Native to Pakistan, India | Writing system Arabic script | |
Region Gilgit-Baltistan, Chitral, Native speakers (500,000 cited 1981–1998) Language family Indo-European
Indo-Iranian
Indo-Aryan
Dardic
Shina ISO 639-3 Either:
scl – Shina
plk – Kohistani Shina | ||
Shina language learning
Shina (Urdu: شینا Šīnā) is a language from the Dardic sub-group of the Indo-Aryan languages family spoken by the Shina people, a plurality of the people in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, formerly known as the Northern Areas of Pakistan.
Contents
Dialects are Gilgiti (the prestige dialect), Astori, Chilasi Kohistani, Drasi, Gurezi, Jalkoti, Kolai, and Palasi. Related languages spoken by ethnic Shina are Brokskat (the Shina of Baltistan and Drass), Domaa, Kohistani Shina, Palula, Savi, and Ushojo. Shina is the language of 40% people of Gilgit Baltistan.The valleys in which it is spoken include Southern Hunza Astore, Chilas, Darel, Tangir, Gilgit, Ghizer, Gurez, Drass, Juglot Valley, Drotte Palas, Kolai, and Kohistan.
Writing
Shina is usually written with a variation of the Urdu alphabet. The additional letters to write Shina are:
The language is also written in Devanagari script as well, using the nuqta dot for additional Shina sounds.
Vowels
The Shina principal vowel sounds:
All vowels but /ɔ/ can be either long or nasalized, though no minimal pairs with the contrast are found.
Diphthongs
In Shina there are the following diphthongs:
Tone
Shina has three contrasting tones: level, rising, and falling tones.
Example: 1.the............2.thée.........3.theé 1. The first example "the" has a level tone and is translated by the imperative "Do". 2. When the stress falls on the first mora of a long vowel, the tone is falling. Thus the second example means "Will you do?". 3. When the stress falls on the second mora of a long vowel, the tone is rising. Thus the third example means "After having done". There are many minimal pairs in Shina to prove that it contains three tones.