For a synchronic description of Balochi, it is not a viable method to present one variant as the standard and describe the others in terms of deviations from that system. Rather, the Balochi dialects need to be presented as grammatical systems in their own right.The main dialect split is between Western (WBal.), Southern (SBal.) and Eastern (EBal.) Balochi. This is a very broad dialect division, within which further dialect demarcations can be made. Some dialects do not easily fit any of these groups. This is true, for example, of the dialect spoken in Iranian Sarawan, which shows transitional features between Western and Southern Balochi.
The fact that the Balochi speakers are separated into several countries with various official languages (see 1 . 1) is another factor which increases dialect differentiation in Balochi. The dialects in Pakistan are not only influenced by neighbouring languages, but also by the national language Urdu, and by English, the official language in British India and also in Pakistan, where it is the most important language both in administration and in higher education.There are also sociolectal variations, often coinciding with generatiolects, since it is mainly the younger generation that has received education and thereby also a better command of the national language.
It is access to data and linguistic consultants rather than the relative importance of the dialect in question that has determined which dialects have been better described than others. Among the Pakistani dialects, the most comprehensive modern description is that of Noshke Balochi. Earlier works from Pakistan were mostly on Eastern Balochi: Dames and Gilbertson. Farrell has described the Southern Balochi dialect of Karachi and Collett that of Oman. The Western Balochi dialect of Turkmenistan has attracted much interest from Russian linguists, e.g. Sokolova, Sokolov, Zarubin and Axenov. The most comprehensive description of the dialect spoken in Afghanistan is based on data from only one speaker. Nawata provides another brief description of this dialect. As for Iranian Balochi, descriptions are available for the Central Sarawani dialect and the Lashari dialect.
Balochi and Its Dialects: Rich Linguistic Traditions of Persia
