Iranian Languages

ROSHNI / ROASHANI

The Roshani language belongs to the Shughni-Roshani subgroup of the Pamir group of the Iranian branch of Indo-European languages, and dialects of this subgroup understand each others' speech without any notable difficulties. With other speakers of the Pamir languages -- the Yazgulami, the Wakhis, the Ishkashmi -- communication is based on Tadzhik in Tadzhikistan and Afghanistan and on Uighur in China. The Roshani language exists only in spoken form; textual examples are scarce. The relation between Roshani and Bartangi is complex and facilitates smooth shifts from one to the other in communication.

In 1916 a short article by R. Gauthiot was published containing Bartangi and Roshani words. Before that the Roshani were known in Europe only by name. The first textual example -- a fairy tale -- appeared in a study by W. Lentz (Pamir-Dialekte. Materialen zur Kenntniss der Schugni-gruppe, Göttingen 1933, pp. 101--105). Roshani and Bartangi are formally close to Oroshori, contrasting with Shughni.

The Roshani have preserved their language comparatively well (1959), Shughni influence being almost non-existent. Tadzhik influence is detectable in certain lexical areas. For example, in discussing politics Tadzhik expressions and grammatical constructions appear.

Roshan's most important villages are Barukhshan (Barushon) and Derzud (Dirzut). The villages are situated 3--4 kilometres apart and so communication between the inhabitants is quite easy. The people of either village speak a somewhat different form of Roshani, the divergence, however, being negligible. Lexical differences are few.

ROSHANI WORDLIST