The Shina Kohistani people are an ethnic group that primarily resides in the northern region of Pakistan, particularly in the Kohistan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. They are considered to be one of the largest tribes in the region, and their language, also known as Shina Kohistani, is a member of the Dardic language family.
Shina Kohistani
Population in the Project Area :
1,146,000
The People
Pakistan
The Shina people believe that their ancestors migrated to their present settlements from Central Asia to South Asia during the first half of the second millennium BC. The estimated population in the ethnic group is 1, 146, 000. The Shina group is composed of two subdivisions, i.e., Shina Brokpa and Shina Kohistani. The ethnic population is thriving according to the census agencies of 2018. In Pakistan, Shina is one of the major languages in Gilgit-Baltistan spoken by an estimated 1,146,000 people living mainly in Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan. A small group of Shina community is also settled in the upper Neelum Valley in Pakistan and in Dras, in the far north of the Kargil district of Ladakh in India. The Shina people are mostly agriculturists and cultivate fruits and food crops. They plant grain in terraced fields and plough with oxen. Because of the lack of rain, the crops are irrigated by water channels known as Kuhls, which need to be managed constantly and skilfully. They also depend on their natural environment resources to enrich their lives. The Shina people in the Gilgit area are mainly engaged in fruit cultivation. Many fruits are grown in this region, like apples, apricots, berries, pears, grapes etc. Fruits, as well as vegetable juices, are the locals’ favourites. People in the villages report that since they consume more vegetables, they stay healthy and fit. A considerable number of the population is involved in cattle rearing. The community is very open to the people of the mainstream community and other ethnic groups. However, they are good at maintaining their cultural traits and language. The areas of their inhabitants are renowned for village tourism. The Shina people have a fascinating music and dance culture. The sword dance played by the men in the community is a very popular art form of their identity
The Project
Mother-Tongue literacy.
There are various speech varieties in the respected area. Mainly, there are two distinct speech varieties used by the Shina people. People from the Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan provinces speak Brokpa Shina. And people in the Kohistani district of Khyber Pakhtunkwa province use the Shina Kohistani variety. The silk route survey focused on the Shina group in the Gilgit and Kohistani areas. The community consultants substantiate that Brokpa and Kohistani are two distinct varieties of the Shina language that got significantly diverged over the period. Hence, people consciously try to develop these two varieties separately. The silk route survey identified that the speech varieties significantly vary so the mutual intelligibility between the groups is considerably low. Both Kohistan and Brokpa people have a very strong and positive attitude toward their mother tongue, hence these Shina varieties are vigorous to survive for more generations. The community uses its mother tongue for all the intra-community domains. However, in some interior Shina villages, the mother tongue is used in all the domains except for their official purposes. A few stories and songs have been written using the Urdu script, but the orthography is not well framed according to linguistic principles. our team has wider plans of developing a complete orthography. In the initial stage, we have conducted a survey for identifying the language proficiency of the community, and identified skilled individuals from within the community to join our efforts. An orientation program is planned to organize in order to effectively train the selected staffs for better communication. We have a long term goal of developing basic skills among the group by using the power of their own mother tongue. Despite being a relatively small community, the Shina Kohistani people have faced significant challenges over the years, including social and economic marginalization. Hopefully, our efforts will help them to overcome their challenges and and take a more active role in society.
Progress
As of March 2023
Our esteemed organization conducted a comprehensive Sociolinguistic Survey among the ethnic language groups in question, with the primary objective of identifying the language abilities of the community people, assessing the vitality and stability of their mother tongue, and identifying different dialects and their mutual intelligibility across dialect regions. Additionally, the survey aimed to identify the ideal literacy staff from the respective communities. To ensure the utmost precision and accuracy, our team comprised a trained field Sociolinguist from the country, as well as a survey expert from Nepal, and each language group was also assisted by mother tongue speakers. Data collection was carried out through a well-designed questionnaire and meticulously curated word and sentence lists. Through this survey, we were able to gather invaluable insights into the complex and nuanced language dynamics of these ethnic communities, which will serve as a foundational cornerstone for our literacy initiatives. Our ultimate goal is to provide basic literacy and life skills education in the mother tongue of these communities, empowering them to overcome their challenges and make them able to come forward in the mainstream society.