Wakhi language

Wakhi
Wakhi
زبان وخی / زبان واخانی; ښیکوار زیک; X̌ikwor zik, х̆икв̆ор зик
	Wakhi written in Arabic script in Nastaliq style, Latin script and in Cyrillic script
Native to	Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan
Ethnicity	Wakhi
Native speakers	(20,000 in Pakistan (2016);; 58,000 cited 1992–2012)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Eastern Wakhi; ; ; ;
Early forms	Scythian Saka ;
Writing system	Perso-Arabic, Cyrillic, Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wbl
Glottolog	wakh1245
ELP	Wakhi
Linguasphere	58-ABD-c
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Wakhi (Wakhi: وخی/В̌aхi, IPA: [waχi]) is an Indo-European language in the Eastern Iranian branch of the language family spoken today in Wakhan District, Northern Afghanistan, and also in Tajikistan, Northern Pakistan and Western China.

Due to the effects of dominant languages in Pakistani media like Urdu, Standard Punjabi, and English and the religious impact of Arabic and Persian, Wakhi, like other languages of Pakistan, continuously expands its vocabulary base with loan words.^[5]

^ Wakhi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Frye, R.N. (1984). The History of Ancient Iran. p. 192. ISBN 9783406093975. [T]hese western Saka he distinguishes from eastern Saka who moved south through the Kashgar-Tashkurgan-Gilgit-Swat route to the plains of the sub-continent of India. This would account for the existence of the ancient Khotanese-Saka speakers, documents of whom have been found in western Sinkiang, and the modern Wakhi language of Wakhan in Afghanistan, another modern branch of descendants of Saka speakers parallel to the Ossetes in the west.
^ Bailey, H.W. (1982). The culture of the Sakas in ancient Iranian Khotan. Caravan Books. pp. 7–10. It is noteworthy that the Wakhi language of Wakhan has features, phonetics, and vocabulary the nearest of Iranian dialects to Khotan Saka.
^ Carpelan, C.; Parpola, A.; Koskikallio, P. (2001). "Early Contacts Between Uralic and Indo-European: Linguistic and Archaeological Considerations: Papers Presented at an International Symposium Held at the Tvärminne Research Station of the University of Helsinki, 8–10 January, 1999". Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura. 242: 136. ...descendants of these languages survive now only in the Ossete language of the Caucasus and the Wakhi language of the Pamirs, the latter related to the Saka once spoken in Khotan.
^ Shams, Shammim Ara (2020). "The Impact of Dominant Languages on Regional Languages: A Case Study of English, Urdu and Shina". Pakistan Social Sciences Review. 4 (III): 1092–1106. doi:10.35484/pssr.2020(4-III)79.

[e18-1] Wakhi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] Frye, R.N. (1984). The History of Ancient Iran. p. 192. ISBN 9783406093975. [T]hese western Saka he distinguishes from eastern Saka who moved south through the Kashgar-Tashkurgan-Gilgit-Swat route to the plains of the sub-continent of India. This would account for the existence of the ancient Khotanese-Saka speakers, documents of whom have been found in western Sinkiang, and the modern Wakhi language of Wakhan in Afghanistan, another modern branch of descendants of Saka speakers parallel to the Ossetes in the west.

[3] Bailey, H.W. (1982). The culture of the Sakas in ancient Iranian Khotan. Caravan Books. pp. 7–10. It is noteworthy that the Wakhi language of Wakhan has features, phonetics, and vocabulary the nearest of Iranian dialects to Khotan Saka.

[4] Carpelan, C.; Parpola, A.; Koskikallio, P. (2001). "Early Contacts Between Uralic and Indo-European: Linguistic and Archaeological Considerations: Papers Presented at an International Symposium Held at the Tvärminne Research Station of the University of Helsinki, 8–10 January, 1999". Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura. 242: 136. ...descendants of these languages survive now only in the Ossete language of the Caucasus and the Wakhi language of the Pamirs, the latter related to the Saka once spoken in Khotan.

[5] Shams, Shammim Ara (2020). "The Impact of Dominant Languages on Regional Languages: A Case Study of English, Urdu and Shina". Pakistan Social Sciences Review. 4 (III): 1092–1106. doi:10.35484/pssr.2020(4-III)79.

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Wakhi
زبان وخی / زبان واخانی ښیکوار زیک X̌ikwor zik, х̆икв̆ор зик
Wakhi written in Arabic script in Nastaliq style, Latin script and in Cyrillic script
Native to	Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan
Ethnicity	Wakhi
Native speakers	(20,000 in Pakistan (2016); 58,000 cited 1992–2012)^[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Eastern Wakhi
Early forms	Scythian Saka^[2]^[3]^[4]
Writing system	Perso-Arabic, Cyrillic, Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`wbl`
Glottolog	`wakh1245`
ELP	Wakhi
Linguasphere	`58-ABD-c`
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.