Kalkoti language

Kalkoti
Native to	Pakistan
Region	Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Native speakers	6,000 (2006)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Dardic Kohistani Kalkoti
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xka

Kalkoti is a Dardic language of the Kohistani group spoken in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Phonology

The following tables outline the phonology of Kalkoti.

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i~ɪ iː	u~ʊ uː
Mid	eː	oː
Open	æ~ə æː~aː	ɑ~ɒ ɑ~ɒː

Short vowels are slightly centralized; nasalization of vowels may be phonemic.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɳ (?)		ŋ (?)
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	ʈ (?)		k	q	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	ʈʰ (?)		kʰ
	voiced	b	d	ɖ		ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		ts	tʂ	tʃ
	aspirated			tʂʰ (?)	tʃʰ
	voiced				dʒ
Fricative	voiceless	(f)	s	ʂ	ʃ	x
	voiced		z			ɣ
Lateral			l
Flap			ɾ	ɽ (?)
Approximant					j	w

The phonemes /q, ʦ, x, z, ɣ, ɽ/ have likely been introduced by loanwords. The voiceless aspirate series is secure, and, unlike the neighboring Palula language, Kalkoti does not have a breathy voiced series. The phoneme ʔ is of unclear status and is likely tied to tone in Kalkoti.

Tone

Kalkoti's system of tone likely was similar to Shina's two tone system; however, under pressure from its Kohistani neighbors it may now have a more complex tone inventory.