Wakhi (, , X̌ikwor, [xikwɔr]) is an Eastern Iranic language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family, spoken primarily by the Wakhi people native to the Wakhan region in Afghanistan and Tajikistan, as well as neighboring areas of Pakistan and China.

Classification and distribution Wakhi is one of several languages that belong to the areal Pamir language group. It is believed to be a descendant of the Eastern Iranian Scytho-Khotanese language once spoken in the Eastern Iranian Kingdom of Khotan. The Wakhi use the self-appellation 'X̌ik' (ethnic) and suffix it with 'wor'/'war' to denote their language as 'X̌ik-wor' themselves. The noun 'X̌ik' comes from *waxša-ī̆ka- (an inhabitant of *Waxša- 'Oxus', for Wakhan, in Wakhi 'Wux̌.' There are other equivalents for the name Wakhi (Anglicised) or Wakhani (Persian), Vakhantsy (Russian), Gojali/Gojo (Dingrik-wor/Shina), Guyits/Guicho (Burushaski), Wakhigi/Wakhik-war (Kivi-wor/Khow-wor) and Cert (Turkish).

The Wakhi people are occasionally called Pamiris and Guhjali. The Wakhi language is spoken by the inhabitants of the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan, parts of Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral in Pakistan, the Gorno-Badakhshan region in Tajikistan, and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang in Western China.

In Afghanistan In the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan, Wakhi is spoken from Fotur, near Ishkashim, to the upper reaches of the Wakhan River.

In Tajikistan In Tajikistan, the Wakhi and other communities that speak one of the Pamir languages refer to themselves as Pamiri or Badakhshani, and there has been a movement to separate their identity from that of the majority of Persian-speaking Tajiks. Linguists universally refer to Wakhi as an East Iranian language independent of Tajik Persian, but many Tajik nationalists insist that Wakhi and other Pamir languages are dialects of Tajik Persian.

In Pakistan In Gilgit-Baltistan, Wakhi is spoken in the sparsely populated upper portions of five of the northernmost valleys: Gojal, Ishkoman, Yasin, Gupis, and Yarkhun. The Hunza Valley has the largest Wakhi population in Pakistan. The Wakhis of Ishkoman live primarily in the Karambar Valley, the town of Imit, and beyond. In Yasin, they live mainly in the vicinity of Darkot, and in Yarhkun, they are found in Baroghil and a few other small villages in the high, upper portion of the valley.

In Pakistan, the central organization of the Wakhi is the Wakhi Cultural Association Pakistan (WCA). This organization is registered with the Government of Pakistan and collaborates with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Lok Virsa Pakistan. The Association is working to preserve the Wakhi language and culture and document their poetry and music.

Radio Pakistan, Gilgit relays the Wakhi radio programme "Sadoyah Boomy Dunyo", the "Voice of the Roof of the World." The Wakhi Cultural Association has arranged more than twenty programmes since 1984, which include cultural shows, musical nights, and large-scale musical festivals with the collaboration of Lok Virsa Pakistan, the Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan (AKCSP), and Pakistan television. In 2000, the WCA won a "Best Programme" organizer award in the Silk Road Festival from the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. A computerized codification of the Pakistani version of the Wakhi script has been released, which will help to promote the language development program and documentation of Wakhi poetry, literature, and history.

In China

Wakhi is also spoken in the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, in the Xinjiang province of China, mainly in the township of Dafdar.

In Russia There are approximately 21,000 Wakhi in Russia, Most of them have migrated from Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

In Turkey There are some Wakhi villages in Turkey in the eastern regions, where they have migrated from Afghanistan in 1979 during the Soviet-Afghan war.See the book online "The Kirghiz and Wakhi of Afghanistan in Turkey"

Phonology

Vowels FrontCentralBackCloseMidOpen

Consonants Labial Dental Alveolar Alveolo-palatal Retroflex Velar Uvular Glottal Nasal Plosive Affricate Fricative Approximant Rhotic

Orthography Traditionally, Wakhi was not a written language. Wakhi people live in four countries, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and China, and are in contact with speakers of various other languages. Writing systems have been developed for the language using Arabic, Cyrillic, and Latin scripts, each with inspirations from neighboring languages and orthographic conventions. However, due to the pluricentric nature of Wakhi dialects, marginalization in favour of a more significant national/regional language, remoteness, and political instability, no one orthographic standard has managed to rise to the level of a singular unifying writing system.

Arabic script The Arabic-script Wakhi alphabet derives from the Persian alphabet used in Afghanistan. However, there are sounds in Wakhi that are not found in Persian. Here, two diverging conventions have emerged, one in Afghanistan and another in Pakistan. Pashto alphabet has inspired letters in Afghanistan to represent missing sounds in Wakhi, especially the various retroflex sounds missing in Persian. Urdu and orthographies of other languages of Gilgit-Baltistan have been the inspiration for the orthography of Wakhi in Pakistan.Jami, Sakhi Ahmad. (2004) Languages and Literature of the Northern Areas (Balti, Shina, Khowar, Burushaski, Wakhi) / شمالی علاقہ جات کی زبانیں و ادب (بلتی، شنا، کھوار، بروشسکی، وخی) (Urdu). Chapter The origin and evolution of the Wakhi language / وخی زبان کا آغاز و ارتقاء. Allama Iqbal Open University AccessGurg Ali Khayrkhah. Wakhi Literacy Primer - Teacher’s Guide / ڜؤرد جاینکؤرگڤ کتاب - سک ښیک زیک - کتاب رهنمای معلمڤر (Wakhani ). AP Mersi Afghanistan Publisher (Archive)

Afghan alphabet

The table below shows the Afghan Wakhi alphabet. It derives from the alphabet of Dari Persian, one of Afghanistan's two official languages. The Pashto alphabet, from the other official language of Afghanistan, is the source of several letters for phonemes that don't exist in Persian. This orthographic standard has similarities to the orthographies of other Pamir languages, such as Shughni and Munji.

+ Wakhi letters (Afghanistan) Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] 1‌ - (A a/E e/I i/U u)[∅]([a][u][e][i]) 2(A a)[ɔ] (B b)[b] (P p)[p] (T t)[t̪] (Ṭ ṭ)[ʈ] Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] 3(S s)[s] 3()[θ] (J̌ ǰ)[d͡ʒ] (J̣̌ ǰ̣)[ɖ͡ʐ] (Č č)[t͡ʃ] (Č̣ č̣)[ʈ͡ʂ] Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] (H h)[h] (X x)[χ] (Ʒ ʒ)[d͡z] (C c)[t͡s] (D d)[d̪] (Ḍ ḍ)[ɖ] Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] 4(Z z)[z] 4(Δ δ)[ð] (R r)[r] (Z z)[z] (Ž ž)[ʒ] (Ẓ̌ ẓ̌)[ʐ] Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] (Ɣ̌ ɣ̌)[ɣ] (S s)[s] (Š š)[ʃ] (Ṣ̌ ṣ̌)[ʂ] (X̌ x̌)[x] (S s)[s] Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] (Z z)[z] (T t)[t̪] (Z z)[z] ( - )[∅]/[ʔ] (Ɣ γ)[ʁ] (F f)[f] Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] (V v)[v] (Q q)[q] (K k)[k] (G g)[ɡ] (L l)[l] (M m)[m] Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] (N n)[n] 5(W w)[u][w] 6(Ы ы)[ɨ] 7(H h/ - a)[h][a] 8,9(E e/I i/Y y)[e][i][j] 9(- i)[i]

Notes: Letter alef at the beginning of a word can serve two functions. First, it precedes vowel letters "" [e] and [i], or "" [u]. Second, it acts as a vowel carrier for diacritics of the vowel, "" [a]. Vowel phoneme [ɔ] is represented with "" when at the beginning of a word, and with "" when in the middle or end of a word. While the letter se "" represents the phoneme [θ], this letter in loanwords that have entered Dari Persian have come to be pronounced as [s]. Due to consistent contact with Dari, those loanwords have entered Wakhi with their Dari pronunciations. Unlike Dari, Wakhi does have a separate phoneme [θ]. Some sources use the letter se "", whereas others use a new letter, te with 4 dots "" that has been introduced so that there can be distinguishment between the native sound [θ] and the sound [s] produced by the letter se "" in loanwords. While the letter zal "" represents the phoneme [ð], this letter in loanwords in Dari have come to be pronounced [z]. Due to consistent contact with Dari, those loanwords have entered Wakhi with their Dari pronunciations. Unlike Dari, Wakhi does have a separate phoneme [ð]. Some sources use the letter zal "", whereas others use a new letter, dal with 3 dots "" that has been introduced so that there can be distinguishment between the native sound [ð] and the sound [z] produced by the letter zal "" in loanwords. Represents two phonemes based on context, [w] and [u]. If used at the beginning of a word, if representing consonant [w], it will be written standalone "", if representing a vowel [u], it will be preceded by alef "". Represents a vowel phoneme. But even if at the beginning of a word, it is written standalone, and without a preceding alef; "". At the end of a word, the letter he "" can either represent a consonant sound [h] or a vowel sound [a] depending on context. The letter ye represents three phonemes based on context, [e], [i] and [j]. If used at the beginning of a word, if representing consonant [j], it will be written standalone "", if representing a vowel [e] or a vowel [i], it will be preceded by alef "". There are two types of final ye. in At the end of a word, if representing the consonant [j], the dotless final ye "" is used. If representing the vowel [i], the double dot final ye "" is used.

+Wakhi vowels (Afghanistan) A a O o E e I i Ə ə U u Ы ы [a] [ɔ] [e] [i] [ə] [u] [ɨ] Vowels at the beginning of a word - - Vowels at the middle of a word - Vowels at the end of a word

Pakistani alphabet

The below table is the Pakistani alphabet for the Wakhi language. This alphabet also derives from the Dari alphabet. However, Urdu, Pakistan's national language, is the source of letters for phonemes that do not exist in Dari. The vowels reflect Urdu pronunciation. For example, the phoneme [ɔ], which is equivalent to Iranian Persian [ɒː] after having undergone a chain shift, is not written with alef "آ / ا /ا ـا‎" but with the letter waw "".Ido, S. (2017). The Vowel System of Jewish Bukharan Tajik: With Special Reference to the Tajik Vowel Chain Shift. Journal of Jewish Languages, 5(1), 81–103. doi:10.1163/22134638-12340078

Stylistically, while in Afghanistan Naskh is the more common script, in Pakistan, similar to Urdu and other orthographies of northern Pakistan, Nastaliq is the more common script.

+ Wakhi letters (Pakistan) Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] 1‌ - (A a/E e/I i/U u)[∅]([ɨ][ɔ][e][i]) 2(A a)[a] (B b)[b] (P p)[p] (T t)[t̪] (Ṭ ṭ)[ʈ] Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] 3(S s)[s] 3()[θ] (J̌ ǰ)[d͡ʒ] (Ž ž)[ʒ] (Č č)[t͡ʃ] (Č̣ č̣)[ʈ͡ʂ] Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] (H h)[h] (X x)[χ] (X̌ x̌)[x] (C c)[t͡s] (D d)[d̪] (Ḍ ḍ)[ɖ] Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] 4(Z z)[z] 4(Δ δ)[ð] (R r)[r] (Z z)[z] (Ʒ ʒ)[d͡z] (Ẓ̌ ẓ̌)[ʐ] Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] (J̣̌ ǰ̣)[ɖ͡ʐ] (S s)[s] (Š š)[ʃ] (Ṣ̌ ṣ̌)[ʂ] (S s)[s] (Z z)[z] Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] (T t)[t̪] (Z z)[z] ( - )[∅]/[ʔ] (Ɣ γ)[ʁ] (Ɣ̌ ɣ̌)[ɣ] (F f)[f] Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] (V v)[v] (Q q)[q] (K k)[k] (G g)[ɡ] (L l)[l] (M m)[m] Wakhi(Latin)[IPA] (N n)[n] 5(O o/U u/W w)[ɔ][u][w] 7(H h/ - a)[h][a] 8,9(E e/I i/Y y)[e][i][j] 9(- e)[e]

Notes: Letter alef at the beginning of a word can serve two functions. First, it precedes vowel letters "" [e] and [i], or "" [ɔ]. Second, it acts as a vowel carrier for diacritics of the vowel, "" [ɨ]. Vowel phoneme [a] is represented with "" when at the beginning of a word, and with "" when in the middle or end of a word. While the letter se "" represents the phoneme [θ], this letter in loanwords that have entered Dari have come to be pronounced as [s]. Due to consistent contact with Dari and Urdu, those loanwords have entered Wakhi via Dari and Urdu (which in turn has been heavily influenced by Persian), with their Persian pronunciations. Unlike Persian, Wakhi does have a separate phoneme [θ]. Some sources use the letter se "", whereas others use a new letter, te with 4 dots "" that has been introduced so that there can be distinguishment between the native sound [θ] and the sound [s] produced by the letter se "" in loanwords.