Shina Language

Shina (Urdu: شینا‎ Šīnā) is a language from the Dardic sub-group of the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by the people in the region Gilgit–Baltistan,Gurez, Kargil and Ladakh. Shina numbers has a special and unique nomenclature. In English, Chinese, Korean or
other languages the numbers are based to ten whereas in Shina it is divided into chunks of 20.
For example in English 1-10, 11-20 are read uniquely, then 20+1=21(twenty-one means
twenty and one), 20+2=22 (twenty-two means twenty and two)… Then 30+1=31(thirty-one
means thirty and one), 30+2=32 (thirty-two means thirty and two)….and 40, 40+1=41,
40+2=42… The same pattern continues to hundred and even onwards. Same is the case, in
Chinese, Korean and other languages. But in Shina 1-20 are fundamental numbers playing
key role. Then other numbers are based on first 19 numbers (mean 1 to 19) e.g. 20+1= بیی گہ 21
20 ایۡک +2= 20 .. (بیی گہ د ۇ) 22 +19= بیی گہ کو نی) 39 ) then 40, 40+1=41, 40+2=42…40+19=49, 60,
60+1=61, 60+2=62… and so on …100.

The main purpose of this volume is to provide a complement to "Towards a grammatical description of Palula" (Liljegren 2008) and "Palula vocabulary" (Liljegren & Haider 2011). A collection of texts representing various genres (historical narratives, ethnographic accounts, personal experiences, proverbs, etc.) have been transcribed and annotated, including morphological analysis, a free translation into English and an orthographic representation (Perso-Arabic based) of the transcribed text. The work is the result of linguistic research in and with the Palula community (Pakistan). Henrik Liljegren is a field linguist at Stockholm University, Sweden, and Naseem Haider, himself a native speaker of Palula, is a local researcher with the Forum for Language Initiatives in Islamabad.

Data from four little-studied varieties of Indo-Aryan (Southern Palula, Northern Palula, Sawi and Kalkoti) spoken in the Hindu Kush is analyzed and discussed from a historical-comparative perspective. Evidence is presented showing that Kalkoti, until recently only tentatively classified, is part of this particular cluster of closely-related Shina varieties. An attempt is made at reconstructing some phonological and grammatical features of a common source speech, here named Proto-Dangari, and the order in which the present-day varieties may have split off. An important conclusion drawn is that Southern and Northern Palula probably are more distantly related than present-day similarities seem to indicate, the high degree of synchronic similarity instead being due to relatively recent convergence taking place in southern Chitral. It is hypothesized that the present speech communities are the result of two different westward routes of migration, one geographically linking Southern Palula (Ashreti) and Sawi with Chilas, the other linking Northern Palula (Biori) and Kalkoti with Tangir, both located in the same general area of the main Indus Valley.

The current paper is an invitation to a virtual journey to Gilgit-Baltistan (former Northern Areas), a high mountain region in the north of Pakistan, endowed with an amazing variety of languages spoken on its territory. The travel itinerary includes stops at Skardu (Baltistan), Gojal (upper Hunza valley), Karimabad (central Hunza valley), Taus (Yasin valley) and Gilgit town. At each destination the traveller is introduced to the languages used by its inhabitants: Balti, Wakhi, Burushaski, Domaakí, Pashto and Shina. Local personalities, scholars and a foreign researcher share key information about their language's geographical distribution, speaker numbers and dialectal division. Special attention is given to expositions of the language attitude of the concerned speaker communities, as well as to the description of local efforts directed at creating language-specific alphabets and the promotion of mother tongue education. The interlocutors' narratives are complemented by black-and-white photographs and references to recent academic publications dedicated to the languages and peoples of Gilgit-Baltistan.

In this global era, scenarios of language contact are increasing quite rapidly. Minor languages, in general, tend to borrow words from major, or at least larger, languages in the same way that communities import new gadgets and tools. That is why nouns are most often borrowed in many languages. In languages of northern Pakistan, such as Burushaski, Domaaki, and Shina, Urdu numerals are borrowed with high frequency in daily use, though speakers still are able to produce Burushaski (and so forth) numerals during elicitation. In this paper, I argue that the use of Urdu numerals, a decimal (base 10 numeral) system, is more consistent with the demands of the global era, than the traditional vigesimal (base 20 numeral) system that is present in the traditional number system in many languages of north Pakistan. I illustrate this by describing particular situations in which Burushaski first language speakers use Urdu numeral for both large and small numbers.

Drawing primarily on oral sources from the author’s own research carried out between 1993 and 1997, this book outlines the settlement history of Pashto speakers in Pakistan’s Northern Areas over the last 150 years, concentrating on the decades following the opening of the Karakoram Highway in 1978. Besides this, it looks at how the migrants’ language situation had developed by the mid 1990s. It investigates how Pashto speakers communicated with each other and with members of their respective Shina-, Khowar-, Balti- and Burushaski-speaking host communities, focussing in particular on cross-dialectal communication and language shift. The book also aims to define how the trends related to Pashtun migration to the Northern Areas in the mid 1990s could develop in the near future.
        Interwoven with this analysis are childhood memories and life stories re-counted by the Pashto speakers interviewed by the author. All interviewees were ordinary people leading ordinary lives – traders, cobblers, tea boys, farmers and porters. Their stories provide a voice to the Pashto speaking migrants themselves and give the reader a fascinating insight into their lives.