Moghol language

Moghol (or Mogholi; ) is a critically endangered and possibly extinct Mongolic language spoken in the province of Herat, Afghanistan, in the villages of Kundur and Karez-i-Mulla. The speakers were the Moghol people, who numbered 2,000 members in the 1970s. They descend from the Mongol army of Genghis Khan who conquered Afghanistan (then part of the Khwarazmian Empire) in the 13th century.

In the 1970s, when the German scholar Michael Weiers did fieldwork on the language, few people spoke it, most knew it passively and most were older than 40. By 1982, Moghol was nearly extinct; it had "survive[d] mainly as a language of folklore and memories". It is unknown if there are still speakers of the language,Weiers, Michael. 2003. "Moghol," The Mongolic Languages. Ed. Juha Janhunen. Routledge Language Family Series 5. London: Routledge. Pages 248–264. and it is listed as dormant by Ethnologue.

The language has been strongly influenced by Persian in its phonology, morphology and syntax, causing Weiers to state that it has the appearance of a "true Inner Asian creole language".

Phonology Moghol's phonology is influenced by Persian. It has a system of six vowel qualities with no length contrast: .

+ConsonantsLabialAlveolarPostalveolar/PalatalVelarUvularGlottalPlosive/AffricatevoicelessvoicedFricativevoicelessvoicedNasalApproximantTrill /ɦ/ may range between voiced [ɦ] and voiceless [h].

Grammar Moghol grammar shows substantial influence from Persian languages, having borrowed even word classes not found in other Mongolic languages: the parts of speech are nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, prepositions, adverbs and conjunctions.

Nouns are marked for number and case. Verbs are marked for person, number, tense-aspect and mood. Adjectives inflect for the comparative and superlative degree with the Persian suffixes -tar and -tariin, but not for number and case.

Vocabulary

Pronouns The Moghol personal pronouns are: person singular plural 1st ~ (inclusive); (exclusive) 2nd tå ~ tåd 3rd i ~ ih tid ~ tit

The demonstrative pronouns are: ~ ‘this’ inat ~ enad ‘these’ mun ~ munah ‘that’ munat ~ mutah ~ mutat ‘those’

The interrogative pronouns are: emah ~ imah ~ imas ‘what’ ken ~ kiyan ‘who’ kenaiki ‘whose’ emadu ~ imadu ~ emaji ~ imaji ~ emagalah ‘why’ emaula- ‘to do what’ ked ~ keddu ‘how much’ keja ‘when’ oshtin ‘how’

The reflexive pronouns are: ‘self’ ‘for oneself’ ‘self’

Numerals The Moghol numerals are Janhunen (2003): English gloss Moghol Proto-MongolicJanhunen, Juha. 2003. The Mongolic Languages, p.16. Routledge Language Family Series 5. London: Routledge. Modern Mongolian 1 one nikah ~ nika/n *nike/n neg 2 two qeyår ~ qiar *koxar ~ *koyar khoyor 3 three ghorbån ~ qurban *gurba/n gurav 4 four dorbån ~ durba/n *dörbe/n döröv 5 five tåbun ~ tabun *tabu/n tav 6 six åsun ~ essun ~ jurghan ~ shish *jirguxa/n zurgaa 7 seven dålån ~ húft *doluxa/n doloo 8 eight sålån ~ húshtu *na(y)ima/n naym 9 nine tåsån ~ no *yersü/n yös 10 ten arbån ~ arban ~ dá *xarba/n arav

Sample Weiers noted down the following poems by the Moghol poet Abd Al-Qadir. Weiers' Moghol texts:English translation from Weiers' German:

Another Moghol poem or song of Abd Al-Qadir written in Arabic alphabet (from Weiers): Weiers' Moghol text:English translation from Weiers' German:

Moghol language

Bron en licentie