Wakhi
Guhjali; Wakhani; Wakhigi; Vakhan; Khik
Indo-European; Indo-Iranian; Iranian; Eastern Iranian
No data
wbl
Tajik Persian, Shughni, Dari Persian, Pashto, Urdu
Native Speakers Worldwide
Domains of Use
No data
Speaker Number Trends
No data
Transmission
No data
Recent Resources
Language Information By Source
Native Speakers Worldwide
Domains of Use
No data
Speaker Number Trends
No data
Transmission
No data
Speakers
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
Most young people speak Urdu
12,500 in Tajikistan, 9500 in Afghanistan, 11,770 in Pakistan, and 3800 in China.
2009
Location and Context
Tajikistan and Afghanistan: On both banks of the Panj River (Upper Amu, Oxus); Pakistan
No data
On the Tajikistan side, Wakhi villages extend from Namadgut to Ratm, interspersed with a few Tajiki settlements. On the Afghanistan side, settlement from Paltur? near Ishkashem, to Sarhad on the upper reaches of the Wakhan River. In Pakistan, the main settlements are in Gojal, including part of upper Hunza valley and the Shimshal and Chapursan valleys; in Ishkoman; and the upper Yarkhun valley in Chitral.
None
None
Formerly negative, but now positive
No data
Modified IPA; Perso-Arabic
On the Tajikistan side, Wakhi villages extend from Namadgut to Ratm, interspersed with a few Tajiki settlements. On the Afghanistan side, settlement from Paltur? near Ishkashem, to Sarhad on the upper reaches of the Wakhan River. In Pakistan, the main settlements are in Gojal, including part of upper Hunza valley and the Shimshal and Chapursan valleys; in Ishkoman; and the upper Yarkhun valley in Chitral.
No data
Tajik Persian, Shughni, Dari Persian, Pashto, Urdu
Official domains, mass media and education
In Tajikistan, the language of communication, writing, and education is Tajik Persian. Wakhi oral tradition is also bilingual in Wakhi and Tajik and many Wakhis also speak Shughni, the second lingua franca of the Pamir region. Schooling is obligatory for everyone in Tajikistan and the medium of education is Tajiki, leaving only old women and young children monolingual. This diminishes the role of Wakhi in public contexts, though it is still preferred in domestic settings. Until very recently, the Wakhi speakers in Tajikistan felt themselves a marginalized group with negative attitudes toward their language; however the poems published in Reinhold (1992a) indicate that there is an incipient awakening of interest in local languages. In Afghanistan Wakhis also speak Dari Persian, or Pashto. However, literacy is not widespread and the admixture of other elements into Wakhi is less than in Tajikistan. Almost 100%% of Wakhi-speaking children in Hunza now attend school, which exerts greater influence on language than any single factor in the past. This has resulted in an enormous literacy gap between younger and older generations. All school-going children and many young women up to the age of 20 know Urdu, whereas hardly any of the older generation do. Nevertheless, it is an increasingly vital language, and speakers have a very positive attitude toward their language, evidenced by the Wakhi Tajik Cultural Association.
Native Speakers Worldwide
Domains of Use
No data
Speaker Number Trends
No data
Transmission
No data
Speakers
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
2010
Location and Context
No data
37.1603,74.9047
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
Native Speakers Worldwide
Domains of Use
No data
Speaker Number Trends
No data
Transmission
No data
Speakers
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
9,100 in Pakistan. 4,500–6,000 Gojal, 2,000 Ishkoman, 200 Yasin, 900 Yarkhun (1992), plus refugees. 9,570 in Afghanistan (2000). Ethnic population: 18,000 in Afghanistan, 20,000 in Tajikistan (A. Kibrik 1990). 7,000 in Tajikistan (1993 UBS). 6,000 in China. 41,028 in Tajik nationality (2000 census).
2009
Location and Context
Tajikistan; Afghanistan; China; Pakistan
No data
Gorno-Badakhshan, Pamir Mountains (Tajikistan). Pamir Mountains, east of Ishkashim, Panj River left bank in Wakhan Corridor, as far as Sarhad village. 64 villages (Afghanistan). Xinjiang Ughur Autonomous Region, Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County (China). Northeasternmost part of Chitral, called Baroghil area; in glacier neighborhood. Gojal in upper Hunza valley, Gulmit to the Chinese and Afghanistan borders, and Shimshal and Chupursan valleys, upper Yarkhun valley of Chitral, and upper Ishkoman valley (Pakistan).
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
Gorno-Badakhshan, Pamir Mountains (Tajikistan). Pamir Mountains, east of Ishkashim, Panj River left bank in Wakhan Corridor, as far as Sarhad village. 64 villages (Afghanistan). Xinjiang Ughur Autonomous Region, Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County (China). Northeasternmost part of Chitral, called Baroghil area; in glacier neighborhood. Gojal in upper Hunza valley, Gulmit to the Chinese and Afghanistan borders, and Shimshal and Chupursan valleys, upper Yarkhun valley of Chitral, and upper Ishkoman valley (Pakistan).
No data
No data
No data
No data
Native Speakers Worldwide
Domains of Use
No data
Speaker Number Trends
No data
Transmission
No data
Speakers
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
Location and Context
No data
37.178789, 73.982639
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
Native Speakers Worldwide
Domains of Use
No data
Speaker Number Trends
No data
Transmission
No data
Speakers
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
2006
Location and Context
Pakistan
No data
Northern ends of Hunza & Chitral
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
Northern ends of Hunza & Chitral
No data
No data
No data
No data
Native Speakers Worldwide
Domains of Use
No data
Speaker Number Trends
No data
Transmission
No data
Speakers
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
Speakers present in Tajikstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and western Xinjiang
2018
Location and Context
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
Native Speakers Worldwide
Domains of Use
No data
Speaker Number Trends
No data
Transmission
No data
Speakers
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
5,000
No data
In 1939 there were 4,500 people. The exact number of the Wakhs is unknown at present but it is thought there are about 5,000--7,000 Wakhs in the ex-Soviet Union, 5,000 of them in the villages on the territory of the former Wakhan. Approximately the same number lives elsewhere, although, according to A. Gryunberg and J. Steblin-Kamenevsky, there are altogether nearly 20,000 Wakhs, by other counts, no more than 15,000.
1993
Location and Context
Tajikistan and Afghanistan
No data
The Wakhs live on the upper reaches of the River Pyandzh, on both the right and the left bank. The settlements begin with the village (qishlaq) of Langar-Kishni, on the upper reaches of the river. The lower villages (Namadgut or Namadgat, Kozide) are located at the confluence of the Wakhandarya and the Pamir rivers.
No data
No data
No data
No data
none
The Wakhs live on the upper reaches of the River Pyandzh, on both the right and the left bank. The settlements begin with the village (qishlaq) of Langar-Kishni, on the upper reaches of the river. The lower villages (Namadgut or Namadgat, Kozide) are located at the confluence of the Wakhandarya and the Pamir rivers.
No data
Tajik
Mutual communication, writing
No data
Native Speakers Worldwide
Domains of Use
No data
Speaker Number Trends
No data
Transmission
No data
Speakers
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
2005
Location and Context
No data
36.5,72.0
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
Native Speakers Worldwide
Domains of Use
No data
Speaker Number Trends
No data
Transmission
No data
Speakers
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
Location and Context
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
Media Resources
No resources
No resources
No resources
Filter By
No programs
- Endangered Languages Catalogue Project. Compiled by research teams at University of Hawai'i Mānoa and Institute for Language Information and Technology (LINGUIST List) at Eastern Michigan University2012. "Endangered Languages Catalogue Project. Compiled By Research Teams At University of Hawai'i Mānoa and Institute For Language Information and Technology (LINGUIST List) At Eastern Michigan University."
- Atlas of the World’s Languages in DangerMoseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas. (03 June, 2011.)http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas
- World Oral Literature Project"World Oral Literature Project." Online: http://www.oralliterature.org.http://www.oralliterature.org
- The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire"The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire." edited by Andrew Humphreys and Krista Mits. Online: http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook.http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook
- Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16 edn. http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp. (15 February, 2011.)http://www.ethnologue.com/
- Glottolog"Glottolog." Online: http://www.glottolog.org/glottolog/.http://www.glottolog.org/glottolog/
- Language policy, multilingualism and language vitality in PakistanTariq Rahman. 2006. "Language Policy, Multilingualism and Language Vitality in Pakistan." In Lesser-known languages of South Asia: status and policies, case studies and applications of information technology, edited by Anju Saxena and Lars Borin. 73-106. Mouton de Gruyter.
- Language vitality and development among the Wakhi people of TajikistanAbbess, Elisabeth and Müller, Katja and Tiessen, Gabriela and Tiessen, Calvin. 2008. Language vitality and development among the Wakhi people of Tajikistan. SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2008-011.http://www-01.sil.org/silesr/2008/silesr2008-011.pdf
Comments are not currently available for this post.