Moghol language

Moghol (or Mogholi; Dari: مُغُلی) is a possibly extinct Mongolic language once spoken in the region of Herat, Afghanistan, in the villages of Kundur and Karez-i-Mulla. The speakers were the Moghol people, who numbered 2,000 members in the 1970s. They descend from the remnants of Genghis Khan's Mongol army stationed in Afghanistan in the 13th century.[4]

Mogholi
Native to	Afghanistan
Region	Near Herat
Ethnicity	2,000[1]
Native speakers	200 (2003)[2]
Language family	Mongolic Mogholi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mhj
Glottolog	mogh1245[3]

In the 1970s, when the German scholar Michael Weiers did fieldwork on the language, few people spoke it, most knew it passively and most were older than 40. It is unknown if there are still speakers of the language.[5]

The language has been strongly influenced by Persian in its phonology, morphology and syntax, causing Weiers to state that it has the appearance of a "true Inner Asian creole language".[5]

Grammar

Moghol grammar shows substantial influence from Persian languages, having borrowed even word classes not found in other Mongolic languages: the parts of speech are nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, prepositions, adverbs and conjunctions.

Nouns are marked for number and case. Verbs are marked for person, number, tense-aspect and mode. Adjectives inflect for the comparative and superlative degree with the Persian suffixes -tar and -tariin, but not for number and case.

Phonology

Moghol's phonology is influenced by Tajik. It has a system of six vowel qualities with no length contrast: /i e a u o ɔ/.[5]

Consonants

		Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	p		t			k	q	ʔ
	voiced	b		d			ɡ
Affricate	voiceless				t͡ʃ
	voiced				d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless		f	s	ʃ				h
	voiced			z	ʒ
Nasal		m		n
Approximant				l		j	w
Trill				r				ʀ

Sample

Weiers noted down the following poem by the Moghol poet Abd Al-Qadir.

Weiers' Moghol text: Dotanamni dog baina Hawoi ukini aimag baina Nesoni ugunambi agar toni baiji Mota giri qara qurgani baina. Ekimni dard kina halmini geibe Bemoor boljambi kam khormini geibe Bemoor boljambi kam khormini khodai jaan Ena bemoreztu parwoimini geibe.

English translation from Weiers' German: Inside my heart there is a wound The girl I search and long for is of the Aimaq tribe One sign I give you, if near her you happen to be Know that in her ger (yurt) there is a black lamb My head hurts, my condition is bad I'm sick and do not care I'm sick, but my concern is the love of God This disease I give (therefore) no attention.

Another Moghol poem or song of Abd Al-Qadir written in Arabic alphabet (from Weiers):

Weiers' Moghol text: Argun-i kulkah utalat Cingiz kulkah ulu’at Nirah-ci-du kulkah gahat ya gaut al-a’zam gar bari Karyas-du-ci kibah nudun lar-i dazam iz abatun Mun abd qadir gai urun ya gaut al-a’zam gar bari

English translation from Weiers' German: Lord of lords Arghun of old, Genghis king of kings Under your name is all things old oh supreme mediator hold (my) hand In your fence (camp) the eyes of suffering friends will rest That same Abd Qadir rests peacefully oh supreme mediator hold (my) hand

Pronouns

The Moghol personal pronouns are:[5]

person	singular	plural
1st	bi	bidah ~ bidat (inclusive); mån (exclusive)
2nd	ci	tå ~ tåd
3rd	i ~ ih	tid ~ tit

The demonstrative pronouns are:[5]

• inah ~ enah ‘this’
• inat ~ enad ‘these’
• mun ~ munah ‘that’
• munat ~ mutah ~ mutat ‘those’

The interrogative pronouns are:[5]

• emah ~ imah ~ imas ‘what’
• ken ~ kiyan ‘who’
• kenaiki ‘whose’
• emadu ~ imadu ~ emaji ~ imaji ~ emagalah ‘why’
• emaula- ‘to do what’
• ked ~ keddu ‘how much’
• keja ‘when’
• oshtin ‘how’

The reflexive pronouns are:[5]

• orin ‘self’
• orindu-nah ‘for oneself’
• usa-nah ‘self’

Numerals

The Moghol numerals are Janhunen (2003):

	English gloss	Moghol[5]	Proto-Mongolic[6]
1	one	nikah ~ nika/n	*nike/n
2	two	qeyår ~ qiar	*koxar ~ *koyar
3	three	ghorbån ~ qurban	*gurba/n
4	four	dorbån ~ durba/n	*dörbe/n
5	five	tåbun ~ tabun	*tabu/n
6	six	åsun ~ essun ~ jurghan	*jirguxa/n
7	seven	dålån	*doluxa/n
8	eight	sålån	*na(y)ima/n
9	nine	tåsån	*yersü/n
10	ten	arbån ~ arban	*xarba/n

Notes

1. Moghol language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
2. "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. UNESCO. Retrieved 2018-01-01.
3. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Mogholi". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-05-31. Retrieved 2014-04-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. Weiers, Michael. 2003. "Moghol," The Mongolic Languages. Ed. Juha Janhunen. Routledge Language Family Series 5. London: Routledge. Pages 248–264.
6. Janhunen, Juha. 2003. The Mongolic Languages, p.16. Routledge Language Family Series 5. London: Routledge.

See also

• Nikudari

Further reading

• G. Ramstedt. 1906. "Mogholica," JSFOu 23-4.
• Louis Ligeti. 1954. "Le lexique moghol de R. Leech," AOH 4.
• Л. Лигети. 1954. "О монгольских и тюркиских языках и диалектах Афганистана," AOH 4.
• Sh. Iwamura and H. F. Schurmann. 1954. "Notes on Mongolian Groups in Afghanistan," Silver Jubilee Volume of the Zinbun-Kagaku-Kenkyusyo, Kyoto University. Kyoto University.
• Shinobu Iwamura. 1961. The Zirni Manuscript: A Persian-Mongolian Glossary and Grammar. Kyoto University.
• H. F. Schurmann. 1962. The Moghols of Afghanistan. Mouton & Co.
• Michael Weiers. 1972. Die Sprache der Moghol der Provinz Herat in Afghanistan (Sprachmaterial, Grammatik, Wortliste). Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.