| Sawi | |
|---|---|
| Savi, Sauji | |
| ساوي | |
| Native to | Afghanistan,Pakistan |
Native speakers | 9,000 (2021)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | sdg |
| Glottolog | savi1242 |
| ELP | Savi |
 Sawi is classified as Definitely Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Sawi,Savi, orSauji,[3] is an endangered[4]Indo-Aryan language spoken in northeasternAfghanistan and north-westernPakistan.[5] It is classified as a member of theShina language cluster within theDardic subgroup.
It is spoken in the village ofSau, on the east bank of theKunar River, around 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of the town ofArandu, which is on the border with Pakistan'sChitral region.[6]Sawi speakers consider themselves part of the Gawar ethnic group, which is found in half a dozen of the surrounding villages and whose language isGawarbati. In communicating with them, the people of Sau reportedly resort to usingPashto.[7]During the long period of unrest, the population of the village was displaced into refugee camps in Chitral andDir, but reportedly many people have now returned to Afghanistan.[6]
The closest relative of the Sawi language is the southern variety ofPalula spoken inAshret further up the Kunar Valley in Chitral. Many Sawi speakers are aware of the similarity between the two languages, and some consider the people of Ashret as their "brothers".[8] Henrik Liljegren's study of the shared linguistic features and the local oral traditions suggest that the ancestors of these language communities are likely to have migrated from the present-dayDiamer District on the Indus River. There was probably an early split between Northern and Southern Palula, with Sawi subsequently branching off from the latter.[9] The current similarity between the two varieties of Palula is then explained as a result of convergence.
The presence of weakvoiced aspirates (bh,dh,gh) was cautiously reported by Buddruss in 1967,[10] butLiljegren (2009, p. 31) found them to be absent from the speech of his consultant(s). It is likely that the loss of aspiration in the ancestor language could have been related to the development of a tone system.[11]
Possibly under the influence of Gawarbati,[12] Sawi has developed avoiceless lateral fricativeɬ out of the*tr consonant clusters of the earlier language, compare for example Sawiɬo with Southern Palulatróo 'three'.[13]
Unlike the main Shina varieties, where the past and presenttense are typically marked forperson, Sawi and Palula verb tenses are almost entirelyparticiple-based, with only traces ofagreement for person.[14]LikeTorwali, Sawi hasgrammaticalised the category ofanimacy in itsnominal morphology (in contrast toKalasha,Khowar,Shumashti andPashai, where animacy has instead been grammaticalised in the verbal morphology).[15] Theagent suffix is-e forperfective transitive verbs. Unlike the main Shina varieties, Sawi does not seem to possess an agent suffix for imperfective transitive verbs.[16]
