Gawar-Bati language


Gawar-Bati or Narsati is a Dardic language spoken in Chitral, Pakistan by the Gawar people and across the border in Afghanistan. It is also known as Aranduyiwar in Chitral because it is spoken in Arandu, which is the last village in lower Chitral and is also across the border from Berkot in Afghanistan. There are about 9,000 speakers of Gawar-Bati, with 1,500 in Pakistan, and 7,500 in Afghanistan. The name Gawar-Bati means "speech of the Gawar", a people detailed by the Cacopardos in their study of the Hindu Kush.

Study and classification

The Gawar-Bati language has not been given serious study by linguists, except that it is mentioned by George Morgenstierne and Kendall Decker.
It is classified as a Dardic language. The Dardic languages have been historically seen as an independent branch of Indo-Iranian, but today they are placed within Indo-Aryan following Morgenstierne's work.

Phonology

The following tables set out the phonology of the Gawar-Bati language:

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Close
Mid
Open

The status of short /e/ and /o/ is unclear.

Consonants

A breathy voiced series, /bʱ dʱ gʱ/, existed recently in older speakers—and may still do so.