Script
Balti also refers to the Tibetan Balti script, which was replaced by the Persian script in the 17th century. The language spoken by the entire population of Baltistan is called Balti, an archaic dialect of Tibetan language. At present Balti has been heavily influenced by Turkish and Urdu, and affected by Islamic literature in Persian. As a result, Balti has deviated from the original Tibetan language.
The language spoken in Baltistan, generally known as Balti, was originally a Tibetan dialect. According to Professor Jampal Gyathso, a Chinese Scholar and expert in Epic of King Gesar and a Khampa (Tibetan) by origin, the present Balti language has all the linguistic characteristics and roots from the Tibetan language. According to his initial survey Balti resembles more the Kham dialect than other Tibetan dialects of U and Thsang, Amdo, and others. He further suggests that either the first Tibetan settlers of Baltistan could be the Khambas or at least majority of the settlers were Khambas. The people of Baltistan, dubbed as "mini Tibet," are related to the Tibetans and their language is a branch of the Tibetan language, retaining many features of archaic Tibetan pronunciation. The missionary, orientalist and linguist Heinrich August Jäschke (1817–1883) classified Balti as one of the westernmost Tibetan dialects. In his Tibetan–English Dictionary he defines it as "Bal (Balti), the most westerly of the districts in which the Tibetan language is spoken". Many other scholars also are of the view that Balti is a Tibetan dialect and not a separate language from the Tibetan
In 1985 Mr. Yousuf Hussainabadi added four new letters to the Tibetan script and seven new letters to the Persian script to adapt both of them according to the need of Balti language, the far western Tibetan dialect. Two of the four added letters now stand included in the Tibetan Unicode alphabet. The Tibetan script had been in vogue in Baltistan until the last quarter of the 14th century when the Baltis converted to Islam. Since then Persian script replaced the Tibetan script, but the Persian script had no letters for seven Balti sounds and has been in vogue in spite of the fact that it didn't fullfil the whole requirement. Addition of the seven new letters has now made it a complete script for Balti language.
And recently a number of Balti scholars and social activists have tried to promote the use of the Tibetan Balti script, Yige, with the aim of helping to preserve indigenous Balti and Ladakhi culture and ethnic identity. Following a request from this community, the September 2006 Tokyo meeting of ISO/IEC 10646 WG2 agreed to encode two characters which are invented by Mr. Yousuf Hussainabadi (U+0F6B TIBETAN LETTER KKA and TIBETAN U+0F6C LETTER RRA) in the ISO 10646 and Unicode standards in order to support rendering Urdu loanwords present in modern Balti using Yige script.
Like other Tibetan dialects, Balti had no script of its own until Tibetans created a script for their language, introducing it through Tibetan Lamas and other learned people. In 727, when King Khri Lde-gTsug-Brtan conquered Baltistan and annexed it to his state, the Tibetan script was formally introduced as the official script through government offices, religious books and rock inscriptions. The famous mandala carving and the Tibetan inscription on a rock in village Manthal near Skardo town, which dates back to early 8th century, is one of the best examples of these efforts. Until that time there was no difference between the Tibetan dialects of Lhasa or central Tibet and Baltistan; therefore, the Baltis faced no problem in reciprocal communication and usage.
Before the invasion of Tibetans in 727, the official language of both the Palola shahis and the clergy was Brahmi, brought into the area after the 4th legendary Buddhist Conference in Jalandhar. There are still many rock-inscriptions from the 5th and 6th centuries in the Brahmi script. The Tibetans spread their own script with all their zest and zeal. The Tibetan script remained in use among the Balti until the 16th century when the Mullahs persuaded the Balti masses to use the Persian script for Balti. However, there was no endeavour to form fully corresponding Persian letters for Balti. Moreover, when the Rmakpon dynasty rose to its climax in the 16th century, it developed a strong political and cultural relationship with the Moghuls of India and used Persian instead of Balti as its official language. With this, the Balti language, including its script, lost its strongest patron. The Dogras of Jammu conquered Baltistan in 1840 and annexed it to their state. Since Pakistan gained control of the region in 1948, Urdu words have been introduced into local dialects and languages, including Balti. In modem times Balti has no names or vocabulary for dozens of newly invented and introduced things; instead, Urdu and English words are being used in Balti.
Read more about this topic: Balti Language
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