The Yidgha language is a Pamir language spoken in the Upper Lutkuh Valley (Tehsil Lotkuh) of Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa west of Garam Chashma in Pakistan. Yidgha is similar to the Munji language spoken on the Afghan side of the border.

The Garam Chashma area became important during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan because the Soviets were unable to stop the flow of arms and men back and forth across the Dorah Pass that separates Chitral from Badakshan in Afghanistan. Almost the entire Munji-speaking population of Afghanistan fled across the border to Chitral during the War in Afghanistan.

The Pamir is a high plateau sometimes called "the roof of the world" that joins Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, China and Kashmir. Marco Polo is believed to have crossed the Pamir Mountains on his way to China.

The Yidgha language has not been given serious study by linguists, except that it is mentioned by Georg Morgenstierne (1926), Kendall Decker (1992), Rehmat Aziz Chitrali and Badshah Munir Bukhari (2005). A 280-page joint description of Yidgha and Munji (descriptive and historical phonetics and grammar, glossary with etymologies where possible) is given by Morgenstierne (1938).

Norwegian linguist Georg Morgenstierne wrote that Chitral is the area of the greatest linguistic diversity in the world.[1] Although Khowar is the predominant language of Chitral, more than ten other languages are spoken here. These include Kalasha-mun, Palula, Dameli, Gawar-Bati, Nuristani, Yidgha, Burushaski, Gujar, Wakhi, Kyrgyz, Persian and Pashto. Since many of these languages have no written form, letters are usually written in Urdu or Persian.

See also[link]

• Languages of Pakistan

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Decker, Kendall D. (1992) Languages of Chitral ISBN 969-8023-15-1 http://www.ethnologue.com/show_work.asp?id=32850
• Morgenstierne, Georg (1926) Report on a Linguistic Mission to Afghanistan. Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning, Serie C I-2. Oslo. ISBN 0-923891-09-9
• Morgenstierne, Georg (1938) Indo-Iranian Frontier Languages II (Yidgha-Munji, Sanglechi-Ishkashmi and Wakhi). Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning, Serie B: XXXV. Oslo.
• Decker, Kendall D. (1992). Languages of Chitral (Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 5). National Institute of Pakistani Studies, 257 pp. ISBN 969-8023-15-1.

External links[link]

• Yidgha, A Language of Pakistan

Pamiri (Tajik: Помири, Persian: پامیری‎) is the name of an Iranian ethnic group in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province of Tajikistan and Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan.

Ethnic Identity[link]

The Pamiris are composed of people who speak the Pamiri languages, the indigenous language in the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous province, and adhere to the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam. The Pamiris share close linguistic, cultural and religious ties with the people in Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan, the Sarikoli speakers in Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in Xinjiang Province in China, the Wakhi speakers in Afghanistan and the Wakhi speakers in Upper Hunza Gojal region of Northern mountainous areas of Pakistan. In the Pamiri languages the Pamiris refer to themselves as Pamiri or Badakhshani, a reference to the historic Badakhshan region where they live.

In China, Pamiris are referred to as ethnic Tajiks. In Afghanistan, they are recognized as ethnic Pamiris, and the Afghan National Anthem mention Pamiris (پاميريان Pāmiryān) in the list of ethnic groups of Afghanistan.^[2]

History[link]

In 1929 Gorno-Badakhshan was attached to the newly formed republic of Tajikistan, and since that point there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the ethnic identity of the Pamiris. Some Tajik scholars claim Pamiri languages to be a dialects of Tajik language and there has been a long running debate as to whether the Pamiris constituted a nationality separate from Tajiks.^[3] But there is a consensus amongst linguists that the Pamiri languages are East Iranian, a sub-group of Iranian languages while Tajik language which is Persian is included in Southwestern Iranian, another sub-group of Iranian languages. In the 1926 and 1937 Soviet censuses Shugnis and Wakhis were counted as separate nationalities. After 1937 these groups were required to register as Tajiks.^[4]

During the Soviet period many Pamiris migrated to the Vakhsh River Valley and settled in Qurghonteppa Oblast, in what is today Khatlon Province. In the 1980s debate raged in Tajikistan about the official status of the Pamiri languages in the republic. After the independence of Tajikistan in 1991 Pamiri nationalism stirred and the Pamiri nationalist political party Lali Badakhshan took power in Gorno-Badakhshan. Anti-government protests took place in the province's capital, Khorog, and in 1992 the republic declared itself an independent country. This declaration was later repealed. During the Tajikistan Civil War from 1992–1997 Pamiris in large backed the United Tajik Opposition, the Pamiris were targeted for massacres, especially those living in the capital Dushanbe and Qurghonteppa Oblast. In the early 1990s there was a movement amongst Pamiris to separate Gorno-Badakhshan from Tajikistan. ^[5]

Religion[link]

Pamiris are predominately Nizārī Ismā'īlī and follow the Aga Khan. The Aga Khan Foundation became the primary non-governmental organization in Gorno-Badakhshan. There are also Sunni Pamiris currently numbering at approximately a few thousand.^[6].

Notable Individuals[link]

• Oleg Fesov, musician and actor
• Davlat Khudonazarov, filmmaker and presidential candidate in 1991 presidential elections in Tajikistan
• Muboraksho Mirzoshoyev, musician
• Daler Nazarov, musician and actor
• Abusaid Shokhumorov, historian and philosopher

References[link]

1. ^ Islamic peoples of the Soviet Union, pg. 33 By Shirin Akiner
2. ^ Afghan National Anthem
3. ^ Cheshko, S. V. (1989). "Не Публицистично, Но И Не Научно". Sovetskaya Etnografiya Akademiya Nauk SSR I Narodnyi Komisseriat Prosveshcheniya RSFSR (5): 23–38. 
4. ^ Suny, Ronald Grigor (2006). "History and Foreign Policy: From Constructed Identities to "Ancient Hatreds" East of the Caspian". In Shaffer, Brenda. The Limits of Culture: Islam and Foreign Policy. MIT Press. pp. 100–110. ISBN 0-262-69321-6. 
5. ^ Suhrobsho Davlatshoev (2006). "The Formation and Consolidation of Pamiri Ethnic Identity in Tajikistan. Dissertation". School of Social Sciences of Middle East Technical University, Turkey (M.S. thesis). http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12607111/index.pdf. Retrieved 2006-08-25. 
6. ^ Islamic peoples of the Soviet Union, pg. 33, By Shirin Akiner

External links[link]

• United Nations University (2009) Digital Video "Pamiri women and the melting glaciers of Tajikistan": three generations of Pamiri women share the impacts of Pamir Mountain glacier melt and decreasing water levels 1 December 2009

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