Zemiaki language

Zemiaki is a Nuristani language spoken by some 400–500 people in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan.^[1]

It is named after the settlement in which it is spoken, from the Pashto Zemyaki žə́ba "language of Zemyaki", the native equivalent being J̌amlām-am bašā. It is closely related to Nuristani Kalasha, and ancestors of the Zemyakis were, according to local tradition, Kalasha people who migrated into the area several centuries ago.^[1] The language spoken in the surrounding areas is Pashto, and it has been a source of a large number of lexical borrowings, including several common conjunctions.^[2]

There is no grammatical gender, but number and person are marked on the verb,^[3] following a split-ergative pattern of agreement.^[4]

Zemiaki was formerly considered a dialect of Grangali, an Indo-Aryan language. However, its pronouns are characteristically Nuristani, with a close relationship to Nuristani Kalasha, which is confirmed by local tradition.