Katë language

Katë
Kati, Kâmkata-vari, Kâmkata-mumkṣta-vari
Native toAfghanistan, Pakistan
RegionNuristan, Kunar, Chitral
Native speakers
150,000 (2011-2017)
Early forms
Dialects
Arabic script (Nastaliq)
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
bsh – Kati
xvi – Kamviri
Glottologkati1270
ELPKati
Linguasphere58-ACB-a
Katë is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Katë, also known as Kati or Kamkata-vari, is a Nuristani language. It is a dialect continuum comprising three separate dialects spoken mostly in Afghanistan, with additional speakers in the Chitral District of Pakistan deriving from recent migrations a century ago. The Kata-vari (comprising Western and Northeastern) and Kamviri (comprising Southeastern) dialects are sometimes erroneously reckoned as two separate languages, but according to linguist Richard Strand they form one language.

The Katë language is the largest Nuristani language, spoken by 40,000–60,000 people[citation needed], from the Kata, Kom, Mumo, Kshto and some smaller Black-Robed tribes in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The most used alternative names for the language are Kati or Bashgali.

Name

The name, pronounced [kaˈtɘ], is the ethnonym of the Kata people. Cognates of the ethnonym in other Nuristani languages include Nuristani Kalasha Kā̃ta [kãːˈta]. According to Halfmann, the names descend from a Proto-Nuristani form *Kānta-ka-.

Dialects

There are three main dialects according to Halfmann (2024): Western Katë, Northeastern Katë, and Southeastern Katë (including Kamviri and Mumviri). The dialects are sometimes erroneously defined as separate languages. The Northeastern Katë dialect is commonly referred to as Shekhani in Chitral. In older literature, Southeastern Katë is split into Kamviri and Mumviri.

Classification

It belongs to the Indo-European language family and is in the Nuristani group of the Indo-Iranian branch. Glottolog proposes the following phylogenetic classification:

Status

Literacy rates are low: below 1% for people who have it as a first language and between 15% and 25% for people who have it as a second language[citation needed]. The Kata-vari dialect can be heard on radio in Afghanistan.[citation needed]

Phonology

Vowels

Katë has six primary vowel qualities, with some variation in the pronunciation: /i, ɛ~ɜ, ɐ~a, u, ɘ~ɨ, ɔ/.

Front Central Back
Close i ɘ~ɨ ⟨ë⟩ u
Mid ɛ~ɜ ⟨e⟩ ɔ ⟨o⟩
Open ɐ~a ⟨a⟩

In the Northeastern dialect, vowel length and nasalization are both phonemic in all vowels except /ɘ~ɨ/.

Consonants

Consonants in Katë (northeastern dialect)
Labial Dental/

Laminal

 Retroflex/

Apical

 Palatal Velar Postvelar/

Uvular

 Glottal
Nasals m n̪ ⟨n⟩ ɳ ⟨ṇ⟩ ŋ
Plosives voiceless p t̪ ⟨t⟩ ʈ ⟨ṭ⟩ k (q) (ʔ)
voiced b d̪ ⟨d⟩ ɖ~ɽ ⟨ḍ~ṛ⟩ g
Taps ɾ ⟨r⟩
Affricates voiceless t̪͡s̪ ⟨ċ⟩ ʈ͡ʂ ⟨c̣⟩ t͡ɕ ⟨č⟩
voiced d͡ʑ ⟨ǰ⟩
Fricatives voiceless (f) s ʂ ⟨ṣ⟩ ɕ ⟨š⟩ (χ ⟨x⟩) (h)
voiced ʋʷ ⟨v⟩ z ʐ ⟨ẓ⟩ (ʁ ⟨ɣ⟩)
Approximants oral l̪ (l) ɻ ⟨r̆⟩ j ⟨y⟩
nasal ɻ̃ ⟨n̆⟩

Notes

Grammar

Nouns

Nouns in Katë are inflected for number, gender, and case. Number in Katë distinguishes between singular and plural, and nouns can be masculine or feminine, although there is no predictable pattern for determining the gender of a noun.

Cases

There are a maximum of 7 cases in Katë: direct, oblique, genitive, instrumental, locative, ablative, and vocative. However, this differs between dialects and no one noun has a distinct form for all cases. Cases that express a syntactic function only appear on the final element of a phrase, and preceding elements in a noun phrase appear in the direct case.

iki

DEM.MED.SG

purd-ë

old-M

kašir-dari

white-beard.DIR

iki purd-ë kašir-dari

DEM.MED.SG old-M white-beard.DIR

'that old whitebeard'

References

  1. ↑ Kati at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018) Closed access icon
    Kamviri at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018) Closed access icon
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Katë". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ "Richard Strand's Nuristân Site: Peoples and Languages of Nuristan". nuristan.info. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  4. ↑ Halfmann 2024, p. 4.
  5. ↑ Torwali, Zubair (2020). "Countering the challenges of globalization faced by endangered languages of North Pakistan". Language Documentation and Description. 17: 51.
  6. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Katë". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  7. ↑ Halfmann 2024, p. 24.
  8. ↑ Halfmann 2024, p. 46.
  9. ↑ Halfmann 2024.
  10. ↑ Halfmann 2024, pp. 143–146.
  11. ↑ Halfmann 2024, p. 147.

Sources

Further reading