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| VOCABULARY DATABASE > KHOWAR > INFORMATION |
Khowar is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by approximately 250,000 people in Chitral, up in the Hindu Kush mountains, in the far North West corner of Pakistan. It also acts as a lingua franca in the region.
Literature in this language has remained predominantly oral, having a long tradition of romantic poetry. Khowar is the medium of instruction at primary schools, although Urdu, English, or Arabic are required at higher levels. Until 1952, Persian was the written language of the government of monarchy-ruled Chitral. After incorporation of Chitral to Pakistan in 1969, all government documents have been written either in Urdu or in English.
In comparison to other Indo-Aryan languages, Khowar is archaic in its inflection, and it includes a complete series of retroflex consonants. Its vocabulary includes many loanwords, particularly from Persian, other Iranian languages and the Pamir language.
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