Native Names: âSkuNu, saNu, and gřâmsaNâ, 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 gřâmsaNâ gřâm).

Location: upper-middle Pech Valley and over the watershed into the bâźâygal, mâse:gal, and titin valleys of upper Laghmân.

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

Settlements: (names are given in the saNu dialect)
  of the saNu (Pech Valley): sâma [Pashto wâmâ, KalaSa-alâ šemi], pau˜ć, kâmgal, akaTaban, vâu, buni;
  of the gřâmsaNâ (Pech Valley): gřâmsaNâ gřâm, sâbligal;
  of the âSkuNu (Laghmân): in bâźâygal: bâźâygal, kuri, pâygalak;
      in mâse:gal: mâlak, bâySTâl [?], mâsi:, gâdâlâm, kuTagal niša, kulâtâ˜, gulćâydârgřâm, Diŋurdâra gřâm, âvi:k, pašu:k;
      in titin: buddâlâm, Diŋordâlâm, bâydâlâm, šimâmdâlâm, kuri [?], nâkâdârgřâm.

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

Linguistic Position of Ashkun: Ashkun forms with KalaSa-alâ and Tregâmi the Southern Group of Nuristâni languages (see the Table of Languages). The âSkuNu in Laghmân have assimilated some phonological processes of the neighboring Indo-Aryan-speaking Pašaî people of the Alingar Valley, forming a dialect group (âSkuNu ve:ri) distinct from the linguistically more conservative dialects in Pech (saNu vi:ri and gřâmsaNâ vi:ri). Minor dialect divisions are reported among the three major valleys of âSkuNu territory. Morgenstierne's field data remain the major source on Ashkun (1929, 1934a, 1952). Strand's field data on the saNu 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 saNu 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 âSkuNu territory of village names that end in the Pašaî word lâm 'community' (rather than Ashkun gřâm 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).