Brahui | |
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براہوئي | |
Region | Pakistan and Afghanistan |
Ethnicity | Brahui |
Native speakers
|
4 million (2011) |
Perso-Arabic script, Latin script | |
Official status | |
Regulated by | Brahui Language Board (Pakistan) |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
|
Glottolog | brah1256 |
Brahui (far upper left) is geographically isolated from all other Dravidian languages.
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Brahui/brəˈhuːi/ (Brahui: براہوئی) is a Dravidian language spoken by the Brahui people in the central Balochistan region of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and by expatriate Brahui communities in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Iran. It is isolated from the nearest Dravidian-speaking neighbour population of South India by a distance of more than 1,500 kilometres (930 mi).Kalat, Mastung Khuzdar and parts of Quetta districts of Balochistan are predominantly Brahui-speaking.
Brahui is spoken in the central part of Pakistani Balochistan, mainly in Kalat, Mastung, and Khuzdar districts but also in smaller numbers in neighboring districts, as well as in Afghanistan which borders Pakistani Balochistan; however, many members of the ethnic group no longer speak Brahui. The 2013 edition of Ethnologue reports that there are some 4 million speakers. Nearly all live in Pakistan, mainly in the province of Balochistan. There are also an unknown very small number of expatriate Brahuis in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf, Iranian Balochistan, and Turkmenistan.