Southeastern Katë is a dialect of the Katë language spoken by the Kom and Kata in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It includes the so-called Kamviri and Mumviri dialects, spoken in Mangul, Sasku and Gabalgrom in the Bashgal Valley.

Innovations

According to Halfmann (2024), the primary innovations of the Southeastern dialect include secondary vowel length from monophthongization of vowel + v, a progressive suffix -n-, intervocalic consonant lenition (usually sibilants and velars), post-nasal voicing, and merger of Proto-Nuristani pre-tonic *a and *ā as a.

Phonology

The inventory as described by Richard Strand. In addition, there is stress.

The neutral articulatory posture, as in the reduced vowel /a/, consists of the tip of the tongue behind the lower teeth and a raised tongue root is linked with a raised larynx, producing a characteristic pitch for unstressed vowels of about an octave above the pitch of a relaxed larynx.

Consonants

LabialDental/ AlveolarRetroflexPost- AlveolarVelar
Plosivevoicelessptʈk
voicedbdɖɡ
Affricatevoicelesst͡st͡ʂt͡ʃ
voicedd͡zd͡ʐd͡ʒ
Fricativevoiceless(f)sʂʃ(x)
voicedvzʐʒɣ
Nasalmnɳŋ
Tapɾ(ɽ)
Approximantlaterall
centralɻj
  • Sounds [f,x,q,ɢ,ħ,ʕ,h,ʔ] are found in loanwords.
  • Between vowels, /s,ʂ,ʃ/ voice to [z,ʐ,ʒ].
  • /v/ can also be heard as bilabial [β] or a labial approximant [w].
  • For most speakers, and especially in Kombřom, /ʈ/ becomes a retroflex flap [ɽ].
  • /k/ becomes a velar tap [ɡ̆].

One suffix /ti/ voices to [di] for most speakers.

The sequences /ʈɭ/,/ɖɭ/ are phonetically affricates.

Nasals voice a following obstruent.

Laminal consonants change a following /a/ from [ɨ] to [i].

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Highi y(ɨ ⟨a⟩)u
Mideə ⟨a⟩o
Lowa ⟨â⟩(ɔ)

⟨a⟩ is [ː] after another vowel, [i] after a laminal consonant and after /ik,ek,iɡ,eɡ/. For some speakers, it is [u] after /uk,yk,uɡ,yɡ/. Otherwise it is [ə] or [ɨ].

Vocabulary

Pronouns

PersonDirectGenitiveOblique
1stsg.õ, õċyĩyī̃
pl.yimóyimṓ
2ndsg.tütutū
pl.šošō

Numbers

  1. e, ev, ē
  2. dü
  3. tre
  4. što
  5. puč
  6. ṣu
  7. sut
  8. vuṣṭ
  9. nu
  10. duċ
  11. yaníċ
  12. diċ
  13. triċ
  14. štreċ
  15. pačíċ
  16. ṣeċ
  17. satíċ
  18. aṣṭíċ
  19. neċ
  20. viċí

Further reading

  • Halfmann, Jakob (2024). (PhD thesis). Universität zu Köln.

Bibliography

  • Strand, Richard F. (20 April 2019). . Richard Strand's Nuristan Site. Archived from on 26 September 2023.
  • The Mumo. Retrieved July 10, 2006, from Richard F. Strand: Nuristan, Hidden Land of the Hindu-Kush .
  • Strand, Richard F. (1973). "Notes on the Nūristāni and Dardic Languages". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 93 (3): 297–305. doi:. JSTOR .
  • Strand, Richard F. (2023). . International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics and Linguistic Reconstruction. 19: 267–353. doi:. ISBN 978-3-7520-0234-8.

External links

  • Strand, Richard F. (1997). .
  • Strand, Richard F. (1999). .
  • Strand, Richard F. (1997). .