Wasi-wari

Wasi-wari is a language spoken by the Vâs’i people who are located in the Pârun Valley, known as Vâs’i gul, at the beginning of the Pech River Basin in the Nurestân Province of Northeastern Afghanistan. The Vâs’i refer to the language as Vâs’i-vari or Vâs’i-vare, but it is also known as Prasuni, Paruni, Parun, Vasi-vari, Prasun, Veron, Verou, Veruni, Wasi-veri, Wasi-weri, Wasin-veri, Vasi Vari, and Pārūnī. The population of Vâs’i gul is between 3000-6000, and there are approximately 8000 native speakers, which makes it a vulnerable language.

Wasi-wari is broken up into three dialects that are spoken in six villages. The upper dialect, Ṣup'u-vari, is spoken in the northernmost village, Ṣup'u. The central dialect, üšʹüt-üćʹü-zumʹu-vari, is spoken in the middle four villages, S’eć, Üć’ü, Üšʹüt, and Zum’u. The Lower dialect, Uṣ'üt-var’e, is spoken in Uṣ'üt, the lowest village.[2]

Wasi-wari is part of the Nuristani branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, which has both Iranian and Indo-Aryan influences.[3] Nuristani languages were formerly considered to be Dardic languages,[4] however, they are dissimilar enough from the other Dardic languages to constitute their own branch of the Indo-Iranian language tree. There was also previously confusion on whether Wasi-wari and Prasun were the same or separate languages, but it was determined that both names referred to the same language.[5] Although it is substantially different from the other Nuristâni languages, Wasi-wari forms the northern cluster of Nuristâni languages with Kâmk’ata-Mumkst’a-vari, so they share some similarities.[6]

[7]

• Prasuni at the Endangered Languages Project