Balochi
Click on picture to see balochi alphabet
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Balochi also spell like Baluchi (بلوچی ) is classified as a member of the Iranian group of the Indo-European language family which includes Kurdish, Persian (Farsi), Pashto, Dari, Tajik, Ossetian. Balochi is closely related to Kurdish and Persian.It is the principal language of the Baloch of Balochistan, Pakistan, eastern Iran and southern Afghanistan. It is also spoken as a second language by some Brahui.
History Of Balochi
The Balochi language originated in a lost language, related to those of the Parthian and Median civilizations. It is classified as a branch of the Iranian group of the Indo-European language family like Kurdish, Persian, Pashto, and Ossetic. Historically, Balochi was believed to have originated between 200 B.C. and 700 C.E.
J. Elfenbein, a scholar of Balochi, compared Balochi with Parthian and Persian of middle stage and concluded that,"Ancestor of Balochi was neither Parthian nor middle Persian but a lost language, which, sharing a number of characteristic features with either, and some with both, had pronounced (characteristics) of its own. Referring to the affinity of Balochi language with Kurdish, having an ancient Medean background, this author has stressed that Balochi has its own unique features".
The same view presented by L. Dames in his book Baloch Race, in which author reported that Balochi resembles the Zand or old Bactrian rather than old Persian.
This special position of the Balochi language, having no real affinity with the Indian subcontinent and being a distinctive language along the Iranian group of Indo-European language family, has strengthened the consciousness of the Baloch people in their demand for the right of self-determination.Balochi was used only as an oral language until the post-colonial period. Before that it was generally regarded as a dialect of Persian and there was no tradition of using it in writing. Although some works in Balochi had appeared before then, the Balochi literary movement got fully under way only after the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Script and Ethnic Borders Before the 19th century Balochi was a unwritten language, used in conversation in the Baloch courts. The official written language was Persian, as in India and central Asian kingdoms. It was British linguists and political historians who introduced Balochi in a written form with Roman script. In the late 19th century and later, the Baloch scholars who were influenced either by their geographical or historical environments or by their political thoughts, adopted Nastaaliq (Persian script) and Naskh (Arabic script). The Naskh script became popular among the Baloch scholar, intellectual, and journalists. A smaller group of Baloch linguists and scholars favoured the Roman script, but the didn’t have a popular and powerful voice until 1948.
J. Elfenbein, a scholar of Balochi, compared Balochi with Parthian and Persian of middle stage and concluded that,"Ancestor of Balochi was neither Parthian nor middle Persian but a lost language, which, sharing a number of characteristic features with either, and some with both, had pronounced (characteristics) of its own. Referring to the affinity of Balochi language with Kurdish, having an ancient Medean background, this author has stressed that Balochi has its own unique features".
The same view presented by L. Dames in his book Baloch Race, in which author reported that Balochi resembles the Zand or old Bactrian rather than old Persian.
This special position of the Balochi language, having no real affinity with the Indian subcontinent and being a distinctive language along the Iranian group of Indo-European language family, has strengthened the consciousness of the Baloch people in their demand for the right of self-determination.Balochi was used only as an oral language until the post-colonial period. Before that it was generally regarded as a dialect of Persian and there was no tradition of using it in writing. Although some works in Balochi had appeared before then, the Balochi literary movement got fully under way only after the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Script and Ethnic Borders Before the 19th century Balochi was a unwritten language, used in conversation in the Baloch courts. The official written language was Persian, as in India and central Asian kingdoms. It was British linguists and political historians who introduced Balochi in a written form with Roman script. In the late 19th century and later, the Baloch scholars who were influenced either by their geographical or historical environments or by their political thoughts, adopted Nastaaliq (Persian script) and Naskh (Arabic script). The Naskh script became popular among the Baloch scholar, intellectual, and journalists. A smaller group of Baloch linguists and scholars favoured the Roman script, but the didn’t have a popular and powerful voice until 1948.
Balochi dialects
Balochi has several dialects. Linguists agree on the following two major dialects.
The western Balochi dialect is spoken between Karachi (Pakistan) and Kirman (Iran), among the Baloch of U.S.S.R and Turkmenistan, the Sultanate of Oman, the Khorasan province of Iran and Seistan (Iran-Afghanistan). The dialects has borrowed several words from neighboring languages such as Turkmen, Persia, Pustho and Arabic.
- Eastern Balochi
- Western Balochi
The western Balochi dialect is spoken between Karachi (Pakistan) and Kirman (Iran), among the Baloch of U.S.S.R and Turkmenistan, the Sultanate of Oman, the Khorasan province of Iran and Seistan (Iran-Afghanistan). The dialects has borrowed several words from neighboring languages such as Turkmen, Persia, Pustho and Arabic.
Writing system
Before the 19th century, Balochi was an unwritten language. The official written language was Persian, although Balochi was still spoken at the Baloch courts. British linguists and political historians wrote form with the Roman script, but following the creation of Pakistan, Baloch scholars adopted Urdu Arabic script. The first collection of poetry in Balochi, Gulbang by Mir Gul Khan Nasir was published in 1951 and incorporated the Urdu Arabic Script. But it was much later that Sayad Zahurshah Hashomi wrote a comprehensive guidance on the usage of Urdu Arabic script and standardized it as the Balochi Orthography in Pakistan. This earned Sayad Hashomi the title of 'The Father of Balochi'. Sayad's guidances are widely used in Eastern and Western Balochistan. In Afghanistan, however, Balochi is written in a modified Arabic script based on what is used for Pashto.
