Shughni-Rushani tends towards SOV word order, distinguishes a masculine and feminine gender in nouns and some adjectives, as well as the 3rd person singular of verbs. Shughni distinguishes between an absolutive and an oblique case in its system of pronouns. Rushani is noted for a typologically unusual 'double-oblique' construction, also called a 'transitive case', in the past tense. Normally Soviet school scientists consider Rushani as a close but independent language to Shughni, while Western school scientists codes Rushani as a dialect of Shughni due to AfghanistanRushani speakers living in the Sheghnan district of Badakhshan Province.
Dialects
Rushani, Bartangi, Oroshori (Roshorvi), Khufi and Shughni proper are considered to be dialects. However, Bartangi and Khufi are quite distinct and may be separate languages.
Velar sounds /x, ɣ/ can also be realised as more fronted palatal sounds [ç, ʝ].
Orthography
Shughni people live in both Afghanistan and Tajikistan. For the past 100 years, each country has had diverging literary traditions and orthographic standards. On either side of the border, Shughni literaturists, being previously an unwritten language, has relied heavily on the existing orthographic standards and conventions in coming up with an orthography for Shughni language.
In Tajikistan, Persian alphabet was discarded in 1928, being replaced by Latin alphabet, and 11 years afterwards in 1939, Latin alphabet being replaced by Cyrillic alphabet. Tajik Cyrillic alphabet is of course based on Russian orthography, and similar to that of Uzbek language in neighboring Uzbekistan. Thus, the alphabets developed in Tajikistan for Shughni language, have been Cyrillic and Latin.
In Afghanistan, Dari (Afghan Persian), with the well-established Persian script, is the literary language of the nation. Pashto language too, with its own alphabet, derived from Persian, but with unique features and conventions, is the co-official language of Afghanistan. Thus, the Shughni orthography being developed by literaturists in Afghanistan has been derived from Persian, and borrowing letters from Pashto as needed.
Latin alphabet
The Latin-based writing system used for the Shughni language comprises 39 letters, combining standard Latin characters with diacritical marks and several letters adopted from the Greek alphabet. Although this alphabet has never been officially standardized, it has been widely employed in books, academic articles, and linguistic studies devoted to the Shughni language and related Pamir languages[5]:
The process of compiling a Persian derived alphabet for Shughni has been a long and iterative one, over a period starting from 2004, with the publication of the first book on phonology and orthography of Shughni language by Khair Mohammad Haidari.[6]
This was followed by a 2011 publication by Dr. Nur Ali Dost from Montreal-based "Sohravardi Foundation for Iranian Studies".,[7] a 2011 compilation by Mazhab Shah Zahoori[8] and two other by Alishah Sabbar and Calgary-based Dr. Khush Nazar Parmerzad.[9]
This led to controversy, correspondence, and collaboration between Shughni literaturists and academics, who over the following years, agreed upon specific set of consonants, and a specific standardized way of representing vowels.[10][11]
Letter alif at the beginning of a word can serve two functions. First, it precedes vowel letters "اۈ" [ɵ], "او" [u], "ایـ / اي" [i], or "اېـ / اې" [e]. Second, it acts as a vowel carrier for diacritics of the three short vowels of Shughni, "اَ" [a], "اُ" [ʊ], and "اِ" [ɛ~ɪ].
Unique to Shughni, not part of Persian (Dari) alphabet. While the letter se "ث" represents the phoneme [θ] in Arabic, this new letter has been introduced so that there can be distinguishment between the native sound [θ] and the sound [s] produced by the letter "ث" in loanwords of Arabic-origin entering via Persian. Some authors have used letter se with a dot underneath "ݑ" or have used the letter se "ث" for both purposes.
Unique to Shughni, not part of Persian (Dari) alphabet. While the letter zol "ذ" represents the phoneme [ð] in Arabic, this new letter has been introduced so that there can be distinguishment between the native sound [ð] and the sound [z] produced by the letter "ث" in loanwords of Arabic-origin entering via Persian. Some authors have used the letter zol "ذ" for both purposes.
Represents two phonemes based on context, [w] and [u]. If used at the beginning of a word, if representing consonant [w], it will be written standalone "و", if representing a vowel [u], it will be preceded by alif "او".
Letter unique to Shughni, combination of letter wāw "و" and superscript alif "◌ٰ", reflecting that the letter represents a vowel phoneme that's approximately between [u] and [ɔ]. Similar letter exists in Uyghur, representing the phoneme [y].
Only at the end of the word does this letter represent vowel phoneme [a]. In the middle of words, this vowel is represented with diacritic (ـَ) which is usually dropped in writing. At the beginning of a word, the diacritic is placed on top of alif (اَ).
Represents two phonemes based on context, [j] and [i]. If used at the beginning of a word, if representing consonant [j], it will be written standalone "یـ", if representing a vowel [i], it will be preceded by alif "ایـ".
Unique to Shughni, not part of Persian (Dari). Similar letter exists in Pashto and Uzbek orthographies. Indicates a vowel, and when a word begins with this vowel phoneme, the letter needs to be preceded by alif (اېـ).
Limited use for writing of some diphthongs and mid-word glottal stops
Vowels
Shughni language consists of 10 vowels. There are 3 short vowels, which have 3 corresponding long vowels, and there are 4 additional long vowels. One of the topics of controversy in the process of compiling and standardizing Shughni orthography, was how to express all 9 of the vowels. In this process, letters from Pashto and Urdu have been borrowed (ې and ے), a new letter has been created (اۈ) and due to a lack of the sound [h], the letter he (هـ ـهـ) has been repurposed from a consonant grapheme to a vowel one.[11]
Below tables demonstrate how vowels are to be written in different positions within a word. Note that some vowels don't occur in specific positions in Shughni phonology. Also note that diacritics are generally dropped in writing. Also note that there exists free variation between the short vowels in colloquial Shughni.[11]
Yi kampīr ɣ̌inikik xu čīd zidīdowand vad at yi ʒulikik jukčin xoɣ̌ pūli virūd. Yāyi bād lůd idi: «Wuz ku mi ʒulikik xoɣ̌ pūl qati čīz zȇm?» —«Wuz tar bozor sām xu yi xūgbuc xarītum.» Yā tar bozor sat xu yi xūgbuci xarīt čūd.
Persian Translation
پیرزنی در حال جارو کردن خانهاش بود و یک سکه خورد و کج شده شش پنسی را پیدا کرد. او به خودش گفت که: «با این سکه خورد شش پنسی چه کنم؟»—«من به بازار می روم و یک خوکچه را می خرم.» پیرزن به بازار رفت و یک خوکچه را خرید.
Edelman, D. (Joy) I. and Leila R. Dodykhudoeva (2009). "Shughni." In: Gernot Windfuhr (ed.), The Iranian Languages, 787-824. London & New York: Routledge.
Olson, Karen (2017). Shughni Phonology Statement. SIL International.
Zarubin, I. I. (1960). Shugnanskie teksty i slovar. Moskva: Izd-vo Akademii nauk SSSR.
^Arno, James C. (2007). "Shughni"(PDF) – via people.umass.edu.
^Parker, Clinton (2023). A grammar of the Shughni language (Doctoral dissertation). Montreal, QC, Canada: McGill University, Department of Linguistics. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
^Khair Mohammad "Haidari", (2004) Alphabet of Shughni Language / الفبای زبان شغنی. (Dari) Academy of sciences of Afghanistan, Kabul, Afghanistan.
^Dr. Nur Ali Dost (2011) Shughni Language Alphabet / الفبای زبان شغنی (Dari). Sohravardi Foundation for Iranian Studies, Montreal, Canada. [1] (Archive)
^Mazhab Shah Zahoori (2011, February 19). Determining and using the Shughni alphabet by Mazhab Shah Zahoori / تعین واستفاده الفبای شغنی توسط مذهب شاه ظهوری (Dari). Sīmā-yi Shughnān Publications Office. [2] (Archive)
^Nawruz Ali Sabitī. (2011, March 1st) Some matters surrounding the proposed alphabet of Sughnani language / مطالبی پيرامون الفبای مطروحه زبان شغنانی (Dari). Fayzabad, Afghanistan. [3] (Archive)
^Nawruz Ali Sabitī. (2012, May 1st) The discussion of the structure of alphabet of Shughnani language should be resumed / گفتگوی ساختار الفبای زبان شغنانی از سر گرفته شود (Dari). Fayzabad, Afghanistan.[4] (Archive)
^ abcdNawruz Ali Sabitī. (2011, April 25th). A reflection on the thoughtful research of Noor Ali Dost, Ph.D., regarding the Shoghnani alphabet / تأملی در قسمت پژوهش مدبرانه محترم دکتورانت نور علی دوست در مورد الفبای شغنانی (Dari). Fayzabad, Afghanistan.[5] (Archive)
^Nawruz Ali Sabitī. (2016, 22 September) A phonemic alphabet scheme for the Pamir languages / طرح الفبای فونیمیکی برای زبان های پامیری (Dari). Fayzabad, Afghanistan. [6] (Archive)
^Ali Bek Salik (2020, 15 July). How to learn Shoghani language outside of Afghanistan? (Dari). Calgary, Canada. Sīmā-yi Shughnān Publications Office. [7] (Archive)
^Nawruz Ali Sabitī, Sarvar Arkan. (2020, May) The Old Woman and Her Pig / پیرهزن و خوگچهاش (Dari) / کمپیر ږنِکِک ات خوگبُڅَک (Shughni). Calgary, Canada. Fayzabad, Afghanistan. [8] (Archive)
