ABSTRACT
Parachi (Para¯cˇı¯) is spoken north-east of Kabul in three valleys in the southern foothills of the western Hindukosh by a total of approximately 3,500 speakers (as of 1981): in the Shotol valley, north of Golbaha¯r, with approx. 1,500 speakers; in the Pachegha¯n branch of the Nejraw valley, north-east of Golbaha¯r, with approx. 1,200 speakers; and in the Ghochu¯la¯n branch of the same valley, with approx. 700 speakers (see Map 14a.1). These represent remnant linguistic pockets of an earlier dialect continuum (cf. Morgenstierne 1970: 350-2; Kieffer 1979a: 45-47; 1983: 512).
