US-China Foreign Language, ISSN 1539-8080

July 2011, Vol. 9, No. 7, 405-420

A Morphophonological Description of Kalasha
as an Indo-Aryan Language With Greek Roots
Elizabeth Mela-Athanasopoulou
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece


The research aims at giving a detailed description of the linguistic typology of Kalasha, an endangered language,
spoken by about 3,000 Kalasha

(The most recent demographic research documented 3,254 Kalasha speakers
(Mela-Athanasopoulou & Taleem Khan, 2011)) in the valleys of Chitral, northwest of Pakistan. The papers aim is
to show that this marginally studied language is Indo-Aryan, as it has Sanskrit and Ancient Greek influences on it
(Masica, 1991; Trail, 1996). Particular attention will be given to the Inflectional Morphology of the language, e.g.,
case and number morphemes (Trail, 1996), as well as verbal inflections and their argument, participle and
grammaticalization phenomena, etc., in order to show how much of classical Greek is still in use in Kalasha. It will
be shown, for example, that Kalasha has the remnants of a full synthetic case-marking system of ancient Greek.
Furthermore, the lexical morphology of the language will be briefly exhibited. The scope of this part of the study
will show that despite the various influences on the language (e.g., Persian and Urdu), Kalasha seems to have
sustained time and has retained Greek lexical items intact, e.g., Kalasha (K.) Oxus < Greek (Gr.) Axios: K. Birir <
Gr. Veroia; K. Ayan < Gr. Aegae: K. Hadda < Sk. Hella < Gr. Hellas: K. Rtoa < Gr. Neos young, etc..
Keywords: primary data, documentation, morphophonological, case-marking, locatives, grammaticalization
Introduction
Kalasha is classified as an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic Chitral group, together with such Dardic
groups as Pashai, Pech, Kohistani, Shina and Kashmiri. Morgenstierne (1932) also classified Kalasha as an
Indo-Aryan
1
language, closely related to Khowar: Probably the two languages belong to the first wave of
Indo-Aryan immigrants from the south (p. 51).
The authors position is that, historical, anthropological and linguistic records (as we shall see in this study)
manifest a significant presence of Greeks in the North-West area of Pakistan and Afghanistan in Hellenistic
times (G. H. Trail, 1996). On the other hand, the author would not exclude the Indo-Aryan origin documented
by the Sanskrit etymology of certain words in Kalasha.
In this study, the author will present linguistic evidence of the Greek influence on the morphophonology


Elizabeth Mela-Athanasopoulou, assistant professor of Department of Theoretical and Linguistics, Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki.
1
According to Masica (1991, pp. 51-54) Indo-Aryan is divided linguistically into three stages: Old Indo-Aryan (1500-600 B.C.)
including Vedic Sanskrit and Classical Sanskrit, Middle Indo-Aryan (600 B.C.-1000 A.D.) including Prakrit and Pali, and New
Indo-Aryan (1000 A.D.-present) to which Kalasha belongs.
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

406
and the lexicon of the language, entirely based on primary data recordings
2
of spontaneous dialogues, in the
sense of Himmelmann (2006), or pre-planned semantically and grammatically oriented speech performed by
native speaker families.
Previous Linguistic Research
The first published book on the Kalasha language is Griersons Specimens of the Dardic or Pisacha
Languages (1919) in which Kalasha is presented in a Kafir Group of a Dardic sub-family of the Aryan
languages. Another pioneering work of the phonology and grammar of Kalasha is Morgenstiernes volume
The Kalasha Language (1973) which is the starting point for subsequent linguistic studies on the language:
Elena Bashirs Ph.D. thesis Topics in Kalasha syntax (1988) and Jan Heegrd Petersens Ph.D. thesis Local
Case-Marking in Kalasha (2007). In parallel line, we have the publication of Sir Ralph Turners (1966) A
Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages. Thirty three years later, the publication of a
Kalasha-English dictionary compiled by Ron Trail and Greg Cooper appears. Now, all the entries in this
dictionary are compiled according to the following alphabetical order: a, , , , b, , , d, dz, e, , , , g, h, i, ,
, , , , k, l, l , m, n, , o, , , , p, r, s, , s, t, ts, t , u, , , , w, y, z, , z .
Following the Trail and Coopers dictionary and the authors fieldwork data documentation, the author has
come up with the following conclusion regarding the Kalasha alphabet and its sound system. She proposes that
the Kalasha alphabet consist of 22 letters in Roman script (see Table 1). Letters, such as f, q, v and x, are
non-existent.
Phonology: The Sounds of Kalasha
In this part, the author will present a brief framework of the Kalasha vowel and consonant sounds. The
descriptions are based on her transcriptions of the video and tape recordings.
The Kalasha Vowel Phonemes
The Kalasha vowel phonemes are shown in Table 2.
All the Kalasha vowel phonemes can also occur as retroflex, nasalized or both (see Tables 3-5).
Interestingly, there is no contrastive distribution between short and long vowels. They may occur in any
position.
The Kalasha Consonant Phonemes
The Kalasha consonant phonemes are shown in Table 6.
Some Kalasha consonant phonemes can also occur as retroflex, some as aspirated and only three as both
retroflex and aspirated, of which c
h
and d
h
can occur marginally, while l
h
has been documented once only
(see Tables 7-9).
One final comment is that intervocalic consonants are often dropped, e.g., asam aam. Also, voiced

2
In order to collect data, the author went to the valleys where the Kalasha people live, and lived with them for about three
months. She was very lucky to have as her main language consultant Mr. Taleem Khan, who took her to the most remote villages
of all the three valleys, Rumbur, Bumburet and Birir, to collect as much linguistic material as possible. The author also attempted
a perilous trip to Urtsun and recorded the few Kalasha speakers only to find out that the language of the younger population was
hardly comprehensible to the authors Kalasha language consultants. Only one video of a very old man documented the language
but still with serious losses. To Taleem Khan and his group the author is deeply indebted.
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

407
consonants in final position become voiceless, e.g., b p, etc. and word-final voiceless consonants may turn
into voiced if a vowel is added, e.g., uk ug; uk water ug-ay in the water.

Table 1
The Kalasha Alphabet
Letter Name of letter Example Gloss
1 Aa a au bread; food
2 Bb ba baya brother
3 Cc tsa cawmos winter festival
4 Dd da dur house
5 Ee e ek one
6 Gg ga gak cow
7 Hh ha homa our
8 Ii i im I come
9 Jj dza ju yoke
10 Kk ka karim I do
11 Ll la l salt
12 Mm ma mo dont
13 Nn na ne no!
14 Oo o ondrak egg
15 Pp pa parim I go
16 Rr ra re path in the snow
17 Ss sa sat seven
18 Tt ta tron loom for weaving
19 Uu u uk water
20 Ww wa wawa grandfather
21 Yy ya yuru vein; artery
22 Zz za za vegetables

Table 2
The Kalasha Vowel Phonemes (Letters: i, e, a, o, u).
Letter: Oral IPA Example Gloss
i /i/ its bear
e /e/ ec eye
a /a/ awa grandmother
o /o/ onza fry pan
u /u/ uhuk owl

Table 3
Retroflex
3
Marked With an Inverted Comma Next to It
Letter IPA Example Gloss
i /i
r
/ hia heart
e /e
r
/

amea sheep
a /a
r
/ ai duck
o /o
r
/ onga cuff of shalwar
u /u
r
/ ughuik to repair a millstone


3
See also Heegrd & Mrch (2004).
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

408
Table 4
Nasalized
Letter IPA Example Gloss
// pachak bird
// kh how?
// hsh horse
// sskik to sweep
// gzi dented

Table 5
Both Retroflex and Nasalized
Letter IPA Example Gloss
/
r
/ gawaak rabbit
/
r
/ h Ayon
/
r
/ mik necklace
/
r
/ sha dog
/
r
/ p the grape harvest

Table 6
The Kalasha Consonant Phonemes
Letter Phonemes IPA Example Gloss
Bb b /b/ baba sister
Cc c /c/ cay tea
Dd d /d/ dada father
Gg g /g/ gak cow
Hh h /h/ hsh horse
Jj j /j/ ja wife
Kk k /k/ kuc stomach
Ll l /l/ lahas sick
Mm m /m/ mos meat
Nn n /n/ nas nose
Pp p /p/ pay goat
Rr r /r/ rat night
Ss s /s/ suri sun
Tt t /t/ tari star
Ww w /w/ warash bird
Yy y /j/ yuru vein
Zz z /z/ za vegetable

Table 7
Retroflex
Letter IPA Example Gloss
c /c
r
/ casa cheese
d /d
r
/ da wine
j /j
r
/ janjer chain
l /l
r
/ lawak fox
s /s
r
/ susutr female head cover
t /t
r
/ tong pear
z /z
r
/ zar quickly
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

409
Table 8
Aspirated: All Consonants Can Be Aspirated Except From w and y
Letter IPA Example Gloss
bh /b
h
/ bhut shalwar, trousers
ch /c
h
/ chu daughter
dh /d
h
/ dhan roasted corn
gh /g
h
/ ghona big
jh /j
h
/ jhaw fence made of branches
kh /k
h
/ khawa conical basket
lh /l
h
/ lhoyak flat and smooth
mh /m
h
/ mhal curse
nh /n
h
/ nhast nose
ph /p
h
/ phaw earth
rh /r
h
/ rhadidish pine-cone
sh /s
h
/ shara mountain goat
th /t
h
/ thara above, on
zh /z
h
/ zho Barley

Table 9
Both Retroflex and Aspirated (Only Three: c
h
, d
h
and l
h)

Letter IPA Example Gloss
c
h
/c
h
r
/ chir milk
d
h
/d
h
r
/ dhok high forests (marginally manifested)
l
h
/l
h
r
/ lhos charcoal (only one item found)
The Morphology of Kalasha
Despite the various influences on the language over the centuries (e.g., Persian, Arabic, Urdu), Kalasha
seems to have sustained time and has retained both Sanskrit and Greek lexical items intact. For example, the
names of some place find their roots in Ancient Greek, e.g., Ka. (Kalasha) Kalasa, Gr. (Greek) Hellas <
Hadda, Skt. (Sanskrit); Ka. Ashtoreh, Gr. Asterusia (Aster + usa); Ka. Nishei-grom, Gr. Nysa (Thrace); Ka.
Ayun, Gr. Aegae; Ka. Oxus (river), Gr. Axios; Ka. Biriu/Birir, Gr. Beroia; Ka. Beo/Bio, Gr. Boeotia; Ka.
Makkah, Gr. Makedonia. Moreover, for the Kalasha mythological names, bhut evil spirit (Coleman, 2007, p.
47), Dezau highest God, Jestak, Nhon a dragon living in a fountain, we have the equivalent Greek words
vou- big; monstrous; vociferous (vous ox, voao to vociferate) (Georgopapadakos, 1964, p. 44) < bhu:ta,
Dias, Estia, L. Vestia, Nereis, respectively.
The Nouns in Kalasha: Some Derivational and Inflectional Morphemes
Kalasha has lost the old classical gender
4
, in the sense that there is no distinction of grammatical gender.
But, normally womens names end with {-i}, e.g., Siasatbibi, Hazarbhibi, Baguli, Danuli, etc., while mens
names end with {-a}, e.g., Gada, Gashara, Zinatsha, Budha, Rota, Kalasha, etc.. This does not exclude the
reverse, e.g., Gulnisa, Mazdana, and Kuri, Lingasi, Zhigili, for womens and mens names respectively.
Lexical morphemes. Common noun stems end with:
-a ama sheep < Gr. amnoa, amnos (Fragoulis, 2004, p. 53), amnis, amnas; Skt. mendha ram

4
Adjectives, also, have no gender distinction, e.g., ghona big; tall is identical in both ghona moc a big man and ghona
istriza a big woman.
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

410
shula wood < Gr. ksylon
sg
, ksyl-a
pl
; Skt. salaka
sha dog < Gr. kyon
NomSg
, kyn-a
AccSg
; Skt. suna
-i/-y athi bone < Gr. osteon
NomSg
, ostei-s, osti-s
DatPl
, o~a, ostakos, astakos, astris
pay goat < Gr. epolion heard of goats, epolos shepherd
-u chu daughter < Gr. yatyr
Other common noun stems may end with various consonants such as: m, t, c, k and the diminutive -yak.
-m grom village < Gr. agros
Nom
, agron
Acc
field, Skt. agras, L. ager
krom work < Gr. erg- eirgasme; Skt vragami
-t put boy; son < Gr. pais, Gen. pai-os
-c kuc stomach < Gr. kyeo
V
be pregnant, kys-t-is cyst; Skt. kuksi
-k dhak waist < Gr. ak-t-ylios ring shape spine bone (Liddell & Scott, 2001, p. 552).
Inflectional morphemes indicating number, case and locatives. Now with regard to the number of
nouns Kalasha has retained a full productive plural formation especially in the oblique case. The majority of
nouns, however, do not distinguish between singular and plural in the nominative case which is uninflected.
Case marking, on the other hand, differentiates between animate and inanimate nouns. Inanimate nouns seem to
have retained many of the archaic case endings, concerning the locative, ablative and temporal cases. All case
morphs are unstressed with the exception of nominative plural -n and genitive plural -n. The Genitive
Singular is {-a} for proper names and {-as} for common names < OIA (Old Indo-Aryan) -asya; Gr.
{-ou}
MSC/F/NTR
, {-as/-is}
F
, {-os}
MSC/F/NTR
, e.g., moc-as chu the mans daughter, mastruk-as phrelik the
moons light, Zama-a ja-as Zamas wife, tasa putr-as his/her son, tasa putr-asi his/her sons. Kalasha
distinguishes case morphemes between animate (human beings, animals, etc.) and inanimate (objects, places,
etc.) nouns (see Table 10).

Table 10
Case-Suffixation of Common Nouns in Kalasha

Animate
Inanimate
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative
, -an, -n
Genitive/Oblique -as, -a -an, -nan, -n -as -an
Dative -as -an -as
-an,
Accusative

Instrumental -an
Locative -a, -una, -ai
Ablative -ey, -en, -ani, -aw
Temporal -ano, -asa
Vocative
-ow, , -an?


The Kalasha language makes a distinction between animate and inanimate nouns, which affect both their
number and case, exhibiting distinct inflectional case and number morphemes. The plurality morphemes are
always marked in the Genitive/Oblique and Dative case which are identical and they are {-an} and {-anan},
with both animate and inanimate common nouns. However, those animate nouns ending with {-a} in the
Nominative Singular, take {-on} in the Genitive plural, instead of {-an} and {-anan}, for example, am-a
sheep, am-n, batya kid goat, baty-n, suda child, sud-n, sha dog, sh-n. Ishtrizha wooman,
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

411
ishtrizh-n, etc., but, moc man, Gen.Pl. (Genitive Plural) moc-an, pay goat, Gen.Pl. pay-an, push flower,
Gen.Pl. push-an, wazir minister, Gen.Pl. waziran, etc.. The Genitive plural {-n} is definitely the Greek plural
suffix -on/-n. It is amazing that Morgenstierne did not give any etymological explanation of -on, while he
suggested the Old Indo-Aryan -asya as the origin for the Genitive Singular -as (Morgenstierne, 1973, p. 207).
Moreover, Heegrd Petersen gave no etymological information of {-on}, This I am unable to explain
otherwise than referring to analogy: {-n} > {-n} (Heegrd Petersen, 2007, p. 61).
Now consider the Gen.Pl. -n < Gr. -n functioning as the nominal complement in post position phrases:
am-on hatya < Gr. - /amn-on eneken/ of the sheep for, for the sake of the sheep (Tzartzanos,
2006a/1960a, p. 150) (see Table 11).

Table 11
The Genitive Plural With Post-Positions in Kalasha and Greek
1
Kalasha Greek
nast-n hatya , heneken
dead-Gen.Pl. for Benef. nekr-n for Benef.
for (the sake of) the dead for (the sake of) the dead
2
Ka. tasi hatya au kar-in
PN 3rd Gen.Pl.
Dat.Pl.
for (the sake of) Benef. food make-3rd Pl.Pr.
Gr.
Tout-on heneken trofi pratoun
them for (the sake of) food make
They make food for them.

Let us go back to case-marking of common nouns. The Nominative case is zero marked for the Singular
(see Table 10) for both animate and inanimate nouns. Only few animate nouns show either unmarked or marked
Nominative for the Plural, i.e., {-an}, {-n} or zero, e.g., ek moc iu day one man is coming; bo moc/mocan in
day many people are coming.
Interestingly, Morgenstierne, in the texts he recorded, cited one more nominative plural morpheme {-ai} or
{-ei}, which the author documented in her recordings: may putrai zhe chulai aya ita aan My sons and
daughters here they have come.
So, apart from the Nominative, Genitive-Oblique Dative and Vocative, no other case is marked for the
animate nouns, whereas, with the inanimate nouns all cases are marked, except for the nominative and vocative
in Table 10.
The dative case in Kalasha with ditransitive verbs. The Dative case is identical, in form with the
Genitive case in both Singular and Plural in Table 10 (see Table 12).
The dative case with post-/pre-position in Kalasha and Greek. The Dative case with post-/pre-position
in Kalasha and Greek can be explained as follows (see Table 13).
Current linguistic literature (Bashir, 1988; Trail, 1996; Heegrd Petersen, 2007) do not give any
suggestions with regard to the origin of these case endings. For example, Morgenstierne said, I am unable
to suggest any explanation of the Obl. Plural forms in -ana, -anu and -ani (Morgenstierne, 1973, p. 209).
Here Morgenstierne talks of only one morpheme of the Ablative case. He does not mention -ey or -aw.
Heegrd Petersen (2007) discussed quite extensively on the distributional and semantic parameters of
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

412
Locative and Ablative case endings, but nothing on their origin. What follows is an attempt to relate the
Locative, Ablative, as well as the Instrumental and Temporal case endings with Greek correspondent
morphemes.
Case marking of inanimate nouns indicating location
5
, origin and instrument. This is documented in
Table 14.
Table 14 is exemplified in Table 15.
Now consider some data from the authors recordings indicating the Locative case endings in Kalasha (see
Table 16).
Kalasha has also retained case marking in personal pronouns.

Table 12
The Dative Case in Kalasha With Ditransitive Verbs
1
Se batyak-as au del.
He/she baby goat-Dat food give-3rd sg
He/she gives food to the baby goat
will give
2
Gr. --
i-o-mi
t
tini
t
ti
give-1st sg PN-Dat PN-Acc
I give to somebody something
3
Bo baya-si zhe bo baba-si ek gak asau
Many brother-Dat. Benef. and many
sister-Dat. Benef.
one cow is
For many brothers and sisters there is one cow.

Dat. Benef. Dat. Benef.
Polis aalfis ke aelfes mia aelas esti
4
may tre chul-ai asinyi.
me-Dat.sg.Benef. three daughter-pl were-3rd pl
(for) me three daughters were
I had three daughters
Greek: - a
emi tris iater-es isan
dat.sg.Ben three daughter-Pl.Nom. were-3rd pl.
I had three daughters
5
pari shhon hatya au hari
Gr.
Dat.Pl.
-
Dat.Pl.
tis kisi
go-Imp dog-Dat pl for food take-Imp the Dat pl. dog-Dat pl.
Go and take food for the dogs
the dogs for
for the dogs
Fragulis, 2004, p. 451
6
Tasi bachohon ne aliphik abaw
To them-Dat. Pl. cow-Dat. Pl. not follow could
He could not follow (and catch) the cows.
Gr.
Dat.Sg.
I follow sb
epome tini

5
For a more detailed description of local case marking, see Heegrd Petersen (2007).
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

413
Table 13
The Dative Case With Post-/Pre-position in Kalasha and Greek
1
Zam, dura ita, cai pi jaas som
Zam home-to having come, tea having drunk wife-Dat with
Having come home and drunk tea, Zam with his wife
Greek:
ineki sin sin ineki
with (his) wife
2
Toa se bo kahari la, tasi som hiu day
Then he/she very angry, them-Dat.Pl. become Pr.Cont.
Then he will be very angry with them
Greek: tisi sin tasi som
them-Dat.Pl with with them
3
pay-an som wal pariman ais
goat-Dat sg with watching go-Past Cont.
Greek: with the goat
ei sin
goat-Dat with
4
Aya homa som zht shiau.
Here usDat.Pl. with water mill is
There is a watermill here with us
Here we have a watermill.
(Greek)
hemin synsyn hemin

Table 14
Case Marking Morphemes of Location, Origin and Instrument
Kalasha Ancient Greek
Locative: -a, -ai (-ay), -una
meaning: at, in, on
Locative: -a, -(as)i, -(is)i -i
meaning: at, in, on
Ablative: -en, -ani, -aw, -ey
meaning: from
Origin: -en
meaning: from
Instrumental: -an
meaning: by means of
Instrumental (Dative case of inanimate
nouns Sing/Pl.
meaning: by means of

Table 15
Locative, Ablative and Instrumental Case Morphemes in Kalasha and Greek
Kalasha cases Ancient Greek cases
Locative
Locative Dative case
Locative particles (stative)
-a
ek awat-a at one place
dur-a at the window; at home
-a
o- en ikia at home
- en yr-a at the window
-ay
-y, i
tasa dur-ay te moc prust
his house in they people good
In his house the people are good
a and-ay caker aris
I here walk did
Here I had a walk
-asi
-isi
-i
-i
en Plate-asi
At Plateae
en in-isi
in Athens
_o iki at home
aftoi here
-una
Bra sukul-una
Brun school at
At Brun school
-oni
ta tropaia ta te
Marathoni the trophies those Marathon at the
trophies at Marathon (Tzartzanos, 2006/1960, p.
70)
(to be continued)
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

414
Ablative (Origin) Origin particle
-en
-ani
-aw
-ey
A uts-ani uk on-is
I spring-from water bring-Past/1
st

I brought water from the spring
Ama dur geh-aw in
Sheep house side from will come
The sheep will come from the side of the house
auduawat-ani
harawat-ani
Bra aley
away there from Brun
aley from over there
-en
ikoen from the house
amphoteroen
from both sides
pantaxoen
from everywhere
poen from where
alli from over there
- allei alli
-ani
pay son-ani ita aan
goats pasture from have come
the goats have come from the pastures
peran opposite, across, at the other side
(Pantazidis, 1975, p. 518)
-aw
te shul,a dur-aw onin
they wood houses from bring
they bring wood from the houses

Kalasha
Instrumental (Dative)
Greek
Instrumental (Dative)
-an, -in
Dat/Abl.

tay sig-an
Dat.pl.Instr.
dyel
you horns with beat
it will beat you with its horns
A tay gondik-an
Instr.Dat.Pl.
tyem
I you sticks beat
I will beat you with sticks
-
tin enr-in
Instr.Dat.pl.
with two trees
tin iran ti vaktiria
Instr.Dat.Sg.
ekruen
the door the stick-Dat was beating
he was beating the door with a stick
(Moumtzakis, 1978, p. 41)

Table 16
The Locative Case Endings in Kalasha
1
A dur-a walim day
I at the house I am waiting
I am waiting at home
2
Al-ay son-ay paam
There to the high pasture to go 1st Sg. Pr./Fut.
There to the high pastures I go/I will go.
3 A
Kaw-ey
B
Bra
Where from Brun from
Where are you from? I am from Brun
4 A
Kaw-a maas day?
B
Bra sukul-una
Where at are you learning? Brun at school at
Where are you learning? At Brun school.

Pronominal case marking in Kalasha and Ancient Greek. Pronominal case marking in Kalasha and
Ancient Greek is shown in Table 17.
Verbs
Finite verb forms in Kalasha can be described as having Tense, Aspect and Modal affixes. The verb agrees
with the subject in person and number and by the use of auxiliaries (to include aspect), in animacy. The verb
asik to be (see Table 18) is essential for the formation of perfect/non-perfect forms. The Ancient Greek
counterpart is juxtaposed.
There are as many as eight conjugation classes in Kalasha (Bashir, 1988, p. 26). What is striking is that in
all classes the inflectional suffixes indicating person have their roots in Greek. For example, the 2nd singular
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

415
and the 3rd plural are identical. Also, the past tense with certain verbs is formed by a circumfix, as in Greek
(see Table 19).

Table 17
Pronominal Case Marking in Kalasha and Ancient Greek
Personal oronouns

1st person Singular 1st person plural
Kalasha Greek Kalasha Greek
Nominative
a
I
eo
abi
we
hemis
6

Genitive/Oblique
may
of me/me
emu ,
homa
of us/our
hemon
Dative
may
to me
emi ,
homa
to us
hemin
Accusative
may
me
eme ,
homa
us
hemas

Table 18
Asik to be (Animate); Shiik be (Inanimate)
Present
Kalasha Greek Sanskrit
as-am
- < -
imi < esmi
asmi
as-as ei asi
as-au - esti asti
shi-au (inanimate) - -
as-ik - esmen smas
as-a - este stha
as-an -() isi(n) santi
shi-an (inanimate) - -

Table 19
Verbal Inflectional Affixes in Kalasha (1st Singular, Present/Past)
matr-am a-matr-is pash-im a-pash-is
speak 1st sg Pres Past-speak-Past 1st sg see 1st sg Pres Past-see-Past 1st sg
I speak I spoke I see I saw

Due to the lack of space, the author shall not go into details as to tense formation. Tables 20-23 provide
indicative examples of the verbs ik to come, parik
7
to go, and hik to become.
The verb ik = to come
Greek root i- > ei I come ( Latin eo I come; iter itinerary)
The verb h-ik = to become
Gr. -- < Root -, -, -,
i-n-ome < en-, on-, n- to become; also to happen (Georgopapadakos, 1964, p. 49).
(L. gig-no Gr. root n- reduplicated i-n- ) (Georgopapadakos, 1964, p. 49).


6
The sign on top of stands for /h/ of hemis.(cf. Kalasha homa). It is called rough breathing and initially it was
the letter h which, if word initially, turned into the sign. (Tzartzanos, 2006/1960, p. 13)
7
The infinitival suffix for all verbs is {-ik}/{-ek}.
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

416
Table 20
Present/Future of the Verb ik to Come
Present indicative Present imperative
Kalasha Greek Gloss Kalasha Greek
im imi I come Sing. i - ithi
is i you come Pl.eo - ite
iu isi he comes Present/Past Participle
ik imen we come Kalasha Greek Greek derivatives
eo ite you come - - i-on - i-tis brave
in iasi they come
- i-teon
must come'


Table 21
Present Simple/Future of the Verb Parik = to go
Kalasha Greek
A par-im < - par-imi
Tu par-is - par-is
Se par-iu - par-isi
Abi par-ik - par-imen
Abi par-eo/par-a - par-ite
Te par-in - par-iasi

Table 22
The Imperative and the Participle in Kalasha and Greek
Present imperative Present/Past participle
Kalasha Greek Kalasha Greek
ing.par-i - parithi pa-i - pari-on
Pl.par-a - parite

Table 23
Present/Future of the Verb h-ik to Become
Present simple/future Simple past
Kalasha Greek Kalasha Greek
A h-im - in-ome h-awis
-/ eaos/eos
having become
Tu h-is - in-i
Se h-iu - in-ete
Abi h-ik
-
in-omea

Abi h-ali - in-ese
Te h-in - in-onte

Consider now some verb roots observed in the data below (see Table 24).
The Kalasha Participle
Past participles in Kalasha can function freely as adjuncts in the sense that subject control is done by the
matrix sentence. They may also occur as subject controlled absolute constructions (Ancient Greek absolute
genitives). Consider the data in Table 25.
The exact equivalent subject controlled as well as absolute past participle genitives are found in Ancient
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

417
Greek, in Table 26, respectively.

Table 24
Some Identical Verb Roots in Kalasha and Greek
1
Zam ustiu; usti baza maza ningiu
Zam get up-3rd sg get up-pp hand wash-3rd sg
Zam gets up/will get up; having got up, he washes/will wash his hands
ningiu < ningik to wash
Greek Root -, -, ni-, nip- to wash
2
Zam-a ja-as au kai, dur mur soskiu
Zam-gen wife-gen food having made the house (she) sweep-3rd sg
Having made food, Zams wife sweeps/will sweep the house.
soskiu < soskik to sweep
Greek Root - sar- to sweep
3
Phato Zam dura iu
Then Zam house-to come-3rd sg
Then Zam comes/will come to his house.
Dura ita, au zui cai mai pi
house-to home-pp food eat-pp tea drink-pp
Having come to his house, having eaten food and having drunk tea
jaas som bo koshan thi, ..
wife-his with very happy become-pp
Having become very happy with his wife.
iu < eo, ita < eo to come
Greek Root -, to come > - i-men we come, - i-tis, - i-tamos
pi-PP < piik drink (Georgopapadakos, 2010/1964, p. 68)
Greek Root -, -, pi-, po-, to drink (Tzartzanos, 2006a/1960a, p. 181)

Table 25
Kalasha Past Participles as Absolute Constructions
1 Son-ay pa-i, casa on-im.
High pasture to having gone, cheese I will bring.
Having gone to the high pasture, I will bring cheese.
2 Cuti th-i-o, tu kia kar-is day?
Holiday having passed, you what are doing?
After the holiday has passed, what are you doing?
3
Zama jaas shula udriman Ata-i, angar kariu
Zam
Gen
wife
Gen
wood inside atek-pp fire make-3rd sg
Zams wife wood inside
having
brought
fire
makes/will
make
Having brought wood inside, Zams wife makes/will make fire.
4
Angar Ka-i, cai thal. Cai Tha-i, au kariu.
fire make-pp tea thek-3rd sg tea thek-pp food Make-3rd sg
Having made fire, (she) will pour tea; having poured tea, (she) will make food.
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

418
Table 26
Greek Past Participles as Absolute Constructions
1

anir kakopramon sinorisamenos lavon strouion
man ill-doer having bet-PP having taken-PP sparrow
One vicious man having made a bet, (and) having taken-PP a sparrow.

kai touto skepasas iken is to ieron
and this having covered arrived at the holy place
and then having covered it, he arrived at the holy place
Aesops Tales, Kefalidis-Moumtzakis, 1994, p. 307.
2
A
Arastou-Gen.Sg. kai
Polinikous-Gen.Sg
epi ivas Stratefsanton-Gen.Pl.Absolute
ke itienton-
Gen.Pl.Absolute
Arastoss and Polinikess against Thebes having attacked-PP
and having been
defeated-PP
and Polinikis having attacked Thebae and (having) been beaten
Lysias 7-9, Epitafios, Kefalidis-Moumtzakis, 1994, p. 307.

Deverbal Postpositions and Grammaticalization Phenomena
8

The phenomenon of grammaticalization is very frequent in both Kalasha and Greek. In Kalasha, for
example, past participles (pp) may function as postpositions: gr-i
pp
9
< griik to grasp, having grasped/with,
th-i
pp
< hik to become, having become/together, ka-i
pp
< karik to do, having done/together, da-i
pp
< dek
to give, having given/next to, by,, etc.. All these past participles, after undergoing morphologization, may
work as postpositions, i.e., they lose their syntactic properties of the verbs they derive from and convert into
postpositions. Apart from this morphophonological and syntactic erosion, they also suffer semantic bleaching,
i.e., they lose completely the meaning of the verb they derive from. Consider the so-called unattached free
adjunct constructions (which are not controlled by the matrix subject) in English (E) and in Modern Greek (MG)
(see Examples 1a-1c).
Example 1a. E: this done, given/granted; provided the chance
Example 1b. MG: eomenis tis sovaris katastasis, oisis tis efkerias
Example 1c. MG: prokimenou na/eomenu oti
Examples 1a and 1b are subject controlled, whereas Example 1c has been reanalyzed and turned into
conjunctions.
Now consider the data in Kalasha (see Table 27).
Conclusions
The main scope of this research was to present an empirical morphophonological description of Kalasha
with regard to its roots in the Greek of the 3rd cy BC.
After exposing briefly the phonology and morphology of Kalasha, the author discussed thoroughly the
inflectional system with regard to number and case, especially the oblique cases, juxtaposing the authors data
with Greek. Then the author gave a sketchy view of the personal pronouns emphasizing those with the Greek

8
See Kortmann & Konig, 1992; Mela-Athanasopoulou, 2003.
9
Morgenstierne callsi absolutive suffix (Morgenstierne, G. 1973, p. 236).
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

419
counterparts, e.g., homa , etc..
Finally, from the verbal system, the author gave a brief description of the Past Participle and the
Greek Absolute Genitive, as well as the phenomenon of grammaticalization and reanalysis of these participles
used as postpositions.

Table 27
Deverbal Postpositions in Kalasha
Sil-una dai, mo par-i
bridge-loc. give-pp dont go-imper.
the bridge next to, by dont go
Dont go by the bridge.
cay zhe au ek kai hari
tea and food one make-pp take Imp.
tea and food together take!
Take both tea and food!
ek ka-i, dudai
one make-pp put to sleep-Imp
Put them to sleep together.
A zhe tu ek thi, parik
I and you one become-pp go-1st pl
You and I will go together.
References
Bashir, E. (1988). Topics in Kalasha syntax: An areal and typological perspective (Ph.D. dissertation, Department of South Asian
Languages, University of Michigan).
Coleman, J. A. (2008/2007). The dictionary of mythology. London: Arcturus.
Frangoulis, A. (, .). (2004/1995). Dictionary of ancient Greek (Lexiko tis Archaeas Ellinikis) (
). Athina: Patakis.
Georgopapadakos, A. (, .). (1964). Lexikon anomalon rimaton tis archaeas hellinikis glossis (
). Dictionary of irregular verbs of the ancient Greek language (19th

ed.). Thessaloniki: Molho.
Grierson, G. A. (1919). Linguistic survey of India, (Vol. 8, Part II). Specimens of the Dardic or Pisacha languages. Calcutta:
Superintendent Government Printing.
Heegrd Petersen, J. (2007). Local case marking in Kalasha (Ph.D. thesis, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics,
University of Copenhagen).
Heegrd Petersen, J., & Ida, E. M. (2004). Retroflex vowels and other peculiarities in the Kalasha sound system. In A. Saxena
(Ed.), Himalayan languages, past and present (pp. 57-76). Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Himmelmann, N. P. (2006). Language documentation: What is it and what is it good for? In G. Jost, N. P. Himmelmann, & U.
Mosel (Eds.), Essentials of language documentation (pp. 1-30). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Kefalidis, N. X., & Moumtzakis, A. B. (, . ., & , . .). (1994). Ancient Greek (Archea ellinika)
( ). Athina: (The Government Publishing Organization).
Kortmann, B., & Konig, E. (1992). Categorial reanalysis: The case of deverbal prepositions. Linguistics, 30, 671-697.
Leitner, G. W. (1880). Kafiristan: Section 1. The Bashgali Kafirs and their anguage. Journal of the United Service Institute of
India 43.
Liddel, H. G., & Scott, R. (2001/1972). Big dictionary of the Greek language (Mega lexicon tis ellinikis glossis) (
). Athina: Ioannis Sideris.
Masica, C. P. (1991). The Indo-Aryan languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mela-Athanasopoulou, E. (2005). Morphologization of synthetic prepositions in English and modern Greek (In Selected Papers of
the 16th International Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, English Department, University of Thessaloniki,
KALASHA AS AN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE WITH GREEK ROOTS

420
Greece. M. Mattheoudakis, & A. Psaltou-Joyce (Eds.) (pp. 118-132).
Mela-Athanasopoulou, E., & Khan, T. (2011). How many are we? A demographic research on the Kalasha population. In the
Proceedings of Selected Papers of the 1st International Conference on Language Documentation and Tradition (ICLDT-Ka).
Everhard Carol, et al. (Eds.). Thessaloniki: University Studio Press.
Morgenstierne, G. (1932). Report on a linguistic mission to North-Western India. Serie C III-I Oslo: Institutet for
Sammenlignende Kulturforskning.
Morgenstierne, G. (1973). The Kalasha language. Indo-Iranian Frontier Languages (Vol. IV). Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Moumtzakis, A. B. (, . .). (1978). Syntax of the ancient greek language (Syntaktiko tis archeas ellinikis)
( ). Athina: (The Government Publishing Organization).
Pantazidis, I. (1975). Lexikon omirikon ( ). Dictionary of Homers language. Athina: Ioannis Sideris.
Trail, G. H. (1996). Tsyam revisited: A study of Kalasha origins. In proceedings of The Second International Hindu Kush
Cultural Conference. E. Bashir, & Israr-ud-Din. (Eds.). Karachi: Oxford University Press.
Trail, R. (1996). Kalasha case-marking system. In Proceedings of The Second International Hindu Kush Cultural Conference. E.
Bashir, & Isran-ud-Din. (Eds.) (pp. 149-158). Karachi: Oxford University Press.
Trail, R., & Greg, R. C. (1999). Kalasha dictionary-with English and Urdu. Islamabad: National Institute of Pakistan Studies and
Summer Institute of Linguistics. Studies in languages of Northern Pakistan, 7.
Turner, R. (1973/1966). A comparative dictionary of the Indo-Aryan languages. London: SOAS.
Tzartzanos, A. (, .). (2006a/1960a). Grammar of the ancient Greek language (Grammatiki ntis archeas ellinikis
glossis) ( ). Athina: Kalokathi.
Tzartzanos, A. (, .). (2006b/1960b). Syntax of the ancient Greek language (Syntaktikon ntis archeas ellinikis glossis)
( ). Athina: Kalokathi.
Whitney, W. D. (1967/1889). Sanskrit grammar. Cambridge Mass: Harvard University Press.