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Wikidata:Lexicographical data/Documentation/Languages/bal

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Balochi (Q33049) is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken in primarily Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Oman, and Turkmenistan.

Dialects

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Although by all accounts the various dialects of Balochi are mutually intelligible, they vary widely in phonology and lexicon to an extent that comparing sources on the language without context can be cause for confusion. The dialects can be broadly grouped as follows:

  • Common Balochi — This is a reconstructed proto-language described by Morgenstierne (1945) which posits the phonological character of the source language from which all the contemporary dialects are derived.
    • Eastern Balochi — Described as "Northern Balochi" by Dames (1881). Spoken around the Suleiman mountains of Pakistan. The distinguishing characteristics of these dialects according to Jahani and Korn (2009) are the lenition of post-vocalic stops and affricates, and the fronting of ū to ī.
    • Western Balochi — The varieties commonly described as "Western Balochi" and "Southern Balochi" can be considered together as a group in contrast to Eastern Balochi.
      • Northwestern Balochi — Most often named as "Western Balochi" in contrast to "Southern Balochi" despite both groups spanning a western portion of the speech area. Dialects in this group are spoken in an area extending from Kalat in Pakistan through areas of Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan.
        • Koroshi — This is a variety of the northwestern dialect group which is considered particularly divergent and is spoken in some small pockets in Iran.
      • Rakhshani — This is the dialect most often cited as a contender for a "standard," with the most generous definition possible of a standard variety. Sources variously describe Rakhshani as "Western" or "Southern."
      • Southwestern Balochi — Most often named as "Southern Balochi," this includes the Balochi varieties of Karachi and along the Persian Gulf coast.
        • Makrani — The dialect of the Makran region is the most commonly described variety that unambiguously belongs to the southwestern group. The Balochi of Oman is Makrani as the Baloch population there originates from Makran.

Orthographies

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Balochi lacks a single written standard, and there are several conventions for writing the language in use.

Perso-Arabic

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Most Balochi writing is in some form of the Perso-Arabic script, but conventions differ in their approach for representing the language. Spelling conventions are split between those which do not employ conservative spellings for Perso-Arabic loanwords, and those which which employ the alphabets of one of the other languages used in the Balochi speech area, most of which do employ some conservative spellings.

Writing systems specific to Balochi include:

  • Sayad Hashemi orthography — As represented in the Sayed Ganj dictionary of Southern Balochi.
  • Balochi Academy Sarbaz orthography — As proposed by the language academy based in Sarbaz, Iran. Despite primarily being used in Iran, based on the Urdu alphabet with two additional letter forms for "wau" and "ye" respectively.

Alphabets of other languages used for writing Balochi include those of:

  • Urdu
  • Sindhi
  • Pashto

Representations

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Just as the language codes en-us and en-gb can be used to distinguish color and colour as spellings of the same word, it is desirable to use multiple codes for Balochi where spelling differences exist. However, it is not practical to represent every possible spelling for a given word, and differences which follow regular patterns can be applied when using the data. For example, it is not necessary to include representations alternating ن and ں word finally. Even though nasalised vowels are not clearly distinguished in all dialects, all instances of ں can be replaced with ن to represent spellings without that distinction, whereas the reverse is not true. Currently, the codes bal, bgp ("Eastern Balochi"), bgn ("Western Balochi"), and bcc ("Eastern Balochi") are available on Wikidata. Below is a list of the desired codes and use cases:

  • bal — for representations which are the same following any spelling convention, or following all other conventions than those represented alongside it. See for example بلوچ/Balóch/Балоч/بلۏچ (L686078).
  • bcc — for representations following the Sayad Hashemi orthography. See for example و/o/у/ءُ (L1217787) where the Sayad Hashemi orthography employs the hamza character to visually distinguish function words.
  • bgn — for representations following Urdu orthography which do not include غ or خ. See for example کنبر/kambar/камбар/کمبر (L1218630), where the representation of the cluster “mb” is نب following the spelling expected in Urdu and Persian, as opposed to مب in the Sayad Hashemi orthography. Spellings which are the same in the Sayad Hashemi orthography but differ for eastern dialects may use bgn, given the southern dialects can be understood as a subgroup of the western dialects.
  • bgp — for representations following Urdu orthography which do include غ or خ.
  • ktl — for representations with a distinction specific to Koroshi, such as the use of ذ and ث in native words. Pending the availability of this code, bgn-x-3775265 may be used, given that Koroshi is a western Balochi dialect.

Latin and Cyrillic

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There have been multiple Latin script alphabets proposed for Balochi. The one used by Jahani (2019) is preferred here since it makes the most distinctions between sounds, allowing for conversion to other spelling systems. Representations following this spelling system may be added with the code bal-x-Q123750890 pending the availability of bal-Latn.

Balochi was written using the Cyrillic alphabet in Turkmenistan prior to the country's switch to the Latin alphabet. Representations spelled with the Turkmen Cyrllic Alphabet may be added with the code bal-x-Q123734863 pending the availability of bal-Cyrl-TM. Notably, Balochi texts in Cyrillic do not distinguish vowel length or stress as the other orthographies described here do.

Correspondences

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Jahani Uppsala (SE) Rind (PK) Cyrillic (TM) Urdu (PK) Hashemi (PK) Sarbaz (IR) Farhang (IR) Pashto (AF) Sindhi (PK)
a a a а اَ
á á ā а (а̄) آ
b b b б ب
ch c č ч چ
d d d д د
dh ď ď д̧ ڈ ډ ڏ
e e e е ای (اے) اي
é e e е ای (اے) اي
f f f ф ف پ
g g g г گ ګ گ
gh ĝ ǧ г غ گ ګ گ
h h h ҳ ہ (ح) ھ ه ه ه
i i i и اِ
í í ī и (ӣ) اِی اِي
j j j җ ج
k k k к ک ڪ
l l l л ل
m m m м م
n n n н ن
n n ň н ں ن ن
o o o о او
ó o o о (о̄) او
p p p п پ
q q q к ق ک ڪ
r r r р ر
rh ř ř ꝑ ڑ ړ ڙ
s s s с س (ث، ص) س
sh š š ш ش
t t t т ت (ط) ت
th ť ť т̵ ٹ ټ ٽ
u u u у اُ
ú ú ū у (ӯ) اُو
w v w в و
w w w в و
x x x х خ ک، ھ ک، ه ڪ، ه
y y y й ی ي
z z z з ز (ذ، ض، ظ) ز
zh ž ž ж ژ ج

Some writers use certain letters to represent sounds which vary in a regular way across dialects. It is possible to derive spellings using these letters provided multiple Arabic script representations:

  • ث where ت alternates with ث and س
براث for براس / براث / برات
  • ح where خ alternates with ه
آحرت for آهرت / آخرت
  • ذ where ذ alternates with ز
ذات for زات / ذات
  • ڈ where د alternates with ڈ
ڈاک for ڈاک / داک
  • ڑ where ر alternates with ڑ
هڑب for هڑب / هرب
  • ز where ز alternates with س
افسوز for افسوس / افسوز / اپسوس / اپسوز
  • ژ where ژ alternates with ش
دژمن for دشمن / دژمن
  • ف where پ alternates with ف
آف for آف / آپ
  • ݢ where خ alternates with ک
گنوݢ for گنوک / گنوخ
  • ࣈ where غ alternates with گ
کنࣈ for کنگ / کنغ
  • و where و alternates with ب or پ or ف
سوو for سوو / سوب / سبب
لوذ for لوز / لوذ / لفز / لفظ

Chronology

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  • 6th century BCE — Baloch among inhabitants of Gilan serving in Army of Kai Xusrau (Kyros II)
  • 3rd century CE — Baloch and other groups revolt against Ardašir Babakan
  • 6th century — Baloch and other groups revolt against Xusrau Anošerwan (likely in Gilan and Azerbaijan; possible instigator of southward migration to Kirman)
  • 645 — Arab conquest of Kirman
  • 9th–10th century — al-Baladuri, at-Tabari, al-Mas‘udi, al-Istaxri, ibn Hauqal describe كوج and بلوج inhabitants of Kirman
  • 1045 — Seljuk conquest of Kirman; possible instigator of eastward migration to what is now Iranian Sistan & Balochistan
  • 12th century — Baloch inhabiting Sistan according to Daptar Ša‘iri
  • 13th century — (around beginning of century) Baloch leave Sistan for Sindh, probably due to invasion of Jingiz Khan
  • 16th century — establishment of today’s Baloch settlements in Sistan by reverse settlement from Sindh
  • late 19th century-early 20th century — migration of Baloch groups from Afghanistan and Iran border regions to Marw oasis, Turkmenistan

Resources

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