Burushaski


Burushaski is a language isolate spoken by Burusho people who reside almost entirely in northern Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, with a few hundred speakers in northern Jammu and Kashmir, India. In Pakistan, Burushaski is spoken by people in Hunza-Nagar District, northern Gilgit District, and in the Yasin and Ishkoman valleys of northern Ghizer District. Their native region is located in northern Gilgit–Baltistan and borders with Pamir corridor to the north. In India, Burushaski is spoken in Botraj Mohalla of the Hari Parbat region in Srinagar. Other names for the language are Biltum, Khajuna, Kunjut, Brushaski, Burucaki, Burucaski, Burushaki, Burushki, Brugaski, Brushas, Werchikwar and Miśa:ski.

Classification

Attempts have been made to establish links between Burushaski and several different language families, although none has been accepted by a majority of linguists.
Following Berger, the American Heritage dictionaries suggested that the word *abel 'apple', the only name for a fruit reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European, may have been borrowed from a language ancestral to Burushaski.
Other hypotheses posit a genealogical relationship between Burushaski and the North Caucasian languages, Kartvelian languages, Yeniseian languages and/or Indo-European languages, usually in proposed macrofamilies.
The linguist Sadaf Munshi stated that Burushaski may have developed alongside the Dravidian languages before the Indo-Aryan migration to South Asia, mentioning the fact that both possess retroflex sounds.

Varieties

Burushaski is spoken by about 90,000 speakers in Pakistan, and also by a few hundred in India. In Pakistan, it is spoken in main valleys:Yasin, Hunza, and Nagar. The varieties of Hunza and Nagar diverge slightly, but are clearly dialects of a single language. The Yasin variety, also known by the Khowar exonym Werchikwar, is much more divergent. Intelligibility between Yasin and Hunza-Nagar is difficult, and Yasin is sometimes considered a distinct language and the pure Burushaski is spoken in Yasin valley. Yasin is the least affected by contact with neighboring languages, though speakers are bilingual in Khowar. Yasin is spoken by a quarter of Burushaski speakers.
In India, Jammu & Kashmir Burushaski "has developed divergent linguistic features which make it systematically different from the varieties spoken in Pakistan." The dialect of Burushashki spoken in India has been influenced by Kashmiri, as well as Hindi and Urdu. Unique to JKB is the features of vowel syncopation. Jammu & Kashmir Burushaski shares more similarities with the dialect spoken in Nagar than with that spoken in Hunza.

Writing system

Burushaski is a predominantly spoken rather than written language. Occasionally the Urdu alphabet is used, and there are some specific characters in unicode, but no fixed orthography exists. Adu Wazir Shafi wrote a book Burushaski Razon using a Latin script.
Tibetan sources record a Bru-śa language of the Gilgit valley, which appears to have been Burushaski, whose script was one of five scripts used to write the extinct Zhang-Zhung language. Although Burushaski may once have been a significant literary language, no Bru-śa manuscripts are known to have survived.
Linguists working on Burushaski use various makeshift transcriptions based on the Latin alphabet, most commonly that by Berger, in their publications.
Burushaski LetterRomanizationIPA
اaa
ݳa
ݴáa
بb
پp
تt
ٹṭ
ثs
جj
ݘć
ݼch
څc̣
حh
خqh
دd
ڎc
ڈḍ
ذz
رr
ڑḍ
زz
ژj
سs
شś
ݽṣ
صs
ڞc̣h
ضz
طt
ظz
ع’
غġ
فph
قq
کk
گg
ݣṅ
لl
مm
نn
ںṇ
وw/oo
ݸo
ݹóo
هh
ھh
ء’
یy
ݶíi
ݷỵ
ےee
ݺe
ݻée

Phonology

Burushaski primarily has five vowels, /i e a o u/. Various contractions result in long vowels; stressed vowels tend to be longer and less "open" than unstressed ones. Long vowels also occur in loans and in a few onomatopoeic words. All vowels have nasal counterparts in Hunza and in Nager.
Berger finds the following consonants to be phonemic, shown below in his transcription and in the :
Notes:

Grammar

Burushaski is a double-marking language and word order is generally subject–object–verb.
Nouns in Burushaski are divided into four genders: human masculine, human feminine, countable objects, and uncountable ones. The assignment of a noun to a particular gender is largely predictable. Some words can belong both to the countable and to the uncountable class, producing differences in meaning. For example, when countable, báalt means 'apple' but when uncountable, it means 'apple tree'.
Noun morphology consists of the noun stem, a possessive prefix, and number and case suffixes. Distinctions in number are singular, plural, indefinite, and grouped. Cases include absolutive, ergative/oblique, genitive, and several locatives; the latter indicate both location and direction and may be compounded.
Burushaski verbs have three basic stems: past tense, present tense, and consecutive. The past stem is the citation form and is also used for imperatives and nominalization; the consecutive stem is similar to a past participle and is used for coordination. Agreement on the verb has both nominative and ergative features: transitive verbs and unaccusatives mark both the subject and the object of a clause, while unergatives verbs mark only subject agreement on the verb. Altogether, a verb can take up to four prefixes and six suffixes.

Nouns

Noun classes

In Burushaski, there are four noun classes, similar to declensional classes in Indo-European languages, but unlike Indo-European, the nominal classes in Burushaski are associated with four grammatical "genders":
Below, the abbreviation "h" will stand for the combination of the m- and f-classes, while "hx" will stand for the combination of the m-, f- and x-classes. Nouns in the x-class typically refer to countable, non-human beings or things, for example animals, fruit, stones, eggs, or coins; conversely, nouns in the y-class are as a rule uncountable abstractions or mass nouns, such as rice, fire, water, snow, wool, etc.
However, these rules are not universal – countable objects in the y-class are sometimes encountered, e.g. ha, 'house'. Related words can subtly change their meanings when used in different classes – for example, bayú, when a member of the x-class, means salt in clumps, but when in the y-class, it means powdered salt. Fruit trees are understood collectively and placed in the y-class, but their individual fruits belong to the x-class. Objects made of particular materials can belong to either the x- or the y- class: stone and wood are in the x-class, but metal and leather in the y-class. The article, adjectives, numerals and other attributes must be in agreement with the noun class of their subject.

Pluralisation

There are two numbers in Burushaski: singular and plural. The singular is unmarked, while the plural is expressed by means of suffix, which vary depending on the class of the noun:
Some nouns admit two or three different prefixes, while others have no distinctive suffix, and occur only in the plural, e.g. bras 'rice', gur 'wheat', bishké, 'fur',. On the other hand, there are also nouns which have identical forms in the singular and plural, e.g. hagúr 'horses'. Adjectives have a unique plural suffix, whose form depends on the class of the noun they modify, e.g. burúm 'white' gives the x-class plural burum-išo and the y-class plural burúm-ing.
Examples of pluralisation in Burushaski:
Burushaski is an ergative language. It has five primary cases.
CaseSuffixFunction
AbsolutiveunmarkedThe subject of intransitive verbs and the object of transitive ones.
Ergative-eThe subject of transitive verbs.
Oblique-e; -mo Genitive; the basis of secondary case endings
Dative-ar, -rDative, allative.
Ablative-um, -m, -moIndicates separation

The case suffixes are appended to the plural suffix, e.g. Huséiniukutse, 'the people of Hussein'. The genitive ending is irregular, /mo/, for singular f-class nouns, but /-e/ in all others. The dative ending, /-ar/, /-r/ is attached to the genitive ending for singular f-class nouns, but to the stem for all others. Examples:
The genitive is placed before the thing possessed: Hunzue tham, 'the Emir of Hunza.'
The endings of the secondary cases are formed from a secondary case suffix and one of the primary endings /-e/, /-ar/ or /-um/. These endings are directional, /-e/ being locative, /-ar/ being terminative, and /-um/ being ablative. The infixes, and their basic meanings, are as follows:
  1. -ts- 'at'
  2. -ul- 'in'
  3. -aṭ- 'on; with'
  4. -al- 'near'
From these, the following secondary or compound cases are formed:
InfixLocativeTerminativeAblative
-ts--ts-e 'at'-ts-ar 'to'-ts-um 'from'
-ul--ul-e 'in'-ul-ar 'into'-ul-um 'out of'
-aṭ--aṭ-e 'on','with'-aṭ-ar 'up to'-aṭ-um 'down from'
-al--al-e 'near'-al-ar 'to'-al-um 'from'

The regular endings /-ul-e/ and /-ul-ar/ are archaic and are now replaced by /-ul-o/ and /-ar-ulo/ respectively.

Pronouns and pronominal prefixes

Nouns indicating parts of the body and kinship terms are accompanied by an obligatory pronominal prefix. Thus, one cannot simply say 'mother' or 'arm' in Burushaski, but only 'my arm', 'your mother', 'his father', etc. For example, the root mi 'mother', is never found in isolation, instead one finds:
The pronominal, or personal, prefixes agree with the person, number and – in the third person, the class of their noun. A summary of the basic forms is given in the following table:
Personal pronouns in Burushaski distinguish proximal and distal forms, e.g. khin 'he, this one here', but in, 'he, that one there'. In the oblique, there are additional abbreviated forms.

Numerals

The Burushaski number system is vigesimal, i.e. based on the number 20. For example, 20 altar, 40 alto-altar, 60 iski-altar etc. The base numerals are:
Examples of compound numerals:
11 turma-han, 12 turma-alto, 13 turma-isko,..., 19 turma-hunti;
20 altar, 30 altar-toorumo, 40 alto-altar, 50 alto-altar-toorumo, 60 iski-altar and so on;
21 altar-hak, 22 altar-alto, 23 altar-isko and so on.

Verbs

Overview

The verbal morphology of Burushaski is extremely complicated and rich in forms. Many sound changes can take place, including assimilation, deletion and accent shift, which are unique for almost every verb. Here, we can only specify certain basic principles.
The Burushaski finite verb falls into the following categories:
CategoryPossible forms
Tense/AspectPresent, Future, Imperfect, Perfect, Pluperfect
MoodConditional, three Optatives, Imperative, Conative
NumberSingular, Plural
Person1st, 2nd and 3rd Person.
Noun classthe four noun classes m, f, x and y

For many transitive verbs, in addition to the subject, the object is also indicated, also by pronominal prefixes which vary according to person, number and class. All verbs have negative forms, and many intransitive verbs also have derived transitive forms. The infinitive forms – which in Burushaski are the absolutives of the past and present, the perfect participle, and two infinitives – admit all the finite variations except tense and mood. Infinitive forms are made together with auxiliary verbs and periphrastic forms.

The 11 positions of the finite verb

All verb forms can be constructed according to a complex but regular position system. Berger describes a total of 11 possible positions, or slots, although not all of these will be filled in any given verb form. Many positions also have several alternative contents. The verb stem is in position 5, preceded by four possible prefixes and followed by seven possible suffixes. The following table gives an overview of the positions and their functions
PositionAffixes and their meanings
1Negative prefix a-
2a/bd-prefix / n-prefix
3Pronominal prefixes: subject of intransitive, object of transitive verbs
4s-prefix
5Verb Stem
6Plural suffix -ya- on the verb stem
7Present stem mark -č- forming the present, future and imperfect
8a/bPronominal suffix of the 1.sg. -a- / linking vowel
9am-suffix: forms the m-participle and m-optative from the simple /
9bm-suffix: forms the future and conditional from the present stem /
9cn-suffix: marks the absolutive /
9dš-suffix: forms the š-optative and the -iš-Infinitive /
9eInfinitive ending -as, -áas / optative suffix -áa
10aPronominal suffixes of the 2nd and 3rd Person and 1. pl. /
10bImperative forms /
10cForms of the auxiliary verb ba- for forming the present, imperfect, perfect and pluperfect
11Nominal endings and particles

Formation of tenses and moods

The formation of the tenses and moods involves the use of several positions, or slots, in complicated ways. The preterite, perfect, pluperfect and conative are formed from the 'simple stem,' whereas the present, imperfect, future and conditional are formed from the 'present stem,' which is itself formed from the simple stem by placing -č- in position 7. The optative and imperative are derived directly from the stem. Altogether, the schema is as follows:
The formation of the tenses and moods of the verb her 'to cry', without prefixes:
Grammatical
category		ConstructionForm and meaning
Conativestem + personal suffixher-i 'he starts to cry'
Preteritestem + m-suffix + personal suffixher-i-m-i 'he cried'
Perfectstem + present auxiliaryher-a-i 'he has cried'
Pluperfectstem + perfect auxiliaryher-a-m 'he had cried'

Grammatical
category		ConstructionForm and meaning
Futurestem + present marker + personal endingher-č-i 'he will cry'
Presentstem + present marker + linking vowel + present auxiliaryher-č-a-i 'he is crying'
Imperfectstem + present marker + linking vowel + perfect auxiliaryher-č-a-m 'he was crying, used to cry'
Conditionalstem + present marker + linking vowel + m-Suffix + čeher-č-u-m-če '...he would cry',
Conditionalstem + present marker + linking vowel + 1. pl. ending + čeher-č-an-če 'we would cry'

Grammatical
category		ConstructionForm and meaning
áa-optativestem + áa her-áa "...should.. cry"
m-optativestem + m-suffixher-u-m "...should.. cry“
š-optativestem + š + personal suffixher-š-an "he should cry"
Imperative
singular		stem her "cry!"
Imperative
plural		stem + inher-in "cry!"

Indication of the subject and object

The subject and object of the verb are indicated by the use of personal prefixes and suffixes in positions 3, 8 and 10 as follows:
AffixPositionFunction
Prefixes3direct object of transitive verbs, subject of intransitive ones
Suffixes8/10subject of transitive and intransitive verbs

The personal prefixes are identical to the pronominal prefixes of nouns. A simplified overview of the forms of the affixes is given in the following table:
For example, the construction of the preterite of the transitive verb phus 'to tie', with prefixes and suffixes separated by hyphens, is as follows :
The personal affixes are also used when the noun occupies the role of the subject or the object, e.g. hir i-ír-i-mi 'the man died'. With intransitive verbs, the subject function is indicated by both a prefix and a suffix, as in:
Personal prefixes do not occur in all verbs and all tenses. Some verbs do not admit personal prefixes, others still do so only under certain circumstances. Personal prefixes used with intransitive verbs often express a volitional function, with prefixed forms indicating an action contrary to the intention of the subject. For example:
A number of verbs – mostly according to their root form – are found with the d-prefix in position 2, which occurs before a consonant according to vowel harmony. The precise semantic function of the d-prefix is unclear. With primary transitive verbs the d-prefix, always without personal prefixes, forms regular intransitives. Examples:
A master's thesis research work of a native speaker of Burushaski on Middle Voice Construction in the Hunza Dialect claims that the verbal prefix is an overt morphological middle marker for MV constructions, while the verbal prefix is a morphological marker for passive voice. The data primarily come from the Hunza dialect of Burushaski, but analogous phenomena can be observed in other dialects. This research is based on a corpus of 120 dd-prefix verbs. This research has showed that position on the verb template is occupied by voice-marker in Burushaski. The author argues that the middle marker is a semantic category of its own and that it is clearly distinguished from the reflexive marker in this language. The middle marker means the grammatical device used to "indicate that the two semantic roles of Initiator and Endpoint refer to a single holistic entity". In the view of that definition, I look at a middle marked verb in Burushaski and illustration follows the example.