Shughni language

Shughni
Shugnani-Rushani
xuǧnůn ziv/хуг̌ну̊н зив, pomiray/помирай зив
Native to	Tajikistan, Afghanistan
Native speakers	(50,000 Shughni proper, ca. 75,000 all varieties cited 1990)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Eastern Iranian Shugni–Yazgulami Shughnani Shughni
Dialects	Rushani dialect
Writing system	Arabic, Cyrillic, Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sgh
Glottolog	shug1248
ELP	Shughni Oroshor

Shughni or Khughni (in the local language: хуг̌ну̊н зив, tr. khughön ziv; Tajik: шуғнонӣ, Persian: شغنان), is one of the Pamir languages of the Southeastern Iranian language group. Its distribution is in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in Tajikistan and Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan.

Shughni-Rushani tends towards SOV word order, distinguishes a masculine and a feminine gender in nouns and some adjectives as well as the 3rd person singular of verbs. Shughni distinguishes between an absolutive and an oblique case in its system of pronouns. Rushani is noted for a typologically unusual 'double-oblique' construction, also called a 'transitive case', in the past tense. Normally Soviet school scientists consider Rushani as an close but independent language to Shughni, whilst Western school scientists codes Rushani as an dialect of Shughni due to Afghanistan Rushani speakers living in Sheghnan district of Badakhshan Province.

Dialects

Rushani, Bartangi, Oroshor (Roshorvi), Khufi and Shughni proper are considered to be dialects. However, Bartangi and Khufi are quite distinct and may be separate languages.

Vocabulary

Chart of Sounds in Shughni

Letter	Phoneme	English equivalent	Usage in Shugni
A/a	a	apple, angry	bad, akuniath, aram, anor
Aa/aa	aː	Harvard, march	xhaab, daav, zamunaa, baad
Ai/ai	aɪ	bite, fire	taiyor, arai, aiyuum, maile
B/b	b	big, able	biyor, balad, abor
Ch/ch	t͡ʃ	church, chair	chiiz, chiid, choi, chorik
D/d	d	dead, dried	daak, diidor, murd, dar
Dh/dh	ð	this, mother	dhid, dhust, dhud, pidhid, podh'
Dz/dz	d͡z	buds, lads	dzulik, pindz, wixhidz, majdzuunj
E/e	ɛ	elephant, egg	elak, qate, qine, biide
Ee/ee	eː	team, breeze	tseem, teez, deer, Apreel
Ey/ey	e	aid, ancient	peydow, xheydow,
Ff/ff	f	fat, roof	fort, famtow, faand, boft
G/g	g	girl, big	gaap, gandaa, gardha, yiga
Gh/gh	ɣ	sound not used in English	ghaats, ghalat, bogh, shagh
I/i	ɪ	big, lift	nist, yiwath, khirs, chis
Ii/ii	iː	feet, beat	tiidow, miidow, shiintow, zhiiwj
J/j	d͡ʒ	jam, barge	jumla, jazo, majlis, ajab
Jh/jh	ʁ	sound not used in English	jhinik, saajh, majh, sipajh
K/k	k	book, kit	kitob, maak, tukmaa, kiinaa
Kh/kh	x	loch, Khorog	khaat, sakht, bakht, kharid
L/l	l	like, feel	lap, liing, tambal, balad
M/m	m	mouse, meet	mund, tamand, famtow, shaam
N/n	n	nut, mean	naan, qand, fanaa, baandak
O/o	o	pot, shop	oyandaa, ofarin, boft, nolaan
Oo/oo	oː	boot, poodle	noor, joor, mood, moon
P/p	p	paint, top	parwiin, lap, pardhedow, pool
Q/q	q	Quran	qamoch, qand, nuqtaa, qiin
R/r	r	rabbit, rob	raang, tsarang, roosht, rukhsat
S/s	s	sit, miss	sarake, baas, kasal, safar
Sh/sh	ʃ	shout, bush	shamol, maash, bashand, shogird
T/t	t	title, time	tavaar, turd, sust, chust
Th/th	θ	think, moth	achath, khobath, aquniath, thiir
Ts/ts	t͡s	blitz, fits	tsavor, buts, tsarang, xhats
U/u	u	look, should	duzd, mund, tuid, buts
Uu/uu	uː	earn, fern	luuvd, uun, yuudand, okhoruun
V/v	v	vet, leave	viidow, helav, vaz, virod
W/w	w	few, wait	chiidow, wiintow, boware, wazmin
Xh/xh	χ	sound not used in English	xheidow, xhats, tuxhna, duxhman
Y/y	j	yellow, yet	yordam, yelav, oyandaa, boyad
Z/z	z	zoo, blaze	zamiin, bozor, zardak, ziird
Zh/zh	ʒ	pleasure, de ja vu	zholaa, zhiiwj, ghazhd, zhow

Orthography

Cyrillic alphabet

The Shughni cyrillic alphabet is as follows:

А а	А̄ а̄	Б б	В в	В̌ в̌	Г г	Ғ ғ	Г̌ г̌	Ғ̌ ғ̌	Д д	Д̌ д̌
Е е	Ё ё	Ж ж	З з	З̌ з̌	И и	Ӣ ӣ	Й й	К к	Қ қ	Л л
М м	Н н	О о	П п	Р р	С с	Т т	Т̌ т̌	У у	Ӯ ӯ	У̊ у̊
Ф ф	Х х	Ҳ ҳ	Х̌ х̌	Ц ц	Ч ч	Ҷ ҷ	Ш ш	ъ	Э э

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e eː		o oː
Mid	əː
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open	a

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Alveolo- palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ŋ
Plosive	p b		t d		k ɡ	q
Affricate			t͡s d͡z	t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Fricative	f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ	x ɣ	χ ʁ	h
Approximant		l		j	w
Rhotic		r

Literature

• Zarubin, I.I.. Shugnanskie teksty i slovar. Moskva : Izd-vo Akademii nauk SSSR, 1960.

External links

• Shughni Language Page
• The Shughni Grammar Project
• Shughni Wikipedia main page