Khowar

Khowar is classified as a Dardic Language. It is spoken by 250,000 people in Chitral in Northwest Pakistan, in Yasin and Gupis in neighboring Gilgit, and in parts of Upper Swat. It is spoken as a second language in the rest of Gilgit and Hunza. There are believed to be a small number of Khowar speakers in China, India, Tajikistan and Istanbul.

Khowar is clearly an Indo-European Language, as demonstrated by the following:

I am = asum You are = asus He/She is = asur We Are = asumi You Are = asusi They are = asuni

It is believed that Khowar is an old language spoken by the original Aryan Invaders more than 4,000 years ago, who made a wrong left turn at Jalalabad, ascended the Kunar River and got stuck high in the Hindu Kush mountains of Chitral.

Books

• Khowar English Dictionary (by Mohammad Ismail Sloan, 1981) (published in Pakistan)

• Decker, Kendall D. 1992. Languages of Chitral http://www.ethnologue.com/show_work.asp?id=32850