Revitalization of minority languages: comparative dictionary of key cultural terms in the languages and dialects of the Shugni-Rushani group

Leila Dodykhudoeva

Proceedings of Conference on

Language Documentation & Linguistic Theory

Edited by Peter K. Austin, Oliver Bond & David Nathan
7-8 December 2007 School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London School of Oriental and African Studies Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square London WC1H 0XG United Kingdom Department of Linguistics: http://www.soas.ac.uk/academics/departments/linguistics Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project: http://www.hrelp.org elap@soas.ac.uk 2007 Leila Dodykhudoeva No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, on any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author(s) of that part of the publication, except as permitted by UK copyright law. ISBN: 978-0-7286-0382-0 This paper can be cited as: Leila Dodykhudoeva. 2007. Revitalization of minority languages: comparative dictionary of key cultural terms in the languages and dialects of the Shugni-Rushani group. In Peter K. Austin, Oliver Bond & David Nathan (eds) Proceedings of Conference on Language Documentation and Linguistic Theory. London: SOAS. pp. 69-79. or: Leila Dodykhudoeva. 2007. Revitalization of minority languages: comparative dictionary of key cultural terms in the languages and dialects of the Shugni-Rushani group. In Peter K. Austin, Oliver Bond & David Nathan (eds) Proceedings of Conference on Language Documentation and Linguistic Theory. London: SOAS. www.hrelp.org/eprints/ldlt_09.pdf

Revitalization of minority languages: comparative dictionary of key cultural terms in the languages and dialects of the ShughnaniRushani group
LEILA R. DODYKHUDOEVA Russian Academy of Sciences

1. INTRODUCTION1 Pamiri languages serves as the conventional denomination of the languages belonging to the East Iranian branch of the Iranian language family. These languages are located in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China. The Shughnani-Rushani language group consists of closely related Pamiri languages: Shughnani, Rushani, Bartangi, Roshorvi, Khufi, and Sarikoli. This language group as well as the closely related Yazghulami language is prevalent in the mountainous badakhshan Autonomous region of the Republic of Tajikistan (with the exception of Sarikoli located in China). Other Pamiri languages, Wakhi; Ishkashimi, Sanglechi, and Zebaki, are sited on the Tajik border with Afghanistan; Wakhi people live also in Pakistan. These vernaculars have no written tradition and are used only as spoken languages in the region. All of them are under the pressure from titular Tajik and are in the situation of language endangerment. In 18th-20th centuries, the Pamiri group included now extinct Old Wanji, Zebaki, and possibly Sarghulami that is known only from I.I. Zarubin in his description of Pamiri languages (1924). Apart from that the social and linguistic situation of these languages is not simple, in particular their linguistic status is still discussed in Iranistics. These language communities have ceased to speak their mother tongues in public, in favour of the surrounding dominant Tajik language. The languages have now deteriorated: they are spoken only in private, within the community until the native speakers adopt the externally conveyed negative attitude towards them and cease completely to pass the languages on to their children. This process is taking place in Badakshan, affecting different languages, depending on the number of their speakers and their local status. So, Old Wanji closely related to ShughnaniRushani group is known just by a dozen recorded words and several phrases written down by Prof. Zarubin and others (1924; Rozenfeld 1964). The Upper Bartang communities were described by I.I. Zarubin at the beginning of the 20th century during his own and mutual expeditions with Prof. R. Gouthiot (1928). He was one of the first researchers who identified the Upper Bartang population with Sarikoli settlers migrated to Hinkiang (Hinjiang, Iranian Shinghon) in China through the Pamir mountains. This happened first approximately several centuries ago and later in 1911 as a result of an earthquake, which destroyed local villages Sarez, Yerxt, Withoy (Usoy), by glacier and landslides, and the emergence of the Sarez lake. This and other migrations changed the traditional location and the whole profile of the speech varieties of this highland isolated valley. Another
1

The project is supported by Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation grant No. 07-04-18009E.

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reason for frequent relocations was bad harvest, lack of pastures and fuel in higher parts of Bartang valley, such as Roshorv, Ghudara, Thawnob or Nisur and BarChidif. As a result of the relocations, as well as complex marriage patterns, new language communities decrease or change the dialect base. One community located in the remote and isolated village at the higher end of the side tributary of the Bartang river Bardara, speaks a distinct language variety. The number of speakers in the village is limited to approximately 180 households; the language is used only within the borders of the community, transmitted from one generation to another in the family. The settlers usually also speak Bartangi (sometimes Roshorvi), Rushani (men also Shughnani) and Tajik languages of communication with other communities. This language is in danger of extinction; it is among the most ill-described and endangered vernaculars. As it lies in the borderland between Bartangi and Roshorvi, and could be considered as transitional, it is under pressure from both, as well as under social, economic and political pressures from Rushani the major language of the administrative center and from Shughnani, the language of the bazaar for Bardara settlers. It is also in danger from Tajik, the official language of the state and school. Along with the local vernacular, cultural activities that are still preserved in the area are threatened and fast disappearing. As soon as electricity will be accessible for the villagers, local traditions, like regular story-telling and by this the transmission of oral tradition, such as legends, riddles, songs of emotional longing, etc. to a younger audience will be lessened and step by step eliminated. A similar and even more complicated situation could be observed with Sarikoli in China, where the Sarikoli Pamiri language is surrounded not by Iranian languages, but by Turkic Uyghur language and Chinese. As a result of political and economic reasons the language is doomed. Its community has ceased to speak it in public in favour of the surrounding dominant language(s) and culture(s). The mother tongue is used only for contact within the community, especially inside family. As a rule, the status of such speech deteriorates to that of a home language. Finally, its native speakers adopt the externally conveyed unenthusiastic attitude towards it and cease to pass it on to their children. Such a process is taking place in Badakshan and Sarikol affecting different languages according to the number of their speakers and their local status. The other possibility in the age of globalization is to witness a reshaping of ethnic identity as well as the (re)emergence of newly constructed nationhood. For instance, Sarikoli speakers traditionally identify themselves as Tajiks (along with Wakhi people also called by the ethnonym Tajik in China) in opposition to the Uyghur and Chinese population. In the situation of shortage of employment and opportunities for education this contraposition could become rather frustrating. Such bi-, multi- and poly-cultural societies today more than ever confront issues generated from self-identification efforts at the grass-root-level. While current political developments exacerbate or neglect such phenomena, pacts of forgetting and other silent alliances that had historically been established are interrogated and challenged by younger generations, as happened in Tajikistan during the Civil War in the 1990s, when South Tajiks and Badakhshanis resisted Russians, Uzbeks and North Tajiks.

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