# Rakhshani dialect

Rakhshani(Balochi:رخشانی) also termed Western Balochi is a Balochi dialect. The dialect has several important subdialects and spoken predominantly in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. The Ethnologue website has classified the dialect under the western Balochi.

## Dialects

Elfenbein divides the Rakhshani dialect into three categories:
* Kalati (areas between Las Bela in the north of Karachi to Mastung in the south of Quetta Chaghi and Kharan (northern areas of Balochistan, Pakistan, including Noshki, Dalbandin, Kharan, and Kalat).
* Panjguri(southern and southwestern areas of Afghanistan, mainly the areas around the Helmand River).
* Sarhaddi (an area that extends from the east to Dalbandin in Pakistan and from the northeast to Chahar Burjak in Afghanistan, and includes Merv in the Republic of Turkmenistan and Sistan in Iran, with Nosratabad in Balochistan, Iran, forming its southernmost part).

## Phonology

Western Balochi has 21 consonant phonemes and 6 vowel phonemes.
Rakhshani Consonants :
| Consonant vowels | p, t, t̥, č, k, b, d, d̥, ǰ, g, (ƒ), s, š, (x), h, z, ž, (ġ), m, n, r, r̥, l, w, y |
| long vowels | aː, iː, uː |
| Short vowel | a, e, o |
| Compound vowel | ı͂ , o͂, u͂ |

### Vowles

three short and five long vowels for the Rakhshani dialect as ə, y, w, a, i, u, e, o (adapted: a, i, u, aː, iː, uː eː, oː). nasalized ones a͂, e͂ , ı͂ , o͂, u͂, “of which only a͂, e͂ are common in the Rakhshani dia-lects.
Vowel systems in Western Balochi dialects :
| Scholars | Vowel systems | Dialects |
| Rzehak (2003) | ī, i, ē, a, ā, ō, u, ū | Rakhshani in Afghanistan |
| Axenov (2006) | ī, i, ē, a, ā, ō, u, ū | Rakhshani in Turkmenistan |
| Ahangar (2007) | ī, i, e, ē, a, ā, o, ō, u, ū | Sarhaddi in Iran |

### Consonants

The consonants /p/, /t/, /t̥/, /č/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /d̥/, /ǰ/, /g/, /(ƒ)/, /s/, /š/, /(x)/, /h/, /z/, /ž/, /(ġ)/, /m/, /n/, /r/, /r̥/, /l/, /w/ and /y/ are articulated as alveolar in Western Balochi. The plosives /t/ and /d/ are dental in both dialects. The symbol ń is used to denote nasalization of the preceding vowel. The consonants /s/, /z/, /n/, /ɾ/ and /l/ are articulated as alveolar in Western Balochi. The consonants /f x ġ/ in the Rakhshani dialect often remain, but in Makrani they become /g/, /k/ or /h/, and /p/, respectively. In addition, /f/ occurs in a few words in Southern Balochi. /x/ (voiceless velar fricative) in some loanwords in Southern Balochi corresponding to /ʁ/ (voiced uvular fricative) in Western Balochi.
Consonants in Western Balochi Dialects :
| | | Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | p | t | t̥ | č | k | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiced | b | d | d̥ | J̌ | ɡ | |
| Fricative | voiceless | (ƒ) | s | | Š | (x) | h |
| Fricative | voiced | β | z | | ž | (ǧ) |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | | | |
| Taps | Taps | | r | r̥ | | | |
| Glides | Glides | w | | | y | |
| IPA | Rakhshani Alphabet | Romanization | Example Word (Rakhshani) | Example Word (English) | Notes |
| b | ب | b | بُرز borz (high) | b in "bat" | |
| p | پ | p | پیروک piroč (grandfather) | p in "pat" | |
| t | ت | t | تَوار tawar (sound) | t in "tab" | |
| d | د | d | دمان damān (moment) | d in "dab" | |
| k | ک | k | کارچ karch (Knife) | c in "cat" | |
| g | گ | g | گوار go,ar(sister) | g in "got" | |
| s | س | s | سوچن soochen (needle) | s in "sing" | |
| z | ز | z | زاماس zamas (groom) | z in "zipper" | |
| ʃ | ش | ş | شگال shagal (jackal) | sh in "shoe" |
| ʒ | ژ | j | ژامب Žimb (slope) | ge in "beige" | sometimes romanized as (zh) |
| t͡ʃ | چ | ç | چاگرد Càgerd (society) | ch in "cheap" | |
| d͡ʒ | ج | c | جامگ jamag (shirt) | j in "jump" | sometimes romanized as "j" |
| h | ھ | h | هال Hàl (news) | h in "hat" | |
| m | م | m | مَٹ Maťť (same) | m in "map" | |
| n | ن | n | نيمروچ nimroch (half day) | n in "none" | |
| w | و | w | وهد Wahd (time) | w in "water" | |
| j | ى | y | یات Yàt (memory) | y in "yellow" | |
| l | ل | l | لُنٹ Lònť (lip) | l in "let" | |

### Syllable

In Western Balochi dialects the stress is on the last syllable of the word as a rule. The pronominal suffixes and the present copula, which are enclitic except for the individuation marker -e. For inflected forms of the interrogative pronouns č ē 'what' are stressed on the first syllable.
The negative prefix na- and the prohibitive prefix ma- attract the stress. Verb forms with the prefix b(i) likewise have the stress on the first syllable thus on the first syllable of the stem if the vowel of the prefix is omitted, see and the nominal part of complex predicates takes the phrase stress. Inflected forms of the interrogative pronouns ce 'what' are stressed on the first syllable, however. There are also a few adverbs that are stressed on the first syllable.

## Grammar

In the Rakhshani dialect, the infinitive noun is often formed from the past participle and ends in -tin. The active adjective, the future passive adjective (= imperative adjective) and the active noun are formed by adding the suffixes ān-, -agī(g) and -ōk to the present participle, respectively, and the passive adjective is formed by adding the suffix -a(g) to the past participle.
In some dialects of Balochi spoken in Western Balochistan the construction employs the verb twánag (past stem twánt) ‘to be able to’ + present-future subjunctive forms of the main verb. Twánag ‘to be able to’ is conjugated as a transitive verb.
The western balochi dialects have -ay for the Genitive and -ârā or -ānā for the Object.
Western Balochi dialects are moving from a split ergative toward a nominative - accusative ( NOM- ACC ) system. The subject is marked as nominative except for the past tense constructions where the subject of a transitive verb is marked as oblique and the verb agrees with the object. Balochi, like many Western Iranian languages, has lost the Old Iranian gender distinctions.
| Sentence | Meaning |
| ما توانین بیاین Má twánén byáén. | We can come |
| آیان نتوانت اِدا لوگے ادّ بکننت Áyán natwánt edá lógé addh bekanant. | They could not build a house here. |

### Pronouns

| Pronouns | Rakhshani(Western) | Makrani(Southern) |
| 1st person | من | من |
| 2nd person | تهٔ | تَو |
| 3rd person | آ - آئی | آ - آیی |
| 1st person(Plural) | ئما/هٔما | مِشما/ما |
| 2nd person(Plural) | شما | شما |
| 3rd person(Plural) | آوان | آیاں |

## Sarhaddi

One of the sub-dialects of Rakhshani is the Sarhaddi(Balochi:سرحدی) dialect, which is more influenced by the Persian language and in which words, compounds and even grammatical structures of the Persian language are more commonly seen; that is, words from Modern Persian have been used after phonetic changes, as well as a number of Persian grammatical structures in this dialect. For example, words from Persian that end in "unvoiced ha" are considered after converting "e" to "g" and "e" is converted to "g" and used in the Sarhaddi. Sarhaddi includes infinitive, adverbial (subject noun and object noun) and infinitive noun, all of which are made from the verb stem and certain suffixes.

## Northern Rakhshani

Northern Rakhshani has similarities with Sarhaddi , and Turkmen Rakhshani(Baloch of Turkmenistan) also originated from Balochi Rakhshani. The difference between Northern Rakhshani and Sarhaddi is that: In the past tense, the letter "g" has been removed from Northern Rakhshani, but it is still present in Sarhaddi.
| Sarhaddi | Northern | Persian | English |
| نشته‌گون/نشتگ اون | نشته‌اون | نشسته‌ام | I am sitting. |
| شته اون/شتگ اون | شوته‌اون | رفته‌ام | I am gone. |
| وانته‌گون/وانتگ اون | وانته‌اون | خوانده‌ام | I have read. |
| دیسته گون/دیستگ اون | دیسته‌اون | دیده‌ام | I have seen. |
| زانته‌گون/زانتگ اون | زانته‌اون | دانسته‌ام | I have known. |
Northern Rakhshani is spoken in the provinces of Nimroz, Farah, Helmand, Kandahar, Herat, and some northern provinces of Afghanistan.

## Rakhshani of Turkmenistan

The Baloch of Turkmenistan speak a dialect of the Balochi language that is very close to the Balochi dialect of the Baloch people of Afghanistan. The Balochi dialect of Turkmenistan belongs to the Rakhshani dialect.
| Tenses | Rakhshani | Persian | English |
| Present-future | man kār-a kanīn man-a raīn | من کار می‌کنم من می‌روم | I am working I am going |
| Simple past | man kār kurtun man šutun | من کار کردم من رفتم | I worked I went |
| Past continuous | man kār-a kurtun man-a šutun | من داشتم کار می‌کردم من داشتم می‌رفتم | I was working I was leaving |
| present perfect | man kār kurtá un man šutá un | من کار کرده‌ام من رفته‌ام | I have worked I have gone |
| Past perfect | man kār kurt-átun man šut-átun | من کار کرده بودم من رفته بودم | I had worked I had gone |
Some verb constituents have gradually been eliminated from this dialect, but traces of them still exist. The third-person singular indefinite pronoun (or pronoun suffix) is often used with transitive verbs, and sometimes without transitive verbs.
| Rakhshani | Persian | English |
| man rawagā-y-un | من دارم می‌روم | I am leaving. |
| man rawagā-y-atun | من داشتم می‌رفتم | I was leaving. |
| Rakhshani (in Turkmenistan) | Rakhshani (in Afghanistan) | Persian | English |
| gušt-ī | ā gušt | او گفت | He said |
| kurt-ī | ā kurt | او انجام داد | He did |
| šut-ī | ā šut | او رفت | He left |
| jist-ī | ā jist | او فرار کرد | He ran away |

## Vocabulary

Following are comparing the vocabulary of the Makrani and Sarhaddi dialects.
| English | Rakshani(Sarhaddi) | Southern Balochi(Makrani) |
| Look | sayl kanag | čârag |
| Child | zahg | čokk |
| Cradle | juṭṭ | Gwânzag |
| River | rôd | kawr |
| Miserly | morr | muzz |
| Breakfast | nâštâ | nahâri |
| thin | nâzork | nâzorok |
| Cotton | pammag | Pamba(g) |
| Sarcasm | šegân | šagâm |
| Salt | šôr | sôr |
| Shadow | syâheg | sâheg |
| Yogurt | bastag | mastag |