochi". National Virtual Translation Center. Archived from the original on 18 November 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
Korn, Agnes (2006). "Counting Sheep and Camels in Balochi". Indoiranskoe jazykoznanie i tipologija jazykovyx situacij. Sbornik statej k 75-letiju professora A. L. Grjunberga (1930–1995). Nauka. pp. 201–212. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
Dames 1922, pp. 13–15.
Dames 1922, p. 1.
Borjian, Habib (December 2014). "The Balochi dialect of the Korosh". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 67 (4): 453–465. doi:10.1556/AOrient.67.2014.4.4.
Dames 1922, p. 3.
Hussain, Sajid (18 March 2016). "Faith and politics of Balochi script". Balochistan Times. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
"Script for Balochi language discussed". Dawn. Quetta. 28 October 2002. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
Shah Hashemi, Sayad Zahoor. "The First Complete Balochi Dictionary". Sayad Ganj. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
"Sayad Zahoor Shah Hashmi: A one-man institution". Balochistan Times. 14 November 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
"Balochi Standarded Alphabet". BalochiAcademy.ir. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
"Baluchi Roman ORTHOGRAPHY". Phrasebase.com. Retrieved 23 October 2015.

Bibliography

Dames, Mansel Longworth (1922). A Text Book of the Balochi Language: Consisting of Miscellaneous Stories, Legends, Poems, and a Balochi-English Vocabulary. Lahore: Punjab Government Press. Retrieved 16 January 2020.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Farrell, Tim (1990). Basic Balochi: an introductory course. Naples: Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale". OCLC 40953807.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Jahani, Carina; Korn, Agnes (2009). "Balochi". In Windfuhr, Gernot (ed.). The Iranian languages. Routledge Language Family Series (1st ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 634–692. ISBN 978-0-7007-1131-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Serge, Axenov (2006). The Balochi language of Turkmenistan: a corpus based grammatical description. Stockholm: Uppsala Universitet. ISBN 978-91-554-6766-1. OCLC 82163314.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Jahani, Carina; Korn, Agnes, eds. (2003). The Baloch and Their Neighbours: Ethnic and Linguistic Contact in Balochistan in Historical and Modern Times. In cooperation with Gunilla Gren-Eklund. Wiesbaden: Reichert. ISBN 978-3-89500-366-0. OCLC 55149070.
Jahani, Carina, ed. (2000). Language in society: eight sociolinguistic essays on Balochi. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala University. ISBN 978-91-554-4679-6. OCLC 44509598.

External links

Media related to Balochi language at Wikimedia Commons
Collett, N. A. A grammar, phrase book and vocabulary of Baluchi: (as spoken in the Sultanate of Oman). 2nd ed. [Camberley]: [N.A. Collett], 1986.
Dames, Mansel Longworth. A sketch of the northern Balochi language, containing a grammar, vocabulary and specimens of the language. Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 1881.
Mumtaz Ahmad. Baluchi glossary: a Baluchi-English glossary: elementary level. Kensington, Md.: Dunwoody Press, 1985.
EuroBalúči online translation tool – translate Balochi words to or from English, Persian, Spanish, Finnish and Swedish
iJunoon English to Balochi Dictionary
EuroBalúči – Baluchi alphabet, grammar and music
"Baluchi" . Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.
Jahani, C. 2019. A Grammar of Modern Standard Balochi

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[6] Words with /ʒ/ are uncommon.

[7] Word-initial /h/ is dropped in Balochi as spoken in Karachi.

[8] The retroflex tap has a very limited distribution.

[13] The latter ya is with nouns while yak is used by itself.

[NE100-1] Mikael Parkvall, "Världens 100 största språk 2007" (The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in Nationalencyklopedin

[Glottolog-2] Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Balochic". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

[3] Farrell 1990. Serge 2006.

[4] Farrell 1990.

[5] Serge 2006. Farrell 1990.

[9] JahaniKorn 2009, pp. 634–692.

[10] "Balochi". National Virtual Translation Center. Archived from the original on 18 November 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2015.

[11] Korn, Agnes (2006). "Counting Sheep and Camels in Balochi". Indoiranskoe jazykoznanie i tipologija jazykovyx situacij. Sbornik statej k 75-letiju professora A. L. Grjunberga (1930–1995). Nauka. pp. 201–212. Retrieved 16 January 2020.

[12] Dames 1922, pp. 13–15.

[Dames1-14] Dames 1922, p. 1.

[15] Borjian, Habib (December 2014). "The Balochi dialect of the Korosh". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 67 (4): 453–465. doi:10.1556/AOrient.67.2014.4.4.

[Dames3-16] Dames 1922, p. 3.

[17] Hussain, Sajid (18 March 2016). "Faith and politics of Balochi script". Balochistan Times. Retrieved 16 January 2020.

[18] "Script for Balochi language discussed". Dawn. Quetta. 28 October 2002. Retrieved 16 January 2020.

[19] Shah Hashemi, Sayad Zahoor. "The First Complete Balochi Dictionary". Sayad Ganj. Retrieved 16 January 2020.

[20] "Sayad Zahoor Shah Hashmi: A one-man institution". Balochistan Times. 14 November 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2020.

[21] "Balochi Standarded Alphabet". BalochiAcademy.ir. Retrieved 16 January 2020.

[22] "Baluchi Roman ORTHOGRAPHY". Phrasebase.com. Retrieved 23 October 2015.