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Wakhi
x̌ik zik
Spoken in	Afghanistan (9,600)  China (6,000)  Pakistan (9,100)  Tajikistan (7,000)  Russia (6,000)
Native speakers	approximately 40,700  (date missing)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Eastern Iranian Southeastern Iranian Pamir Wakhi
Writing system	Arabic, Cyrillic, Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wbl
Linguasphere	58-ABD-c
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Wakhi is an Indo-European language in the branch of Eastern Iranian language family and is intimately related to other Southeastern Iranian languages in the Pamir languages group.

Classification and distribution[link]

Wakhi is one of several languages that belong to the Pamir language group. A reflection of this is the fact that the Wakhi people are occasionally called Pamiris. The origin of this language is Wakhan in Afghanistan and it is, according to sources, more than four thousand years old. It is spoken by the inhabitants the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan, parts of Gilgit–Baltistan (the former NAs) of Pakistan, Gorno-Badkhshan (mountainous-Badakhshan, in Russian) region of Tajakistan, and Xinjiang in western China. The Wakhi use the self-appellation ‘Xik’ (ethnic) and suffix it with ‘wor’/’war’ to denote their language as ‘Xik-wor’ themselves. The noun ‘Xik’ comes from ‘oxik’ (an inhabitant of ‘Ox’, for Wakhan, in Wakhi. There are other equivalents for the name Wakhi (Anglicised) or Wakhani (Arabic and Persian), Vakhantsy (Russian), Gojali/Gojo (Dingrik-wor/Shina), Guyits/Guicho (Borushaski), Wakhigi/Wakhik-war (Kivi-wor/Khow-wor) and Cert (Turki). The language belongs, as yet to be confirmed according to studies and sources, to the southern group of the Pamir languages, in the Iranian group of the Indo-European family (450) of languages, where the different Ishkashmi, Shighni/…nani and Wakhi languages are included. A very rough estimate of the population of Wakhis is 50,000 worldwide. The Wakhi live in four different countries. In the Gilgit–Baltistan region of Pakistan, the Wakhi people mainly live in Gojal, Ishkoman, Darkut and in Chitral District's Broghol. They also live in some parts of Gorno-Badakhshan in Tajikistan and Xinjiang in China.

In Afghanistan[link]

In the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan, Wakhi is spoken from Putur, near Ishkashim, to the upper reaches of the Wakhan River.^[1]

In Tajikistan[link]

In Tajikistan the Wakhi and other communities that speak one of the Pamir languages refer to themselves as Pamiri or Badakhshani and there has been a movement to separate their identity from that of the majority Persian-speaking Tajiks. Linguists universally refer to Wakhi as an East Iranian language independent of Tajik Persian, but many Tajik nationalists insist that Wakhi and other Pamir languages are actually dialects of Tajik.^[2]

In Pakistan[link]

In Pakistan Wakhi is spoken in the sparsely populated upper portions of five of the northernmost valleys: Hunza (many ethnic Wakhi of this valley now speak Burushaski), Gojal that including the valleys of Chipursan and Shingshal, (Upper-Hunza—mostly intact), Ishkoman (many ethnic Wakhi speak, now, Shina), Yasin (many ethnic Wakhi of this valley speak, now, Khow-wor or Burushaski/Virchik-wor), Gupis (many ethnic Wakhi speak, now, Shina) and Yarkhun (many ethnic Wakhi of this valley now speak Khow-wor). Yarkhun is located in the Chitral district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while others are in the Gilgit–Baltistan. Gojal, in the Hunza valley, has the largest Wakhi population of any of the above five areas. The Wakhis of Ishkoman live primarily in the Karambar valley, in the town of Imit and beyond. In Yasin, they live mostly in the vicinity of Darkot, and in Yarhkun, they are found in Baroghil and in a few other small villages in the high, upper portion of valley. In Pakistan, the central organization of the Wakhi is the Wakhi Cultural Association Pakistan (WCA), an organization that is registered with the Government of Pakistan and which works with the collaboration of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Lok Virsa Pakistan. The Association is working for the preservation of the Wakhi language and culture, as well as documenting their poetry and music.

Radio Pakistan Gilgit relays the Wakhi radio programme "Sadoyah Boomy Dunyo", the voice of the roof of the world. The Wakhi Cultural Association has arranged more than twenty programmes since 1984, which includes cultural shows, musical nights, and large-scale musical festivals with the collaboration of Lok Virsa Pakistan, the Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan (AKCSP), and Pakistan television. In 2000, the WCA won a "Best Programme" organizer award in the Silk Road Festival from the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. A computerized codification of the Wakhi script has been released, which will help to promote the language development programme and documentation of Wakhi poetry, literature, and history. ^[3]

In China[link]

Orthography[link]

Traditionally Wakhi was not a written language. Writing systems have been developed for the language using Arabic script, Cyrillic and a modified Roman alphabet.^[4] A modified roman alphabet was developed in 1984 by Haqiqat Ali.^[5]

The new Wakhi Alphabet

.

Sample text from a Bible translation published in 2001 is shown below.^[6]

Vocabulary[link]

The Wakhi lexicon exhibits significant differences with the other Pamir languages. Gawarjon's comparison of the dialects of Sarikoli and Wakhi spoken in China is reproduced below.

Phonology[link]

Vowels[link]

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it.

Consonants[link]

Books[link]

1. Wakhi Khushkhati (Wakhi Calligraphy)
2. Wakhi Qaida (Wakhi Primer)
3. Wakhi Huroof (Wakhi letters)

References[link]

1. ^ Payne, John (1989). "Pamir Languages". In Schmitt, Rüdiger. Compendium Linguarum Iranicum. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag. pp. 419. ISBN 3-88226-413-6. 
2. ^ Viires, Ants; Lauri Vahtre (2001). The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire. Tallinn: NGO Red Book. ISBN 9985-9369-2-2. http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/index1.shtml. 
3. ^ Wakhi Tajik Cultural Association report 1991–2001. Pakistan: Wakhi Cultural Association. 2001. 
4. ^ Wakhi Roman alphabets on Gojal.net
5. ^ Ali, Haqiqat (1984). Wakhi Language. 1. http://books.google.com/books?id=Ju1jAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Haqiqat+Ali%22+%2BWakhi&dq=%22Haqiqat+Ali%22+%2BWakhi&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pJQ6T8M6xOzSAYjy5acL&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA. 
6. ^ (in Wakhi) Luqo Inǰil (Gospel of Luke). Bəzыrg Kitob tarǰimacrakыzg institute. 2001. : Title page, passages in Roman alphabet[1],passages in Cyrillic alphabet[2]
7. ^ Gawarjon (高尔锵/Gāo Ěrqiāng) (1985). Outline of the Tajik language (塔吉克语简志/Tǎjíkèyǔ Jiǎnzhì). Beijing: Nationalities Publishing House. 

• Backstrom, Peter C. Languages of Northern Areas (Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 2), 1992. 417 pp. ISBN 969-8023-12-7.

See also[link]

• Wakhi people

External links[link]

• Wakhies in Gojal, Pakistan
• Ethnologue data: Languages of the World, 15th Edition
• The Wakhis: Article from the Ismaili dot net
• English-Ishkashimi-Zebaki-Wakhi-Yazghulami Vocabulary
• Wakhi poetry
• Georg Morgenstierne multimedia database

Wakhi

Portrait of a Wakhi man
Total population
100,000
Regions with significant populations
Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, China
Languages
Wakhi
Religion
Ismaili Islam

The Wakhi people, or Khik (called Guhjali in upper Hunza), are an ethnic group originating in the Wakhan of today's Afghanistan. They also live in adjacent areas of Tajikistan and Xinjiang and in Pakistan (in Chitral District and Gojal).^[1][2] They speak the Wakhi language.

Population and demographics[link]

A very rough estimate puts the population of Wakhis at about 100,000.^{[citation needed]} The population is divided among four different countries: Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Xinjiang in western China. In China and Afghanistan the Wakhi are officially recognized as "Tajiks", while in Tajikistan Wakhi are recognized by the state as Tajiks but also self-identify as Pamiris. The religion of Wakhis is Nizari Ismaili Shia Muslim, being followers of the Aga Khan.^[3]

Organizations[link]

Wakhi Cultural Association[link]

In Pakistan, the central organization of Wakhis is the Wakhi Tajik Culture Association Pakistan (WCA), an organization that is working with the Pakistani Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Lok Virsa Pakistan. The WCA aims to preserve the Wakhi language and culture and to record its poetry and music. The WCA has arranged more than twenty programmes since 1984, including cultural shows, musical nights, large-scale musical festivals with the collaboration of Lok Virsa Pakistan, Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan (AKCSP), and Pakistan Television. In 2000, the WCA won a "Best Programme" organizer award in the Silk Road Festival from the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf.

Media[link]

Radio Pakistan's Gilgit station broadcasts the Wakhi radio programme "Sadoyah Boom-e Dunyo" (the Voice of the Roof of the World).

A computerized codification of Wakhi script has been released. It is hoped that this will help researchers record and document Wakhi poetry, literature and history.

See also[link]

• Wakhan Corridor
• Gilgit-Baltistan
• Tajiks in Pakistan

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Felmy, Sabine (1996) The Voice of the Nightingale: A Personal Account of the Wakhi Culture in Hunza Oxford University Press, New York, ISBN 0-19-577599-6.
• Shahrani, M. Nazif. (1979) The Kirghiz and Wakhi of Afghanistan: Adaptation to Closed Frontiers and War University of Washington Press, Seattle, ISBN 0-295-95669-0; 1st paperback edition with new preface and epilogue (2002), ISBN 0-295-98262-4.

External links[link]

• Wakhi Tajik Culture Association website
• "Gojal Valley (Upper Hunza)"
• Hermann Kreutzmann (2003) Ethnic minorities and marginality in the Pamirian Knot
• Photos From Afghanistan: Natural Beauty, Not War - slideshow by NPR

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