- Brahui language
Infobox Language
name=Brahui
nativename=بروہی
region=Balochistan
speakers=2.2 million (1998 estimate)
familycolor=Dravidian
fam2=Northern
script=Perso-Arabic
iso3=brhThe Brahui (Urdu spelling: بروہی) or Bravi (براوِ)
language , spoken by the Brahui, is aDravidian language mainly spoken inPakistan , although it is also spoken inAfghanistan andIran . The 2005 edition ofEthnologue reports some 2.2 million speakers, 90% of whom live in Pakistan. In Pakistan it is mainly spoken in the Kalat region of Balochistan.Although it is a Dravidian language, it has been heavily influenced by the
Iranian languages spoken in the area, especially Balochi.Brahui is widely suggested to be a remnant of a formerly widespread Dravidian language family that is believed to have been reduced or replaced during the influx of Indic languages. It is also been suggested that Brahui might be a direct legacy of the
Indus Valley Civilisation . Conversely, it has also been suggested that Brahuis migrated up to Baluchistan in the 13 or 14th century [Sergent, "Genèse de l'Inde"] or by a late immigration that took place after1000 CE . [J. H. Elfenbein, "A periplous of the 'Brahui problem'", Studia Iranica 16 (1987), 215-233, quoted after `The Languages of Harappa' by Michael Witzel Feb. 2000, p. 1 [http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/IndusLang.pdf] ]References
External links
* [http://www.southasiabibliography.de/Bibliography/Dravidian/Brahui___Birouhi/brahui___birouhi.html Partial bibliography of scholarly works on Brahui]
* [http://www.wordgumbo.com/dr/bra/erengbra.htm English to Brahui word list]
* [http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=207&menu=004 Complete profile of the Brahui language, with citations to teaching materials]
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=brh Ethnologue report on the Brahui language]Template group
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