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--- agnes korn <a.korn@em.uni-frankfurt.de wrote:Dear Zahida, here are answers to two questions. For the rest, I suggest that your member joins http://groups.yahoo.com/group/balochi_culture/.There are a number of very knowledgeable Baloch in this group who can help. 1. Which dialects are spoken in Iran? I have read that there are a total of about 6 "official" dialects of Balochi by speakers in all regions. But specifically, I'm interested to know which ones are spoken in Iran. Interestingly, this is not entirely clear yet as not all Bal. dialects of Iran are investigated yet. However, we assume that on the coast, there is a Southern Balochi (Makrani) simialr to that of the Pakistani coast. In the north at the border to Afghanistan, the dialect is very close to the Western Balochi of Afghanistan, which is different from Pakistani Rakhshani in some grammatical features, but a bit similar for the rest. The remaining Bal. dialects of Iran have changed their grammar a bit (probably due to the influence of Persian). Among these, there is a sort of Rakhshani spoken in the horthern half of the province Sistan and Balochistan, and two dialects called Sarawani and Lashari which are somehow between Southern and Western Balochi. We have a map at>http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/didact/karten/bal-dial.jpg, but you should keep in mind that this is a very preliminary one, and the issue needs much more research. 2. Can a speaker of one dialect easily understand another dialect? (...) < this is very difficult to say, because understanding depends (also) on how much contact a speaker has with speakers of other dialects and how much experience with trying to understand others, and this depends on whether she/he has friends speaking other dialects (then one will probably understand them rather well), and has the opportunity to travel, and access to Balochi-language media etc. Understanding also depends on whether one person *wants* to understand another person or not.From a linguistic point of view, every Bal. dialect has its own grammar, and also somewhat differing vocabulary. Best wishes Agnes
Dear Professor Carina Jahani:Assalam-o-alaikum,I am an administrator of a Baluchi website www.baask.com which is launched just to promote Baloch, Baluchi and Balochistan.Our most of the members are Baloch but few non-baloch also joined us and they are keenly interested to learn Baluchi. We all Baloch learnt Baluchi at home thats why we are totally unaware about grammer.Here in Karachi, Pakistan material for Baluchi learners is out of reach. I personally went to search out in famouse Book markets but did not found a single book.On our site an english member recently joined and asked few question regarding Baluchi language. We all members are unable to satisfy him thats why i asked to Uncle Ameeri (Nako Nautaq Ameeri) and now a days he is not feeling well thats why he refered me to you.Its a kind request to you please give us something from your valuable time and guide our learners.I'll be thankful to you.http://www.baask.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=653Thanks and best regardsZahida Raeesiadmin@baask.com
Dear Zahida Raees,I am sorry that it has taken me so long to answer your questions. I have had so many other things to deal with, but now the burden of official duties is a little bit less as we approach the end of the semester. Please find my answers, as well as I can, below. I also include a list of my publications on Balochi. If you want any articles, just send me a note. The book: Standardization and orthography... is unfortunately out of print these days, but several people in Karachi, e.g. the Sayyid Hashimi Academy, have a copy. I also send the file of an article I wrote two years ago. It was published in:The Role of the State in West Asia, eds. Annika Rabo and Bo Utas. Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute 2005, pp. 151-163.(see also below for specific questions)Looking forward to hearing from you again.Your sincerely,Carina Jahani~~~~~~~~~~~~~~QuoteDear Professor Carina Jahani:Assalam-o-alaikum,I am an administrator of a Baluchi website www.baask.com which is launched just to promote Baloch, Baluchi and Balochistan.Our most of the members are Baloch but few non-baloch also joined us and they are keenly interested to learn Baluchi. We all Baloch learnt Baluchi at home thats why we are totally unaware about grammer.Here in Karachi, Pakistan material for Baluchi learners is out of reach. I personally went to search out in famouse Book markets but did not found a single book.On our site an english member recently joined and asked few question regarding Baluchi language. We all members are unable to satisfy him thats why i asked to Uncle Ameeri (Nako Nautaq Ameeri) and now a days he is not feeling well thats why he refered me to you.Its a kind request to you please give us something from your valuable time and guide our learners.I'll be thankful to you.http://www.baask.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=653Thanks and best regardsZahida Raeesiadmin@baask.com----------------------------------member wrote:Hi, I am a student and taking a course in Iranianlanguage and culture and I would be very grateful ifany Balochi speakers could give me a little info abouttheir language as it is very hard to find much aboutit elsewhere. Here are a few things I would like toknow about; but any information at all would begreatly appreciated:1. Which dialects are spoken in Iran? I have read thatthere are a total of about 6 "official" dialects ofBalochi by speakers in all regions. But specifically,I'm interested to know which ones are spoken in Iran.It is not possible to say that there are 6 official dialects, since nothing, unfortunately, is official about Balochi. It is not an official language anywhere. Dialect divisions can be broad, in which case we normally see Western, Southern and Eastern Balochi as the three main dialect groups.But dialect division can also be more narrow, in which case one would probably want to divide the Western dialects e.g. into Turkmen, Sarhaddi (including Afghan), Panjguri, Noshke-Kharan, Kalat and other subdivisions. A special position is held by the Sarawani dialect in Iran, which is heavily influenced by Persian.Southern Balochi may also be divided into e.g. Lashari, Kech-Mand-Tump, Karachi-balochi (which by the way is not totally homogeneous), Dashtiari, Chabahar-Brees-Gwadar (coastal), Omani and Khalij dialects.There are certainly subdivisions in the Eastern dialect block as well, but I am not so well aware of them.In Iran both Western and Southern dialects are spoken, but not eastern.2. Can a speaker of one dialect easily understand another dialect?It depends on many factors, such as level of education, travel in other parts of Balochistan, linguistic awareness etc. But I think one can say without doubt that a speaker from the eastern area (e.g. Marri-Bughti) and a speaker from e.g. Turkmenistan or Sarhadd in Iran would need some time of getting used to the other person's way of speaking before they would understand each other well even if they are well educated and have good awareness of their language. Loanwords from different languages in different dialects make comprehension more difficult.Even between Sarhaddi (e.g. spoken in Zahedan, Khash, Noshke) and Sarawani (spoken in the Sarawan valley in Iran, just south of the Sarhadd area) comprehension is somewhat difficult.I saw another posting here with Balochi translations of English words that have two different, but similar translations in Balochi--are they translations in two different dialects?It is quite possible. Balochi has, apart from its own variation between dialects, also borrowed many word from different neighbouring languages.3. If the dialects have different vocabulary, I would be very grateful if speakers of different dialects could tell me what dialect you speak, and givetranslations for the following:head, heart, mother, father, sister, brother, colors (red, black, white, blue, etc.)This question should be answered by some Baloch from different dialect areas4. If the dialects are mutually intelligible, in general, what are the differences in the dialects--is it pronunciation, vocabulary, etc. In other words, how does a person recognize that another is speaking a different dialect?Differences are both phonological (pronunciation), morphological (forms of words), syntactic (word order and other grammatical structures, i.e. how words are put together) and lexical (vocabulary). One must read descriptions of different dialects or overview articles to find out the differences:See e.g. Adam Nader Baranzehi, The central Sarawani Dialect, described inJahani, Carina and Korn, Agnes. (eds.), The Baloch and Their Neighbours: Ethnic and Linguistic Contact in Balochistan in Historical and Modern Times. Wiesbaden: Reichert 2003.Are there cultural differences between dialects?Cultural differences depend on e.g. different traditional economy of northern Balochistan (mainly pastoral nomadism) and southern Balochistan (mainly agriculture and date production etc). Cultural differences may also depend on the fact that some Baloch are sunni, some zigri and some shia. Culture does not depend on the language, but the language is an _expression of the prevalent culture.________________ Carina JahaniProfessorIranian LanguagesUppsala UniversityDepartment of Linguistics and PhilologyPostal address:Box 635SE-751 26 Uppsala,SwedenVisiting address:Thunbergsv. 3 H, Room no. 9-3028Phone:+46 18 471 7869 Telefax: +46 18 471 1094E-mail: Carina.Jahani@lingfil.uu.se