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Proto-Nuristani is the reconstructed ancestor of all the Nuristani languages, a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European. Due to the paucity of available linguistic data concerning the modern-day Nuristani languages and their dialects, extensive influence from neighboring Indo-Aryan languages, and the relatively recent period of attestation, starting from the 19th century, there are a lot of uncertainties about the reconstruction of Proto-Nuristani. Its descendants include Ashkun, Katë, Prasuni, Tregami, Waigali (alongside Zemiaki), spoken mainly in Afghanistan and small parts of Chitral District, Pakistan.

Nevertheless, within the Nuristani family, it is possible to identify some sound correspondences that enable us to preliminarily reconstruct Proto-Nuristani and uncover its relationship to other Indo-Iranian branches, namely Indo-Aryan and Iranian. However, the individual subgroupings of Nuristani are quite complicated. The following sections below demonstrate the sound correspondences between Proto-Nuristani and its descendant languages.

Sources are extracted from Richard Strand's Nuristani Etymological Lexicon, Ralph Lilley Turner's A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, Harry Burnett Lumsden's The Mission to Kandahar with Appendices, and Jakob Halfmann's A Grammatical Description of the Katë Language (Nuristani).

Phylogeny

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The descendants of Proto-Nuristani include:

Phylogeny
  • Proto-Nuristani
    • Kamkata-viri
      • Western Katë
        • Ktivi (main; unlisted)
        • Kulam (unlisted)
        • Ramgal (unlisted)
      • Northeastern Katë
        • Bashgali (main; unlisted)
        • Chitrali (unlisted)
      • Southeastern Katë
        • Kamviri (main; unlisted)
        • Mumviri (unlisted)
    • Prasuni
      • Dewa (unlisted)
      • Kshtoki (unlisted)
      • Pashki (unlisted)
      • Pronz (main; unlisted)
      • Shtive (unlisted)
      • Zumu (unlisted)
    • † Proto-Southern Nuristani (unlisted)
      • Ashkun
        • Badzaigal (unlisted)
        • Kolatan (unlisted)
        • Masegal (unlisted)
        • Sanu (main; unlisted)
      • Tregami
        • Devoz (unlisted)
        • Gambir (main; unlisted)
        • Katar (unlisted)
      • Waigali
        • Ameshdesh (unlisted)
        • Chimi (unlisted)
        • Nisheigram (main; unlisted)
        • Waigal (unlisted)
        • Zemiaki (unlisted)
        • Zhonchigal (unlisted)

Pitch accent

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Proto-Nuristani is believed to have a distinctive pitch accent inherited from Proto-Indo-Iranian. In all Nuristani languages, except for Prasuni, an accent shift to the penultimate syllable occurred, eliminating most traces of the old accent. Subsequently, vowel apocope occurred, resulting in a fixed stress at the final syllable. Nevertheless, pitch accent can be speculatively determined based on these criteria:

1. The reflex of *ā in Ashkun is either ā or a. It is likely that the long vowel reflex comes from an accented *ā, while the short vowel reflex comes from an unaccented *ā, as in pār (“leaf”) < *pā́ra and břa (“brother”) < *brātá < *brātā́. The change of unaccented *ā > *a must have occurred before the shift to penultimate accent in Proto-Southern Nuristani. Word-finally however, *ā was shortened to *a in common Nuristani regardless of accent, as evidenced by its syncope.

2. Preservation of a v reflex deriving from intervocalic *k. Normally, *k is lenited to zero, including the productive diminutive suffix *-ka/*-kā which were usually accented (but compare also the common diminutive -k in modern Nuristani languages). However, certain words preserve a labiovelar reflex (with occasional reduction to vowel length in Southeastern Katë), in one case (*scāyikā́ (“shade, shadow”)) including the diminutive suffix, which was probably fossilized by the time of Proto-Nuristani.

Based on these, it is possible to reconstruct two accent categories for monosyllabic nouns (H, L), at least two accent categories for disyllabic nouns (HL, LH) and three accent categories for trisyllabic nouns (HLL, LHL, LLH). The existence of tone categories LF and LLF, deriving from some cases of Proto-Indo-Iranian LH and LLH, are highly speculative, but the Pronz dialect of Prasuni reflects the putative categories as HL and LHL (tone class B), as in zima (“snow”) < *jimà (LL) < *ȷ́ʰimás.

In the Pronz dialect of Prasuni, there are three accent classes for disyllabic nouns: type A (LL) as in yürjük (“light”), type B (HL) as in zima (“snow”), and type C (LH) as in këṭë (“rafter”).

Common vowel changes from Proto-Nuristani

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The vowel developments in modern Nuristani languages generally follow a pattern, though some divergences exist. Final vowels are generally lost, but most exceptions exist in Prasuni.

  • Proto-Nuristani *a is retained as a when it began a word. Syllable-initially following a consonant, it becomes o (Southern Nuristani) or u (Katë) when stressed (following the penultimate stress rule). Otherwise, it becomes ë except in Waigali, where it is retained as a. In Prasuni, the reflex of *a is either ë or u. Due to metaphony, some instances of *a end up as ä (in Waigali) or e (in Katë) before an old *i. In Southeastern Katë, a further change ë > a occurs before stress.
  • Proto-Nuristani *ã, reflecting the Proto-Indo-Iranian syllabic nasal, merges with *a, though the following consonant is not subject to lenition.
  • Proto-Nuristani *ā becomes a when it begins a word except in Waigali. Otherwise, it becomes o when stressed (following the penultimate stress rule) in Katë (but u within nasals in Western and sometimes Northeastern Katë). In Ashkun, it becomes ā or a, likely conditioned by the old pitch accent (and not the penultimate stress rule). In Waigali, it becomes ā, but in some cases the reflex is a instead.
  • Proto-Nuristani *e (probably a long vowel much like Sanskrit e) is generally retained except for Ashkun, where it becomes a (word-initially) or ë (in other positions) and Prasuni, where it becomes i.
  • Proto-Nuristani *i is generally retained. It probably lowers to *e before nasals.
  • Proto-Nuristani *ī probably merged with *i.
  • Proto-Nuristani *o (probably a long vowel much like Sanskrit o) is retained in Ashkun as o, and raises to u in Katë and Waigali.
  • Proto-Nuristani *r̥, reflecting the Proto-Indo-Iranian syllabic rhotic, was likely retained in Proto-Southern Nuristani (Ashkun ić vs. Waigali oć (“bear”)) on account of the differing vowel reflexes. However, in all languages, it usually undergoes vocalization, but causes rhotacization of a following dental consonant.
  • Proto-Nuristani *u is retained in Ashkun and Tregami. Elsewhere, it is fronted to ü.
  • Proto-Nuristani *ū probably merged with *u.

Single consonant changes

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  • Proto-Nuristani *t
    • Ashkun t (initial), ∅ (intervocalic) (tu (“thou”) < *tuwa, ẓo (“intestine”) < *řota)
    • Western Katë t (initial), ∅ (intervocalic) (tyu (“thou”) < *tuwa, řu (“intestine”) < *řota)
    • Northeastern Katë t (initial), ∅ (intervocalic) (tyu (“thou”) < *tuwa)
    • Southeastern Katë t (initial), ∅ (intervocalic) (tü (“thou”) < *tuwa, řu (“intestine”) < *řota)
    • Prasuni y (initial), y/∅ (intervocalic) (üyú (“thou”) < *tuwa, vú (“intestine”) < *upařota)
    • Tregami t (initial), ∅ (intervocalic) (tu (“thou”) < *tuwa)
    • Waigali t (initial), ∅ (intervocalic) (tü (“thou”) < *tuwa, vřu (“intestine”) < *řotá)
  • Proto-Nuristani *š
    • Ashkun s, š (before i) (-s (“2nd person singular verbal marker”) < *-ši)
    • Western Katë š (-š (“2nd person singular verbal marker”) < *-ši)
    • Northeastern Katë š (-š (“2nd person singular verbal marker”) < *-ši)
    • Southeastern Katë š (-š (“2nd person singular verbal marker”) < *-ši)
    • Prasuni š (-š (“2nd person singular verbal marker”) < *-ši)
    • Tregami š (-š (“2nd person singular verbal marker”) < *-ši)
    • Waigali š (-š (“2nd person singular verbal marker”) < *-ši)
  • Proto-Nuristani *n
    • Ashkun n (initial), ň/∅ with nasalization (intervocalic) (nām (“name”) < *nāma, vyeňye- (“to see”) < *wenati)
    • Western Katë n (initial), ř/∅ (intervocalic) (num (“name”) < *nāma, jiře- (“to kill”) < *janati)
    • Northeastern Katë n (initial), ň/∅ with nasalization (intervocalic) (nom (“name”) < *nāma, jiňe- (“to kill”) < *janati)
    • Southeastern Katë n (initial), ň/∅ with nasalization (intervocalic) (nom (“name”) < *nāma, jaňë- (“to kill”) < *janati)
    • Prasuni n (žnü- (“to kill”) < *janati)
    • Tregami n (initial), ň/∅ with nasalization (intervocalic) (nās (“nose”) < *nāsa, jõṭ (“leopard”) < *jantā)
    • Waigali n (initial), ň/∅ with nasalization (intervocalic) (nām (“name”) < *nāma, jũt (“leopard”) < *jantā)
  • Proto-Nuristani *r
    • Ashkun r, ∅ (sometimes after a long vowel) (ćār (“way”) < *čāra, da (“mountain”) < *dārā)
    • Western Katë r, ∅ (sometimes after a long vowel) (čor (“way”) < *čāra, do (“mountain”) < *dārā)
    • Northeastern Katë r, ∅ (sometimes after a long vowel) (čor (“way”) < *čāra, do (“mountain”) < *dārā)
    • Southeastern Katë r, ∅ (sometimes after a long vowel) (čor (“way”) < *čāra, do (“mountain”) < *dārā)
    • Prasuni r (súru (“lake”) < *sara)
    • Tregami r, ∅ (sometimes after a long vowel) (kär (“ear”) < *kāra, sä̃ (“sun”) < *sawī)
    • Waigali r, ∅ (sometimes after a long vowel) (čār (“way”) < *čāra, dā (“mountain”) < *dārā́)

Consonant cluster changes

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Sequences of double consonants are preserved in the Nuristani languages as single consonants.

  • Proto-Nuristani *tr
    • Ashkun tr (trë (“three”) < *tre)
    • Western Katë tr (tre (“three”) < *tre)
    • Northeastern Katë tër (tëre (“three”) < *tre)
    • Southeastern Katë tr (tre (“three”) < *tre)
    • Prasuni ṭ, č/ćš (before i or ü) (uṭús (“avalanche”) < *trasī, ćši (“three”) < *tre)
    • Tregami tr (tre (“three”) < *tre)
    • Waigali tr (tre (“three”) < *tre)
  • Proto-Nuristani *nč
    • Ashkun ć (with nasalization of preceding vowel) (põć (“five”) < *panča)
    • Western Katë č (puč (“five”) < *panča)
    • Northeastern Katë č (puč (“five”) < *panča)
    • Southeastern Katë č (puč (“five”) < *panča)
    • Prasuni č (vúču (“five”) < *panča)
    • Tregami č (with nasalization of preceding vowel) (põć (“five”) < *panča)
    • Waigali č (with nasalization of preceding vowel) (pũč (“five”) < *panča)
  • Proto-Nuristani *nk
    • Ashkun k (with nasalization of preceding vowel)
    • Western Katë k (kakuř (“widow”) < *kānkuni)
    • Northeastern Katë k (kakuň (“widow”) < *kānkuni)
    • Southeastern Katë ğ (kağuň (“widow”) < *kānkuni)
    • Prasuni k
    • Tregami k (with nasalization of preceding vowel)
    • Waigali k (with nasalization of preceding vowel)
  • Proto-Nuristani *nt
    • Ashkun t (with nasalization of preceding vowel) (dõt (“tooth”) < *danta)
    • Western Katë t (dut (“tooth”) < *danta)
    • Northeastern Katë t (dut (“tooth”) < *danta)
    • Southeastern Katë t (dut (“tooth”) < *danta)
    • Prasuni t (látë-m (“tooth”) < *danta)
    • Tregami t (with nasalization of preceding vowel) (dũt (“tooth”) < *danta)
    • Waigali t (with nasalization of preceding vowel) (dũt (“tooth”) < *danta)

Grammar, morphology, and syntax

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Proto-Nuristani was an SOV (subject-object-verb) language, typical of almost all Indo-Iranian languages. All Nuristani languages except for Prasuni, which has nominative-accusative alignment, show split ergativity. Grammatical gender, contrasting only masculine and feminine genders, was present in Proto-Nuristani and is retained only in Katë and Waigali. A new adjective class developed via the productive suffix *-ka (masculine)/*-kī (feminine). Relative clauses employed the participial gap strategy as attested in Katë and Waigali, an innovation found nowhere else in Indo-Iranian aside from neighboring contact languages due to the loss of relative pronouns.

The Indo-Iranian case system was already reduced in Proto-Nuristani (nominative/accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental, locative) due to final consonant loss, alongside the general loss of the dual number (though traces exist in Prasuni). Proto-Nuristani thematized all athematic verbs by adding a vowel (usually *a) after the root. The past tense suffix in Proto-Nuristani is derived from the old Indo-Iranian past participle in *-ta-, though some archaic past participles in *-na- have survived alongside their meaning. Both the active and middle participles in *-nt- and *-mHna- > *-mna- survived in Proto-Nuristani.

As with most later Indo-Iranian languages, Proto-Nuristani lost the inherited aorist, replacing it with a construction based on the productive past participle marker *-ita- followed by a copula verb. Another innovation is the increased use of spatial markers to express direction.

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