Dehwari language

Dehwari (دهواری, Dehwārī) is a southwestern Persian language spoken by 19,000 Dehwar people in Balochistan, Pakistan as of 2018.^[1] Most of the Dehwari speakers are concentrated in Mastung, Khuzdar, Nushk, Kharan, Sarlath District, Dalbandin, and Kalat.

Dehwari
دهواری Dehwārī
Native to	Pakistan
Region	Balochistan province: Kalat and Mastung
Ethnicity	Dehwar, Brahui
Native speakers	19,000 (2018)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Iranian Southwestern Iranian Persian Dehwari
Early forms	Old Persian Middle Persian
Writing system	Persian alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	deh
Glottolog	dehw1238

Influence on Brahui

Dehwari was introduced to the Brahui in the seventeenth century and the modern-day language uses many Dehwari loanwords in its vocabulary.^[2]

Brahui influence

In turn, Brahui has heavily influenced the language, which has made Dehwari a Persian dialect containing heavy Brahui (Dravidian) adstratum.^[3] This has made Dehwari speakers bilingual in both Dehwari and Brahui, and some in Balochi, Urdu, and even English.^[4]

Drop in Speakers

The drop of speakers in Dehwari was recorded in the 1921 Indian Census, with Pashto facing the same consequences in Kalat and Mastung.^[5] And in the 1931 Indian Census, the Dehwari population outside of Kalat and Mastung was only 1,795.^[6]