Native Names: âSkuňu, saňu, and gRâmsaňâ, all speaking dialects of a single language.

Other Names: "Ashkun" (first noted by Robertson [1896]), Wâmâi (from the Pashto name of the village of sâma), and "Achanu" (from the Pashto name of the village of gRâmsaňâ gRâm).

Location: upper-middle Pech Valley and over the watershed into the bâźâigal, mâse:gal, and titin valleys of the Alingar basin in western Nurestân Province.

Population: perhaps 10,000 – 30,000 for all three ethnic groups.

Settlements: (names are given in the saňu dialect)
  of the saňu (Pech Valley): sâma [Pashto wâmâ, KalaSa-alâ šemi], pau˜ć, kâmgal, akaTaban, vâu, buni;
  of the gRâmsaňâ (Pech Valley): gRâmsaňâ gRâm, sâbligal;
  of the âSkuňu (Alingar basin):
      in bâźâigal: bâźâigal, kuri, pâigalak;
      in mâse:gal: mâlak, bâiSTâl [?], mâsi:, gâdâlâm, kuTagal niša, kulâtâ˜, gulćâidârgRâm, Diŋurdâra gRâm, âvi:k, pašu:k;
      in titin: buddâlâm, Diŋordâlâm, bâidâlâm, šimâmdâlâm, kuri [?], nâkâdârgRâm.

Multi-Ethnic Language Name: "Ashkun", after the largest ethnic group speaking the language (Morgenstierne 1929); no known native term encompasses all the ethnic dialects.

Note: the transcription currently used here for the Ashkun dialects distinguishes the retroflex flapped nasal sound ň from the retroflex nasal stop N. It is unclear whether there is a phonemic contrast between these sounds. They may be in complementary distribution, with ň being an intervocalic allophone of N. Until the phonemic status of ň is resolved, it will continue to be written as a separate sound. The retroflex approximant sound ř appears only after a consonant and is in complementary distribution with both the retroflex flap R and the tapped r. In the current transcription it is classed as an allophone of R and so written.

Linguistic Position of Ashkun: Ashkun forms with KalaSa-alâ and Tregâmi the Southern Group of Nuristâni languages (see the Table of Languages). The âSkuňu in western Nurestân Province have assimilated some phonological processes of the neighboring Indo-Aryan-speaking Pašaî people of the Alingar Valley, forming a dialect group (âSkuňu ve:ri) distinct from the linguistically more conservative dialects in Pech (saňu vi:ri and gRâmsaňâ vi:ri). Minor dialect divisions are reported among the three major valleys of âSkuňu territory. Morgenstierne's field data remain the major source on Ashkun (1929, 1934a, 1952). Strand's field data on the saňu dialect appear in the Comparative Lexicon on this site.

History: No account of the history of the Ashkun-speaking peoples has been recorded. Accounts from other Nuristâni peoples assert that the saňu had the same origin as the other Nuristânis who settled in the Pech Valley after fleeing the predations of Mahmud Ghaznavi in the 11th century A.D. From the existence in âSkuňu territory of village names that end in the Pašaî word lâm 'community' (rather than Ashkun gRâm or glâm), it would appear that Ashkun speakers have spread "over the top," as the Nuristânis say, from sâma into Laghmân. This hypothesis is consistent with the former religious preeminence of sâma, with its large orchard, indra kun, reputedly planted by the god Indra himself (cf. Degener 1998: 237).