Mahraka

Khowar, also known as Chitrali, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic group, spoken by over 400,000 people in Chitral in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, in the Ghizer District of Gilgit-Baltistan (the Yasin, Phandar Ishkoman and Punial valleys), and in parts of Upper Swat, in two villages of Kalam area: Ushu and Matiltan. Speakers of Khowar have also migrated heavily to Pakistan's major urban centers e.g. Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, having sizeable populations there. The Khowar language shares common characteristics with other languages, but some features of Khowar are different from the other languages of the region.

PLURAL MARKING IN KHOWAR :

Plural marking is an intriguing feature of Khowar morphology. Most nouns remain in fact unmarked for plurality in the direct case, but there are certain groups of nouns where plural is marked explicitly, e.g human relations. Five kinds of case markers occur with nouns showing location and directions. A characteristic feature of the Khowar language is that it uses sher and asur thus differentiating inanimate from animate. Khowar (like Kalasha) has no grammatical gender. The Khowar language has participant (verb) agreement (person agreement) but no gender agreement. Khowar has two kinds of aspect, perfective and imperfective. Here are some of these features.

Nouns Denoting Human Beings (Nominative Case)

Khowar	Sing English	Khowar Plural	English Plural	Plural Marker
ɖaq	Boy	ɖaqan	Boys	-an
kimeri	Woman	kimerjan	Women	-an
moʃ	Man	moʃan	Men	-an
kumoru	Girl	kumoran	Girls	-an
dost	Friend	dostan	Friends	-an
nan	Mother	nanɡini	Mothers	-ɡini
tat	Father	tatɡini	Fathers	-ɡini
kaj	Sister	kajɡini	Sisters	-ɡini
brar	Brother	brarɡini	Brothers	-ɡini
mik	Uncle	mikɡini	Uncles	-ɡini
tseq	Child	tsitseq	Children	tsi-
phuk	Child	phuphuk	Children	phu-
loʈ	Elder	liloʈ	Elders	li-
moʃ	Man	moʃara	Man	ara-

The above examples show that, in the nominative case, only humans can have plural marks in the Khowar language. Animals and inanimate things have no plural marks in the nominative case:

Animals and Insects:

Khowar Sing:	English Sing:	Khowar Plural	English Plural:
reni	Dog	reni	Dogs
puʃi	Cat	puʃi	Cats
istor	Horse	istor	Horses
ɡordoɣ	Donkey	ɡord̪oɣ	Donkeys
kahak	Hen	kahak	Hens
ɡoɣ	Insect	ɡoɣ	Insects
leʃu	Cow	leʃu	Cows
reʂu	Bullock	reʃu	Bullocks
kelˠi	Sheep	kelˠi	Sheep
bojik	Bird	bojik	Birds

The above examples show there is a distintion between 'human' and 'inhuman' in the language. The human terms have plural markers (regular –an; -gini for humans only, and reduplication). The 'inhuman' animate forms have no plural marker in the nominative case.

Inanimate:

Sing Khowar	Sing English	Plural Khowar	Plural English
buʈ	Shoe	buʈ	Shoes
boxt	Stone	boxt	Stones
ʈʂaːn	Leaf	ʈʂa:n	Leaves
qalam	Pen	qalam	Pens
ɡilaːs	Glass	ɡila:s	Glasses
kursi	Chair	kursi	Chairs
uʃʈu	Brick	uʃʈu	Bricks
paloɣ	Apple	paloɣ	Apples
ʈonɡ	Pear	ʈonɡ	Pears
buthal	Bottle	buthal	Bottles

Mass Nouns (Uncountable, No Plural Marking):

Singular	Singular
uɣ	Water
ʈʂuti	Mud
boʂik	Rain
him	Snow
ʃuɣur	Sand

The above examples show that mass nouns have no plural marker in Khowar.

OBLIQUE CASE MARKING:

Oblique Case:

Singular	Plural	Plural	Singular Oblique	Plural Oblique
kitab	kitabo	kitaban	o	an
buʈ	buʈo	buʈan	o	an
leʃu	leʃo	leʃan	o	an
reni	renjo	renjan	o	an
uʃʈu	uʃʈuo-/ʋo	uʃʈuan	o	an

The above examples show that in Khowar there are oblique case markers -o and -an. For more information see below sentences:

Human beings.

Singular	Plural
moʃ kura asur ?	moʃ-an kura asuni ?
man where is	man-PL where are
Where is the man?	Where are the men?

Animals:

Singular	Plural
reni kura asur?	reni kura asuni?
dog where is	dog where are
Where is the Dog?	Where are the Dogs?

Inanimate:

Singular	Plural
boxt kura ʃer ?	boxt kura ʃeni?
stone where is	stones where are
Where is the Stone?	Where are the Stones?

Above all examples show nominative plural markers are only found with humans. There is no nominative plural marking for other living beings and inanimate things. Some researcher (mistakenly) mention oblique plural case marking in Khowar as plural markers.

In Khowar the special oblique occurs with nouns It seems that it occurs with definite objects (nouns), but not with unspecified nouns:

For example:
Kitabo anɡje. ---- 'Bring the book'
Kitaban anɡje. --- 'Bring the books.'
kitab anɡjy ------- 'Bring a book.'

Singular	Plural	*Sentence
boxt̪ kura ʃer	bɔxt̪ kʊra ʃɛni	bɔxt̪-an Kʊra ʃɛni
stone where is 'Where is the stone?	stone where are Where are the stones?	-
lɛʃʊ kʊra asʊr	lɛʃʊ kʊra asʊni	leʃ-an kʊra asʊni
cow where is Where is the cow?	cow where are Where are the Cows	-
qalam kʊra ʃɛr	qalam kʊra ʃɛni	qalam-an kʊra ʃɛni
pen where is Where is the pen?	pen where are Where are the pens?	-

Case marking:

Five kinds of case markers occur with nouns showing location and directions.

aʋa piʃaʋur-ar anɡom.
i Peshawar-from will bring ------ I will bring it from Peshawar.
azan-o ʈema
azan-of time in ------------------ the time of Azan
piʃaʋur-a ɡanis
peshawar-in take --------------- you take it from Peshawar?

Noun	case	Word	Meaning
Door/house	a	dur-a	On the house (in the house)
-	i	dur-i	In the house
-	tu	dur-to	to the house (on the house?)
-	ot	dur-ot	to the house
-	ar	dur-ar	From the house

Grammatical Gender

The languages of the area have grammatical gender. Khowar language is unique that has no grammatical gender. You cannot differentiate Masculine and famine through the grammar. It is uses the same word for both genders.

Khowar	English
moʃ ɡojan man coming	A man is coming
kimeri ɡojan women coming	A woman is coming
hes ɡojan he/she comming	He/she is coming
uɣ ɡojan water coming	Water is coming
ɖaq/komoru ɡojan boy/girl coming	A boy/girl is coming
hes durote baɣaj he/she home went	He/she went to their home.

Animate and inanimate:

There is a unique feature of Khowar language which uses sher and asur thus differentiating inanimate from animate. A mention befor Kalasha, too, has this feture.

Animate	Inanimate
Asur	Sher
bojik mez-o ʈeka asur bird table-OBL on is ANIMATE	kitab mez-o ʈeka ʃer book table-OBL on is INANIMATE
A bird is on the wall	A book is on the table
kura asur? where is ANIMATE	kura ʃer? Where is INANIMATE
Where is he/she?	Where is it?
kjaɣ asur what is ANIMATE	kjaɣ ʃer what is INANIMATE
What is there	What is there

Verb Agreement

Khowar language has participant (verb) agreement (person agreement), but no gender agreement.

moʃ ɖaq-o iʃtikʰetaj	ɖaq moʃo iʃtikʰetaj
man boy-OBL praised	boy man-OBL praised.
'The man praised the boy.'	'The boy praised the person.'
ajmal hato dojan ajmal him is beating	hase ajmalo dojan he ajmal-OBL is beating
'Ajmal is beating him.'	'He is beating Ajmal.'
hase hato ɡani alaj	hase hato ɡani alaj
he him/her having taken brought.	he/she him/her having taken brought
'He/She brought her with him.'	She/'He brought her with him.'

Aspect in Khowar Language:

Khowar has two kinds of aspect, perfective and imperfective. One shows that an activity is not complete yet and the second shows completeness.

Imperfective	Perfective
ava ʂapik ʐibav oʃtam	ava ʂapik ʐuti hatam
i food eating was	I food having.eaten came
'I was eating food.'	'Having eaten food I came.'

Postposition in Khowar language

Postposition is a word used to show the relationship of a noun to something else, usually a location in space or time. The below examples show that just like the other languages of the area the Khowar language has postpositions. Here also the Khowar language has a unique feature in that it is used as case and postposition at the same time.

Khowar	English
kitab mez-o ʈeka sher book table-OBL on is.INANIMATE	The book is on the table.
qalam mez-o sora sher PEN TABLE-OBL ON -IS INANIMATE	The pen is on the table
bojik kan-o mulˠa asur bird tree-OBL under is ANIMATE.	The bird is under the tree
his house my house-OBL close is.INANIMATE.	His house situated is very close to my house

The above example show that just like the other languages of the area Khowar language has also postpositions.

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Appendix: List of Standard Abbreviations:

* : Incorrect
PL : PLURAL
SG : Singular
SBJ : Subject
OBL : OBLIQUE
IPFV : Imperfective
PFV : Perfective
N- : Neuter

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Bibliography:

Decker, Kendall D. (1992) Languages of Chitral
Baig, Rahmat Karim. Chitral a Study in State Craft Vol. I & II
: Faizi, Dr. Inayatullah. Development of Khowar as Literacy Language, Results of interaction between linguists and language Community.
Bukhari, Badesha Munir. Urdu aur Khowar Ke Lisani Ravabiṭ
Israr Ud Din and Elina Bashir. Proceedings of the Second International Hindu Kush Cultural Conference
Muhammad Naqibullah Razi, Khowar Zubān va Adāb (Urdu:) “Khowar) language) and literature” Anjuman Traqi Khowar.