Vanji language

Short description: Extinct Iranian language of Bukharan Emirate

Vanji

Old Wanji
w/vanǰi, vanǰiwor(í), vanǰivor
Native to| Bukharan Emirate
Region| Vanj river valley
Extinct| late 19th century

Language family

Indo-European

* Indo-Iranian
* Iranian
* Southeastern Iranian
* Shughni-Yazghulami-Munji
* Shughni-Yazghulami
* Yazghulami-Vanji?
* Vanji

Writing system

| Unwritten
Language codes
ISO 639-3| None (`mis`)
Glottolog| `oldw1238`[1]

The Vanji language, also spelt Vanchi and Vanži (Vanji: vanǰivor) is an extinct Iranian language, one of the areal group of Iranian languages. It was spoken in the Vanj River valley in what is now the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan. There are only 64 known words.[2]

In the 19th century the region was forcibly annexed to the Bukharan Emirate and a campaign of violent assimilation undertaken, and by the end of the 19th century, the Vanji language had completely disappeared, displaced by Tajik Persian as a result of assimilation. The local dialect of Tajik Persian spoken in Vanj has some Vanji influence.[2]

## Contents

* 1 Documentation
* 2 Phonology
* 3 Grammar
* 4 References

## Documentation

The Russian linguist Ivan Ivanovich Zarubin was the first to assess the language in the early 20th century, by which time it was already extinct. Zarubin was able to collect only words and phrases recalled by older inhabitants of the region as having been spoken by their grandparents who still knew something of the language, and he considered it one of the Pamir languages.[3]

Speakers of the Tengshaw Language on the opposite side of the Panj River in Afghanistan have claimed that the language spoken in Vanj was similar to their language, which is a dialect of Darwaz language.

## Phonology

The language as reconstructed[4] had a phonology consisting of the stop consonants p, b, t, d, k, g and q, the fricative consonants f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, x, ɣ, χ, ʁ and h, the affricate consonants t͡ʃ and d͡ʒ and the sonorants m, w, n, r, l, j and ŋ as well as the vowels a, e, ẹ, i, ə, o, ü and u.

| Bilabial  | Labiodental  | Dental  | Alveolar  | Postalveolar  | Palatal  | Velar  | Uvular  | Glottal

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Plosive  | p b |  | t d |  | k ɡ | q |
Affricate  |  |  |  | (t͡s) (d͡z)  | t͡ʃ d͡ʒ |  |  |  |
Fricative  |  | f v | θ ð | s z | ʃ ʒ |  | x ɣ | χ ʁ | h
Sonorant  | m w |  |  | n r l |  | j | (ŋ)  |  |

## Grammar

Much less can be discerned about the grammar of Vanji: there were probably two genders, masculine and feminine, with plurals of nouns formed by adding a suffix -ev, comparative forms of adjectives by adding -tar and Infinitives of verbs were formed by adding -ak.

## References

1. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds (2017). "Old Wanji". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/oldw1238.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ľubomír Novák (2013), Problem of Archaism and Innovation in the Eastern Iranian Languages, Unpublished, doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.1316.7603, http://rgdoi.net/10.13140/RG.2.1.1316.7603, retrieved 2025-02-02
3. ↑ Zarubin, I. К списку Памирских языков in Doklady Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, 1924 B pp. 79-81; quoted in Problem of Archaism and Innovation in the Eastern Iranian Languages, Ľubomír Novák, 2013
4. ↑ Lashkarbekov, B. B, Старованджский язык, Moscow (2008), quoted in Problem of Archaism and Innovation in the Eastern Iranian Languages, Ľubomír Novák, 2013

* Suhrobsho Davlatshoev (January 2006). The formation and consolidation of Pamiri ethnic identity in Tajikistan (PDF) (MS thesis). Graduate School of Social Sciences, Middle East Technical University. hdl:11511/15825. Retrieved 2023-03-18.

* v
* t
* e

Iranian languages

Old|

| Eastern|

* Avestan
* Old Scythian

|

Western|

* Median
* Old Persian

Middle|

| Eastern|

* Bactrian
* Khwarezmian
* Ossetic
* Jassic
* Saka
* Scythian
* Sogdian

|

Western|

* Middle Persian
* Parthian

Modern|

| Eastern|

| Pamir|

* Ishkashimi
* Sanglechi
* Wakhi
* Munji
* Yidgha
* Vanji
* Yazghulami
* Shughni
* Roshani
* Khufi
* Bartangi
* Sarikoli

|

Others|

* Ossetian
* Digor
* Iron
* Pashto
* Central
* Northern
* Southern
* Wanetsi
* Yaghnobi
* Ormuri
* Parachi

Western|

| North|

* Old Azari
* Balochi
* Central Iran
* Zoroastrian Dari
* Fars
* Gilaki
* Gorani
* Kurdish
* Sorani
* Kurmanji
* Laki
* Southern Kurdish
* Mazandarani
* Semnani
* Sangsari
* Taleshi
* Deilami
* Tati
* Zaza

|

South|

* Persian
* Caucasian Tat
* Dari
* Hazaragi
* Tajik
* Luri
* Bakhtiari
* Kumzari
* Larestani
* Bashkardi

Italics indicate extinct languages.

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