A divergent variety of the Shina Language
| Brokskat | |
| States: | India, Pakistan |
| Region: | Ladakh, Baltistan |
| Ethnicity: | Brokpa (Minaro) |
| Speakers: | about 3,000 |
| Date: | 1996 |
| Familycolor: | Indo-European |
| Fam2: | Indo-Iranian |
| Fam3: | Indo-Aryan |
| Fam4: | Eastern Dardic |
| Fam5: | Shinaic |
| Iso3: | bkk |
| Glotto: | brok1247 |
| Glottorefname: | Brokskat |
| Also Known As: | Minaro |
| Nativename: | འབྲོག་སྐད་ / بروقسکت |
| Script: | Tibetan script, Nastaliq script[1] |
Brokskat [2] or Minaro[3] is an endangered Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Brokpa people in the lower Indus Valley of Ladakh and its surrounding areas.[4] It is the oldest surviving member of the ancient Dardic language. It is considered a divergent variety of Shina,[5] but it is not mutually intelligible with the other dialects of Shina.[6] It is only spoken by 2,858 people in Ladakh and 400 people in the adjoining Baltistan, part of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.[7]
Exonym
The term Brokskat translates to "the language of the Brokpa" in the Tibetic language. The name "Brokpa" is used by Ladakhi and Balti Tibetic origin people to refer to this ethnic group. Brokpa means "hill-dweller" or "hillbilly," reflecting their historical lifestyle as hunters in the upper mountainous regions.
Endonym
The Brokpa themselves refer to their language as Minaro and identify their ethnic group by the same name, Minaro. Interestingly, their ancient religion is also known as Minaro.
| English | Brokskat in Roman script | Brokskat in Bodyig script | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water | wa | ཝུའ་ | |
| Fire | ghur | གཱུར | |
| Sun | Suri | སུརིའ་ | |
| Moon | gyun | གྱུན | |
| Mountain | chur | ཆུར | |
| Human | mush | མུཤ | |
| Land | bun | བུན | |
| Boy | byo | བྱོ | |
| Girl | molay | མོལེའ་ | |
| Baby | bubu | བུའབུའ | |
| Knife | cutter | ཀཊའར |
| English | Brokskat -present tense | Brokskat-past tense | Broskat-future tense | Imperative | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To go | byas | go | byungs | boyai | |
| To stand | autheis | authait | authiyungs | authi | |
| To Break | phitais | phitaiat | phitiaungs | phitai | |
| To open | aunis | auniat | auniungs | auni | |
| To laugh | hazis | hazit | haziungs | hazi | |
| To sit | bazhais | bazhit | bazhiungs | bazhi | |
| To walk | zazis | zazit | zaziungs | zazi | |
| To throw | faitis | faitiat | fatiungs | fati | |
| To look | skis | skait | skiungs | ski | |
| Cut | chhinis | chinait | chhiniungs | chhini | |
| To Count | gyanis | gyaniat | gyaniungs | gyani |