Jadgali language

For other languages with the name, see Jatki language.
Jadgali
Nummaṛī
Jadgali in Arabic script, in the three names of the language, Jadgali (Baloch name) and Numari (Native name)
Native toPakistan, Iran
EthnicityJadgals[1]
Native speakers
no reliable data (2008)[2]
Arabic script (Nastaʿlīq)[3]
Language codes
ISO 639-3jdg
Glottologjadg1238

Jaḍgālī (also called Jatgali, Jatki,[4] Zadjali) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Jadgal, an ethno-linguistic group[5] of Pakistan and Iran also spoken by few hundreds in Oman. It is one of only two Indo-Aryan languages found on the Iranian plateau.[5] It is a dialect of Sindhi language most closely related to Lasi.[6][7]

The majority of the Jadgali population is found in Pakistan, where a 2004 estimate placed it at 15,600,[8] and in Iran, where according to a 2008 estimate it is at least 25,000.[9] There are also immigrant communities in Oman and the United Arab Emirates, where the Jadgal are known as az-zighālī or az-zijālī.[10] In Iran at least two varieties are spoken, which are reportedly not easily intercomprehensible.[11]

The term Jadgal is of Balochi origin, but it is nowadays used by the Jadgal themselves, alongside their earlier endonym Nummaṛ, which is the source of the language names Nummaṛī and Nummaṛikī.[12]

Jadgali is underdocumented. According to Emeneau, it is likely to have been the source of early Indo-Aryan influences on Balochi and Brahui and therefore studies of the language could help bring insights into the linguistic history of the area.[13]

  1. ^ Agnes Korn; Carina Jahani; Paul Brian Titus (2008). The Baloch and others: linguistic, historical and socio-political perspectives on pluralism in Balochistan. Wiesbaden: Reichert. p. 26. ISBN 3895005916.
  2. ^ Delforooz 2008, p. 25
  3. ^ "Ethnologue report for Jadgali". Ethnologue.
  4. ^ Grimes, B. (2003). "Northwest Indo-Aryan Languages". International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-513977-8.
  5. ^ a b Delforooz 2008, p. 23.
  6. ^ Delforooz 2008, pp. 27–28. The similarity to Lasi emerged from a study of recordings of lexical items. The author notes that there nevertheless are differences in both pronunciation and lexicon.
  7. ^ Jahani, Carina; Korn, Agnes; Titus, Paul Brian (2008). The Baloch and Others: Linguistic, Historical and Socio-political Perspectives on Pluralism in Balochistan. Reichert Verlag. p. 28. ISBN 978-3-89500-591-6. the Jadgal in Dashtyari and speakers of Lasi in Las Bela or by assuming that Jadgali is a separate Sindhi dialect.'
  8. ^ Ethnologue 2017. Ethnologue had earlier estimated the population in Pakistan at 100,000.(Ethnologue 2013).
  9. ^ Delforooz 2008, p. 25. The corresponding 2004 estimate reported in Ethnologue (2017) was 10,000.
  10. ^ Delforooz 2008, p. 25.
  11. ^ Based on the testimony of one speaker. (Delforooz 2008, p. 28).
  12. ^ Delforooz 2008, p. 28.
  13. ^ Bashir 2016, pp. 272, 277.