| Kohistani (Indus Kohistani) | |
|---|---|
| Kostaie | |
| کوستَیں Kōstaiñ | |
 | |
| Region | Indus Kohistan (Upper Kohistan,Lower Kohistan,Kolai-Palas districts as well as Tangir and Darel valleys)[1] |
| Ethnicity | Indus Kohistanis |
Native speakers | (200,000 cited 1992)[2] |
Indo-European
| |
| Perso-Arabic script (Nastaliq) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mvy |
| Glottolog | indu1241 |
 Kohistani is a minor language of Pakistan which is mainly spoken in the Kohistan region, it is given a space in this map. | |
Indus Kohistani or simplyKohistani (کوستَیں ژیب, Kōstaiñ) is anIndo-Aryan language spoken in the formerKohistan District ofPakistan.[3] The language was referred to asMaiyã (Mayon) orShuthun by early researchers, but subsequent observations have not verified that these names are known locally.[4]
The phonology of Indus Kohistani varies between its major dialects as shown below.[5]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iiː | uuː | |
| Mid | eeː | ooː | |
| Open | aaː |
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/.
Theconsonant inventory of Indus Kohistani is shown in the chart below. (Consonants particular to theKanyawali Dialect of Tangir and those found only in theKohistan Dialects are color-coded respectively.)
| Labial | Coronal | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | Voiced | m | n | ɳ | ||||
| Breathy Voiced | (mʱ) | |||||||
| Stop | Voiceless | p | t | ʈ | k | (q) | ||
| Aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | ʈʰ | kʰ | ||||
| Voiced | b | d | ɖ | ɡ | ||||
| Breathy Voiced | bʱ | dʱ | ɖʱ | ɡʱ | ||||
| Affricate | Voiceless | ts | tʂ | tʃ | ||||
| Aspirated | tsʰ | tʃʰ | ||||||
| Voiced | dʒ | |||||||
| Fricative | Voiceless | f | s | ʂ | ʃ | x | h | |
| Voiced | v | z | ʐ | ʒ | ɣ | |||
| Lateral | l | |||||||
| Rhotic | Voiced | r | ɽ | |||||
| Breathy Voiced | rʱ | ɽʱ | ||||||
| Semivowel | j | w | ||||||
The phonemes /x/, /ɣ/, and /q/ are mainly found in loan words. The status of /q/ in theKanyawali Dialect is unclear. The sounds /f, v/ can also be bilabial [ɸ, β].[6]
