Gawri language

According to its genealogical classification (Strand, 1973:302 and 2004), Gawri belongs to the Kohistani subgroup of the north-western zone of Indo-Aryan languages, along with several closely related languages in its geographical vicinity: Torwali (in Swat, south of Kalam), Indus Kohistani, Bateri, Chilisso, and Gawro (the latter four east of Kalam in Indus Kohistan). Together with a range of other north-western Indo-Aryan mountain languages, these languages are sometimes collectively referred to as ‘Dardic languages.^[6]

Gawri is one of about thirty languages that are spoken in the mountain areas of northern Pakistan. It is predominantly spoken in the valleys of Kalam, Usho and Utror in the Upper Swat District, and the six towns of Barikot, Rajkot, Biar, Kalkot, Thal, and Lamuti in the Kumrat Valley of the Upper Dir District.^[7]

Kohistan is a Persian word that means ‘land of mountains’ and Kohistani can be translated as ‘mountain language’. As a matter of fact, there are several distinct languages in the area that are all popularly called Kohistani. In the older linguistic literature, the language of Kalam Kohistan is referred to as Bashkarik (Morgenstierne, 1940), or as Garwi or Gawri (Grierson, 1919; Barth & Morgenstierne, 1958). These names are hardly, if at all, known to the speakers of the language themselves, who normally just call their language Kohistani. However, very recently a number of intellectuals belonging to a local cultural society have started to call their language Gawri, a name that has old historical roots.

Collectively, the two Gawri-speaking communities comprise 141,560 people as of 2025 estimates, of whom 35% are younger than the age of 15.^[2]

Gawri uses the Arabic script. The Gawri alphabet has 43 letters: all 39 letters of the Urdu alphabet plus 4 additional letters. One feature of the Gawri alphabet not found in Urdu is that it places the letterھ as the last letter of the alphabet, preceded by ے. All the 4 additional letters used in Gawri are also found in Gawar-Bati language.

There are 7 Aspirated consonants represented by digraphs with the letter ھ:

• پھ (ph)
• تھ (th)
• ٹھ (ṭh)
• چھ (čh)
• ڄھ (ĉh)
• څھ (ch)
• کھ (kh)

The sounds /k/ and /g/ are palatalized before Front vowels. There are 3 digraphs with the letter ن:

• نڈ (nḍ) pronounced /ɳɖ/
• نڑ (nṛ): pronounced /ɽ/
• نگ (ng): pronounced /ŋ/ and palatalized before front vowels.^[8]

• Indus Kohistani language