For a list of words relating to Kholosi language, see theKholosi language category of words inWiktionary, the free dictionary.

Kholosi is anIndo-Aryan language spoken in two villages in southernIran that was first described in 2008.^[2] At its current status, the language is consideredendangered. In 2008, it was only spoken in the neighboring villages ofKholus andGotav. As it is located on theIranian Plateau and surrounded byIranian languages, it draws heavily from them.^[2]

Kholosi is definitively known to be anIndo-Aryan language albeit with significant lexical borrowing fromIranian languages given its geographical location. At the lexical level, it seems to share vocabulary largely with theSindhi languages,^[2] which are the source of other Indo-Aryan migrations to the Middle East such asLuwati inOman.

While no published phonology has been found on Kholosi, the following phonology has been constructed from examples provided in the sources below.^[2][3][1]

Kholosi also contains the diphthongs /ɑi, ɑw, ow/ and possibly others.

Note*: The phonemes marked with an asterisk are assumed based on the structure of the attested phonemes.

Anonby and Bahmani (2013)^[2] made some brief notes on Kholosi grammar, but so far no grammatical sketch nor a full grammar of the language has been documented.

Nouns have inherentgrammatical gender, and adjectives agree in gender with the head noun. Attributiveadjectives follow the head noun, unlike other Indo-Aryan languages. Numerals precede the head noun.^[3]

Kholosi uses severallight verbs to form noun-verb compounds. This is a common feature ofIndo-Iranian languages.

The adverb precedes the verb it modifies.^[3]

Kholosi has noun-suffixedpostpositions (e.g. thegenitive marker-jo which agrees with the gender of the possessor) as characteristic of Indo-Aryan languages.

Kholosi is averb-final language withSOV word order.^[3]

Kholosi has roughly twice the number of Indo-Aryan terms in its basic lexicon than Iranian borrowings. The primary source of Iranian borrowings isPersian, butLarestani and Bandari (in the same geographical area) also appear to have contributed vocabulary.^[2]

A high degree of similarity with Indo-Aryan languages

Indo-Aryan vocabulary in Kholosi

Kholosi Indo-Iranian vocabulary aligned with Indo-Aryan sound changes

A significant proportion of structures shared with neighbouring Iranian languages

Iranian vocabulary in Kholosi

Words illustrating the local character of Iranian vocabulary in Kholosi

Lack of contrastive aspiration on stops in Kholosi^{[dubious –discuss]}

A full fricative series in Kholosi

Lack of an implosive series in Kholosi

Complex predicates in Kholosi

Distinctive structures in Kholosi

Distinctive Kholosi vocabulary

• Nourzaei, Maryam. "On orality and the sociolinguistic situation of the Kholosi community." Orientalia Suecana 72 (2023): 47-68.
• Nourzaei, Maryam (2023). "On Nominal and Pronominal Morphosyntax in Kholosi".Studia Iranica.52 (2):193–225.doi:10.2143/SI.52.2.3294272.
• Nourzaei, Maryam (2024). "Kholosi". In Charles G. Häberl (ed.).Language Diversity in Iran: New Texts and Perspectives from Non-Iranian Languages. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 119–162.doi:10.1515/9783110641578-005.

• Indo-Aryan languages
• Languages of Iran

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