 | This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (November 2024) |
| Wakhi | |
|---|---|
| ښیکوار زیک Х̆икв̆ор зик X̌ikwor zik | |
 | |
| Native to | Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan |
| Ethnicity | Wakhi |
Native speakers | (20,000 in Pakistan (2016); 58,000 cited 1992–2012)[1] |
Early forms | |
| Perso-Arabic, Cyrillic, Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | wbl |
| Glottolog | wakh1245 |
| ELP | Wakhi |
| Linguasphere | 58-ABD-c |
Wakhi (ښیکوار زیک, Х̆икв̆ор зик, IPA: [xikwɔr zik]) is an Indo-European language in the Eastern Iranian branch of the language family spoken today in Wakhan District, Northern Afghanistan, and neighboring areas of Tajikistan, Pakistan and China.
- ^ Wakhi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Frye, R.N. (1984). The History of Ancient Iran. p. 192. ISBN 9783406093975.
[T]hese western Saka he distinguishes from eastern Saka who moved south through the Kashgar-Tashkurgan-Gilgit-Swat route to the plains of the sub-continent of India. This would account for the existence of the ancient Khotanese-Saka speakers, documents of whom have been found in western Sinkiang, and the modern Wakhi language of Wakhan in Afghanistan, another modern branch of descendants of Saka speakers parallel to the Ossetes in the west.
- ^ Bailey, H.W. (1982). The culture of the Sakas in ancient Iranian Khotan. Caravan Books. pp. 7–10.
It is noteworthy that the Wakhi language of Wakhan has features, phonetics, and vocabulary the nearest of Iranian dialects to Khotan Saka.
- ^ Carpelan, C.; Parpola, A.; Koskikallio, P. (2001). "Early Contacts Between Uralic and Indo-European: Linguistic and Archaeological Considerations: Papers Presented at an International Symposium Held at the Tvärminne Research Station of the University of Helsinki, 8–10 January, 1999". Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura. 242: 136.
...descendants of these languages survive now only in the Ossete language of the Caucasus and the Wakhi language of the Pamirs, the latter related to the Saka once spoken in Khotan.