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Moghol language
Possibly extinct Mongolic language From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Moghol (or Mogholi; Dari: مُغُلی) 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 remnants of Genghis Khan's Mongol army stationed in Afghanistan in the 13th century.[3]
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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. It is unknown if there are still speakers of the language,[4] and it is listed as dormant by Ethnologue.[5]
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".[4]
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Phonology
Moghol's phonology is influenced by Persian. It has a system of six vowel qualities with no length contrast: /i e a u o ɔ/.[4]
/ɦ/ may range between voiced [ɦ] and voiceless [h].
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Script
Historically, the Moghol language was written using the Perso-Arabic script.[6] Extant Moghol literature included Islamic texts, poetry, Mogholi-Persian vocabularies, and Mogholi grammars.[7]
ح | چ | ج | ث | ت | پ | ب | ا |
ش | س | ژ | ز | ر | ذ | د | خ |
ق | ف | غ | ع | ظ | ط | ض | ص |
ی | و | ه | ن | م | ل | گ | ک |
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:[4]
The demonstrative pronouns are:[4]
- inah ~ enah ‘this’
- inat ~ enad ‘these’
- mun ~ munah ‘that’
- munat ~ mutah ~ mutat ‘those’
The interrogative pronouns are:[4]
- 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:[4]
- orin ‘self’
- orindu-nah ‘for oneself’
- usa-nah ‘self’
Numerals
The Moghol numerals are Janhunen (2003):
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Sample
Summarize
Perspective
Weiers noted down the following poem by the Moghol poet Abd Al-Qadir.
Weiers' Moghol text:
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English translation from Weiers' German:
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Another Moghol poem or song of Abd Al-Qadir written in Arabic alphabet (from Weiers):
Weiers' Moghol text:
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English translation from Weiers' German:
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See also
Notes
Further reading
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