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Yidgha language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Yidgha | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Pakistan | |
| Total speakers: | 6,145 (2000) | |
| Language family: | Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Eastern Southeastern Pamir Yidgha |
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| Writing system: | None | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | — | |
| ISO 639-3: | —
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The Yidgha language is a Pamir language spoken in the Upper Lutkuh Valley of Chitral, west of Garam Chishma in Pakistan. Yidgha is similar to the Munji language which is spoken on the Afghan side of the border.
The Garam Chashma area became important during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan because the Soviets were unable to stop the flow of arms and men back and forth across the Dorah Pass that separates Chitral from Badakshan in Afghanistan. Almost the entire Munji speaking population of Afghanistan fled across the border to Chitral during the War in Afghanistan.
Pamir is a high plateau sometimes called "The roof of the world" that joins Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, China and India. Marco Polo is believed to have crossed the Pamir Mountains on his way to China.
The Yidgha Language has not been given serious study by linguists, except that it is mentioned by Georg Morgenstierne (1926) and Kendall Decker (1992).
The Norwegian Linguist Georg Morgenstierne wrote that Chitral is the area of the greatest linguistic diversity in the world. Although Khowar is the predominant language of Chitral, more than ten other languages are spoken here. These include Kalasha-mun, Palula, Dameli, Gawar-Bati, Nuristani, Yidgha, Burushaski, Gujar, Wakhi, Kyrgyz, Persian and Pashto. Since many of these languages have no written form, letters are usually written in Urdu or Persian.
- Decker, Kendall D. (1992) Languages of Chitral ISBN 969-8023-15-1 http://www.ethnologue.com/show_work.asp?id=32850
- Morgenstierne, Georg (1926) Report on a Linguistic Mission to Afghanistan. Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning, Serie C I-2. Oslo. ISBN 0-923891-09-9
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Legend: † Extinct language (no surviving native speakers and no spoken descendant)
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