a morphophonological description of kalasha as an indo-aryan language with greek roots

US-China Foreign Language, ISSN 1539-8080 July 2011, Vol. 9, No. 7, 405-420

A Morphophonological Description of Kalasha

as an Indo-Aryan Language With Greek Roots

Elizabeth Mela-Athanasopoulou Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

The research aims at giving a detailed description of the linguistic typology of Kalasha, an endangered language,

spoken by about 3,000 Kalasha (The most recent demographic research documented 3,254 Kalasha speakers

(Mela-Athanasopoulou & Taleem Khan, 2011)) in the valleys of Chitral, northwest of Pakistan. The paper’s aim is

to show that this marginally studied language is Indo-Aryan, as it has Sanskrit and Ancient Greek influences on it

(Masica, 1991; Trail, 1996). Particular attention will be given to the Inflectional Morphology of the language, e.g.,

case and number morphemes (Trail, 1996), as well as verbal inflections and their argument, participle and

grammaticalization phenomena, etc., in order to show how much of classical Greek is still in use in Kalasha. It will

be shown, for example, that Kalasha has the remnants of a full synthetic case-marking system of ancient Greek.

Furthermore, the lexical morphology of the language will be briefly exhibited. The scope of this part of the study

will show that despite the various influences on the language (e.g., Persian and Urdu), Kalasha seems to have

sustained time and has retained Greek lexical items intact, e.g., Kalasha (K.) Oxus < Greek (Gr.) Axios: K. Birir <

Gr. Veroia; K. Ayan < Gr. Aegae: K. Hadda < Sk. Hella < Gr. Hellas: K. Rtoa < Gr. Neos “young”, etc..

Keywords: primary data, documentation, morphophonological, case-marking, locatives, grammaticalization

Introduction

Kalasha is classified as an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic Chitral group, together with such Dardic groups as Pashai, Pech, Kohistani, Shina and Kashmiri. Morgenstierne (1932) also classified Kalasha as an Indo-Aryan1 language, closely related to Khowar: “Probably the two languages belong to the first wave of Indo-Aryan immigrants from the south” (p. 51).

The author’s position is that, historical, anthropological and linguistic records (as we shall see in this study) manifest a significant presence of Greeks in the North-West area of Pakistan and Afghanistan in Hellenistic times (G. H. Trail, 1996). On the other hand, the author would not exclude the Indo-Aryan origin documented by the Sanskrit etymology of certain words in Kalasha.

In this study, the author will present linguistic evidence of the Greek influence on the morphophonology

Elizabeth Mela-Athanasopoulou, assistant professor of Department of Theoretical and Linguistics, Aristotle University of

Thessaloniki. 1 According to Masica (1991, pp. 51-54) Indo-Aryan is divided linguistically into three stages: Old Indo-Aryan (1500-600 B.C.) including Vedic Sanskrit and Classical Sanskrit, Middle Indo-Aryan (600 B.C.-1000 A.D.) including Prakrit and Pali, and New Indo-Aryan (1000 A.D.-present) to which Kalasha belongs.

KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

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and the lexicon of the language, entirely based on primary data recordings2 of spontaneous dialogues, in the sense of Himmelmann (2006), or pre-planned semantically and grammatically oriented speech performed by native speaker families.

Previous Linguistic Research

The first published book on the Kalasha language is Grierson’s Specimens of the Dardic or Pisacha Languages (1919) in which Kalasha is presented in a “Kafir Group” of a Dardic sub-family of the Aryan languages. Another pioneering work of the phonology and grammar of Kalasha is Morgenstierne’s volume “The Kalasha Language” (1973) which is the starting point for subsequent linguistic studies on the language: Elena Bashir’s Ph.D. thesis “Topics in Kalasha syntax” (1988) and Jan Heegård Petersen’s Ph.D. thesis “Local Case-Marking in Kalasha” (2007). In parallel line, we have the publication of Sir Ralph Turner’s (1966) A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages. Thirty three years later, the publication of a Kalasha-English dictionary compiled by Ron Trail and Greg Cooper appears. Now, all the entries in this dictionary are compiled according to the following alphabetical order: a, ã, ạ, ã, b, č, č, d, dz, e, ẽ, ẹ, ẽ, g, h, i, ĩ, ị, ĩ, ĵ, ĵ, k, l, l, m, n, ŋ, o, õ, ọ, õ , p, r, s, š, s, t, ts, t, u, ũ, ụ, ũ, w, y, z, ž, z.

Following the Trail and Cooper’s dictionary and the author’s fieldwork data documentation, the author has come up with the following conclusion regarding the Kalasha alphabet and its sound system. She proposes that the Kalasha alphabet consist of 22 letters in Roman script (see Table 1). Letters, such as f, q, v and x, are non-existent.

Phonology: The Sounds of Kalasha

In this part, the author will present a brief framework of the Kalasha vowel and consonant sounds. The descriptions are based on her transcriptions of the video and tape recordings. The Kalasha Vowel Phonemes

The Kalasha vowel phonemes are shown in Table 2. All the Kalasha vowel phonemes can also occur as retroflex, nasalized or both (see Tables 3-5). Interestingly, there is no contrastive distribution between short and long vowels. They may occur in any

position. The Kalasha Consonant Phonemes

The Kalasha consonant phonemes are shown in Table 6. Some Kalasha consonant phonemes can also occur as retroflex, some as aspirated and only three as both

retroflex and aspirated, of which c’h and d’h can occur marginally, while l’h has been documented once only (see Tables 7-9).

One final comment is that intervocalic consonants are often dropped, e.g., asam → aam. Also, voiced

2 In order to collect data, the author went to the valleys where the Kalasha people live, and lived with them for about three

months. She was very lucky to have as her main language consultant Mr. Taleem Khan, who took her to the most remote villages of all the three valleys, Rumbur, Bumburet and Birir, to collect as much linguistic material as possible. The author also attempted a perilous trip to Urtsun and recorded the few Kalasha speakers only to find out that the language of the younger population was hardly comprehensible to the author’s Kalasha language consultants. Only one video of a very old man documented the language but still with serious losses. To Taleem Khan and his group the author is deeply indebted.


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consonants in final position become voiceless, e.g., b → p, etc. and word-final voiceless consonants may turn into voiced if a vowel is added, e.g., uk → ug; uk “water” → ug-ay “in the water”.

Table 1 The Kalasha Alphabet Letter Name of letter Example Gloss 1 Aa a au bread; food 2 Bb ba baya brother 3 Cc tsa cawmos winter festival 4 Dd da dur house 5 Ee e ek one 6 Gg ga gak cow 7 Hh ha homa our 8 Ii i im I come 9 Jj dza ju yoke 10 Kk ka karim I do 11 Ll la lõ’ salt 12 Mm ma mo don’t 13 Nn na ne no! 14 Oo o ond’rak egg 15 Pp pa parim I go 16 Rr ra re path in the snow 17 Ss sa sat seven 18 Tt ta tron loom for weaving 19 Uu u uk water 20 Ww wa wawa grandfather 21 Yy ya yuru vein; artery 22 Zz za za vegetables

Table 2 The Kalasha Vowel Phonemes (Letters: i, e, a, o, u). Letter: Oral IPA Example Gloss i /i/ its bear e /e/ ec eye a /a/ awa grandmother o /o/ onza fry pan u /u/ uhuk owl

Table 3 Retroflex3 Marked With an Inverted Comma Next to It Letter IPA Example Gloss i’ /ir / hi’a heart e’ /er / ame’a sheep a’ /ar / a’i duck o’ /or / o’nga cuff of shalwar u’ /ur / u’ghu’ik to repair a millstone

3 See also Heegård & Mørch (2004).


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Table 4 Nasalized Letter IPA Example Gloss ĩ /ĩ/ pac’hĩ’ak bird ẽ /ẽ/ khẽ how? ã /ã/ hãsh horse õ /õ/ s’õs’kik to sweep ũ /ũ/ gũzi dented

Table 5 Both Retroflex and Nasalized Letter IPA Example Gloss ĩ’ /ĩr/ ga’wa’ĩ’ak rabbit ẽ’ /ẽr/ Ẽ’hẽ’ Ayon ã’ /ãr/ mã’ik necklace õ’ /õr/ shõ’a dog ũ’ /ũr/ pũ’ the grape harvest

Table 6 The Kalasha Consonant Phonemes Letter Phonemes IPA Example Gloss Bb b /b/ baba sister Cc c /c/ cay tea Dd d /d/ dada father Gg g /g/ gak cow Hh h /h/ hãsh horse Jj j /j/ ja wife Kk k /k/ kuc stomach Ll l /l/ lahas sick Mm m /m/ mos meat Nn n /n/ nas nose Pp p /p/ pay goat Rr r /r/ rat night Ss s /s/ suri sun Tt t /t/ tari star Ww w /w/ warash bird Yy y /j/ yuru vein Zz z /z/ za vegetable

Table 7 Retroflex Letter IPA Example Gloss c’ /cr/ c’as’a cheese d’ /dr/ d’a wine j’ /jr/ j’anj’er chain l’ /lr/ l’awak fox s’ /sr/ s’us’utr female head cover t’ /tr/ t’ong pear z’ /zr/ z’ar quickly


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Table 8 Aspirated: All Consonants Can Be Aspirated Except From w and y Letter IPA Example Gloss bh /bh/ bhut shalwar, trousers ch /ch/ chu daughter dh /dh/ dhan roasted corn gh /gh/ ghona big jh /jh/ jhaw fence made of branches kh /kh/ khawa conical basket lh /lh/ lhoyak flat and smooth mh /mh/ mhal curse nh /nh/ nhast nose ph /ph/ phaw earth rh /rh/ rhad’id’ish pine-cone sh /sh/ shara mountain goat th /th/ thara above, on zh /zh/ zho Barley

Table 9 Both Retroflex and Aspirated (Only Three: c’h, d’h and l’h) Letter IPA Example Gloss c’h /ch

r/ c’hir milk d’h /dh

r/ d’hok high forests (marginally manifested)l’h /lh

r/ l’hos’ charcoal (only one item found)

The Morphology of Kalasha Despite the various influences on the language over the centuries (e.g., Persian, Arabic, Urdu), Kalasha

seems to have sustained time and has retained both Sanskrit and Greek lexical items intact. For example, the names of some place find their roots in Ancient Greek, e.g., Ka. (Kalasha) Kal’as’a, Gr. (Greek) Hellas < Hadda, Skt. (Sanskrit); Ka. Ashtoreh, Gr. Asterusia (Aster + usa); Ka. Nishei-grom, Gr. Nysa (Thrace); Ka. Ayun, Gr. Aegae; Ka. Oxus (river), Gr. Axios; Ka. Biriu/Birir, Gr. Beroia; Ka. Beo/Bio, Gr. Boeotia; Ka. Makkah, Gr. Makedonia. Moreover, for the Kalasha mythological names, bhut ‘evil spirit’ (Coleman, 2007, p. 47), Dez’au ‘highest God’, J’es’t’ak, Nhon ‘a dragon living in a fountain’, we have the equivalent Greek words vou- ‘big; monstrous; vociferous’ (vous ‘ox’, voao ‘to vociferate’) (Georgopapadakos, 1964, p. 44) < bhu:ta, Dias, Estia, L. Vestia, Nereis, respectively.

The Nouns in Kalasha: Some Derivational and Inflectional Morphemes Kalasha has lost the old classical gender4, in the sense that there is no distinction of grammatical gender.

But, normally women’s names end with {-i}, e.g., Siasatbibi, Hazarbhibi, Bag’uli, Danuli, etc., while men’s names end with {-a}, e.g., G’ad’a, Gashara, Zinatsha, Bud’ha, R’ot’a, Kalasha, etc.. This does not exclude the reverse, e.g., Gulnis’a, Mazd’ana, and Kur’i, Ling’asi, Zhig’ili, for women’s and men’s names respectively.

Lexical morphemes. Common noun stems end with: -a amẽ’a ‘sheep’ < Gr. amnoa, amnos (Fragoulis, 2004, p. 53), amnis, amnas; Skt. men’d’ha ‘ram’

4 Adjectives, also, have no gender distinction, e.g., gh’ona ‘big; tall’ is identical in both gh’ona moc ‘a big man’ and gh’ona istriz’a ‘a big woman’.


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shul’a ‘wood’ < Gr. ksylonsg, ksyl-apl; Skt. s’alaka sh’õ’a ‘dog’ < Gr. kyonNomSg, kyn-aAccSg; Skt. suna

-i/-y at’hi ‘bone’ < Gr. osteonNomSg, ostei-s, osti-sDatPl, o~a, ostakos, astakos, astris pay ‘goat’ < Gr. epolion ‘heard of goats’, epolos ‘shepherd’

-u chu ‘daughter’ < Gr. θyγatyr Other common noun stems may end with various consonants such as: m, t, c, k and the diminutive -yak. -m grom ‘village’ < Gr. agrosNom, agronAcc “field”, Skt. agras, L. ager

krom ‘work’ < Gr. erg- eirgasme; Skt vragami -t put ‘boy; son’ < Gr. pais, Gen. paiδ-os -c kuc ‘stomach’ < Gr. kyeoV ‘be pregnant’, kys-t-is ‘cyst’; Skt. kuks’i -k d’hak ‘waist’ < Gr. δak-t-ylios ‘ring shape spine bone’ (Liddell & Scott, 2001, p. 552). Inflectional morphemes indicating number, case and locatives. Now with regard to the number of

nouns Kalasha has retained a full productive plural formation especially in the oblique case. The majority of nouns, however, do not distinguish between singular and plural in the nominative case which is uninflected. Case marking, on the other hand, differentiates between animate and inanimate nouns. Inanimate nouns seem to have retained many of the archaic case endings, concerning the locative, ablative and temporal cases. All case morphs are unstressed with the exception of nominative plural -άn and genitive plural -όn. The Genitive Singular is {-a} for proper names and {-as} for common names < OIA (Old Indo-Aryan) -asya; Gr. {-ou}MSC/F/NTR, {-as/-is}F, {-os}MSC/F/NTR, e.g., moc-as chu ‘the man’s daughter’, mastruk-as phrel’ik ‘the moon’s light’, Zama-a ja-as ‘Zama’s wife’, tasa putr-as ‘his/her son’, tasa putr-asi ‘his/her sons’. Kalasha distinguishes case morphemes between animate (human beings, animals, etc.) and inanimate (objects, places, etc.) nouns (see Table 10).

Table 10 Case-Suffixation of Common Nouns in Kalasha

Animate Inanimate

Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative ∅ ∅, -an, -án ∅ ∅ Genitive/Oblique -as, -a -an, -ánan, -ón -as -an Dative -as -an -as -an, ∅ Accusative ∅ ∅ ∅ ∅ Instrumental -an Locative -a, -una, -ai Ablative -ey, -en, -ani, -aw Temporal -ano, -asa Vocative -ow, ∅ ∅, -an?

The Kalasha language makes a distinction between animate and inanimate nouns, which affect both their number and case, exhibiting distinct inflectional case and number morphemes. The plurality morphemes are always marked in the Genitive/Oblique and Dative case which are identical and they are {-an} and {-anan}, with both animate and inanimate common nouns. However, those animate nouns ending with {-a} in the Nominative Singular, take {-on} in the Genitive plural, instead of {-an} and {-anan}, for example, amẽ’-a ‘sheep’, amẽ’-ón, batya ‘kid goat’, baty-ón, suda ‘child’, sud-ón, shõ’a ‘dog’, shõ’-ón. Ishtrizha ‘wooman’,


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ishtrizh-ón, etc., but, moc ‘man’, Gen.Pl. (Genitive Plural) moc-an, pay ‘goat’, Gen.Pl. pay-an, push ‘flower’, Gen.Pl. push-an, wazir ‘minister’, Gen.Pl. waziran, etc.. The Genitive plural {-ón} is definitely the Greek plural suffix -on/-ón. It is amazing that Morgenstierne did not give any etymological explanation of -on, while he suggested the Old Indo-Aryan -asya as the origin for the Genitive Singular -as (Morgenstierne, 1973, p. 207). Moreover, Heegård Petersen gave no etymological information of {-on}, “This I am unable to explain otherwise than referring to analogy: {-án} > {-ón}” (Heegård Petersen, 2007, p. 61).

Now consider the Gen.Pl. -ón < Gr. -ón functioning as the nominal complement in post position phrases: amẽ’-on hatya < Gr. αμν-ων ἓνεκεν /amn-on eneken/ ‘of the sheep for’, for the sake of the sheep (Tzartzanos, 2006a/1960a, p. 150) (see Table 11).

Table 11 The Genitive Plural With Post-Positions in Kalasha and Greek

1

Kalasha Greek nast-όn hatya νεκρῶν ἓνεκεν, heneken

dead-Gen.Pl. for Benef. nekr-όn for Benef. for (the sake of) the dead for (the sake of) the dead

2

Ka. tasi hatya au kar-in PN 3rd Gen.Pl.

Dat.Pl. for (the sake of) Benef. food make-3rd Pl.Pr.

Gr. Τούτων ἓνεκεν τροφήν πράττουν Tout-on heneken trofi pratoun

them for (the sake of) food make They make food for them.

Let us go back to case-marking of common nouns. The Nominative case is zero marked for the Singular (see Table 10) for both animate and inanimate nouns. Only few animate nouns show either unmarked or marked Nominative for the Plural, i.e., {-an}, {-án} or zero, e.g., ek moc iu day ‘one man is coming’; bo moc/mocan in day ‘many people are coming’.

Interestingly, Morgenstierne, in the texts he recorded, cited one more nominative plural morpheme {-ai} or {-ei}, which the author documented in her recordings: may putrai zhe chulai aya ita aan ‘My sons and daughters here they have come’.

So, apart from the Nominative, Genitive-Oblique Dative and Vocative, no other case is marked for the animate nouns, whereas, with the inanimate nouns all cases are marked, except for the nominative and vocative in Table 10.

The dative case in Kalasha with ditransitive verbs. The Dative case is identical, in form with the Genitive case in both Singular and Plural in Table 10 (see Table 12).

The dative case with post-/pre-position in Kalasha and Greek. The Dative case with post-/pre-position in Kalasha and Greek can be explained as follows (see Table 13).

Current linguistic literature (Bashir, 1988; Trail, 1996; Heegård Petersen, 2007) do not give any suggestions with regard to the origin of these case endings. For example, Morgenstierne said, “I am unable to suggest any explanation of the Obl. Plural forms in -ana, -anu and -ani” (Morgenstierne, 1973, p. 209). Here Morgenstierne talks of only one morpheme of the Ablative case. He does not mention -ey or -aw. Heegård Petersen (2007) discussed quite extensively on the distributional and semantic parameters of


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Locative and Ablative case endings, but nothing on their origin. What follows is an attempt to relate the Locative, Ablative, as well as the Instrumental and Temporal case endings with Greek correspondent morphemes.

Case marking of inanimate nouns indicating location5, origin and instrument. This is documented in Table 14.

Table 14 is exemplified in Table 15. Now consider some data from the author’s recordings indicating the Locative case endings in Kalasha (see

Table 16). Kalasha has also retained case marking in personal pronouns.

Table 12 The Dative Case in Kalasha With Ditransitive Verbs

1

Se batyak-as au del. He/she baby goat-Dat food give-3rd sg

He/she gives food to the baby goat will give

2

Gr. δί-δω-μι δi-δo-mi

tινί tini

tι ti

give-1st sg PN-Dat PN-Acc I give to somebody something

3

Bo baya-si zhe bo baba-si ek gak asau Many brother-Dat. Benef. and many sister-Dat. Benef. one cow is

For many brothers and sisters there is one cow. Πολλοĩς αδελφοĩς και αδεκφαĩς μια αγελας εστι Dat. Benef. Dat. Benef. Polis aδalfis ke aδelfes mia aγelas esti

4

may tre chul’-ai asinyi. me-Dat.sg.Benef. three daughter-pl were-3rd pl

(for) me three daughters were I had three daughters Greek: ἐμοί τρεις θυγατέρ-ες ἦσaν emi tris θiγater-es isan dat.sg.Ben three daughter-Pl.Nom. were-3rd pl. I had three daughters

5

pari shõ’hon hatya au hari Gr. τοĩςDat.Pl. κυ-σί Dat.Pl.tis kisi

go-Imp dog-Dat pl for food take-Imp the Dat pl. dog-Dat pl.

Go and take food for the dogs the dogs for for the dogs

Fragulis, 2004, p. 451

6

Tasi bac’ho’hon ne aliphik abaw To them-Dat. Pl. cow-Dat. Pl. not follow could

He could not follow (and catch) the cows.

Gr. ἓπομαι τινι Dat.Sg. ‘I follow sb’ epome tini

5 For a more detailed description of local case marking, see Heegård Petersen (2007).


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Table 13 The Dative Case With Post-/Pre-position in Kalasha and Greek

1

Zam, dura ita, cai pi jaas som Zam home-to having come, tea having drunk wife-Dat with

Having come home and drunk tea, Zam with his wife… Greek: γυναικί συν → σύν γυναικί γineki sin→ sin γineki with (his) wife

2

Toa se bo kahari la, tasi som hiu day Then he/she very angry, them-Dat.Pl. become Pr.Cont.

Then he will be very angry with them Greek: τισί συν tisi sin tasi som them-Dat.Pl with with them

3

pay-an som wal’ pariman ais goat-Dat sg with watching go-Past Cont.

Greek: αἰγί συν ‘with the goat’ eγi sin goat-Dat with

4

Aya homa som zhõt shiau. Here usDat.Pl. with water mill is

‘There is a watermill here with us’ Here we have a watermill. (Greek) ἡμίν σύν—σύν ἡμίν hemin syn—syn hemin

Table 14 Case Marking Morphemes of Location, Origin and Instrument

Kalasha Ancient Greek Locative: -a, -ai (-ay), -una meaning: ‘at, in, on’

Locative: -a, -(as)i, -(is)i -i meaning: ‘at, in, on’

Ablative: -en, -ani, -aw, -ey meaning: ‘from’

Origin: -θen meaning: ‘from’

Instrumental: -an meaning: ‘by means of’

Instrumental (Dative case of inanimate nouns Sing/Pl. meaning: ‘by means of’

Table 15 Locative, Ablative and Instrumental Case Morphemes in Kalasha and Greek

Kalasha cases Ancient Greek cases

Locative Locative Dative case Locative particles (stative)

-a ek awat-a at one place dur-a at the window; at home -a ἐν oἰκί-α en ikia at home

ίν θύρ-α en θyr-a at the window

-ay -y, i

tasa dur-ay te moc prus’t his house in they people good

In his house the people are good a and-ay caker aris

I here walk did Here I had a walk

-asi -isi -i -θi

εν Πλαταιασι en Plate-asi At Plateae

εν Αθήνησι en Αθin-isi in Athens

ο_κoι iki at home αυτόθι aftoθi here

-una Brũ’a sukul-una Brun school at At Brun school

-oni

Τα τρόπαια τα τε Μαραθώνι ta tropaia ta te Marathoni the trophies those Marathon at the

trophies at Marathon (Tzartzanos, 2006/1960, p. 70)

(to be continued)


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Ablative (Origin) Origin particle

-en -ani -aw -ey

A uts-ani uk on-is I spring-from water bring-Past/1st I brought water from the spring

Amẽ’a dur geh-aw in Sheep house side from will come

The sheep will come from the side of the houseauduawat-ani harawat-ani Brũ’a al’ey

away there from Brun al’ey from over there

-θen

οικοθεν ikoθen from the house αμφοτέροθεν amphoteroθen

from both sides πανταχόθεν pantaxoθen

from everywhere πόθεν poθen from where αλλει alli from over there

αλλ-ει allei alli

-ani pay son-ani ita aan

goats pasture from have come the goats have come from the pastures

πέραν peran opposite, across, at the other side (Pantazidis, 1975, p. 518)

-aw te shul,a dur-aw onin

they wood houses from bring they bring wood from the houses

Kalasha Instrumental (Dative)

Greek Instrumental (Dative)

-an, -in Dat/Abl.

tay s’iŋg-anDat.pl.Instr. dyel you horns with beat

it will beat you with its horns A tay gond’ik-an Instr.Dat.Pl. tyem

I you sticks beat I will beat you with sticks

τοιν δένδρ-οιν tin δenδr-in Instr.Dat.pl. with two trees tin θiran ti vaktiria Instr.Dat.Sg. ekruen the door the stick-Dat was beating

he was beating the door with a stick (Moumtzakis, 1978, p. 41)

Table 16 The Locative Case Endings in Kalasha

1 A dur-a wal’im day I at the house I am waiting

I am waiting at home

2 Al-ay son-ay paam

There to the high pasture to go 1st Sg. Pr./Fut. There to the high pastures I go/I will go.

3 A Kaw-ey

B Brũ’a

Where from Brun from Where are you from? I am from Brun

4 A Kaw-a maas day?

B Brũ’a sukul-una

Where at are you learning? Brun at school at Where are you learning? At Brun school.

Pronominal case marking in Kalasha and Ancient Greek. Pronominal case marking in Kalasha and Ancient Greek is shown in Table 17.

Verbs Finite verb forms in Kalasha can be described as having Tense, Aspect and Modal affixes. The verb agrees

with the subject in person and number and by the use of auxiliaries (to include aspect), in animacy. The verb asik ‘to be’ (see Table 18) is essential for the formation of perfect/non-perfect forms. The Ancient Greek counterpart is juxtaposed.

There are as many as eight conjugation classes in Kalasha (Bashir, 1988, p. 26). What is striking is that in all classes the inflectional suffixes indicating person have their roots in Greek. For example, the 2nd singular


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and the 3rd plural are identical. Also, the past tense with certain verbs is formed by a circumfix, as in Greek (see Table 19).

Table 17 Pronominal Case Marking in Kalasha and Ancient Greek

Personal oronouns

1st person Singular 1st person plural

Kalasha Greek Kalasha Greek

Nominative a ‘I’ eγo εγώ abi

‘we’ hemis ημεĩς6

Genitive/Oblique may ‘of me/me’ emu εμού, μου homa

‘of us/our’ hemon ημων

Dative may ‘to me’ emi εμοί, μοι homa

‘to us’ hemin ημĩν

Accusative may ‘me’ eme εμέ, με homa

‘us’ hemas ημας

Table 18 Asik ‘to be’ (Animate); Shiik ‘be’ (Inanimate)

Present Kalasha Greek Sanskrit

as-am ει-μί < εσ-μι imi < esmi asmi

as-as ει ei asi as-au εσ-τί esti asti shi-au (inanimate) - - as-ik εσμ-έν esmen smas as-a εσ-τέ este stha as-an ει-σί(ν) isi(n) santi shi-an (inanimate) - -

Table 19 Verbal Inflectional Affixes in Kalasha (1st Singular, Present/Past)

matr-am a-matr-is pash-im a-pash-is speak 1st sg Pres Past-speak-Past 1st sg see 1st sg Pres Past-see-Past 1st sg

I speak I spoke I see I saw

Due to the lack of space, the author shall not go into details as to tense formation. Tables 20-23 provide indicative examples of the verbs ik ‘to come’, parik7 ‘to go’, and hik ‘to become’.

The verb ik = to come Greek root i- > ei ειμι ‘I come’ ( Latin eo ‘I come’; iter ‘itinerary’) The verb h-ik = to become Gr. γίγ-ν-ομαι < Root γεν-, γον-, γν-, γiγ-n-ome < γen-, γon-, γn- ‘to become’; also ‘to happen’ (Georgopapadakos, 1964, p. 49). (L. gig-no Gr. root γn- reduplicated γi-γn- ) (Georgopapadakos, 1964, p. 49).

6 The sign ‘on top of ἡμεĩς stands for /h/ of hemis.(cf. Kalasha homa). It is called δασεία ‘rough breathing’ and initially it was the letter h which, if word initially, turned into the sign’. (Tzartzanos, 2006/1960, p. 13) 7 The infinitival suffix for all verbs is {-ik}/{-ek}.


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Table 20 Present/Future of the Verb ik ‘to Come’

Present indicative Present imperative Kalasha Greek Gloss Kalasha Greek im ειμι imi I come Sing. i ι-θι ithi is ει i you come Pl.eo ι-τε ite iu εισι isi he comes Present/Past Participle ik ιμεν imen we come Kalasha Greek Greek derivatives eo ιτε ite you come ι- ι-ών i-on ι-της i-tis ‘brave’

in ιασι iasi they come ι-τέον i-teon ‘must come'

Table 21 Present Simple/Future of the Verb Parik = to go Kalasha Greek A par-im < πάρ-ειμι par-imi Tu par-is πάρ-εις par-is Se par-iu πάρ-εισι par-isi Abi par-ik πάρ-ιμεν par-imen Abi par-eo/par-a πάρ-ιτε par-ite Te par-in παρ-ίασι par-iasi

Table 22 The Imperative and the Participle in Kalasha and Greek

Present imperative Present/Past participle Kalasha Greek Kalasha Greek ing.par-i πάρι-θι parithi pa-i παρι-ών pari-on Pl.par-a πάρι-τε parite

Table 23 Present/Future of the Verb h-ik ‘to Become’

Present simple/future Simple past Kalasha Greek Kalasha Greek

A h-im γίγν-ομαι γiγn-ome h-awis γεγα-ώς/γεγώς γeγaos/γeγos ‘having become’

Tu h-is γίγν-ει γiγn-i Se h-iu γίγν-εται γiγn-ete

Abi h-ik γιγν-όμεθα γiγn-omeθa

Abi h-al’i γίγν-εσθε γiγn-esθe Te h-in γίγν-ονται γiγn-onte

Consider now some verb roots observed in the data below (see Table 24).

The Kalasha Participle Past participles in Kalasha can function freely as adjuncts in the sense that subject control is done by the

matrix sentence. They may also occur as subject controlled absolute constructions (Ancient Greek absolute genitives). Consider the data in Table 25.

The exact equivalent subject controlled as well as absolute past participle genitives are found in Ancient


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Greek, in Table 26, respectively.

Table 24 Some Identical Verb Roots in Kalasha and Greek

1

Zam us’t’iu; us’t’i baza maza ningiu

Zam get up-3rd sg get up-pp hand wash-3rd sg

Zam gets up/will get up; having got up, he washes/will wash his hands ningiu < ningik ‘to wash’ Greek Root νιγ-, νιπ-, ‘niγ-, nip-’ ‘to wash’

2

Zam-a ja-as au kai, dur mur s’os’kiu

Zam-gen wife-gen food having made the house (she) sweep-3rd sg

Having made food, Zam’s wife sweeps/will sweep the house. s’os’kiu < s’os’kik ‘to sweep’ Greek Root σαρ- σαίρω ‘sar-’ ‘to sweep’

3

Phato Zam dura iu

Then Zam house-to come-3rd sg

Then Zam comes/will come to his house.

Dura ita, au zui cai mai pi

house-to home-pp food eat-pp tea drink-pp

Having come to his house, having eaten food and having drunk tea

jaas som bo koshan thi, …..

wife-his with very happy become-pp

Having become very happy with his wife. iu < eo, ita < eo ‘to come’ Greek Root ι-, ει ‘to come’ > ί-μεν i-men ‘we come’, ί-της i-tis, ι-ταμός i-tamos pi-PP < piik ‘drink’ (Georgopapadakos, 2010/1964, p. 68) Greek Root πι-, πο-, pi-, po-, ‘to drink’ (Tzartzanos, 2006a/1960a, p. 181)

Table 25 Kalasha Past Participles as Absolute Constructions 1 Son-ay pa-i, c’as’a on-im.

High pasture to having gone, cheese I will bring.

Having gone to the high pasture, I will bring cheese.

2 Cut’i th-i-o, tu kia kar-is day?

Holiday having passed, you what are doing?

After the holiday has passed, what are you doing? 3 Zama jaas shul’a udriman Ata-i, angar kariu

ZamGen wifeGen wood inside atek-pp fire make-3rd sg

Zam’s wife wood inside having brought fire makes/will

make Having brought wood inside, Zam’s wife makes/will make fire.

4 Angar Ka-i, cai thal. Cai Tha-i, au kariu.

fire make-pp tea thek-3rd sg tea thek-pp food Make-3rd sg

Having made fire, (she) will pour tea; having poured tea, (she) will make food.


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Table 26 Greek Past Participles as Absolute Constructions

1

ανήρ κακοπράγμων συννορισάμενος … λαβών στρουθίον anir kakopraγmon sinorisamenos … lavon strouθion man ill-doer having bet-PP … having taken-PP sparrow

One vicious man having made a bet, (and) having taken-PP a sparrow. καί τοῦτο … σκεπάσας ηκεν εις το ἱερόν kai touto … skepasas iken is to ieron and this having covered arrived at the holy place

and then having covered it, he arrived at the holy place Aesop’s Tales, Kefalidis-Moumtzakis, 1994, p. 307.

2

Aδράστου και Πολυνείκους έπί Θήβας στρατευσάντων και ήττηθέντων Aδrastou-Gen.Sg. kai

Polinikous-Gen.Sg epi Θivas Stratefsanton-Gen.Pl.Absolute ke itiθenton- Gen.Pl.Absolute

Aδrastos’s and Polinikes’s against Thebes having attacked-PP and having been defeated-PP

and Polinikis having attacked Thebae and (having) been beaten Lysias 7-9, Epitafios, Kefalidis-Moumtzakis, 1994, p. 307.

Deverbal Postpositions and Grammaticalization Phenomena8 The phenomenon of grammaticalization is very frequent in both Kalasha and Greek. In Kalasha, for

example, past participles (pp) may function as postpositions: gr-ipp9 < griik ‘to grasp’, ‘having grasped/with’,

th-ipp < hik ‘to become’, ‘having become/together’, ka-ipp < karik ‘to do’, ‘having done/together’, da-ipp < dek ‘to give’, ‘having given/next to, by,’, etc.. All these past participles, after undergoing morphologization, may work as postpositions, i.e., they lose their syntactic properties of the verbs they derive from and convert into postpositions. Apart from this morphophonological and syntactic erosion, they also suffer semantic bleaching, i.e., they lose completely the meaning of the verb they derive from. Consider the so-called unattached free adjunct constructions (which are not controlled by the matrix subject) in English (E) and in Modern Greek (MG) (see Examples 1a-1c).

Example 1a. E: this done, given/granted; provided the chance Example 1b. MG: δeδomenis tis sovaris katastasis, δoθisis tis efkerias Example 1c. MG: prokimenou na/δeδomenu oti Examples 1a and 1b are subject controlled, whereas Example 1c has been reanalyzed and turned into

conjunctions. Now consider the data in Kalasha (see Table 27).

Conclusions The main scope of this research was to present an empirical morphophonological description of Kalasha

with regard to its roots in the Greek of the 3rd cy BC. After exposing briefly the phonology and morphology of Kalasha, the author discussed thoroughly the

inflectional system with regard to number and case, especially the oblique cases, juxtaposing the author’s data with Greek. Then the author gave a sketchy view of the personal pronouns emphasizing those with the Greek

8 See Kortmann & Konig, 1992; Mela-Athanasopoulou, 2003. 9 Morgenstierne calls—i absolutive suffix (Morgenstierne, G. 1973, p. 236).


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counterparts, e.g., homa ημών, etc.. Finally, from the verbal system, the author gave a brief description of the Past Participle and the

Greek Absolute Genitive, as well as the phenomenon of grammaticalization and reanalysis of these participles used as postpositions.

Table 27 Deverbal Postpositions in Kalasha

Sil’-una dai, mo par-i bridge-loc. give-pp don’t go-imper. the bridge next to, by don’t go

Don’t go by the bridge. cay zhe au ek kai hari tea and food one make-pp take Imp. tea and food together take!

Take both tea and food! ek ka-i, d’ud’ai

one make-pp put to sleep-Imp Put them to sleep together.

A zhe tu ek thi, parik I and you one become-pp go-1st pl

You and I will go together.

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a morphophonological description of kalasha as an indo-aryan language with greek roots

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