LANGUAGE IN INDIA

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Volume 24:1 January 2024
ISSN 1930-2940

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Language Choice of Shina Youth in Different Domains:
A Sociolinguistic Study

Ishrat Gul and S Shabrooz Andrabi

Abstract

Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is a multilingual area where languages belonging to different language families are found. Apart from major languages like Kashmiri, Dogri, there are multitude of minority languages like Shina, Burushaski, Balti, Hindko, Punjabi, Pahari, Pashtu, Gojri, etc. Gurezi Shina is a lesser-known variety of Shina language being spoken by inhabitants of Gurez, a remote northern valley in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The Shina Language belongs to the Dardic sub-group of Indio-Aryan language family. This language is primarily spoken in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, Dah Hanu, Gurez and Dras in India. The alternate names of the language are Shinaki and Sina. The linguistic repertoire of the native speakers of Gurezi Shina mainly comprises of languages like Shina, Kashmiri, Urdu and English. This paper focuses on the domain analysis, that is, the domains where Shina is used and the domains where other languages are used. By looking at language use in different domains one can get an idea whether there are any particular linguistic preferences for different domains and different interlocutors. The data for the present study was elicited through a well-designed questionnaire.

Keywords: Shina, Language Choice, Language Domains, Linguistic Repertoire, Domain Analysis, Language Preference.

1. Introduction

Shina is a language spoken by communities across a vast mountainous region that spans from the northern areas of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) in the east to parts of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan and northeastern Afghanistan. Kohistani and Schmidt (2006) identified specific areas where Shina is spoken, such as Gilgit, lower Hunza, Tangir-Darel, Astor, and Chilas valleys in Pakistan, as well as parts of Indus Kohistan. In India, Shina is spoken in areas like the Neelam (Kishenganga) valley, Gurez and Tiliel valleys, Drass plain, and Ladakh. In J&K, the language has two main varieties: Gurezi in the Gurez valley and Drassi in the Drass area. Additionally, there's a mention of a third variant, Tilieli Shina, primarily spoken in the Tiliel valley of Gurez, which is often considered a part of the Gurezi variety.

The first linguistic taxonomy for the languages of the northern territories from Kashmir to the northern parts of Afghanistan was proposed by George A. Grierson (1919) in his monumental work Linguistic Survey of India published in the early twentieth century. According to Grierson, Shina language belongs to the Dard group- a subgroup of Dardic groups of languages. Grierson (1919:2) presents Dardic as a separate branch of Indo-Iranian, with three groups:

The Kafir group

The Khowar group

The Dard sub-groups

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Ishrat Gul
Research Scholar, University of Kashmir
ishratgul777@gmail.com

S Shabrooz Andrabi
Research Scholar, University of Kashmir
syedshabrooz@gmail.com
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