Kamviri dialect

Kamviri (کامويري Kâmviri) is a dialect of the Kamkata-vari language spoken by 5,000 to 10,000 of the Kom people of Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are slight dialectal differences of the Kamviri speakers of Pakistan. The most used alternative names are Kati, Kamozi, Shekhani or Bashgali.

Kamviri
کامويري Kâmviri
Native to	Afghanistan, Pakistan
Region	Bashgal Valley, and Southern Chitral District, Langorbat, Badrugal and the Urtsun Valley
Native speakers	20,000 (2011)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Nuristani Kamkata-vari Kamviri
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xvi
Glottolog	kamv1242
Linguasphere	58-ACB-ad

Name

The name derives from Kom [ˈkom], the ethnonym of the Kom people (pronounced in Kata-vari as Kum [ˈkum]), with the suffix viri [viˈɾi] "language, speech". Cognates of the ethnonym in other Nuristani languages include Prasuni Kâ̄ma [kaːˈmɘ] (borrowed from Kamkata-vari) and Waigali Kam [ˈkɘm].

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

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Retroflex	Post- Alveolar	Velar
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	ʈ		k
	voiced	b	d	ɖ		ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		t͡s	t͡ʂ	t͡ʃ
	voiced		d͡z	d͡ʐ	d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless	(f)	s	ʂ	ʃ	(x)
	voiced	v	z	ʐ	ʒ	ɣ
Nasal		m	n	ɳ		ŋ
Tap			ɾ	(ɽ)
Approximant	lateral		l
	central			ɻ	j

• 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.

[ʈɭ, ɖɭ] are phonetic affricates.

Nasals voice a following obstruent.

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

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i y	(ɨ ⟨a⟩)	u
Mid	e	ə ⟨a⟩	o
Low		a ⟨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

Person		Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st	sg.	õć, õ	ī̃	ĩ
	pl.	imo	imō	imo
2nd	sg.	tü	tū	tu
	pl.	šo	šō	šo

Numbers

1. ev
2. dü
3. tre
4. što
5. puč
6. ṣu
7. sut
8. uṣṭ
9. nu
10. duć

Bibliography

• Strand, Richard F. (2019-04-20). "The Kom". Richard Strand's Nuristan Site. Archived from the original on 2023-09-26. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
• Strand, Richard F. (1973). "Notes on the Nūristāni and Dardic Languages". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 93 (3): 297–305. doi:10.2307/599462. JSTOR 599462.
• Strand, Richard F. (2023). "Ethnolinguistic and Genetic Clues to Nûristânî Origins". International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics and Linguistic Reconstruction. 19: 267–353. doi:10.29091/9783752002348. ISBN 978-3-7520-0234-8.

External links

• Strand, Richard F. (1997). "Nuristan: Hidden Land of the Hindu Kush". Retrieved 2012-01-16.
• Strand, Richard F. (1999). "Kâmv'iri Lexicon". Retrieved 2012-01-16.
• Strand, Richard F. (1997). "The Sound System of Kâmv'iri". Retrieved 2012-01-16.