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The Dardic languages (also Dardu or Pisaca), or Hindu-Kush Indo-Aryan languages, are a group of several Indo-Aryan languages spoken in northern Pakistan, northwestern India and parts of northeastern Afghanistan. This region has sometimes been referred to as Dardistan.
Rather than close linguistic or ethnic relationships, the original term Dardic was a geographical concept, denoting the northwesternmost group of Indo-Aryan languages. There is no ethnic unity among the speakers of these languages nor can the languages be traced to a single Tree model. After further research, the term "Eastern Dardic" is now a legitimate grouping of languages that excludes some languages in the Dardistan region that are now considered to be part of different language families.
The extinct Gandhari language, used by the Gandhara civilization, was Dardic in nature. Linguistic evidence has linked Gandhari with some living Dardic languages, particularly Torwali language and other Kohistani languages. There is limited evidence that the Kohistani languages are descended from Gandhari.
Georg Morgenstierne, who conducted an extensive fieldwork in the region during the early 20th century, revised Grierson's classification and came to the view that only the "Kafiri" (Nuristanis) languages formed an independent branch of the Indo-Iranian languages separate from Indo-Aryan and Iranian families, and determined that the Dardic languages were unmistakably Indo-Aryan in character.Due to their geographic isolation, many Dardic languages have preserved archaisms and other features of Old Indo-Aryan. These features include three , several types of clusters of consonants, and archaic or antiquated vocabulary lost in other modern Indo-Aryan languages. Kalasha and Khowar language are the most archaic of all modern Indo-Aryan languages, retaining a great part of Sanskrit case inflexion, and retaining many words in a nearly Sanskritic form. For example driga "long" in Kalasha is nearly identical to dīrghá in Sanskrit and ašrú "tear" in Khowar is identical to the Sanskrit word.
French Indology Gérard Fussman points out that the term Dardic is geographic, not a linguistic expression. Taken literally, it allows one to believe that all the languages spoken in Dardistan are Dardic. It also allows one to believe that all the people speaking Dardic languages are Dards and the area they live in is Dardistan. A term used by classical geographers to identify the area inhabited by an indefinite people, and used in Rajatarangini in reference to people outside Kashmir, has come to have ethnographic, geographic, and even political significance today.
However, Kachru contrasts "Midland languages" spoken in the plains, such as Punjabi language and Urdu language, with "Mountain languages", such as Dardic. Kogan has also suggested an 'East-Dardic' sub-family; comprising the 'Kashmiri', 'Kohistani' and 'Shina' groups.Kogan, Anton (2013), "https://jolr.ru/index.php?article=130"Kogan, Anton (2015), "https://jolr.ru/index.php?article=157"
The case of Kashmiri is peculiar. Its Dardic features are close to Shina language, often said to belong to an eastern Dardic language subfamily. Kachru notes that "the Kashmiri language used by Kashmiri Hindu Pandits has been powerfully influenced by Indian culture and literature, and the greater part of its vocabulary is now of Indian origin, and is allied to that of Sanskritic Indo-Aryan languages of northern India".
While it is true that many Dardic languages have been influenced by non-Dardic languages, Dardic may have also influenced neighbouring Indo-Aryan lects in turn, such as Punjabi language,: ... Chaterji agreed with Grierson in seeing Rajasthani influence on Pahari and 'Dardic' influence on (or under) the whole Northwestern group + Pahari. : Throughout the northwest, beginning with Sindhi and including 'Lahnda', Dardic, Romany and West Pahari, there has been a tendency to the transfer of 'r' from medial clusters to a position after the initial consonant. the Pahari languages, including the Central Pahari languages of Uttarakhand, and purportedly even further afield. Some linguists have posited that Dardic lects may have originally been spoken throughout a much larger region, stretching from the mouth of the Indus (in Sindh) northwards in an arc, and then eastwards through modern day Himachal Pradesh to Kumaon. However, this has not been conclusively established.
Dardic languages also show other consonantal changes. Kashmiri, for instance, has a marked tendency to shift k to ch and j to z (e.g. zon 'person' is cognate to Sanskrit jan 'person or living being' and Persian language jān 'life').
Academic literature from South Asia
Subdivisions
Dardic languages have been organized into the following subfamilies:
Characteristics
Loss of voiced aspiration
Virtually all Dardic languages have experienced a partial or complete loss of voiced aspirated consonants. Khowar uses the word buum for 'earth' (Sanskrit: bhumi), Pashai uses the word duum for 'smoke' (Urdu: dhuān, Sanskrit: dhūma) and Kashmiri uses the word dọd for 'milk' (Sanskrit: dugdha, Urdu: dūdh). Tonal language has developed in most (but not all) Dardic languages, such as Khowar and Pashai, as a compensation. Punjabi and Western Pahari languages similarly lost aspiration but have virtually all developed tonality to partially compensate (e.g. Punjabi kár for 'house', compare with Urdu ghar).
Dardic metathesis and other changes
Both ancient and modern Dardic languages demonstrate a marked tendency towards metathesis where a "pre- or postconsonantal 'r' is shifted forward to a preceding syllable". This was seen in Ashokan rock edicts (erected 269 BCE to 231 BCE) in the Gandhara region, where Dardic dialects were and still are widespread. Examples include a tendency to spell the Classical Sanskrit words priyad arshi (one of the titles of Emperor Ashoka) as instead priyad rashi and dh arma as dh rama. Modern-day Kalasha uses the word driga 'long' (Sanskrit: dirgha). Palula uses drubalu 'weak' (Sanskrit: durbala) and brhuj 'birch tree' (Sanskrit: bhurja). Kashmiri uses drạ̄lid 'impoverished' (Sanskrit: daridra) and krama 'work' or 'action' (Sanskrit: karma).
Verb position in Dardic
Unique among the Dardic languages, Kashmiri presents "verb second" as the normal grammatical form. This is similar to many Germanic languages, such as German language and Dutch language, as well as Uto-Aztecan O'odham and Northeast Caucasian Ingush language. All other Dardic languages, and more generally within Indo-Iranian, follow the subject-object-verb (SOV) pattern.
English language (Germanic) This is a horse. We will go to Tokyo. Kashmiri (Dardic) Yi chu akh gur. Ạs' gatshav Tokiyo. Katë (Nuristani) Ina ušpa âsa. Imo Tokyo âćamo. Pashto (Iranian) Masculine: Dā yaw as day. / Feminine: Dā yawa aspa da. Mūng/Mūẓ̌ ba Ṭokyo ta/tar lāṛšū. Dari (Iranian) In yak asb ast. Mâ ba Tokyo xâhem raft. Shina language (Dardic) Anu ek aspo han. Be Tokyo et bujun. Brokskat (Dardic) Homo ek apʂak bait. Ba Tokyo ray "byénaings". Indus Kohistani (Dardic) Shu ek gho thu. Be Tokyo ye bay-tho. Sindhi language (Indo-Aryan) Heeu hiku ghoro aahe. Asaan Tokyo veendaaseen. Hindi-Urdu (Indo-Aryan) Ye ek ghoṛa hain. Ham Tokyo jāenge. Punjabi language (Indo-Aryan) Iha ikk kòṛa ai. Asin Tokyo jāvange. Mandeali (Indo-Aryan) Ye ek ghōṛā hā. Āsā Tokyo jāṇā. Nepali language (Indo-Aryan) Yo euta ghoda ho. Hami Tokyo jānechhaũ. Garhwali (Indo-Aryan) Yuu ek ghoda cha. Ham Tokyo Jaula. Kumaoni language (Indo-Aryan) Yo ek ghwad chhu. Ham Tokyo jaunl. Khowar language (Dardic language) Haya ei istore. Ispa Tokyo ote besi.
See also
Notes
Sources
Academic literature from outside South Asia
Further reading
Bibliography
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