Overview
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Vulnerable

Native Speakers Worldwide

~13,500

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Community Members

    No members

Revitalization Programs

No programs

Discussion Forum

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Language Information By Source

The Ethnolinguistic Vitality of Yaghnobi
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Vulnerable

Native Speakers Worldwide

~13,500

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

Many

More about speakers

"The current ethnolinguistic vitality of the Yaghnobi language seems strong."

Year of info

2010

Location and Context

Countries

Tajikistan

Coordinates

39.159349, 68.822765; 40.162083, 68.879929; 38.772287,68.820362

Location description

"Five major locations in Tajikistan. The first two locations are the Yaghnob River Valley and Zafarabad... The third location is the Upper Varzob. There are four Yaghnobi communities in the upper Varzob, three in the Tagob Valley area and one just south of the Anzob Pass... The communities of the Lower Varzob, including the Hisor Valley, the fourth location where Yaghnobi speakers are living, are not homogenously Yaghnobi. Most of these communities are linguistically diverse, with Yaghnobi speakers forming a minority... There are also four or five communities, including the village of Isanboi, in the fifth location in southern Tajikistan... Finally, a number of Yaghnobi live in Dushanbe and the nearby village of Dughoba."

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

"Five major locations in Tajikistan. The first two locations are the Yaghnob River Valley and Zafarabad... The third location is the Upper Varzob. There are four Yaghnobi communities in the upper Varzob, three in the Tagob Valley area and one just south of the Anzob Pass... The communities of the Lower Varzob, including the Hisor Valley, the fourth location where Yaghnobi speakers are living, are not homogenously Yaghnobi. Most of these communities are linguistically diverse, with Yaghnobi speakers forming a minority... There are also four or five communities, including the village of Isanboi, in the fifth location in southern Tajikistan... Finally, a number of Yaghnobi live in Dushanbe and the nearby village of Dughoba."

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

Tajik

Domains of other languages

Travel outside Yaghnobi-speaking areas, school, government, radio, TV

More on context

"We found a strong sense of ethnolinguistic identity in most villages in the Yaghnob Valley... Attitudes to literature in the vernacular are overwhelmingly positive... Proficiency in Tajik among Yaghnobi is generally very high, especially for men... Tajik is the sole medium of communication [in schools]."

Vulnerable

Native Speakers Worldwide

12,500

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

Few

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2007

Location and Context

Countries

Tajikistan

Coordinates

No data

Location description

"The Yaghnobi [have] inhabited the high mountain valley of Yaghnob in west-central Tajikistan for centuries... In the 17th century a significant number of Yaghnobis migrated to the Varzob valley, [and] a sizable Yaghnobi population remains there in half a dozen villages today... About 6,500 Yaghnobis remain in Zafarabod, the largest Yaghnobi population center."

Government support

Decreasing

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

"The Yaghnobi [have] inhabited the high mountain valley of Yaghnob in west-central Tajikistan for centuries... In the 17th century a significant number of Yaghnobis migrated to the Varzob valley, [and] a sizable Yaghnobi population remains there in half a dozen villages today... About 6,500 Yaghnobis remain in Zafarabod, the largest Yaghnobi population center."

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

Tajik

Domains of other languages

Non-Yaghobi speakers

More on context

"The government is not providing funding for printing Yaghnobi text books or hiring Yaghnobi teachers. As a result, Yaghnobi classes were no longer being taught as of the school year of 2006... Yaghnobi communities are maintaining a strong positive sense of self identity, contact with the majority (Tajik) community remains fairly low, and very few people are fully fluent in Tajik. Most importantly, Tajik is only being used in domains where it is required for communication with non-Yaghnobi speakers. "

Vulnerable

Native Speakers Worldwide

20,000

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2010

Location and Context

Countries

No data

Coordinates

38.5632,68.4475

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Vulnerable

Native Speakers Worldwide

12,000

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2009

Location and Context

Countries

Tajikistan;

Coordinates

No data

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Threatened

Native Speakers Worldwide

2,400

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

According to A. Khromov, in 1972 the situation was as follows: 1,509 native speakers in the Yaghnob valley and about 900 elsewhere.

Year of info

1993

Location and Context

Countries

No data

Coordinates

No data

Location description

They live in 22 villages on the banks of the River Yaghnob, in the middle of Tadzhikistan, and on the upper reaches of the River Zheravshan.

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

They live in 22 villages on the banks of the River Yaghnob, in the middle of Tadzhikistan, and on the upper reaches of the River Zheravshan.

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

No data

Native Speakers Worldwide

No data

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2005

Location and Context

Countries

No data

Coordinates

39.0,69.0

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Threatened

Native Speakers Worldwide

2,000

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

Location and Context

Countries

No data

Coordinates

No data

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Endangered

Native Speakers Worldwide

No data

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2006

Location and Context

Countries

Tajikistan

Coordinates

No data

Location description

"When the language was discovered in the 19th century, it was spoken in the central part of the remote high valley of the Yaghnob river. This valley is situated in Tajikistan, about 100 km north of Dushanbe... There were about 2,500 speakers in the 1960s; 1,500 of these native speakers were living in 22 settlements within the Yaghnob valley, and roughly 900 resided outside of the valley... In 1970, however, the Soviet authorities forced the whole population of about 3,000 people to leave the Yaghnob valley. Five hundred families migrated to Zafarobod in northern Tajikistan, 200 families to the area surrounding Dushanbe. Only about 300 people were living in the Yaghnob valley in 1990, when the Dushanbe-based Council of Ministers passed the decision to re-establish all villages whose populations had been resettled."

Government support

No data

Institutional support

Tajik Academy of Science

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

None

Other writing systems

"When the language was discovered in the 19th century, it was spoken in the central part of the remote high valley of the Yaghnob river. This valley is situated in Tajikistan, about 100 km north of Dushanbe... There were about 2,500 speakers in the 1960s; 1,500 of these native speakers were living in 22 settlements within the Yaghnob valley, and roughly 900 resided outside of the valley... In 1970, however, the Soviet authorities forced the whole population of about 3,000 people to leave the Yaghnob valley. Five hundred families migrated to Zafarobod in northern Tajikistan, 200 families to the area surrounding Dushanbe. Only about 300 people were living in the Yaghnob valley in 1990, when the Dushanbe-based Council of Ministers passed the decision to re-establish all villages whose populations had been resettled."

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

"The Tajik Academy of Science was asked to support the preservation of the Yaghnobi language."

Media Resources

No resources

No resources

Filter By

No programs

  1. 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
    2012. "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."
  2. 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/
  3. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger
    Moseley, 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
  4. World Oral Literature Project
    "World Oral Literature Project." Online: http://www.oralliterature.org.
    http://www.oralliterature.org
  5. 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
  6. The World Atlas of Language Structures
    2005. "The World Atlas of Language Structures." edited by Bernard Comrie et al. Oxford University Press.
  7. Yaghnobi
    Roland Bielmeier. 2006. "Yaghnobi." In Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/yaghnobi.
    http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/yaghnobi
  8. Aspects of Yaghnobi Grammar
    Brian Arnett Bird. Aspects of Yaghnobi Grammar. Master thesis, University of Oregon, 2007.
  9. The Ethnolinguistic Vitality of Yaghnobi
    Daniel Paul, Elisabeth Abbess, Katja Müller, Calvin Tiessen and Gabriela Tiessen. 2010. "The Ethnolinguistic Vitality of Yaghnobi." Online: http://www-01.sil.org/silesr/2010/silesr2010-017.pdf.
    http://www-01.sil.org/silesr/2010/silesr2010-017.pdf
  10. Bielmeier, Roland. 1989. .In Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, edited by Rüdiger Schmitt. 480-488. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert.
  11. Jagnobskij jazyk. Osnovy iranskogo jazykoznanija, novoiranskije jazyki
    Xromov, A. L. 1987. "Jagnobskij Jazyk. Osnovy Iranskogo Jazykoznanija, Novoiranskije Jazyki." Vostochnaja Gruppa Nauka.