Awankari dialect
Awankari | |
---|---|
Native to | Pakistan |
Region | Punjab |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | avan1234 |
Coordinates: 32°55′N 72°10′E / 32.91°N 72.17°E |
Awankari (Avāṅkārī, Awankari pronunciation: [ɑʋɑŋkɑri]) is an Indo-Aryan dialect of Pakistan. Classified as a dialect of Hindko, it is spoken mostly in parts of Chakwal District in the north-west of the province of Punjab.
The rest of this article is based entirely on Hardev Bahri's work of the 1930s. It is possible that the geographic extent, the division into subdialects, and the linguistic characteristics might have changed since then.
Geographic extent
Awankari is spoken primarily in the Awankari tract, which occupies the western half of
Dialects
Hardev Bahri, who did linguistic work on Awankari in the 1930s, identifies three subdialects. Waṇāḍhī is spoken in the eastern half of Awankari's territory, in the plains of the Wanadh region centred on the town of Talagang. The Ankar stream separates it from the two western dialects: Reshī in the north-west (named after the stream of Resh), and Pākhṛī in the southwest, the two divided by a series of groves locally known as Rakhs.[2]
Bahri also noted the differences of vocabulary between the speech forms of Muslims and Hindus. For example, "Thursday" is /zʊmerɑt/ among Muslims and /ʋirʋar/ among Hindus, "to bathe" is /ɖʱɑʋʊɳ/ among Muslims and /nɦɔɳ/ among Hindus; Muslims have /kʌttʰe/ for "where?" and Hindus have /kɪttʰe/.
Phonology
This section follows Bahri's description of Awankari as spoken at the end of the 1930s.
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |||
ɪ | ʊ | ||||
e | o | ||||
Mid | ʌ | ||||
ɛ | ɔ | ||||
Open | ɑ |
The following words illustrate the contrasts between the vowels: /mɪl/ 'meet', /mil/ 'mile', /mʊl/ 'price', /mul/ 'principal (sum)', /mel/ 'marriage, guests', /mɛl/ 'dirt', /mʌl/ 'rub', /mɑl/ 'cattle', /polɑ/ 'soft', /pɔlɑ/ 'shoe'. Some speakers pronounce /ɔ/ as a diphthong.[4] The three vowels /ɪ/, /ʊ/ and /ʌ/ are short.[5]
Stress and tones
The position of
Unlike most other Indo-Aryan languages, Awankari possesses a system of contrastive tone, which is however simpler than that of Punjabi. Hardev Bahri has described the following tones: 1) the level tone characteristic of most syllables, 2) a tone realised as falling in the Wanadhi dialect and as high in Reshi, 3) a low rising tone found in only about a dozen words. Tone is contrastive: /mɑ̂l/ (falling tone) 'rope' vs. /mɑl/ (level tone) 'property'; /bʱɑ̂/ (falling tone) 'fire' vs. /bʱɑ/ (level tone) 'rate', /kʰô/ (falling tone) 'to snatch' vs. /kʰo/ (level tone) 'bad habit', and /ʌnɑ̀rɑ/ 'darkness' (low rising tone) vs. /ʌnɑrɑ/ 'a personal name' (level tone).[9] Each word can have only one contrastive tone.[10] In the analysis of Kalicharan Bahl, the rare low rising tone is treated as a non-phonemic effect that accompanies medial /ɦ/. Awankari is then regarded as having two tones: a level tone and a falling tone (or rising tone, depending on the dialect).[11]
Consonants
Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive
|
p pʰ b bʱ |
d dʱ
|
ʈ ʈʰ ɖ ɖʱ |
c cʰ ɟ ɟʱ |
k kʰ ɡ ɡʱ |
|
Fricative
|
f | s z | ɕ | x (ɣ) | ɦ | |
Nasal | m | n
|
ɳ | (ɲ) | (ŋ) | |
Rhotic | r
|
ɽ | ||||
Lateral | l
|
(ɭ) | ||||
Approximant
|
ʋ | j |
The
The phonemes /
Among the fricatives, /f/, /z/, /x/ and /ɣ/ are less common: they are found in about a hundred words each.
Of the nasals, only the bilabial /m/ and the alveolar /n/ occur in all positions. The retroflex /ɳ/ occurs in the middle or at the end of words: /kɑɳɑ/ 'one-eyed', /bʰɛɳ/ 'sister'). The palatal (ɲ) and velar (ŋ) nasals are usually found only before the corresponding plosive (/ɖɪŋɡɑ/ 'curved', /ɪɲɟe/ 'for nothing').[18] Exceptions are found in the Reshi sub-dialect, which for example has /ʋʌŋŋã/ 'bangles', where the Wanadhi dialect has /ʋʌŋɡã/).[19]
The
The retroflex /
References
- ^ Shackle 1980, p. 484; Bahri 1963, pp. 12–20.
- ^ Bahri 1963, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Bahri 1963, pp. 32–33.
- ^ a b Bahri 1963, pp. 40–46.
- ^ Bahri 1963, p. 48.
- ^ Bahri 1963, p. 61.
- ^ Bahri 1963, pp. 202–7.
- ^ Bahri 1963, p. 202.
- ^ Bahri 1963, pp. 189–91; Bahl 1957
- ^ Bahl 1957, p. 34.
- ^ Bahl 1957.
- ^ Shackle 1980; Bahri 1963
- ^ Bahri 1963, pp. 21–22, 26.
- ^ Bahri 1963, pp. 108–9.
- ^ Bahri 1963, pp. 106, 114, 116.
- ^ Bahri 1963, p. 118.
- ^ Bahri 1963, pp. 102, 120–21.
- ^ Bahri 1963, pp. 113–5.
- ^ Bahri 1963, pp. 24, 113.
- ^ Bahri 1963, p. 116.
- ^ Shackle 1980, p. 487.
- ^ Bahri 1963, pp. 116–7, 143.
- ^ Bahri 1963, pp. 117–8, 142–4.
Bibliography
- Bahl, Kalicharan (1957). "A Note on Tones in Western Punjabi (Lahanda)". Indian Linguistics. 18: 30–34.
- Bahri, Hardev (1962). Lahndi Phonology: With Special Reference to Awánḳárí. Allahabad: Bharati Press.
- Bahri, Hardev (1963). Lahndi Phonetics: With Special Reference to Awáṇkárí. Allahabad: Bharati Press.
- Rensch, Calvin R. (1992). "The Language Environment of Hindko-Speaking People". In O'Leary, Clare F.; Rensch, Calvin R.; Hallberg, Calinda E. (eds.). Hindko and Gujari. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan. Islamabad: National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University and Summer Institute of Linguistics. ISBN 969-8023-13-5.
- S2CID 129436200.