Waigali language

Not to be confused with Kalasha-mun.

Waigali (Kalaṣa-alâ)
Spoken in	Afghanistan
Region	Nuristan Province
Native speakers	10,000 (Strand)  (date missing)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Nuristani Waigali (Kalaṣa-alâ)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wbk
Linguasphere	58-ACC-a

Waigali is a language spoken by the Kalasha of the Waigal Valley in Afghanistan's Nuristan Province. The native name is Kalaṣa-alâ 'Kalasha-language'. "Waigali" refers to the dialect of the Väy people of the upper part of the Waigal Valley, centered on the town of Waigal, which is distinct from the dialect of the Čima-Nišei people who inhabit the lower valley. The word "Kalasha" is the native ethnonym for all the speakers of the southern Nuristani languages.

Kalaṣa-alâ belongs to the Indo-European language family, and is in the southern Nuristani group of the Indo-Iranian branch. There are approximately 10,000 speakers of Kalaṣa-alâ.

Kalaṣa-alâ is closely related to the Tregami language, with a lexical similarity of approximately 76% to 80% according to one estimate.

Note that there is no close connection between Kalaṣa-alâ and Kalaṣa-mun, which is spoken in Pakistan's southern Chitral District. These two languages descend from different branches of the Proto-Indo-Iranian language. According to linguist Richard Strand the Kalasha of Chitral apparently adopted the name of the Nuristani Kalasha, who at some unknown time extended their influence into the region of southern Chitral.

References

• Strand, Richard F. (2010). "Nurestâni Languages". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nurestani-languages. Retrieved 2012-01-16. 
• Waigali. Retrieved June 13, 2006, from Ethnologue: Languages of the World, fifteenth edition. SIL International. Online version.

External links

• Strand, Richard F. (1997-present). "Nuristan: Hidden Land of the Hindu-Kush". http://nuristan.info/. Retrieved 2012-01-16. 
• Strand, Richard F. (1998). "The Kalaṣa of Kalaṣüm". http://nuristan.info/Nuristani/Kalasha/kalasha.html. Retrieved 2012-01-16. 
• Strand, Richard F. (2011). "Kalaṣa-alâ Lexicon". http://nuristan.info/lngFrameL.html. Retrieved 2012-01-16. 
• Strand, Richard F. (2011). "The Sound System of Kalaṣa-alâ". http://nuristan.info/Nuristani/Kalasha/Nishei/NisheiLanguage/Lexicon/phon.html. Retrieved 2012-01-16.