Rakhshani dialect

Rakhshani
رخشانی
Native toPakistan, Iran Afghanistan, Turkmenistan
RegionBalochistan
Dialects
  • Sarhaddi
  • Kalati
  • Panjguri
Balochi alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-2bgn
ISO 639-3bgn – inclusive code
Individual code:
bgn – Western Balochi
Glottologwest2368
Linguasphere58-AAB-ab
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Rakhshani (Balochi: رخشانی), also referred to as Western Balochi (رونیندی بلۏچی, romanized: Roanindi Balòči) is a dialect of the Balochi language. The dialect has several important subdialects and spoken predominantly in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.

The Ethnologue database has classified the dialect under Western Balochi.

Dialects

Elfenbein divides the Rakhshani dialect into three categories:

Phonology

Western Balochi has 21 consonant phonemes and 6 vowel phonemes.

Rakhshani consonants
Consonant vowels p, t, t̥, č, k, b, d, d̥, ǰ, g, (ƒ), s, š, (x), h, z, ž, (ġ), m, n, r, r̥, l, w, y
long vowels aː, iː, uː
Short vowel a, e, o
Compound vowel ı͂, o͂, u͂

Vowels

three short and five long vowels for the Rakhshani dialect as ə, y, w, a, i, u, e, o (adapted: a, i, u, aː, iː, uː eː, oː). nasalized ones a͂, e͂, ı͂, o͂, u͂, “of which only a͂, e͂ are common in the Rakhshani dia-lects.

Vowel systems in Western Balochi dialects
Scholars Vowel systemsDialects
Rzehak (2003) ī, i, ē, a, ā, ō, u, ūRakhshani in Afghanistan
Axenov (2006) ī, i, ē, a, ā, ō, u, ūRakhshani in Turkmenistan
Ahangar (2007) ī, i, e, ē, a, ā, o, ō, u, ūSarhaddi in Iran

Consonants

The consonants /p/, /t/, /t̥/, /č/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /d̥/, /ǰ/, /g/, /(ƒ)/, /s/, /š/, /(x)/, /h/, /z/, /ž/, /(ġ)/, /m/, /n/, /r/, /r̥/, /l/, /w/ and /y/ are articulated as alveolar in Western Balochi. The plosives /t/ and /d/ are dental in both dialects. The symbol ń is used to denote nasalization of the preceding vowel. The consonants /s/, /z/, /n/, /ɾ/ and /l/ are articulated as alveolar in Western Balochi.

The consonants /f x ġ/ in the Rakhshani dialect often remain, but in Makrani they become /p/, /k/ or /h/, and /g/, respectively. In addition, /f/ occurs in a few words in Southern Balochi. /x/ (voiceless velar fricative) in some loanwords in Southern Balochi corresponding to /ʁ/ (voiced uvular fricative) in Western Balochi.

Consonants in Western Balochi dialects
Labial Dental/
Alveolar		 Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive/
Affricate		 voiceless p t t̥ č k
voiced b d d̥ J̌ ɡ
Fricative voiceless (ƒ) s Š (x) h
voiced β z ž (ǧ)
Nasal m n
Taps r r̥
Glides w y

Syllable

In Western Balochi dialects the stress is on the last syllable of the word as a rule. The pronominal suffixes and the present copula, which are enclitic except for the individuation marker -e. For inflected forms of the interrogative pronouns č ē 'what' are stressed on the first syllable.

The negative prefix na- and the prohibitive prefix ma- attract the stress. Verb forms with the prefix b(i) likewise have the stress on the first syllable thus on the first syllable of the stem if the vowel of the prefix is omitted, see and the nominal part of complex predicates takes the phrase stress. Inflected forms of the interrogative pronouns ce 'what' are stressed on the first syllable, however. There are also a few adverbs that are stressed on the first syllable.

Grammar

In the Rakhshani dialect, the infinitive noun is often formed from the past participle and ends in -tin. The active adjective, the future passive adjective (= imperative adjective) and the active noun are formed by adding the suffixes ān-, -agī(g) and -ōk to the present participle, respectively, and the passive adjective is formed by adding the suffix -a(g) to the past participle.

In some dialects of Balochi spoken in Western Balochistan the construction employs the verb twánag (past stem twánt) "to be able to" + present-future subjunctive forms of the main verb. Twánag "to be able to" is conjugated as a transitive verb.

The Western Balochi dialects have -ay for the genitive and -ârā or -ānā for the object.

Western Balochi dialects are moving from a split ergative toward a nominative - accusative (NOM- ACC) system. The subject is marked as nominative except for the past tense constructions where the subject of a transitive verb is marked as oblique and the verb agrees with the object. Balochi, like many Western Iranian languages, has lost the old Iranian gender distinctions.

Sentence Meaning
ما توانین بیاین "We can come"
آیان نتوانت اِدا لوگے اد بکننت "They could not build a house here"

Pronouns

Pronouns Rakhshani (Western) Makrani (Southern)
1st person من من
2nd person تو تو
3rd person آ‌/آئی آ/آیی
1st person (plural) ئما‌/هما مشما‌/ما
2nd person (plural) شما شما
3rd person (plural) آوان آیاں

Dialects

Sarhaddi

One of the sub-dialects of Rakhshani is the Sarhaddi (سرحدی) dialect, which is more influenced by the Persian language and in which words, compounds and even grammatical structures of the Persian language are more commonly seen; that is, words from Modern "New" Persian have been used after phonetic changes, as well as a number of Persian grammatical structures in this dialect.

For example, words from Persian that end in "unvoiced ha" are considered after converting "e" to "g" and "e" is converted to "g" and used in the Sarhaddi. Sarhaddi includes infinitive, adverbial (subject noun and object noun) and infinitive noun, all of which are made from the verb stem and certain suffixes.

Northern Rakhshani

Northern Rakhshani has similarities with Sarhaddi, and Turkmen Rakhshani (see also: Baloch of Turkmenistan) also originated from Balochi Rakhshani. The difference between Northern Rakhshani and Sarhaddi is that: In the past tense, the letter "g" has been removed from Northern Rakhshani, but it is still present in Sarhaddi.

SarhaddiNorthernPersianEnglish
نشتهگوننشتهاوننشسته‌ام"I am sitting"
شتگ اونشوتهاونرفته‌ام"I am gone"
وانتگ اونوانتهاونخوانده‌ام"I have read"
دیستگ اوندیستهاوندیده‌ام"I have seen"
زانتگ اونزانتهاوندانسته‌ام"I have known"

Northern Rakhshani is spoken in the provinces of Nimroz, Farah, Helmand, Kandahar, Herat, and some northern provinces of Afghanistan.

Rakhshani of Turkmenistan

The Baloch of Turkmenistan speak a dialect of the Balochi language that is very close to the Balochi dialect of the Baloch people of Afghanistan. The Balochi dialect of Turkmenistan belongs to the Rakhshani dialect.

Some verb constituents have gradually been eliminated from this dialect, but traces of them still exist. The third-person singular indefinite pronoun (or pronoun suffix) is often used with transitive verbs, and sometimes without transitive verbs.

Vocabulary

Following are comparing the vocabulary of the Makrani and Sarhaddi dialects:

English Rakshani (Sarhaddi) Southern Balochi (Makrani)
Look sayl kanag čârag
Child zahg čokk
Cradle juṭṭ gwânzag
River rôd kawr
Misery morr muzz
Breakfast nâštâ nahâri
thin nâzork nâzorok
Cotton pammag pambag
Sarcasm šegân šagâm
Salt šôr wad
Shadow syâheg sâheg
Yogurt bastag mastag

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "BALUCHISTAN iii. Baluchi Language and Literature". Encyclopædia Iranica.
  2. ↑ "Rakhshani". Glottolog. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
  3. ↑ "Dialects". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  4. ↑ Western Balochi
  5. ↑ Jahani, Korn, Carina, Agnes (2022). The Baloch and their Neighbours, Ethnic and Linguistic Contact in Balochistan in Historical and Modern Time. Cambridge University. ISBN 3-89500-366-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Okati, Farideh (2005). "The Vowel Systems of Five Iranian Balochi Dialects" (PDF). Uppsala University. Institute of Writing & Research Balochista. ISBN 978-91-554-8536-8.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  7. 1 2 Windfuhr, Gernot (2013). The Iranian Languages. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781135797041.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Jahani, Carina (2019). A Grammar of Modern Standard Balochi. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.
  9. ↑ Jahani, Carina (1989). Standardization and Orthography in the Balochi Language. Uppsala University.
  10. ↑ Soohani, Ali Ahangar, Van Oostendorp, Bahareh, Abbas, Marc (2021). "Syllable-Internal StructureinIranian-Balochi Dialects" (PDF). University of Sistan and Baluchestan. Iranian Journal of Applied LanguageStudies. ISSN 2008-5494.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. 1 2 Carina،Korn, Jahani،Korn (2008). The Baloch and Others Linguistic, Historical and Socio-political Perspectives on Pluralism in Balochistan. Reichert Verlag. ISBN 9783895005916.
  12. ↑ Rooman, Anwar (2005). Balochi language and literature. Institute of Writing & Research Balochista. ISBN 9789698396275.
  13. ↑ L., Karimi, Samiian, Donald, Stilo, Simin, Vida (2008). Aspects of Iranian Linguistics. Cambridge University. ISBN 9781443810135.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ "Balochi". National Virtual Translation Center. Archived from the original on 18 November 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  15. 1 2 3 Axenov, Serge. Balochi Language of Turkmenistan: A Corpus-based Grammatical Description (Studia Iranica Upsaliensia). ISBN 9155467660.
  16. ↑ "نگاهی به گویش بلوچی" [A look at the Balochi]. Noormags فارسی (in Persian). 1 November 2001. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  17. ↑ Ahangar, Mahmoodzahi, Jamalzah, Abbas Ali, Moosa, Farzaneh (2014). "Inflectional Structure of Verb in Sarhaddi Balochi of Granchin". Razi University. Iranian Journal of Applied LanguageStudies. ISSN 2345-2579.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. 1 2 Stilo, Haig, Schreiber, Rasekh-Mahand, Schiborr, Donald, Geoffrey, Laurentia, Mohammad, Nils (2024). Post-predicate Elements in the Western Asian Transition Zone. Language Science Press. pp. 123–125. ISBN 9789694072739.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ↑ Crews, Bashir, Robert, Shahzad (212). Under the Drones. Harvard University Press. pp. 149–151. ISBN 9780674064768. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)