The Khufi language is one of the Iranian languages of the Indo-European language group, belonging to the northern group of the Pamir languages. The Roshani language is the closest related language to Khufi and some authors consider Khufi to be a dialect of Roshani. The divergences in their vocabularies are rare and inessential; the basic differences lie in the phonetics. Of importance is, however, that the Khufis consider themselves a separate people.
Information from: “Literacy and the Vernacular in Tajik Badakhshan: Research in Rushani, Khufi, Bartangi, and Roshorvi” . Elisabeth Abbess and Katja Müller and Daniel Paul and Calvin Tiessen and Gabriela Tiessen (2010)
Vulnerable
100 percent certain, based on the evidence available
~2,380
Speaker count is for Tajikistan only.
DATE OF INFO
1998
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, ‘Khufi is just a dialect and is not needed.’... 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 [including Khufi] 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
LOCATION DESCRIPTION
"Khufi is spoken in the villages of Pastkhuf and Khuf (which is divided into upper and lower villages) in the Khuf valley."
Information from: “The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire” . Andrew Humphreys and Krista Mits ·
Unknown
1,000 Khufis were registered in 1939 but at present their number is not known.
DATE OF INFO
1939
PLACES
38.414862, 73.668823
LOCATION DESCRIPTION
"The Khufis live in the Khufi valley (the Khufi qishlaq) in the Pamir mountains and in Paskhufi (in translation: Lower Khufi) on the banks of Pyandzh (i.e. on the upper reaches of the River Amu Darya)."