Pashto language

Pashto
پښتو
Pronunciation [paʂˈto], [paçˈto], [paxˈto]
Spoken in
Region Central Asia-South Asia
Total speakers approx. 35.5[2] to 41[3] million
Ranking 33[4]
Language family Indo-European
Writing system Pashto alphabet
Official status
Official language in  Afghanistan
 Pakistan (K.P. and FATA)
Regulated by Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan
Language codes
ISO 639-1 ps
ISO 639-2 pus
ISO 639-3 pus – [[Pashto (generic)]]
Linguasphere
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Pashto (Naskh: پښتو - [paʂˈto]; also transliterated Pakhto, Pushto, Pukhto, Pashtu, or Pushtu), also known as Afghani[5], is an Indo-European language spoken primarily by the Pashtun people in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan[6], as well as by the Pashtun diaspora across the globe.

Pashto belongs to the Eastern Iranian[7] branch of the Indo-Iranian language family. The number of Pashto speakers is estimated to be around 40 million people world wide. The Constitution of Afghanistan declares Pashto as one of the two official languages of the country[8], the other being Dari.

Contents

Geographic distribution

In Afghanistan, Pashto is primarily spoken in the east, south and southwest, but also in some northern and northwestern parts as a result of recent relocation. No exact numbers are available, but according to "A survey of the Afghan people - Afghanistan in 2006",[9] Pashto is the first language of approximately 40% of the population, while additional 27% know and understand the language (combined 67%). The CIA Factbook estimates that 35% of the population speak Pashto as their first language[10] but Ethnologue states 35% to 50%.[11]

Geographic distribution of Pashto (purple) and other Iranian languages

Pashto is spoken in neighboring Pakistan by about 17% of the total population (approx. 28.9 million people)[12], mainly in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and in northwestern Balochistan, as well as in parts of Mianwali and Attock districts of the Punjab province. Modern Pashto-speaking communities are also found in the cities of Karachi and Hyderabad in Sindh. With close to 7 million ethnic Pashtuns by some estimates, Karachi has the largest Pashtun population in the world.

Other communities of Pashto speakers are found in northeastern Iran, primarily in South Khorasan Province to the east of Qaen, near the Afghan border,[13] and in Tajikistan.[11] There are also Pashtun communities in the southwestern part of Jammu and Kashmir as well as in Uttar Pradesh, India.[14][15][16]

Sizable Pashto-speaking communities also exist in the Middle East, especially in the United Arab Emirates[17] and Saudi Arabia, as well as in the United States, United Kingdom[18], Thailand, Canada, and Australia.

Official Status

Pashto enjoys official status in Afghanistan alongside Dari Persian, with full rights to usage in all aspects of government and education within respective natural linguistic boarders. In Pakistan, Pashto is not an official language but one of the provincial languages spoken by the ethnic Pashtuns in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Balochistan, and in cities of other provinces where large number of Pashtun communities exist.

Grammar

Pashto is an S-O-V language with split ergativity. Adjectives come before nouns. Nouns and adjectives are inflected for two genders (masc./fem.),[19] two numbers (sing./plur.), and four cases (direct, oblique I, oblique II and vocative). The verb system is very intricate with the following tenses: present, subjunctive, simple past, past progressive, present perfect and past perfect. In any of the past tenses (simple past, past progressive, present perfect and past perfect), Pashto is an ergative language; i.e., transitive verbs in any of the past tenses agree with the object of the sentence.

Phonology

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e ə o
Open a ɑ

Pashto also has the diphthongs /ai/, /əi/, /ɑw/, /aw/.

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Post-
alveolar		 Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m n ɳ
Plosive p b t̪ d̪ ʈ ɖ k ɡ q ʔ
Affricate t͡s d͡z t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Fricative f s z ʂ ʐ ʃ ʒ ç ʝ x ɣ h
Approximant l j w
Rhotic r ɺ̢

The phonemes /q/, /f/ tend to be replaced by [k], [p].

The retroflex lateral flap /ɺ̢/ (//) is pronounced as retroflex approximant [ɻ] when final.

The retroflex fricatives /ʂ/, /ʐ/ that are preserved in southern dialects are replaced by palatal fricatives [ç], [ʝ] in west-central dialects, velars [x], [ɣ] in northern dialects, and postalveolars [ʃ], [ʒ] in southeastern dialects.[20]

The velars /k/, /ɡ/, /x/, /ɣ/ followed by the close back rounded vowel /u/ assimilate into the labialized velars [kʷ], [ɡʷ], [xʷ], [ɣʷ].

Vocabulary

In Pashto, most of the native elements of the lexicon are related to other Eastern Iranian languages; those words can be easily compared to those known from Avestan, Ossetic and Pamir languages. However, a remarkably large number of words is special to Pashto.[21] Post 7th century borrowings came primarily from Arabic. Modern borrowings come from Arabic[22] with the modern educated speech borrowing words from English,[23] French,[23] and German.[23]

Writing system

Pashto employs the Pashto alphabet, a modified form of the Persian alphabet which on its part is derived from the Arabic alphabet. It has extra letters for Pashto-specific sounds. Since the 17th century Pashto has been primarily written in the Naskh script, rather than the Nasta'liq script used for neighboring Persian and Urdu languages. The Pashto alphabet consists of 45 letters, and 4 diacritic marks. The following table gives the letters' isolated forms, along with IPA values for the letters' typical sounds:

ا
/ɑ, ʔ/		 ب
/b/		 پ
/p/		 ت
/t̪/		 ټ
/ʈ/		 ث
/s/		 ج
/d͡ʒ/		 ځ
/d͡z/		 چ
/t͡ʃ/		 څ
/t͡s/		 ح
/h/		 خ
/x/
د
/d̪/		 ډ
/ɖ/		 ﺫ
/z/		 ﺭ
/r/		 ړ
/ɺ̢, ɻ/		 ﺯ
/z/		 ژ
/ʒ/		 ږ
/ʐ, ʝ, ɡ/		 س
/s/		 ش
/ʃ/		 ښ
/ʂ, ç, x/
ص
/s/		 ض
/z/		 ط
/t̪/		 ظ
/z/		 ع
/ʔ/		 غ
/ɣ/		 ف
/f/		 ق
/q/		 ك / ک
/k/		 ګ
/ɡ/		 ل
/l/
م
/m/		 ن
/n/		 ڼ
/ɳ/		 و
/w, u, o/		 ه
/h, a, ə/		 ۀ
/ə/		 ي
/j, i/		 ې
/e/		 ى
/ai, j/		 ۍ
/əi/		 ئ
/əi/

Pashto is written from right to left.

Dialects

As a consequence of life in areas of rugged terrain, there are many accents of the Pashto language. The two main dialects are soft or southern accent and hard or northern dialect. The dividing line passes through Paktika. One of the primary features of the dialects is the difference in the pronunciation of these seven phonemes (all sounds in IPA):

Southern Abdali (Kandahar, Zabul): [ʂ] [ʐ] [t͡s] [d͡z] [ʒ] [ɑ] [u]
Southeastern (in Quetta): [ʃ] [ʒ] [t͡s] [d͡z] [ʒ] [ɑ] [u]
Central Waneci (Harnai, Sinjawi): [ʂ] [ʐ] [t͡ʃ]/[t͡s] [d͡ʒ]/[d͡z] [z]/[ʒ] [ɑ] [u]
Central Marwat (in Laki): [ʃ] [ʒ] [t͡ʃ] [d͡ʒ] [ʒ] [ɑ] [u]
Central Khattak (in Karak): [ʃ] [ʒ] [t͡s] [z]/[t͡s] [ʒ] [o] [u]
Central Banucei (in Banu): [ʃ] [ʒ] [s] [z]/[s] [ʒ] [o] [i]
Central Wazirwola (in Waziristan): [ɕ]/[ʃ] [ʑ]/[ʒ] [t͡s] [d͡z]/[t͡s] [ʑ]/[ʒ] [o]/[u] [i]
Central Khostwola (in Khost): [ç] [ɡ] [t͡s] [d͡z]/[t͡s] [ʒ] [o] [i]
Central Dzadran (in Dzadran, Paktia): [ç] [ʝ] [t͡s] [d͡z]/[t͡s] [ʒ] [o] [i]
Central Afridi (in Tirah, Jamrud): [x] [ɡ] [t͡s] [z]/[t͡s] [d͡ʒ] [o] [u]
Northwestern (in Ghazni, Logar): [ç] [ɡ] [t͡s] [d͡z] [ʒ] [ɑ] [u]
Northwestern Wardak (Wardak): [ç] [ʝ] [t͡s] [d͡z] [ʒ] [ɒ] [u]
Northwestern (Central Ghilzai): [ç] [ʝ] [s] [z] [ʒ] [ɑ] [u]
Northern (in Nangarhar, Kabul): [x] [ɡ] [t͡s] [z] [ʒ] [ɑ] [u]
Northeastern (Yusufzai, Peshawar): [x] [ɡ] [s] [z] [d͡ʒ] [ɑ] [u]

The differences between the southern dialects and the northern dialects are primarily phonological and there are simple conversion rules. The morphological differences between them are very few and unimportant. However, the east-central dialects are lexicologically different and very varied. The southern dialect of Kandahar is the most conservative with regards to phonology, retaining the retroflex fricatives and the alveolar affricates, which have not merged with other phonemes. The Pashto alphabet reflects the southern dialect. Certain dialects show many archaic features, some of which are discarded by the literary language.

Notable phonological and lexicological differences

Kandahar Quetta Harnai[24] Bannu Wana Khost Tirah Wardak Kabul Peshawar Translation
Paṣ̌to Pašto Paṣ̌to Pāšte Pāšte Pāx̌te Pāxto Pax̌to Pəxto Puxto Pashto
war war war tāmbə tāmbə, wār dāṛā, wār wār, tāmbə war war war door
pṣ̌a pša ṣ̌pa, γədəi pšā pšā px̌ā pxā px̌a pxa xpa foot
lmar lmar mer myerə stərgā γormə, myerə stərgā myerə stərgā myer, myerə stərga nmar nmar nwar sun
halək halək čora weṛkā weṛkai weṛkai woṛkai halək halək halək boy
nǰiləi nǰiləi čuwara weṛkye ǰəlkiye ǰəlkiye woṛkye, ǰəlkiye ǰiləi ǰilkəi ǰine girl
yaw yaw yo ye yo ye yo yaw yaw yaw one
calor calor čalor sāler cālwer cāler cālwor calor calor salor four
pinjə pinjə pinǰə/pinjə pinzə pinzə pinjə pinzə pinjə pinzə pinzə five
špaẓ̌ špaž špoẓ̌ špež špež špeg špeg špaγ̌ špag špag six
cok cok čok sek cek cek cok cok cok sok who
muẓ̌ muž muṣ̌ miž miž mig mu muγ̌ mung mung we
zmā zmā zmā emo emo emo emo zmâ zəmā zəmā my
stā stā stā eto eto eto eto stâ stā stā your
ḍer, zyāt ḍer, zyāt caṭ pirā, zyot pirā, zyot ḍer, zyot ḍer, zyot ḍer, zyât ḍer, zyāt ḍer, zyāt very, many
ləẓ̌ ləž ləẓ̌ ləški ləški ləg ləg ləγ̌ ləg ləg little, less
čṣ̌əl čšəl γwətəl čšəl, γṛāpāwəl čšəl cəx̌əl cəxəl cəx̌əl ckəl/čixəl skəl to drink
ho ho ho ey ey ey ey ho ho ao yes
yəm yəm yəm yə yə yə yəm yəm yəm yəm I am
jəm jəm ǰəm, druməm drimə, sə drimə, cə drimə, cə cəm, druməm jəm zəm zəm I go
žəba žəba zbə žəbā žəbā žəbā ǰəba žəba žəba ǰəba tongue, language
kor kor kor ker ker ker kolə kor kor kor home
bega bega bega vega vega vega vega bega bega bega evening
sta sta sta štā štā stā štā sta šta šta it exists
yiẓ̌ yiž yirz yiž yiž yig yig yiγ̌ yig yig bear
plār plār pyār plor plor plor plor plâr plār plār father
Kandahar Quetta Harnai Bannu Wana Khost Tirah Wardak Kabul Peshawar Translation

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ University of Texas at Austin - Ethnolinguistic Groups in Afghanistan
  2. ↑ 15.42% Pakistan (177,276,594 * 15.42% = 25,602,889) + 35% Afghanistan (29,121,286 * 35% = 9,852,500) = approx. 35.5 million
  3. ↑ 15.42% Pakistan (166,036,895 * 15.42% = 25,602,889) + 55% Afghanistan (28150000 * 55% = 15,482,500) = approx. 41 million
  4. ↑ "Languages Spoken by More Than 10 Million People". Microsoft Encarta 2006. 
  5. ↑ Dictionary.com, "Afghani," in The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Source location: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Afghani. Accessed: July 14, 2010.
  6. ↑ UCLA Language Materials Project: Language Profile
  7. ↑ Nicholas Sims-Williams, "Eastern Iranian Languages", Encyclopaedia Iranica Online, available at www.iranica.com, Link
  8. ↑ Constitution of Afghanistan - Chapter 1 The State, Article 16 (Languages) and Article 20 (Anthem)
  9. ↑ "A survey of the Afghan people - Afghanistan in 2006", The Asia Foundation, technical assistance by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS; India) and Afghan Center for Socio-economic and Opinion Research (ACSOR), Kabul, 2006, PDF
  10. ↑ CIA World Factbook - Languages
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Ethnologue: Languages of the World - Pashto, Southern: a language of Afghanistan
  12. ↑ Government of Pakistan: Population by Mother Tongue
  13. ↑ Ethnologue: Languages of the World - Languages of Iran
  14. ↑ Walter R Lawrence, Imperial Gazetteer of India. Provincial Series, pg 36-37, Link
  15. ↑ "Study of the Pathan Communities in four States of India". Khyber. http://www.khyber.org/articles/2007/StudyofthePathanCommunitiesinF.shtml. Retrieved 2009-06-07. 
  16. ↑ "Phonemic Inventory of Pashto" (PDF). CRULP. http://crulp.org/Publication%5CCrulp_report%5CCR03_15E.pdf. Retrieved 2007-06-07. 
  17. ↑ Ethnologue: Languages of the World - Languages of United Arab Emirates
  18. ↑ Ethnologue: Languages of the World - Languages of United Kingdom
  19. ↑ Emeneau, M. B. (1962) "Bilingualism and Structural Borrowing" Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 106(5): pp. 430-442, p. 441
  20. ↑ Michael M.T. Henderson, Four Varieties of Pashto
  21. ↑ G. Morgenstierne, "'AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṧtō'", Encyclopaedia Iranica Online, available at www.iranica.com, Link
  22. ↑ Vladimir Kushev (1997). "Areal Lexical Contacts of the Afghan (Pashto) Language (Based on the Texts of the XVI-XVIII Centuries)". Iran and the Caucasus (Brill) 1: 159–166. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4030748. Retrieved 2009-06-07. 
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Herbert Penzl (January -March 1961). "Western Loanwords in Modern Pashto". Journal of the American Oriental Society (American Oriental Society) 81 (1): 43–52. doi:10.2307/594900. http://www.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0279(196101%2F03)81%3A1%3C43%3AWLIMP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-9. 
  24. ↑ Hallberg, Daniel G. 1992. Pashto, Waneci, Ormuri. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 4.

Bibliography

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