A Dardic language of the Indo-Aryan family, Torwali is spoken in the Bahrain and Chail areas of District Swat in Northern Pakistan. According to some estimates the Torwali people count themselves more than 120,0001 while recent research counts the number of speakers of the Torwali language around 130,0002. ‘Possibly half of them live in the heartland, which is located in northern Pakistan, in the Swat River Valley in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province3’.
Rigorous work on the revitalization of Torwali language has been carried out since 2004 and under this program a mother-tongue-based ‘MLE program that was established in 2005 by IBT, a registered community-based organization, which includes a large volume of locally produced curriculum and resources, two glossaries (not full dictionaries) have been produced and published by Torwali speakers’4.
So far considerable written material has been produced in Torwali which include books on the folk Torwali poetry, folktales, daily usage trilingual book, small dictionaries for students and ‘also several biographies about well-known historical figures which were written by respected scholars in Urdu have been translated into the Torwali language’5. The researchers associated with the organization, Idara Baraye Taleem wa Taraqi (IBT) has also produced six music videos that portrayed traditional Torwali musical songs that had been adapted to incorporate some contemporary sounds. These videos are watched and liked widely, even among the Torwali diaspora, and greatly appreciated by Torwali speakers everywhere. A local cable TV station, which includes some Torwali programming, was established with help and support from IBT. Most of the activities described above have happened since the year 2006. In 2021 IBT also published a Torwali poetry collection by a Torwali poet, a translation with brief explanation of the last ten surahs (chapters) of the Holy Quran with the six basic kalmas of Islam and namaaz (the five times prayers of Muslims). IBT also published a journal, Sarbuland, in Urdu on the languages, histories, myths, cultures and societies of northern Pakistan.
According to researchers and writers ‘The Torwali language revitalization and development program stands out as one of the prominent and large-scale programs in Pakistan6’.
IBT has also won the Lingua Pax International Award 2021 for its extra ordinary work7.
Though Torwali has now better literacy among its speakers yet it is too low for a sustainable community. About 19 percent of the population can now read or write it.
[1] Syed A. Manan, Liaqat Ali Channa, Khadija Tul-Kubra and Maya Khemlani David, “Ecological planning towards language revitalization: The Torwali minority language in Pakistan”, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Vol. 31, Issue 3 (New Jersey, USA; John Wiley & Sons, Wiley, 2021) page 6
[2] Wayne A. Lunsford, Muhammad Zaman Sagar, Ejaz Ahmad and Amir Haider, Measuring the Impact of using “The Guide” in Six Speech Communities of Northern Pakistan, in Planning Language Use Case Studies in Community-Based Language Development, ed. David M. Eberhard and Scott A. Smith (SIL International 2021), page 78
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] Syed A. Manan et al., “Ecological planning towards language revitalization: The Torwali minority language in Pakistan”, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Vol. 31, Issue 3 (New Jersey, USA; John Wiley & Sons, Wiley, 2021)
[7] Linguapax International, “Idara Baraye Taleem-o-Taraqi is awarded the 2021 Linguapax International Award”, June 10, 2021, https://www.linguapax.org/en/idara-baraye-taleem-o-taraqi-is-awarded-the-2021-linguapax-international-award/
