Prasun language
Prasun is a Nuristani language spoken in the Prasun Valley in Afghanistan.
Prasun belongs to the Indo-European language family, and is on the Nuristani group of the Indo-Iranian branch. Prasun is considered as the most divergent of the Nuristani languages.
The Prasun-speaking people are now mostly Muslim since the imposition of Islam by the Afghan ruler Abdur Rahman Khan in 1895. They first followed out of intimidation, then became more devout as younger generations studied Islamic scriptures in Pakistan and India and came back to preach Islam, but they also keep some vestiges of their indigenous pre-Islamic religion. Literacy rates are low: below 1% for people who have it as a first language, and between 15% and 25% for people who have it as a second language.
Name
The endonym Vâsi is ultimately cognate with Kamviri Přâsü̃ and Katë Přâsiu.Demographics
Prasun is a language spoken by the Vâsi people who are located in the Pârun Valley, known as Vâsi-gul, at the beginning of the Pech River basin in Nuristan Province of northeastern Afghanistan. The native names of the language are Vâsi-vari in the Ṣupu dialect, and Vâsi-veri in the Seć dialect, but it is also known as Prasun, Prasuni, Pārūni, Veron, Verou, and Veruni. The population of Vâsi-gul is between 3,000-6,000, and there are approximately 8,000 native speakers within the valley and other areas, which makes it a vulnerable language.Dialects
Prasun is broken up into three dialects that are spoken in six villages. The upper dialect, Ṣupu-vari, is spoken in the northernmost village, Ṣupu. The central dialect, üšüt-üćü-zumu-vari, is spoken in the middle four villages, Seć, Üćü, Üšüt, and Zumu. The lower dialect, Uṣüt-vare, is spoken in Uṣüt, the lowest village. For this article, most cited forms will be based on the Seć dialect unless specified otherwise.One characteristic feature defining all Prasun dialects is the shift of ancient *d to l, which was lost in intervocalic position in other Nuristani languages, such as vazala "shoe", compared to Ashkun vâćâ, Kamviri vâćo, and Nuristani Kalasha oćä, and the pervasive lenition of initial stops, such as viṭa "wing", compared to Ashkun pâṭu "feather", Kamviri pâṭü "feather", and Nuristani Kalasha paṭä "feather, wing".