Pashayi language

Pashayi
Spoken in	Afghanistan
Native speakers	108,000  (1982)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Aryan Dardic Pashayi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	variously: aee – Northeastern glh – Northwestern psi – Southeastern psh – Southwestern
Linguasphere	59-AAA-a
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Pashayi - also known as Pashai - is a language (or a group of languages) spoken by the Pashai people in parts of Kapisa, Laghman, Nuristan, Kunar, and Nangarhar Provinces in Northeastern Afghanistan.

It belongs to the Indo-European language family, and is on the Dardic group of the Indo-Aryan branch.^[2]

It was spoken by over 216,842 people who are predominantly Muslim. Most of them are bilingual in Pashto with a literacy rate of about 25%, with the Pashai language having no written form prior to 2003.^[3]

There are four main varieties, which are all mutually unintelligible: the Northeastern, the Northwestern, the Southeastern and the Southwestern. The inhabitants of the Korengal Valley in the Pech District of Kunar Province speak a variety of Pashai Language.

References

1. ^ Pashayi language at Ethnologue
2. ^ Colin P. Masica: The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1991. S. 440.
3. ^ http://www.sil.org/asia/ldc/parallel_papers/ju-hong_yun.pdf