BURUSHASKI LANGUAGE

language spoken by the Burusho people living in the Gilgit territory of northwestern Kashmir. Burushaski is a language isolate, not known to be related to any other language of the world. Among the grammatical characteristics of Burushaski is the division of nouns into four categories, or genders: (1) male humans, (2) female humans, (3) animals of either sex and some inanimate objects, and (4) the remaining inanimate objects. Additional characteristics include plural suffixes for nouns and adjectives, demonstrative pronouns and adjectives, and third-person endings for verbs, all of which vary according to gender; a set of pronominal prefixes; and a number system in which higher numbers up to 1,000 are based on multiples of 20 and 40. The language is not written. The somewhat divergent Werchikwar, or Wershikwar, dialect of Burushaski is spoken in the valley of the Yasin River in Kashmir.