Hazaragi language

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Hazāragī
هزارگی
Spoken in Afghanistan Afghanistan
Iran Iran
Pakistan Pakistan
Tajikistan Tajikistan
Region central Asia
Total speakers 9,209,794 (Ethnologue)
Language family Indo-European
Language codes
ISO 639-1 None
ISO 639-2 ira
ISO 639-3 haz

Hazaragi (Persian: هزارگی - Ḥazāragī) is a unique dialect of Persian spoken by the Hazara people of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. The primary differences between Standard Persian and Hazaragi are the accent[1] and a larger borrowing of Altaic vocabulary.

Contents

[edit] Development

The history of the language of the Hazara people has been an issue of some debate. Some scholars believe that the Hazara originally spoke a Mongolian language during the time of the Mongol king Babur, who came to Afghanistan in the 16th century. However, Bacon[2] and Schumann[3] believe that the original language of Hazaras was Dari Persian from the beginning. Dulling[4] wrote that the language of Hazaras was a mixed of Persian and Hindi in which Persian took over Hindi in the Middle Ages. Though the early development of Hazara is debated, western travelers[who?] in the 18th and 19th century observed the Hazara speaking a language similar to Hazaragi.[citation needed]


[edit] Classification

Geographic distribution of Hazaragi (green part of central afghanistan) and other Persian languages. click here

Hazaragi has been classified as both a separate language[5][6] and as a dialect[7] of Persian. It is easily distinguishable from other Persian dialects or languages spoken in Afghanistan.[8] The main difference between Dari and Persian languages with Hazaragi is the presence of Mongolic and Turkic words.[9]

[edit] Turkic words in Hazaragi

There are Turkic words in Hazaragi, with slight dialectal differnces in various valleys and districts. Some examples are shown below:

Hazaragi Turkish Meaning in English
aba aba mother
ata ata father
qash qash eyebrow
kirpik kirpik eyelash

[edit] Mongolian Words In Hazaragi

Linguists have found several words in Hazaragi which they relate to Mongolian words of the same root. Some Mongolian words that are similar to Hazaragi are given in the table below:

Hazaragi Mongolian[10] Meaning in English
abgha abaγa uncle (Mong. 'paternal uncle')
bula bülü ~ böle cousin (Mong. 'cousins whose mothers are sisters')
khatu qatun wife (Mong. 'queen', cp. Mogholi [xɔt’un] 'woman')
elgha alaγa(n) palm of hand
nilgha nilqa baby

[edit] Geographic distribution

Hazaragi is spoken by the Hazara people of central Afghanistan as well as by a large refugee population and Hazara citizen found in northeastern Iran city of Mashad and in parts of Pakistan, such as Quetta.[11]

[edit] Hazaragi Academy

A newly established[when?] organisation, the Hazaragi Academy, is working on a written form of Hazaragi. The academy publishes a bimonthly Hazaragi magazine, Manji[12], meaning, "convey the message". This academy also supports social and cultural programs for promoting the Hazaragi language.

[edit] Examples

English Hazaragi
Hello علیکوم سلام "alaykum salaam"
Goodbye خدا حافظ "khuda haafiz"
Yes آری "are"
No نه "na"
Please بی زحمت "Be zahmat"
Thank you تشکر "tashakkor"
Please come in. پیش بایین " pish baiin"
Have a seat. بشین "beshin"
Do you speak English? شمو انگلسی توره گفته متنین؟ "shumo Englisi turah gufteh matanin"?
I do not speak English. مه انگلسی گفته نه متنوم "meh anglisi gufteh na matanum"
I am a Hazara boy. مه باچے آزره استوم "meh baache azarah astum"
Which way to Bamiyan? بامیان ده کدام طرف استه؟ "baamiyaan dah kudaam taraf asteh"?
Hazaragi is a nice language. آزرگی یک خوب زیبو استه "azragi yak khoob ziboo asteh"

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


[edit] References

  1. ^ Schurmann, Franz (1962) The Mongols of Afghanistan: An Ethnography of the Moghôls and Related Peoples of Afghanistan Mouton, The Hague, Netherlands, - page 17, OCLC 401634
  2. ^ Bacon E: The Hazara Mongols of Afghanistan: A study in social organization, PhD Dissertation, University of California, 1951, page 6.
  3. ^ H.F. Schurmann: The Mongols of Afghanistan: an ethnography of the Mongols and related people of Afghanistan, University of California 1962, page 25-26
  4. ^ Dulling G. K.: The Hazaragi Dialect of Afghan Persian, Central Asian Research Center, London 1973, page 47
  5. ^ Malistani, A. H. Tariq and Gehring, Roman (compilers) (1993) Farhang-i ibtidal-i milli-i Hazarah : bi-inzimam-i tarjamah bih Farsi-i Ingilisi = Hazaragi - Dari/Persian - English: a preliminary glossary A. H. Tariq Malistani, Quetta, OCLC 33814814
  6. ^ "Ethnologue Report on Hazaragi"
  7. ^ Dulling, G. K. (1973) The Hazaragi dialect of Afghan Persian Central Asian Research Centre, London, OCLC 703532
  8. ^ Schurmann, Franz (1962) The Mongols of Afghanistan: An Ethnography of the Moghôls and Related Peoples of Afghanistan Mouton, The Hague, Netherlands, - page 110, OCLC 401634
  9. ^ http://www.iranica.com/newsite/
  10. ^ Mongolian words as spelled in Mongolian script (see Lessing (ed.) (1995 [1960]): Mongolian English dictionary. Bloomington: Mongolia Society, adapted according to page xiii). When reconstructing protoforms, letters for voiced vowels indicate unvoiced unaspirated and letters for voiceless vowels voiceless aspirated vowels. γ is an allophone of *k and q is an allophone of according to consonant harmony. (For the reconstruction model, see Svantesson et al. (2005): The phonology of Mongolian. Oxford: Oxford University Press. For an actual reconstruction, Middle Mongolian word forms in other scripts than Mongolian will have to be used as well.)
  11. ^ Area Handbook for Afghanistan - Page 77 by Harvey Henry Smith, American University (Washington, D.C.) Foreign Area Studies
  12. ^ Ning.com