Nuristani Historical Linguistics

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 consist...

Within the Nuristani languages, there is often a perceived divide between Prasun and the rest of the Nuristani languages (Ashkun, Kat ë , Nuristani Kalasha, and Tregami). While the exact interrelationships between the Nuristani languages remain unclear, this post examines the plausbility of a "Core Nuristani" subgroup containing all Nuristani languages other than Prasun. Prasun is often considered to be the most divergent Nuristani language, due to far-reaching sound changes and other unique features (such as *d > l in all positions). As Halfmann (2025) pointed out, the Prasun language may have separated at an early stage from the initial Nuristani dialect continuum. Defining subgroups In defining subgroups of a particular language family, shared exclusive innovations and/or irregularities provide the best evidence. This stands in contrast to shared retentions, which are not considered useful for subgrouping. In the case of the whole Nuristani family including Prasun, six ...