A TYPOLOGY OF SYLLABE SYSTEMS OF PAKISTANI LANGUAGES

Abstract

This is a linguistic typological study of Pakistani languages which is concerned with devising different types of languages. This research is about classifYing twenty-one Pakistani languages into different types based on their syllable systems. Pakistan has a rich variety of languages which differs from each other as well as have mutual intelligibility with some of the languages due to language contact. Still, these languages are unique in its own way. It is centered around collecting the data directly from the native speakers of the respective language. Careful measurements are taken for the correct perception of syllables and sound. The first part of the study is the collection of the data while the second part concerns with the classification into types and analysis. The syllable system of Pakistani languages has found to be moderately complex. They have simple syllable structures to somewhat complex syllable structures like moderately complex structure in Balti, Khowar, Kalasha etc. Through the research, it has been found that the maximum number of syllable structures for monosyllabic words are present in Khowar and Kalasha language and Shina has the least number of syllable structures in its language. Based on the similarities and differences in syllable system of Pakistani languages, these languages are divided into seven types. Shina has six syllable structures, Kohistani language has eight syllable structures. Torwali, Dhatki, Hazargi, Pahari, Brahui and Balochi language have nine syllable structures. Potohari, Wakhi~ Hindko, Burushaski, Saraiki and Sindhi languages have ten syllable structures. Urdu and Kashmiri have eleven syllable structures. Balti, Punjabi and Pushto have twelve syllable structures and Khowar and Kalasha languages have thirteen syllable structures for monosyllabic words. After their classification, their feature hierarchy was made and implicational chains were made. Implicational chains refer to the presence of one property due to the presence of another. Based on these results, the universal statements were made.