View source for Rushani language

{{Short description|Pamir language of Afghanistan and Tajikistan}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Rushani
|nativename= rix̌ůn ziv, риx̌ӯн зив
|ethnicity= 73,800 Rushan people<ref name=e18/>
|image= Rushani.svg
|states=[[Afghanistan]], [[Tajikistan]]
|speakers=18,000
|date=1990
|ref=<ref name=e18>{{e18|sgh|Shughni}}</ref>
|familycolor=Indo-European
|fam2=[[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
|fam3=[[Iranian languages|Iranian]]
|fam4=[[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranian]]
|fam5=[[Pamiri languages|Pamiri]]
|glotto=rush1239
|glottorefname=Rushani
}}

'''Rushani''' is one of the [[Pamir languages]] spoken in [[Afghanistan]] and [[Tajikistan]]. 
[[Rushani]] is relatively closer to all Northern [[Pamiri languages]] sub-group whether it is [[Shughni language|Shughni]], [[Yazgulyam language|Yazgulami]], [[Sarikoli language|Sarikuli]] or [[Oroshori language|Oroshori]] sharing many grammatical and vocabulary similarity with all of them especially with [[Shughni language|Shughni]] and thus some linguists consider it a dialect of [[Shughni language|Shughni]].

[[Rushon District|Rushan]] is divided into two parts by [[Panj]] river where on right bank along [[Bartang River|Bartang]] river to the East located Rushan district of [[GBAO]], [[Tajikistan]] and on the left side located several villages of Roshan area in northern part of the Sheghnan District, in the [[Badakhshan Province]] of [[Afghanistan]] and the [[Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region]] in Tajikistan. Afghani Roshan consists of six villages including Rubotin, Paguor, Chawed, York, Shaikhin and Chasnud, five of which are located on the bank of the river [[Panj]], which meets{{clarify|date=June 2015}} at the border of Tajikistan.<ref name="Muller, Katja. 2010">Muller, K. 2010: ''Language in Community-Oriented and Contact-Oriented Domains: The Case of the Shughni of Tajakistan.'' SIL International.</ref> Most Rushani speakers belong to the [[Ismaili]] branch of [[Shi'a Islam]].<ref name="Muller, Katja. 2010"/>

==Language use==
Rushani, like Shughni, is only used in unofficial settings. All of the children in the community learn Rushani as their first language and rely heavily on it until they enroll in school. It is only then that they learn the official language of the country.<ref name="Muller, Katja. 2010"/> Adult speakers are all bi- or tri-lingual in [[Tajik language|Tajik]] and [[Russian language|Russian]].

Traditionally Rushani was not a written language, with Rushani speakers writing in [[Persian language|Persian]].<ref name="Dodykhudoeva, Leila. 2007">Dodykhudoeva, L. 2007: ''Revitalization of minority languages: comparative dictionary of key cultural terms in the languages and dialects of the Shugni-Rushani group. London: SOAS.</ref> Writing systems have been developed for the language using [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] and [[Latin script|Latin]] scripts, for example for use in translation of parts of the bible by the [[Institute for Bible Translation]].

==Verbs==
Rushani is unusual in having a [[transitive alignment]] system – a so-called ''double-[[oblique case|oblique]]'' clause structure – in the past tense. That is, in the past tense,<ref>or perhaps [[perfective aspect]]</ref> the agent and object of a transitive verb are both marked, while the subject of an intransitive verb is not. In the present tense, the object of the transitive verb is marked, the other two roles are not – that is, a typical [[nominative–accusative]] alignment.<ref>J.R. Payne, 'Language Universals and Language Types', in Collinge, ed. 1990. ''An Encyclopedia of Language''. Routledge. From Payne, 1980.</ref> See [[transitive alignment]] for examples.

==Literature==
*[[Ivan Ivanovich Zarubin|Zarubin, I.I.]] Bartangskie i rushanskie teksty i slovar. Moskva : Izd-vo Akademii nauk SSSR, 1937.
*Payne, John, "Pamir languages" in ''Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum'', ed. Schmitt (1989), 417&ndash;444.
*Payne, John. "The decay of ergativity in Pamir languages." ''Lingua'' 51:147-186.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* Rushani [http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/5870] at the Endangered Languages Project

{{Languages of Tajikistan}}
{{Iranian languages}}

[[Category:Pamir languages]]
[[Category:Eastern Iranian languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Tajikistan]]
[[Category:Endangered languages of Tajikistan]]