Balochi language

Balochi
بلوچی
Balochi in Perso-Arabic script (Nastaʿlīq style)
Native to	Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Oman, Turkmenistan
Ethnicity	predominantly Baloch, some Brahui
Native speakers	7.6 million (2007)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Iranian Northwestern II Balochi
Dialects	Koroshi
Official status
Official language in	Balochistan; Balochistan Province of Iran (provincial)
Recognised minority language in	Regional language Provincial in Nimroz province
Regulated by	Balochi Academy (Balochistan)
Language codes
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3	– inclusive code Individual codes: bgp – Eastern Balochi bgn – Western Balochi bcc – Southern Balochi ktl – Koroshi
Glottolog	balo1260
Linguasphere	58-AAB-a > 58-AAB-aa (East Balochi) + 58-AAB-ab (West Balochi) + 58-AAB-ac (South Balochi) + 58-AAB-ad (Bashkardi)
Geographic distribution of Balochi and other Iranian languages
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Balochi (Balochi: بلؤچی‎‎) is a Northwestern Iranian language. It is the principal language of the Baloch people. Balochi is categorized as one of the Northwestern Iranian languages

The Balochi vowel system has at least eight vowels: five long vowels and three short vowels. The long vowels are /aː/, /eː/, /iː/, /oː/, and /uː/. The short vowels are /a/, /i/ and /u/. The short vowels have more centralized phonetic qualities than the long vowels.

Southern Balochi (at least as spoken in Karachi) also has nasalized vowels, most importantly /ẽː/ and /ãː/.

The following consonants are common to both Western Balochi and Southern Balochi. The place of articulation of the consonants /s/, /z/, /n/, /ɾ/ and /l/ is claimed to be alveolar in Western Balochi, while at least the /ɾ/ is claimed to be dental in Southern Balochi. The stops /t/ and /d/ are claimed to be dental in both dialects.

Notes

In addition, /f/ is listed for Southern Balochi, but is found in few words. /x/ (voiceless velar fricative) in some loanwords in Southern Balochi corresponding to /χ/ (voiceless uvular fricative) in Western Balochi; and /ɣ/ (voiced velar fricative) in some loanwords in Southern Balochi corresponding to /ʁ/ (voiced uvular fricative) in Western Balochi.