EUROPEAN SCHOLARSHIP ON THE BURUSHASKI LANGUAGE: A CRITICAL SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63878/jalt2308Keywords:
Brushashki, Research, Europeans, Grammatical structures, Dialectology, Lexicography, Sociolinguistics, Phonology .Abstract
This paper aims to reveal European research on the Burushaski language. As one of the world's language isolates, Burushaski has been a focal point of interest for linguists and anthropologists across the globe. The language is mainly spoken in northern Pakistan, specifically in the valleys of Hunza, Nagar, and Yasin in Gilgit-Baltistan. Europeans, particularly due to their historical involvement in the region, have been among the pioneering researchers of this language isolate. This study employs a qualitative, document-based methodology to examine European scholarly contributions to Burushaski, with a special focus on seven key linguistic areas: grammatical structure, dialectology, lexicography (dictionaries and word lists), text analysis and translation, language classification, sociolinguistics, and phonology. A wide range of academic sources was consulted to compile the relevant materials. The survey reveals that European researchers have covered nearly all aspects of this language isolate, ranging from phonemes to broader sociolinguistic dimensions.
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