Shina language

Not to be confused with Kohistani Shina.
Shina
ݜݨیاٗ زبان / ݜݨیاٗ گلیتوࣿ زبان
Ṣiṇyaá
The word Ṣiṇyaá written in the Arabic script in Nastaliq style.
Pronunciation[ʂiɳjá]
Native toPakistan, India
RegionGilgit-Baltistan, Kohistan, Drass, Gurez
EthnicityShina
Native speakers
720,200 Shina (2018)[1]
and Shina, Kohistani 458,000 (2018)[2]
Arabic script (Nastaʿlīq)[3]
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
scl – Standard Shina
plk – Kohistani Shina
Glottologshin1264  Shina
kohi1248  Kohistani Shina
Distribution of Shina language in Dark Orange
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Shina (ݜݨیاٗ,شِْنْیٛا Ṣiṇyaá, IPA: [ʂiɳjá]) is a Dardic language of Indo-Aryan language family spoken by the Shina people.[4][5] In Pakistan, Shina is the major language in Gilgit-Baltistan spoken by an estimated 1,146,000 people living mainly in Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan.[4][6] A small community of Shina speakers is also found in India, in the Guraiz valley of Jammu and Kashmir and in Dras valley of Ladakh.[4] Outliers of Shina language such as Brokskat are found in Ladakh, Kundal Shahi in Azad Kashmir, Palula and Sawi in Chitral, Ushojo in the Swat Valley and Kalkoti in Dir.[4]

Until recently, there was no writing system for the language. A number of schemes have been proposed, and there is no single writing system used by speakers of Shina language.[7] Shina is mostly a spoken language and not a written language. Most Shina speakers do not write their language.

Due to effects of dominant languages in Pakistani media like Urdu, Standard Punjabi and English and religious impact of Arabic and Persian, Shina like other languages of Pakistan are continuously expanding its vocabulary base with loan words.[8] It has close relationship with other Indo-Aryan languages, especially Standard Punjabi, Western Punjabi, Sindhi, and the dialects of Western Pahari.[9]

  1. ^ "Shina". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 2019-06-06. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  2. ^ "Shina, Kohistani". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 2019-06-05. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  3. ^ "Ethnologue report for Shina". Ethnologue.
  4. ^ a b c d Saxena, Anju; Borin, Lars (2008-08-22). Lesser-Known Languages of South Asia: Status and Policies, Case Studies and Applications of Information Technology. Walter de Gruyter. p. 137. ISBN 978-3-11-019778-5. Shina is an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic group, spoken in the Karakorams and the western Himalayas: Gilgit, Hunza, the Astor Valley, the Tangir-Darel valleys, Chilas and Indus Kohistan, as well as in the upper Neelam Valley and Dras. Outliers of Shina are found in Ladakh (Brokskat), Chitral (Palula and Sawi), Swat (Ushojo; Bashir 2003: 878) and Dir (Kalkoti).
  5. ^ Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (2007-07-26). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. p. 1018. ISBN 978-1-135-79710-2.
  6. ^ "Shina". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 2019-06-06. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  7. ^ Braj B. Kachru; Yamuna Kachru; S. N. Sridhar (2008). Language in South Asia. Cambridge University Press. p. 144. ISBN 9781139465502.
  8. ^ Shams, Shammim Ara (2020). "The Impact of Dominant Languages on Regional Languages: A Case Study of English, Urdu and Shina". Pakistan Social Sciences Review. 4 (III): 1092–1106. doi:10.35484/pssr.2020(4-III)79.
  9. ^ M. Oranskij, “Indo-Iranica IV. Tadjik (Régional) Buruǰ ‘Bouleau,’” in Mélanges linguistiques offerts à Émile Benveniste, Paris, 1975, pp. 435–40.