Maiya language

Not to be confused with Shina Kohistani language.
Maiyã
Indus Kohistani
Region Kohistan, Swat
Native speakers
200,000 (1992)[1]
Arabic script
Language codes
ISO 639-3 mvy
Glottolog indu1241[2]

Maiyã, also called Abasin Kohistani or Indus Kohistani, is a Dardic language spoken in Kohistan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan.

Phonology

The phonology of Maiyã varies between its major dialects as shown below.[3]

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i iː u uː
Mid e eː o oː
Open a aː

In the Kanyawali dialect, the back vowels /u/ and /o/ are described as variants of each other, as are the front vowels /i/ and /e/.

Consonants

The consonant inventory of Maiya is shown in the chart below. (Consonants particular to the Kanyawali Dialect of Tangir and those found only in the Kohistan Dialects are color-coded respectively.)

Labial Coronal Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal Voiced m n ɳ
Breathy Voiced ()
Stop Voiceless p t ʈ k (q)
Aspirated ʈʰ
Voiced b d ɖ ɡ
Breathy Voiced ɖʱ ɡʱ
Affricate Voiceless ts
Aspirated tsʰ tʃʰ
Voiced
Fricative Voiceless f ɳ ʂ ʃ x h
Voiced v z ʐ ʒ ɣ
Lateral l
Rhotic Voiced r ɽ
Breathy Voiced ɽʱ
Semivowel j w

The phonemes /x/, /ɣ/, and /q/ are mainly found in loan words. The status of /q/ in the Kanyawali Dialect is unclear.

See also

References

  1. Maiyã at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Indus Kohistani". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  3. Edelman, D. I. (1983). The Dardic and Nuristani Languages. Moscow: (Institut vostokovedenii︠a︡ (Akademii︠a︡ nauk SSSR). pp. 246, 253.


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