Endangered Languages Project

ALSO KNOWN AS		Damēlī, Damel, Damedi, Damia, Gudoji, Dardu
CLASSIFICATION		Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Northwestern Zone
CODE AUTHORITY		ISO 639-3
LANGUAGE CODE		dml
VARIANTS & DIALECTS		Shinteri-Dondieri Aspar
DOWNLOAD		As csv
MORE RESOURCES		OLAC search
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS		The Dameli have long been in intense contact with speakers of other languages. Dameli exhibits both Nuristani and Indo-Aryan Dardic features (Habib Borjian).

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Information from: “A Grammatical Description of Dameli” . Emil Perder (2013)

Vulnerable

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available
5,000
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
5,000-6,000
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
The Dameli speakers are Sunni Muslim and living on agriculture and herding.

DOMAINS OF USE

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

"[C]hildren born of Dameli parents learn Dameli as their first language, although many Dameli speakers reach a very high fluency in one or several other languages are forced to use these in some domains, notably education at all levels and communications with outsiders." (p. 11). Also, if a Dameli male marries a non-Dameli, the wife usually learns Dameli after intermarriage.

SPEAKER ATTITUDE

"Dameli speaker differ from speakers of many of the surrounding minority languages in showing no reluctance to speak their language even in the presence of non-speakers, and appear to lack most of the negative associations that minority speakers worldwide tend to attach to their language." (p.11)

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Urdu; Pashto; Khowar

LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS

Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and the medium for schooling while Pashto is the lingua franca of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (aka North-West Frontier Province) where Dameli is spoken. Khowar is also used frequently in the Chitral district although not in the valley where the Dameli live. One's ability to use Urdu depends on their level of education. Almost all the Dameli speakers possess a high proficiency of Pashto though monolingual Dameli females could be observed.

PLACES: Pakistan

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: The speakers of Dameli dwell in the Domel/Damel valley of the southwest Chitral district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northern Pakistan.

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
5,000
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
Data for the number of native speakers comes from SIL (1992).

PLACES: Pakistan

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
5,500
Native speakers worldwide

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
5,000
Native speakers worldwide

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1,000-9,999
Native speakers worldwide

DATE OF INFO: 1992

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

PLACES: Pakistan

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Damel valley on the left bank of the Chitral River

LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS: There is contact and borrowing between the Dardic languages and the adjacent Indo-Iranian languages.

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
2,000-5,000
Native speakers worldwide

DATE OF INFO: 1992

PLACES: Pakistan

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: "Damel Valley (Southern Chitral)"

		1994	Dardestān ii. Language						Encyclopedia Iranica			http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/dardestan-#i	Edel'man, D.I.	D.I. Edel'man. 1994. "Dardestān Ii. Language." In Encyclopedia Iranica, Online: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/dardestan-#i.											There is contact and borrowing between the Dardic languages and the adjacent Indo-Iranian languages.
Routledge Language Family Series		2003	Dardic	The Indo-Aryan Languages	818-894	George Cardona and Dhanesh Jain		London & New York: Routledge					Elena Bashir	Bashir, Elena. 2003. "Dardic." In The Indo-Aryan Languages, edited by George Cardona and Dhanesh Jain. 818-894. London & New York: Routledge.	HHOLD			1992	1000-9999			Palula, Khowar, Pashto, Urdu						Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)					Pakistan	Damel valley on the left bank of the Chitral River
	16	2009	Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)			M. Paul Lewis		SIL International		Dallas, TX		http://www.ethnologue.com/		Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16 edn. http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp. (15 February, 2011.)	ll_pub		5,000		1000-9999	Data for the number of native speakers comes from SIL (1992).								Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)					Pakistan
		2006	Language policy, multilingualism and language vitality in Pakistan	Lesser-known languages of South Asia: status and policies, case studies and applications of information technology	73-106	Anju Saxena and Lars Borin		Mouton de Gruyter		Berlin			Tariq Rahman	Tariq Rahman. 2006. "Language Policy, Multilingualism and Language Vitality in Pakistan." In Lesser-known languages of South Asia: status and policies, case studies and applications of information technology, edited by Anju Saxena and Lars Borin. 73-106. Mouton de Gruyter.			2,000-5,000	1992	1000-9999									Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)					Pakistan	"Damel Valley (Southern Chitral)"
	3rd	2010	Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger					UNESCO Publishing		Paris		http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas	Christopher Moseley (ed.)	Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas. (03 June, 2011.)	ll_pub		5,500		1000-9999									Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)							35.578,71.8684
		2013	A Grammatical Description of Dameli	A Grammatical Description of Dameli			online				Stockholm University	http://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:651418/FULLTEXT02.pdf	Emil Perder	Emil Perder. 2013. A Grammatical Description of Dameli. PhD Dissertation. Stockholm University.		5,000-6,000	5,000		1000-9999	The Dameli speakers are Sunni Muslim and living on agriculture and herding.	official domains or with non-Dameli speakers	Urdu; Pashto; Khowar	no	"Dameli speaker differ from speakers of many of the surrounding minority languages in showing no reluctance to speak their language even in the presence of non-speakers, and appear to lack most of the negative associations that minority speakers worldwide tend to attach to their language." (p.11)	Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and the medium for schooling while Pashto is the lingua franca of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (aka North-West Frontier Province) where Dameli is spoken. Khowar is also used frequently in the Chitral district although not in the valley where the Dameli live. One's ability to use Urdu depends on their level of education. Almost all the Dameli speakers possess a high proficiency of Pashto though monolingual Dameli females could be observed.	no	almost all	Vulnerable (100 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	10	"[C]hildren born of Dameli parents learn Dameli as their first language, although many Dameli speakers reach a very high fluency in one or several other languages are forced to use these in some domains, notably education at all levels and communications with outsiders." (p. 11). Also, if a Dameli male marries a non-Dameli, the wife usually learns Dameli after intermarriage.	11	10	Pakistan	The speakers of Dameli dwell in the Domel/Damel valley of the southwest Chitral district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northern Pakistan.	35.466, 71.810
			World Oral Literature Project									http://www.oralliterature.org		"World Oral Literature Project." Online: http://www.oralliterature.org.			5,000		1000-9999									Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)

Dameli

Language metadata

Language information by source

Vulnerable

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

5,000

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

5,000

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

5,500

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

5,000

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1,000-9,999

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

2,000-5,000

Discussion

Dameli

Language metadata

Language information by source

Vulnerable

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

5,000

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

5,000

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

5,500

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

5,000

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1,000-9,999

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

2,000-5,000

Discussion

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Sources of information

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