Burushaski

Burushaski (بروشسکی - Burū́šaskī) is a language isolate spoken by some 300,000 Burusho people in the Hunza, Nagar, Yasin, Chitral, and Gilgit valleys of Northern Pakistan. It is also spoken by some 300 immigrants in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir. Other names for the language are Kanjut (Kunjoot), Werchikwār, Boorishki, Brushas (Brushias), Biltum, Khajuna, Werchikwar and Miśa:ski.

Today Burushaski contains many loanwords from Urdu (including English words received via Urdu) and from neighbouring Dardic languages such as Khowar and Shina, as well as a few from Turkic languages and from the neighboring Sino-Tibetan language Balti, but the original vocabulary remains largely intact. The Dardic languages also contain large numbers of loanwords from Burushaski.

There are three dialects, named after the main valleys: Hunza, Nagar, and Yasin (also called Werchikwār). The dialect of Yasin is thought to be the least affected by contact with neighboring languages and is generally less similar to the other two than those are to each other; nevertheless, all three dialects are mutually intelligible.

References

Category:Language isolates
Category:Languages of Gilgit-Baltistan
Category:Languages of Pakistan