Endangered Languages Project

ALSO KNOWN AS		Rushani, Rushan, Oroshani, Roshni, Roashani
CLASSIFICATION		Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Eastern Iranian
ORTHOGRAPHY		none
CODE AUTHORITY		LINGUIST List
LANGUAGE CODE		sgh-rus
DOWNLOAD		As csv
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS		Ethnologue has Rushani (Rushan, Roshani, Oroshani) as a dialect of Shughni, along with Bartangi (Bartang), Oroshor (Roshorvi), Khufi (Khuf, Chuf), Shughni (Shugan, Shugnan, Shighni, Khugni). It says Khufi and Bartangi dialects may be separate languages, and Oroshani may be separate from Rushani.

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Information from: “A Sociolinguistic Assessment of the Roshani Speech Variety in Afghanistan” . Simone Beck (2013) University of Hawai'i Press

Vulnerable

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available
~25,000
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"[The authors] estimate that about 7,000 Roshani speakers live in Afghanistan. In addition to these, there are about 18,000 speakers of the Roshani speech variety living in twelve villages in Tajikistan."

DATE OF INFO: 2007

DOMAINS OF USE

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

"The vitality of the Roshani speech variety is very high. All the children in the community learn Roshani as their first language and it is their only language until they start school. Roshani is the only language used in the home and in the community. [...] The vast majority of the respondents hold the opinion that Roshani will continue to be the language used mostly by their children and grandchildren."

SPEAKER ATTITUDE

Very positive

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Dari
Shughni

Scripts (Writing system)

none

More on Orthography

"Roshani is a spoken language only. No written material exists in Roshani."

PLACES: Afghanistan; Tajikistan

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: "The Roshan area is located in the Northern part of the Shighnān district. This district is located in Northeast of Badakhshan province, which is the most North-Eastern province of Afghanistan [...] Roshan consists of six villages, five of them located on the bank of the river Panj that forms the border to Tajikistan [...] While in Roshan, we were told of a small Roshani population in a side valley of the Plain of Sheva called ‘Little Sheva’ (between Shighnān and Faizabad). [...] Roshani is also spoken in Tajikistan, across the river Panj."

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Coordinates are for Roshan villages visited by author.

Ethnic population
5,300
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
Data concerning the Roshani population is to be found in the official list of the towns and villages in the Tadzhik SSR (Stalinabad 1932) -- there were 5,838 inhabitants in Roshan, including 653 in the village of Khufi and 424 in Baju. According to A. Dyakov, about 2,000 to 3,000 people lived in Afghanistan's Roshan on the left bank of the River Pyandzh. According to records from 1939, 5,300 Roshani lived in the Tadzhik SSR.

DATE OF INFO: 1939

Scripts (Writing system): none
More on Orthography: The Roshani language exists only in spoken form; textual examples are scarce.

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: The Roshanis live in the Pamirs in the Roshani District of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of the Tadzhik SSR, north of the Shughni domain. The centre is Kalai-Vomar, also called Roshan. The Roshani-speaking villages are situated on the right bank of the Pyandzh River between the villages of Akhdzev (Yakhdzev) and Shipad. Roshani is also spoken in the villages of the lower Bartang (Yemts, Baghu and Rid). In the 1950s about one hundred Roshani families were resettled to the Djilikul and Kumsagir villages in the Vakh valley, despite the fact that natural conditions in Roshani are conducive to agriculture -- sufficient arable land as well as orchards and good pastures exists.

Vulnerable

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available
18,000
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
Speaker count is only for Tajikistan.

DATE OF INFO: 2003

DOMAINS OF USE

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

"Use of the vernacular is strong and exclusive in certain domains in all locations. First, the vernacular is universally used as the main language in the home. It is always the first language learned by children and is, generally, the language of greatest fluency for all. The vernacular is always the language used for unofficial situations, that is, in normal everyday personal contact not associated with any public occasion or regulatory authority... use of the vernacular is at least stable in the community, and perhaps increasing."

SPEAKER ATTITUDE

Mixed

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Tajik
Russian

LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS

"Tajik is used in official situations, such as in public gatherings or meetings... Russian is used at work and in official situations by a small minority of respondents, such as medical staff and teachers of the Russian language...

Several respondents expressed negative attitudes when asked directly about their attitudes to the vernacular... One respondent told us, ‘Rushani gets us nowhere.’... Every respondent considered the vernacular to be important or very important for communication and all but one respondent considered the vernacular important or very important for being a good member of one’s family... Thus, while answers to direct questions on the value of the vernacular resulted in negative opinions, questions using the perceived benefit model or other questions revealed that at an underlying level, respondents consider their language to be important and value its maintenance among the younger generation."

Scripts (Writing system)

Tajik-based

More on Orthography

"Our research indicates that almost all existing vernacular written materials for the Rushani group dialects can be categorized as technical or popular. Not everyone we spoke to was aware of the existence of any vernacular materials. Some respondents claimed that no books exist in the vernacular, or even that the languages have no alphabet and are impossible to read or write... The above-mentioned materials in the vernacular, by and large, use orthographies developed by linguists, which differ in some respects from the Tajik and Russian alphabets in that they contain additional characters that are unfamiliar to non-linguists. Several of our respondents reported difficulties in reading these orthographies... Despite unfamiliarity with the official alphabet, it appears that the vernacular is being written, using spontaneous orthographies based on the Tajik alphabet."

PLACES: Tajikistan; Afghanistan

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: "Spoken along the Panj River from the village of Shipad in the north, through the Shidz and Barushon administrative districts, with their villages, as far as the regional centre Vomar (also called Kalai-Vomar or Rūshon); then further on to Pastkhuf in the south; also along the lower reaches of the Bartang River as far as the village of Jizev."

	2012	LL-MAP (Language and Location: A Map Accessibility Project)					Institute for Language Information and Technology	Eastern Michigan University	http://llmap.org	Anthony Aristar and Helen Aristar-Dry and Yichun Xie	Anthony Aristar, Helen Aristar-Dry and Yichun Xie. 2012. "LL-MAP (Language and Location: A Map Accessibility Project)." Online: http://llmap.org.																			38.078286, 71.585492
	2013	A Sociolinguistic Assessment of the Roshani Speech Variety in Afghanistan		University of Hawai'i Press	Language Documentation & Conservation	7			http://hdl.handle.net/10125/4606	Simone Beck	Simone Beck. 2013. "A Sociolinguistic Assessment of the Roshani Speech Variety in Afghanistan." In Language Documentation & Conservation, 7: University of Hawai'i Press. Online: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/4606.		~25,000	2007	10000-99999	"[The authors] estimate that about 7,000 Roshani speakers live in Afghanistan. In addition to these, there are about 18,000 speakers of the Roshani speech variety living in twelve villages in Tajikistan."	Dari for education, religion, travel, trade, reading, government; Dari and Pashto in schools; Dari in religious activities; Dari and Pashto on the radio	Dari, Shughni	Very positive		Almost all	Vulnerable (80 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	10	"The vitality of the Roshani speech variety is very high. All the children in the community learn Roshani as their first language and it is their only language until they start school. Roshani is the only language used in the home and in the community. [...] The vast majority of the respondents hold the opinion that Roshani will continue to be the language used mostly by their children and grandchildren."	12		Coordinates are for Roshan villages visited by author.	Afghanistan; Tajikistan	"The Roshan area is located in the Northern part of the Shighnān district. This district is located in Northeast of Badakhshan province, which is the most North-Eastern province of Afghanistan [...] Roshan consists of six villages, five of them located on the bank of the river Panj that forms the border to Tajikistan [...] While in Roshan, we were told of a small Roshani population in a side valley of the Plain of Sheva called ‘Little Sheva’ (between Shighnān and Faizabad). [...] Roshani is also spoken in Tajikistan, across the river Panj."	37.751667,71.538333;37.838333,71.583056;37.875833,71.593333;37.913333,71.450278;37.898611,71.378889;37.923611,71.286389
	2010	Literacy and the Vernacular in Tajik Badakhshan: Research in Rushani, Khufi, Bartangi, and Roshorvi					SIL International		http://gamma.sil.org/silesr/2010/silesr2010-015.pdf	Elisabeth Abbess and Katja Müller and Daniel Paul and Calvin Tiessen and Gabriela Tiessen	Elisabeth Abbess, Katja Müller, Daniel Paul, Calvin Tiessen and Gabriela Tiessen. 2010. "Literacy and the Vernacular in Tajik Badakhshan: Research in Rushani, Khufi, Bartangi, and Roshorvi." Online: http://gamma.sil.org/silesr/2010/silesr2010-015.pdf.		18,000	2003	10000-99999	Speaker count is only for Tajikistan.	Tajik for official situations, workplace, religious services	Tajik, Russian	Mixed	"Tajik is used in official situations, such as in public gatherings or meetings... Russian is used at work and in official situations by a small minority of respondents, such as medical staff and teachers of the Russian language... Several respondents expressed negative attitudes when asked directly about their attitudes to the vernacular... One respondent told us, ‘Rushani gets us nowhere.’... Every respondent considered the vernacular to be important or very important for communication and all but one respondent considered the vernacular important or very important for being a good member of one’s family... Thus, while answers to direct questions on the value of the vernacular resulted in negative opinions, questions using the perceived benefit model or other questions revealed that at an underlying level, respondents consider their language to be important and value its maintenance among the younger generation."	Many have at least limited proficiency in Tajik; fewer have any proficiency in Russian	Vulnerable (100 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	10	"Use of the vernacular is strong and exclusive in certain domains in all locations. First, the vernacular is universally used as the main language in the home. It is always the first language learned by children and is, generally, the language of greatest fluency for all. The vernacular is always the language used for unofficial situations, that is, in normal everyday personal contact not associated with any public occasion or regulatory authority... use of the vernacular is at least stable in the community, and perhaps increasing."	11	10		Tajikistan; Afghanistan	"Spoken along the Panj River from the village of Shipad in the north, through the Shidz and Barushon administrative districts, with their villages, as far as the regional centre Vomar (also called Kalai-Vomar or Rūshon); then further on to Pastkhuf in the south; also along the lower reaches of the Bartang River as far as the village of Jizev."
9985-936922	1993	The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire	Andrew Humphreys and Krista Mits						http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook		"The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire." edited by Andrew Humphreys and Krista Mits. Online: http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook.	5,300		1939		Data concerning the Roshani population is to be found in the official list of the towns and villages in the Tadzhik SSR (Stalinabad 1932) -- there were 5,838 inhabitants in Roshan, including 653 in the village of Khufi and 424 in Baju. According to A. Dyakov, about 2,000 to 3,000 people lived in Afghanistan's Roshan on the left bank of the River Pyandzh. According to records from 1939, 5,300 Roshani lived in the Tadzhik SSR.													The Roshanis live in the Pamirs in the Roshani District of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of the Tadzhik SSR, north of the Shughni domain. The centre is Kalai-Vomar, also called Roshan. The Roshani-speaking villages are situated on the right bank of the Pyandzh River between the villages of Akhdzev (Yakhdzev) and Shipad. Roshani is also spoken in the villages of the lower Bartang (Yemts, Baghu and Rid). In the 1950s about one hundred Roshani families were resettled to the Djilikul and Kumsagir villages in the Vakh valley, despite the fact that natural conditions in Roshani are conducive to agriculture -- sufficient arable land as well as orchards and good pastures exists.

Rushani

Language metadata

Language information by source

Vulnerable

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

~25,000

Vulnerable

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

18,000

Discussion

Rushani

Language metadata

Language information by source

Vulnerable

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

~25,000

Vulnerable

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

18,000

Discussion

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