Hindko and Gujari. c - SIL International

Gujari 129
CHAPTER 3
PROFILES OF TWO GUJAR COMMUNITIES
3.1 Introduction
Two Gujar communities were studied in depth in order to
examine social features relevant to sociolinguistic patterns in
these communities. The first community was Peshmal, a small
Gujar town in northern Swat Valley near Kalam. The second was
Mittikot, a village in the mountains above Balakot, near the
mouth of the Kaghan Valley. For the purposes of this study, the
Peshmal community, in the proposed Western dialect area,
represents Gujars living in a small town which is easily
accessable and is set in a dominant Pashtoon region with Pashto
as the language of wider communication. The Mittikot
community, in the proposed Eastern dialect area, represents
Gujars in a small, more isolated village set in a region where
Hindko is the dominant language of wider communication.
3.2 Methodology
The purpose of this chapter is to present a general
description of each Gujar community and a profile of social
factors, such as gender, age, and education which are relevant to
the sociolinguistic patterns seen in these communities. In each
community, a census was taken, second language proficiency
was tested, and interviews were conducted regarding language
use and attitudes and travel experience. 20
The census for Peshmal does not include the entire Peshmal
area. Rather, census data was gathered in Gush, a settlement in
larger Peshmal, as representative of the Peshmal area in general.
The Gush census information is complete in that every household
is included. A Gujari-speaking, middle school teacher and
lifelong resident of the community provided all the data on each
20 For a full presentation of the language and travel data, see chapter 4.