Burushaski

The Burushaski or Burushko accent (Urdu: بروشسکی burū́šaskī), is a accent abstract (that is, not accepted to be accompanying to any added accent of the world).1 It is announced by some 87,000 (as of 2000) Burusho bodies in the Hunza, Nagar, Yasin, and Ishkoman valleys, and some genitalia of the Gilgit valley, in Gilgit–Baltistan in Pakistan and by about 300 Burusho bodies in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, India.23 Added names for the accent are Brugaski, Kanjut (Kunjoot), Verchikwār, Boorishki, Brushas (Brushias), and Miśa:ski.

Today Burushaski contains abundant loanwords from Urdu (including English, Persian and Sanskrit words accustomed via Urdu), and from neighbouring Dardic languages such as Shina and Khowar, as able-bodied as a few from Turkic languages, and from the adjoining Sino-Tibetan accent Balti, and Wakhi and Pashto.4 However, the aboriginal cant charcoal abundantly intact. The Dardic languages additionally accommodate ample numbers of loanwords from Burushaski.

There are three aberrant dialects, alleged afterwards the capital valleys: Hunza, Nagar, and Yasin (also alleged Werchikwār). The accent of Yasin is anticipation to be the atomic afflicted by acquaintance with adjoining languages and is about beneath agnate to the added two than those are to anniversary other; about all three dialects are mutually intelligible.

Relationships

No about accustomed affiliation has been approved amid Burushaski and any added accent or accent family. Several attempts accept been fabricated to authorize a affiliated accord amid Burushaski and the Caucasic languages,5 with the Yeniseian languages in a ancestors alleged Karasuk,6 as a non-Indo-Iranian Indo-European language,78 or to accommodate Burushaski in the Dené–Caucasian proposal, which includes both Caucasic and Yeniseian.910 None of these efforts has been accustomed by bookish consensus. In 2008 Edward Vajda attempted to demonstrate11 Merritt Ruhlen's proposal12 that Yeniseian was best carefully accompanying to Na-Dene in a Dené–Yeniseian family, but the affirmation adduced has not been continued to Burushaski.

Following Berger (1956), the American Heritage dictionaries appropriate that the chat *abel (apple), the alone name for a bake-apple (tree) reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European, may accept been adopted from a accent affiliated to Burushaski. (Today "apple" and "apple tree" are /balt/ in Burushaski.) Others, however, reconstruct the Proto-Indo-European chat for "apple (tree)" as *mel-, while yet others don't anticipate Proto-Indo-European had a chat for "apple" at all and accede the altered words of altered Indo-European subgroups to be abstracted loans from altered anonymous non-Indo-European languages.

Writing system

Burushaski is a predominantly spoken, rather than written, language. Occasionally the Urdu adaptation of the Arabic alphabet is used, but no anchored orthography exists. Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai has accounting balladry in Burushaski application the Urdu alphabet.

Tibetan sources almanac a Bru-śa accent of the Gilgit valley, which appears to accept been Burushaski. Although Burushaski may already accept been a cogent arcane language, no Bru-śa manuscripts are accepted to accept survived.13

Linguists alive on Burushaski use assorted makeshift transcriptions based on the Latin alphabet, best frequently that by Berger (see below), in their publications.

Phonology

Burushaski primarily has bristles vowels, /i e a o u/. Assorted contractions aftereffect in continued vowels; fatigued vowels (marked with astute accents in Berger's transcription) tend to be best and beneath "open" than unstressed ones (i e a o u as against to ɪ ɛ ʌ ɔ ʊ). Continued vowels additionally action in loans and in a few artful words (Grune 1998). All vowels accept nasal counterparts in Hunza (in some alive words) and in Nager (also in able names and a few added words).

Berger (1998) finds the afterward consonants to be phonemic, apparent beneath in his archetype and in the IPA:

Bilabial Dental Alveolo-

palatal Retroflex Velar Uvular Glottal

Nasal m /m/ n /n/ ṅ /ŋ/

Plosive aspirated ph /pʰ/1 th /tʰ/ ṭh /ʈʰ/ kh /kʰ/ qh /qʰ/2

plain p /p/ t /t/ ṭ /ʈ/ k /k/ q /q/

voiced b /b/ d /d/ ḍ /ɖ/ g /ɡ/

Affricate aspirated3 ch /t͡sʰ/ ćh /t͡ɕʰ/ c̣h /ʈ͡ʂʰ/

plain c /t͡s/ ć /t͡ɕ/ c̣ /ʈ͡ʂ/

voiced j /d͡ʑ/4 j̣ /ɖ͡ʐ/5

Fricative voiceless s /s/ ś /ɕ/ ṣ /ʂ/ h /h/

voiced z /z/ ġ /ʁ/

Trill r /r/

Approximant l /l/ y j6 ỵ /ɻ/7 w w6

Notes:

^ Pronunciation varies: pʰ ~ p͡f ~ f.

^ Pronunciation varies: qʰ ~ q͡χ ~ χ.

^ The Yasin accent lacks aspirated affricates and uses the apparent ones instead.

^ Sometimes arresting ʑ.

^ Sometimes arresting ʐ.

^ a b Berger (1998) commendations w and j as allophones of /u/ and /i/ that action in advanced of fatigued vowels.

^ This phoneme has assorted pronunciations, all of which are attenuate sounds cross-linguistically. Descriptions include: "a accurate retroflex affricate with accompanying dorso-palatal narrowing" (apparently ʐʲ) (Berger 1998); "a affricate r, arresting with the argot in the retroflex ('cerebral') position" (apparently ɻ̝/ʐ̞, a complete which additionally occurs in Standard Chinese, accounting r in Pinyin) (Morgenstierne 1945); and "a analytical complete whose phonetic realizations alter from a retroflex, spirantized coast to a retroflex velarized spirant" (Anderson forthcoming). In any case, it does not action in the Yasin dialect, and in Hunza and Nager it does not action at the alpha of words.

Grammar

Burushaski is a double-marking accent and chat adjustment is about subject–object–verb.

Nouns in Burushaski are disconnected into four genders: animal masculine, animal feminine, accountable objects, and endless ones (similar to accumulation nouns). The appointment of a noun to a accurate gender is abundantly predictable. Some words can accord both to the accountable and to the endless class, bearing differences in meaning. For example, back countable, balt agency 'apple' but back uncountable, it agency 'apple tree' (Grune 1998).

Noun analysis consists of the noun stem, a careful prefix (mandatory for some nouns, and appropriately an archetype of inherent possession), and cardinal and case suffixes. Distinctions in cardinal are singular, plural, indefinite, and grouped. Cases accommodate absolutive, ergative/oblique, genitive, and several locatives; the closing announce both area and administration and may be compounded.

Burushaski verbs accept three basal stems: accomplished tense, present tense, and consecutive. The accomplished axis is the commendation anatomy and is additionally acclimated for imperatives and nominalization; the after axis is agnate to a accomplished participle and is acclimated for coordination. Acceding on the verb has both nominative and ergative features: transitive verbs mark both the accountable and the commodity of a clause, while intransitive verbs mark their sole altercation as both a accountable and an object.clarification neededdubious – discuss Altogether, a verb can booty up to four prefixes and six suffixes.

edit Nouns

edit Noun classes

In Burushaski, there are four noun classes, agnate to declensional classes in Indo-European languages, but clashing Indo-European, the nominal classes in Burushaski are associated with four grammatical "genders":

m → macho animal beings, gods and spirits

f → changeable animal beings and spirits

x → animals, accountable nouns

y → abstruse concepts, fluids, endless nouns

Below, the abridgement "h" will angle for the aggregate of the m- and f-classes, while "hx" will angle for the aggregate of the m-, f- and x-classes. Nouns in the x-class about accredit to countable, non-human beings or things, for archetype animals, fruit, stones, eggs, or coins; conversely, nouns in the y-class are as a aphorism endless abstractions or accumulation nouns, such as rice, fire, water, snow, wool, etc.

However, these rules are not accepted – accountable chantry in the y-class are sometimes encountered, e.g. ha, 'house'. Related words can cautiously change their meanings back acclimated in altered classes – for example, bayú, back a affiliate of the x-class, agency alkali in clumps, but back in the y-class, it agency delicate salt. Bake-apple copse are accepted collectively and placed in the y-class, but their alone fruits accord to the x-class. Chantry fabricated of accurate abstracts can accord to either the x- or the y- class: bean and copse are in the x-class, but metal and covering in the y-class. The article, adjectives, numerals and added attributes charge be in acceding with the noun chic of their subject.

edit Pluralisation

There are two numbers in Burushaski: atypical and plural. The atypical is unmarked, while the plural is bidding by agency of suffix, which alter depending on the chic of the noun:

h-class → accessible suffixes: -ting, -aro, -daro, -taro, -tsaro

h- and x-class → accessible suffixes: -o, -išo, -ko, -iko, -juko; -ono, -u; -i, -ai; -ts, -uts, -muts, -umuts; -nts, -ants, -ints, -iants, -ingants, -ents, -onts

y-class → accessible suffixes: -ng, -ang, -ing, -iang; -eng, -ong, -ongo; -ming, -čing, -ičing, -mičing, -ičang (Nagar dialect)

Some nouns accept two or three altered prefixes, while others accept no characteristic suffix, and action alone in the plural, e.g. bras 'rice', gur 'wheat', bishké, 'fur', (cf. plurale tantum). On the added hand, there are additionally nouns which accept identical forms in the atypical and plural, e.g. hagúr 'horse(s)'. Adjectives accept a different plural suffix, whose anatomy depends on the chic of the noun they modify, e.g. burúm 'white' gives the x-class plural burum-išo and the y-class plural burúm-ing.

Examples of pluralisation in Burushaski:

wazíir (m), pl. wazíirting 'vizier, minister'

hir (m), pl. hirí 'man' (stress shifts)

gus (f), pl. gushíngants 'woman' (stress shifts)

dasín (f), pl. dasíwants 'girl', 'unmarried woman'

huk (x), pl. hukái 'dog'

tilí (x), pl. tilí 'walnut'

tilí (y), pl. tiléng 'walnut tree'

edit Declension

Burushaski is an ergative language. It has bristles primary cases.

Case Suffix Function

Absolutive unmarked The accountable of intransitive verbs and the commodity of transitive ones.

Ergative -e The accountable of transitive verbs.

Oblique -e; -mo (f) Genitive; the abject of accessory case endings

Dative -ar, -r Dative, allative.

Ablative -um, -m, -mo Indicates break (e.g. 'from where?')

The case suffixes are added to the plural suffix, e.g. Huséiniukutse, 'the bodies of Hussein' (ergative plural). The animal catastrophe is irregular, /mo/, for atypical f-class nouns, but /-e/ in all others (identical to the ergative ending). The dative ending, /-ar/, /-r/ is absorbed to the animal catastrophe for atypical f-class nouns, but to the axis for all others. Examples:

hir-e 'the man's', gus-mo 'the woman's' (gen.)

hir-ar 'to the man', gus-mu-r 'to the woman' (dat.)

The animal is placed afore the affair possessed: Hunzue tham, 'the Emir of Hunza.'

The endings of the accessory cases are formed from a accessory case suffix (or infix) and one of the primary endings /-e/, /-ar/ or /-um/. These endings are directional, /-e/ actuality locative (answering 'where?'), /-ar/ actuality terminative (answering 'where to?'), and /-um/ actuality ablative (answering 'where from?'). The infixes, and their basal meanings, are as follows:

-ts- 'at'

-ul- 'in'

-aţ- 'on; with'

-al- 'near' (only in the Hunza dialect)

From these, the afterward accessory or admixture cases are formed:

Infix Locative Terminative Ablative

-ts- -ts-e 'at' -ts-ar 'to' -ts-um 'from'

-ul- -ul-e 'in' -ul-ar 'into' -ul-um 'out of'

-aţ- -aţ-e 'on','with' -aţ-ar 'up to' -aţ-um 'down from'

-al- -al-e 'near' -al-ar 'to' -al-um 'from'

The approved endings /-ul-e/ and /-ul-ar/ are ancient and are now replaced by /-ul-o/ and /-ar-ulo/ respectively.

edit Pronouns and pronominal prefixes

Nouns advertence genitalia of the anatomy and alikeness agreement are accompanied by an binding pronominal prefix. Thus, one cannot artlessly say 'mother' or 'arm' in Burushaski, but alone 'my arm', 'your mother', 'his father', etc. For example, the basis mi 'mother', is never begin in isolation, instead one finds:

i-mi 'his mother', mu-mi 'their mother' (3f sg.), u-mi 'your mother' (3h pl.), u-mi-tsaro 'their mothers'(3h pl.).

The pronominal, or personal, prefixes accede with the person, cardinal and – in the third person, the chic of their noun. A arbitrary of the basal forms is accustomed in the afterward table:

Person/

Noun chic Singular Plural

1st being a- mi-, me-

2nd being gu-, go- ma-

3rd being m i-, e- u-, o-

3rd being f mu- u-, o-

3rd being x i-, y- u-, o-

3rd being y i-, e-

Personal pronouns in Burushaski analyze adjacent and distal forms, e.g. khin 'he, this one here', but in, 'he, that one there'. In the oblique, there are added abbreviated forms.

edit Numerals

The Burushaski cardinal arrangement is vigesimal, i.e. based on the cardinal 20. For example, 20 altar, 40 alto-altar (2 times 20), 60 iski-altar (3 times 20) etc. The abject numerals are:

1 hin (or han, hik)

2 altán (or altó)

3 iskén (or uskó)

4 wálto

5 čundó

6 mishíndo

7 thaló

8 altámbo

9 hunchó

10 tóorumo (also toorimi and turma)

100 tha

Examples of admixture numerals:

11 turma-hin, 12 turma-altan, 13 turma-isken, ..., 19 turma-hunti; 20 altar, 30 altar-toorimi, 40 alto-altar, 50 alto-altar-toorimi, 60 iski-altar and so on; 21 altar-hik, 22 altar-alto, 23 altar-iski and so on.