Acknowledgements
A major portion of this work is based on a selection of chapters from my doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Texas at Austin (2006). To achieve a closer look at the dialect of Burushaski spoken in Srinagar and for an improved quality and clarity of content, I have fairly extensively revised the selected chapters and added a number of sections, including an appendix with a linguistically analyzed collection of texts (not in the doctoral dissertation). Sections or chapters of the dissertation not included were either not relevant for this study or have already been published.
I am grateful to all the people who have contributed to and assisted in completing this work. First and foremost I would like to thank the members of the Burushaski community in Srinagar without whose participation and continued support this study would not have been possible. In particular, I am very thankful to (late) Raja Safdar Ali Khan (Master-Ji), Raja Jamsheed Ali Khan, Raja Mehboob Ali Khan, Raja Majid, Raja Tasleem Khan, Mimi, Ruqsana, and Hasina – my language consultants who have played a major role in assisting me in data collection, transcription, and analyses over the years. I am especially indebted to Master-Ji for his relentless support and unwavering commitment during my fieldwork in Srinagar. I want to thank his family, especially, Mimi, Ruqsana, Hasina, Huma, Asiya, and Azra, for making me feel at home during the numerous sessions of data collection, transcription, translation and analyses. I am also grateful to other members of the community, especially Raja Majid Khan, Zulfikar Ali, Raja Nazim Khan, (late) Raja Ayub Khan, Salma, Raziya, Rashida, Gulzar Auntie, Shaheen, and many others for providing me with very rich and useful data and participating in various discussions on the Burushaski language and culture. I also thank (late) Dr. Nasir-ud-din Nasir Hunzai, Ruhi Hunzai, Amin-ud-din Hunzai, Piar Karim, Muhammad Wazir Khan and Naseema Bano of Pakistan for their assistance in collecting and analyzing the data from the Pakistani varieties of Burushaski – an essential part of this research as far as the linguistic comparisons are concerned.
My thanks go to my former professors at the University of Texas at Austin, and my friends and colleagues at the University of North Texas for their useful comments, constructive criticisms, and valuable suggestions on the earlier drafts. Among these, I am especially thankful to Anthony Woodbury (my thesis supervisor), Megan Crowhurst, Ian Hancock, and Keith Walters of UT Austin for their guidance on my dissertation. I am thankful to my colleagues Willem de Reuse, Haj (John Robert) Ross, and Shobhana Chelliah. Thanks are also due to two unnamed reviewers for their constructive criticism and useful suggestions on the previous drafts of the book. I would also like to thank Tyler Utt for pointing out even the minutest of the mistakes in the proofs.
My family and friends have acted as pillars of support and encouragement for this entire project and for acting as a strong source of inspiration and an energizing force leading me to accomplish this goal. I wish to thank my brothers, Fazal and Sameer, for their help during my fieldwork in Srinagar. My special thanks to my parents, Abul Hassan and Syeda, for being there at every step of my life and for their love and kind support. I wish to express my deep-felt gratitude to Tasaduq, my spouse, for his unending love, unrelenting support, and persistent encouragement. Finally, I wish to thank my two children – my son Anoush and my daughter Urooj – for their patience and cooperation during the numerous hours of work, whether at home or elsewhere.
The research presented here was funded by: a Liberal Arts Graduate Research Fellowship from the University of Texas at Austin (2003), a National Science Foundation’s Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (2004; award ID 0418333), an intramural grant from the University of North Texas (2008), and a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Documentation of Endangered Languages program (2010; award ID 0965799).