--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "etherman23" <etherman23@...> wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "mkelkar2003" <swatimkelkar@>
wrote:
>
> > What is the scholarly consensus about the classification of
> > Nuristanilanguages?
>
> To the best of my knowledge it's classified as an Iranian language.
No, it's a separate branch of Indo-Iranian. The classification of
Nuristani languages as representing a third branch of IIr. besides
IA and Ir. was first proposed by Georg Morgenstierne in "Dardic and
Kafir Languages", in _The Encyclopaedia of Islam_, New Edition, Vol.
2, Fasc. 25, Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1961, p. 139:
"We are, therefore, entitled to posit the existence of a tird branch
of I[ndo-]Ir[anian], agreeing generally with I[ndo-]A[ryan], but
being situated on the Ir side of some of the isoglosses which, taken
as a whole, constitute the borderline between IA and Ir. This branch
[Nuristani, but Morgenstiarne still called them by the old
name 'Kafir'] has also retained archaisms of its own, and must have
separated from the others at a very early date."
Nuristani languages retain phonological features which cannot be
derived from IA or from Ir., but rather, only from IE via common
IIr. -- one for all: Nuristani /c/ [/ts/] is older than
R.gvedic /s'/ or Avestan /s/, all from IIr. /*c'/. See Colin Masica,
_The Indo-Aryan Languages_, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1991, pp. 461-3
for a succinct discussion of the basis of this distinction.
This classification is accepted by most of scholars today,
a relevant exception being represented by the disagreement of
Szemerenyi, who thinks that Nuristani languages are closer to IA
and that Ir.-like elements are due to contact. In recent years
further fieldwork has supported and refined Morgenstierne's view
(Fussman 1972, Strand 1973, Edelman 1983, Schmidt and Koul 1983,
Koul and Schmidt 1984). Strand has successfully proposed the term
Nuristani as a courteous replacement for the term Kafir (i.e.,
infidel), which was used in the past, but was too derogatory to
Nuristani speakers (who nowadays are for the most part Muslim!).
Regards,
Francesco