Kohistani Shina is a dialect of Shina language spoken in the former Kohistan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northern Pakistan. Bateri and Kalkoti speakers speak Kohistani Shina as a second language. Indus Kohistani loanwords can be found in the language. A grammar and a dictionary of the language have been published.

Alphabet Shina is one of the few Dardic languages with a written tradition. However, it was an unwritten language until a few decades ago. Only in late 2010s has Shina orthography been standardized and primers as well as dictionaries have been published.Ziya, Muhammad Amin, Prof. (2010, October). Gilti Shina Urdu Dictionary / ݜِناٗ - اُردو لغت. Publisher: Zia Publications, Gilgit. ضیاء پبلیکبشنز، گلیٗت https://archive.org/details/MuhammadAmeenZiaGiltiShinaUrduDictionary/page/n5/mode/1up

Since the first attempts at accurately representing Shina's phonology in the 1960s there have been several proposed orthographies for the different varieties of the language, with debates centering on how to write several retroflex sound not present in Urdu and whether vowel length and tone should be represented.

There are two main orthographic conventions now, one in Pakistani-controlled areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and in Kohistan, and the other in Indian-controlled area of Dras, Ladakh.

Below alphabet has been standardized, documented, and popularized thanks to efforts of literaturists such as Professor Muhammad Amin Ziya, Shakeel Ahmad Shakeel, and Razwal Kohistani, and it has been developed for all Shina language dialects, including Gilgit dialect and Kohistani dialect, which Pamir Times (September 5, 2008), "Shina language gets a major boost with Shakeel Ahmad Shakeel’s efforts" https://pamirtimes.net/2008/09/05/shina-language-gets-a-major-boost-with-shakeel-ahmad-shakeels-efforts/ The Kohistani Shina alphabet differs slightly from the Gilgiti variety. For example, it includes one additional letter , and it includes several additional digraphs to represent additional aspirated consonants unique to Kohistani. Furthermore, variations and personal preferences can be observed across Shina documents. For example, it is common to see someone use instead of for , or use sukun (U+0652) instead of small sideway noon (U+08FF) to indicate short vowels. However, these variations are no longer an issue. Another issue is that of how to write loanwords that use letters not found in Shina language, for example letters "", which all sound like [s] in Shina. Some documents preserve the original spelling, despite the letters being homophones and not having any independent sound of their own, similar to orthographic conventions of Persian and Urdu. Whereas other documents prefer to rewrite all loanwords in a single Shina letter, and thus simplify the writing, similar to orthographic conventions of Kurdish and Uyghur.

Shina vowels are distinguished by length, by whether or not they're nasalized, and by tone. Nasalization is represented like other Perso-Arabic alphabets in Pakistan, with Nun Ghunna (). In Shina, tone variation only occur when there is a long vowel. There are conventions unique to Shina to show the three tones. In Shina conventions, specific diacritics are shown in conjunction with the letters aliv, waaw, buṛi ye, and ye (), as these letters are written down to represent long vowels. The diacritics inverted damma (U+0657) and superscript alef (U+0670) represent a rising tone and a falling tone respectively. Another diacritic, a small sideway noon (U+08FF) is used to represent short vowels when need be.Shakeel Ahmad Shakeel. (2008). Sheena language An overview of the teaching and learning system / شینا زبان نظام پڑھائی لکھائی کا جائزہ. https://z-lib.io/book/14214726

Consonants Below table shows Shina consonants.

Name Forms IPA TransliterationRadloff, Carla F. with Shakil Ahmad Shakil.1998. Folktales in the Shina of Gilgit. Islamabad: The National Institute of Pakistan Studies and Summer Institute of Linguistics. Unicode Notes Shina Isolated Final Medial Initial aliv , , silent – / aa U+0627U+0627 At the beginning of a word it can either come with diacritic, or it can come in form of aliv-madda (), or it can be stand-alone and silent, succeeded by a vowel letter. Diacritics can be omitted in writing. be b U+0628 pe p U+067E te t U+062A te ṭ U+0679 se s U+062B Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter siin . ǰom ǰ U+062C če č U+0686 tse ts U+0685 Letter borrowed from Pashto alphabet. c̣e c̣ U+0687 Unique letter for Shina language. Some Shina literatures and documents use two horizontal lines instead of four dots, use instead of . he h U+062D Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter hay . khe ~ kh U+062E Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with digraph letter khe . daal - - d U+062F ḍaal - - ḍ U+0688 zaal - - z U+0630 Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter ze . re - - r U+0631 ṛe - - ṛ U+0691 ze - - z U+0632 že / ǰe - - ‍~‍ ž / ǰ U+0632 Only used in loanwords of Persian and European origin. Can be replaced with letter jom . ẓe - - ẓ U+0699 Unique letter for Shina language. Some Shina literatures and documents use two horizontal lines instead of four dots, use instead of . siin s U+0633 šiin š U+0634 ṣiin ṣ U+075C Unique letter for Shina language. Some Shina literatures and documents use two horizontal lines instead of four dots, use instead of . swaad s U+0635 Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter siin . zwaad z U+0636 Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter ze . tooy t U+0637 Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter te . zooy z U+0638 Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter ze . ayn , silent - U+0639 Only used in loanwords of Arabic origin. Can be replaced with letter aliv . gayn ~ g U+063A Only used in loanwords of Arabic and Turkic origin. Can be replaced with letter gaaf . fe / phe ~ f / ph U+0641 Only used in loanwords. Can be replaced with digraph letter phe . ve v U+06A6 Unique letter for Shina language. Some Shina literatures and documents use two horizontal lines instead of four dots, use instead of . qaaf / kaaf ~ q / k U+0642 Only used in loanwords of Arabic and Turkic origin. Can be replaced with letter kaaf . kaaf k U+0643 gaaf g U+06AF ngaaf / gaaf gunna ng U+06B1 Unique letter for Kohistani Shina language. laam l U+0644 miim m U+0645 nuun n U+0646 nuuṇ ṇ U+0768 nū̃ / nūn gunna ◌̃ For middle of word:U+0646plusU+0658For end of word:U+06BA waaw - - / w / ō U+0648 The letter waaw can either represent consonant ([w/v]) or vowel ([oo]). It can also act as a carrier of vowel diacritics, representing several other vowels. At the beginning of a word, when representing a consonant, the letter waaw will appear as a standalone character, followed by the appropriate vowel. If representing a vowel at the beginning of a word, the letter waaw needs to be preceded by an aliv . When the letter waaw comes at the end of the word representing a consonant sound [w], a hamza is used to label it as such and avoid mispronunciation as a vowel. hai h U+0646 This letter differs from do-ac̣hi'ii hay (ھ) and they are not interchangeable. Similar to Urdu,do-chashmi hē (ھ) is exclusively used as a second part of digraphs for representing aspirated consonants. In initial and medial position, the letter hē always represents the consonant [h]. In final position, The letter hē can either represent consonant ([h]) or it can demonstrate that the word ends with short vowels a , i , u . hamza - - - , silent ’ U+0621 Used mid-word to indicate separation between a syllable and another that starts with a vowel. hamza on top of letters waaw and ye at end of a word serves a function too. When the letter waaw or ye come at the end of the word representing a consonant sound [w] or [y], a hamza is used to label it as such and avoid mispronunciation as a vowel. ye / leekhii ye / / y / e / i U+06CC The letter ye can either represent consonant ([j]) or vowels ([e]/[i]). It can also act as a carrier of vowel diacritics, representing several other vowels. At the beginning of a word, when representing a consonant, the letter ye will appear as a standalone character, followed by the appropriate vowel. If representing a vowel at the beginning of a word, the letter ye needs to be preceded by an aliv . When the letter ye comes at the end of the word representing a consonant sound [j], a hamza is used to label it as such and avoid mispronunciation as a vowel. When representing a vowel at the end of a word, it can only be [i]. For vowel [e], the letter buṛi ye is used. buṛi ye - - / e / y U+06D2 The letter buṛi ye only occurs in final position. The letter buṛi ye represents the vowel "ē" [eː] or the consonant "y" [j]. bhe bh U+0628andU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. phe ph U+067EandU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. the th U+062AandU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. ṭhe ṭh U+0679andU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. ǰhom ǰh U+062C andU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. čhe čh U+0686andU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. tshe tsh U+0685andU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. c̣he c̣h U+0687andU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. dhe dh U+062FandU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. ḍhe ḍh U+0688andU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. rhe rh U+0631andU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. zhe zh U+0632andU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. ẓhe ẓh U+0699andU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. khe kh U+0643andU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. ghe gh U+06AFandU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. lhe lh U+0644andU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. mhe mh U+0645andU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter. nhe nh U+0646andU+06BE A digraph, counted as a letter.

Vowels

There are five vowels in Kohistani Shina language. Each of the five vowels in Kohistani Shina have a short version and a long version. Shina is also a tonal language. Short vowels in Shina have a short high level tone . Long vowels can either have "no tone", i.e. a long flat tone , a long rising tone , or a long falling tone (.

All five vowels have a defined way of presentation in Kohistani Shina orthographic conventions, including letters and diacritics. Although diacritics can and are occasionally dropped in writing. Short vowels [a], [i], and [u] are solely written with diacritics. Short vowels [e] and [o] are written with letters waw and buṛi ye. A unique diacritic, a small sideway noon (U+08FF) is used on top of these letters to indicate a short vowel. Long vowels are written with a combination of diacritics and letters aliv, waaw or ye.

Below table shows short vowels at the beginning, middle, and end of a word.

Vowel at the beginning of the word a e i o u Vowel at the middle of the word Vowel at the end of the word

Below table shows long vowels at the beginning, middle, and end of a word, with "no tone", i.e. a long flat tone .

Vowel at the beginning of the word aa ee ii oo uu Vowel at the middle of the word Vowel at the end of the word

Below table shows long vowels at the beginning, middle, and end of a word, with a long rising tone .

Vowel at the beginning of the word aá eé ií oó uú Vowel at the middle of the word Vowel at the end of the word

Below table shows long vowels at the beginning, middle, and end of a word, with a long falling tone (.

Vowel at the beginning of the word áa ée íi óo úu Vowel at the middle of the word Vowel at the end of the word

References

Sources