Shina (ݜݨیاٗ, ݜݨیاٗ Ṣiṇyaá) is a language from the Dardic sub-group of the Indo-Aryan family spoken by the Shina people, a plurality of the people in Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral (Arandu, Damel, Biol, Asuret and adjoining areas) of Pakistan and a number of people in Ladakh, India (Dah Hanu, Dras), as well as in pockets in Jammu and Kashmir, India, such as in Gurez and Chanderkot.
Until recently, there was no writing system of the language. A number of schemes have been proposed and there is no single writing system used by all of the speakers of Shina language.
Dialects
In India, the dialects of the Shina language have preserved both initial and final OIA consonant clusters, while the Shina dialects spoken in Pakistan have not.
Dialects of the Shina language are Gilgiti (the prestige dialect), Astori, Chilasi Kohistani, Drasi, Gurezi, Jalkoti, Kolai, Palasi and in Chitral(Dameli, Dangariki, Arandui etc). Related languages spoken by ethnic Shina are Brokskat (the Shina of Baltistan and Dras), Kohistani Shina, Palula, Savi, and Ushojo.
Geography
Shina is spoken in various parts of Chitral (Arandu, Damel, Biol, Asuret and adjoining areas) and in the Kashmir region shared between India and Pakistan. The valleys in which it is spoken include Nagar Shinaki (including Shainbar to Pisan), Southern Hunza, Astore, Chilas, Darel, Tangir, Gilgit, Danyor, Oshikhandass, Jalalabad, Haramosh, Bagrote, Ghizer, Gurez, Dras, Gultari Valley, Skardu, Sadpara, Juglot, some areas of Roundu district of Baltistan including Ganji Valley, Chamachoo, Shengus, Sabsar, Yulboo, Tallu, Tallu-Broq, Tormik, some areas of Kharmang district of Baltistan like Duru Village, Tarkati, Ingutt and Brechil and Palas and Kolai in Kohistan.
Writing
Shina is one of the few Dardic languages with a written tradition. However, it was an unwritten language until a few decades ago and there still is not a standard orthography. Since the first attempts at accurately representing Shina’s phonology in the 1960s there have been several proposed orthographies for the different varieties of the language, with debates centering on whether vowel length and tone should be represented. For the Drasi variety spoken in the Indian union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, there have been two proposed schemes, one with the Perso-Arabic script and the other with the Devanagari script.
One proposed alphabet for Shina is the following:
| Letter | Romanization | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| ا | ʿ | /ʔ/ |
| ب | b | /b/ |
| پ | p | /p/ |
| ت | t | /t/ |
| ٹ | ṭ | /ʈ/ |
| ث | (s) | /s/ |
| ج | ǰ | /d͡ʒ/ |
| چ | č | /t͡ʃ/ |
| ح | (h) | /h/ |
| خ | ǩ | /x/ |
| څ | c | /t͡s/ |
| ځ | j | /d͡z/ |
| ڇ | ċ | /ʈ͡ʂ/ |
| د | d | /d/ |
| ڈ | ḍ | /ɖ/ |
| ذ | (z) | /z/ |
| ر | r | /r/ |
| ڑ | ṛ | /ɽ/ |
| ز | z | /z/ |
| ژ | ž | /ʒ/ |
| ڙ | ż | /ʐ/ |
| س | s | /s/ |
| ش | š | /ʃ/ |
| ݜ | ṣ | /ʂ/ |
| ص | (s) | /s/ |
| ض | (d) | /d/ |
| ط | (t) | /t/ |
| ظ | (z) | /z/ |
| ع | ʿ | /ʔ/ |
| غ | ǧ | /ɣ/ |
| ڠ | ŋ | /ŋ/ |
| ف | f | /f/pʰ/ |
| ق | (k) | /k/ |
| ک | k | /k/ |
| گ | g | /ɡ/ |
| ل | l | /l/ |
| م | m | /m/ |
| ن | n | /n/ |
| ݨ | ṇ | /ɳ/ |
| ں | ˜ | /˜/ |
| و | w | /ʊ~w/ |
| ہ | h, x | /h/ɦ/ |
| ھ | _h | /ʰ/ |
| ء | ʿ | /ʔ/ |
| ی | y | /j/ |
| ے | e |