Shina language


Shina is a language from the Dardic sub-group of the Indo-Aryan family spoken by the Shina people, a plurality of the people in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, as well as in pockets in Jammu and Kashmir, India, such as in Dah Hanu, Gurez and Dras.
Until recently, there was no writing system of the language. A number of schemes have been proposed and there is no single writing system used by all of the speakers of Shina language.

Dialects

In India, the dialects of the Shina language have preserved both initial and final OIA consonant clusters, while the Shina dialects spoken in Pakistan have not.
Dialects of the Shina language are Gilgiti, Astori, Chilasi Kohistani, Drasi, Gurezi, Jalkoti, Kolai, and Palasi. Related languages spoken by ethnic Shina are Brokskat, Kohistani Shina, Palula, Savi, and Ushojo.

Geography

Shina is spoken in various parts of the Kashmir region shared between India and Pakistan. The valleys in which it is spoken include Nagar Shinaki, Southern Hunza, Astore, Chilas, Darel, Tangir, Gilgit, Danyor, Oshikhandass, Jalalabad, Haramosh, Bagrote, Ghizer, Gurez, Dras, Gultari Valley, Skardu, Sadpara, Juglot, some areas of Roundu district of Baltistan including Ganji Valley, Chamachoo, Shengus, Sabsar, Yulboo, Tallu, Tallu-Broq, Tormik, some areas of Kharmang district of Baltistan like Duru Village, Tarkati, Ingutt and Brechil and Palas and Kolai in Kohistan.

Writing

Shina is one of the few Dardic languages with a written tradition. However, it was an unwritten language until a few decades ago and there still is not a standard orthography. Since the first attempts at accurately representing Shina's phonology in the 1960s there have been several proposed orthographies for the different varieties of the language, with debates centering on whether vowel length and tone should be represented. For the Drasi variety spoken in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, there have been two proposed schemes, one with the Perso-Arabic script and the other with the Devanagari script.
As such, Shina is written with a variation of the Urdu alphabet. The additional letters to write Shina are:

Phonology

The following is a description of the phonology of the Drasi variety spoken in India.

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 words are often distinguished by three contrasting tones: level, rising, and falling tones. Here is an example that shows the three tones:
"The" has a level tone and means the imperative "Do!"
When the stress falls on the first mora of a long vowel, the tone is falling. Thée means "Will you do?"
When the stress falls on the second mora of a long vowel, the tone is rising. Theé means "after having done".