Diagnostic features of individual Nuristani languages

This post will attempt to identify diagnostic features (innovations) that characterize an individual Nuristani language and its dialects and are not shared by other Nuristani languages. In historical linguistics, shared innovations are always desirable over shared retentions in identifying languages within a given language family (in this case Nuristani.)

(For abbreviations and sources, see this post. For Nuristani orthographic conventions, see this post.) 

Ashkun

Dialects: Masegal, Titin, and Sama/Wama.

  • PNur. *ċ/*š > Ash. s (contrasting with *ċċ and *sċ > Ash. ċ)
  • PNur. *ċr > Ash. str (via intermediate *sr)
  • PNur. *č > Ash. ċ
  • PNur. *ǰ > Ash. z ~ j̈
  • PNur. *r̥d > Ash. d (also found in the Nuristani stratum of Dameli)

The Masegal dialect is separated from the other Ashkun dialects by the sound change *Cr- > Cl- (eg. M bla "brother" vs. T/S břa), where C is any consonant except *t, *d, and *ċ. The change of PNur. *e > Ash. (y)ë is probably consistent only in the Sama/Wama dialect.

Katë

Dialects: Western, Northeastern, Southeastern.

  • PNur. stressed *ā́ > Kt. o (may be a late change; does not affect older Kt. loanwords in Prasun)
  • PNur. *r (*ř- in initial position) near *u > Kt. ẓ

The Western dialect is defined by loss of nasalization. However, this is necessarily later than the common ancestor of the Western subdialects, since the correspondence of Ktivi u against o in other Western dialects (eg. zu ~ zo "knee" < PKt. *j̈õ) must imply the existence of former nasalization.

The Northeastern dialect is defined by epenthesis of PKt. *tr and *dr clusters (eg. NE tëré "three" vs. other dialects tre < PKt. *tre.) 

The Southeastern dialect is defined by intervocalic lenition and/or voicing of certain PKt. sounds (eg. SE mağë́ř "monkey" vs. W makë́ř < PKt. *makë́ř.)

Prasun

Dialects: Ishtewi/Shtiwe, Pronz, Dewa, Kshtoki, Zumu, Pashki.

  • PNur. *d > Pr. l
  • Lenition of PNur. single stops even in initial position, including *p-/*b- > Pr. v- and *t > Pr. y
  • PNur. *mb/*nd/*ng > Pr. b/d/g
  • post-PNur. *ċr/*j̈r (whether original or from syncope) > Pr. ṭ/ḍ (with palatalization to č/ǰ near front vowels)
  • PNur. *ċ/*j̈ and *sċ > Pr. z
  • PNur. *č/*ǰ > Pr. ž

Due to the general similarity of Pr. dialects, further research is required to determine any further innovations in each village dialect.

Nuristani Kalasha

Dialects: "Warjan" (Waigal, Ameshdesh, Zhonchigal), "Berjan" (Chimi, Kegal, Nisheigram).

  • post-PNur. *õ > ũ

The "Warjan" dialects have *ř- > ẓ-, while the "Berjan" dialects have *ř- > vř- ~ v-.

The "Berjan" dialects also have *wa- > o- and *ay/*oy > ä/ö (eg. oċä́ "shoe" vs. vaċáy.)

The Nisheigram dialect has *št > st in non-palatal environments (eg. dost "hand" vs. došt), contrasting with all other dialects.

Tregami

Dialects: Devoz, Gambir, Katar

  • PNur. initial *a- in synchronic disyllables > Tr. vo-
  • PNur. initial *ř- > Tr. j̣-
  • PNur. initial *y- > Tr. ž-

Although we know little about Tr. dialectology, it is important to note that according to Degener (2022), the dialects of Devoz and Gambir are more similar, compared to the Katar dialect (which may have been partly settled by people from Ktivi), though exceptions exist.

In addition, both NKal. and Tr. share PNur. stressed *r̥ > o (via intermediate *a), which may support a subgroup containing the two languages.

References

  • Degener, Almuth (2022). The Wolf and the Kids in the Devozi dialect of Tregami. International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics and Linguistic Reconstruction, vol. 19.

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