Pashto (,
; , ) is an
Eastern Iranian language
The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages emerging in Middle Iranian times (from c. the 4th century BC). The Avestan language is often classified as early Eastern Iranian. As opposed to the Middle Western Iranian dial ...
in the
Indo-European language family
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...
. It is known in historical
Persian literature
Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...
as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic
Pashtuns
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...
, it is one of the two official
languages of Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a multilingual country in which two Iranic languages – Pashto and Dari Persian – are both official and most widely spoken.
Dari is the official name of the variety of Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. It is often referr ...
alongside
Dari
Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī ...
,
Constitution of Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a totalitarian theocracy and emirate in which the Taliban Islamic Movement holds a monopoly on power. Dissent is not permitted, and politics are mostly limited to internal Taliban policy debates and power struggles. As the govern ...
''Chapter 1 The State, Article 16 (Languages) and Article 20 (Anthem)''
/ref> and it is the second-largest provincial language of Pakistan, spoken mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...
and the northern districts of Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
. Likewise, it is the primary language of the Pashtun diaspora
The Pashtun diaspora comprises all ethnic Pashtuns and their descendants who are living outside of their traditional homeland of Pashtunistan, a historic region that is today situated over parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. While Pashtunistan ...
around the world. The total number of Pashto-speakers is at least 40 million,[ (40 million)] although some estimates place it as high as 60 million. Pashto is "one of the primary markers of ethnic identity" amongst Pashtuns.
Geographic distribution
A national language of Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, Pashto is primarily spoken in the east, south, and southwest, but also in some northern and western parts of the country. The exact number of speakers is unavailable, but different estimates show that Pashto is the mother tongue of 45–60%[ (50%)] of the total population of Afghanistan
The population of Afghanistan is around 40 million as of 2021. The nation is composed of a multi-ethnic and multilingual society, reflecting its location astride historic trade and invasion routes between Central Asia, South Asia, and Western ...
.
In Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
, Pashto is spoken by % of its population,[http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/tables/POPULATION%20BY%20MOTHER%20TONGUE.pdf ] mainly in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...
and northern districts of Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
province. It is also spoken in parts of Mianwali
Mianwali (Punjabi/ ur, ) is the capital city of Mianwali District in Punjab, Pakistan. The 81st largest city of Pakistan, it is known for its diverse population of, Punjabi and Pashtun ethnicities.
History
Mianwali District was an agricult ...
and Attock
Attock ( Punjabi and Urdu: ), formerly known as Campbellpur (), is a historical city located in the north of Pakistan's Punjab Province, not far from the country's capital Islamabad. It is the headquarters of the Attock District and is 61st lar ...
districts of the Punjab province, areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and in Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...
. Pashto speakers are found in other major cities of Pakistan, most notably Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
, Sindh,
, thefridaytimes which may have the largest Pashtun population of any city in the world.
Other communities of Pashto speakers are found in India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, Tajikistan
Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
, and northeastern Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
(primarily in South Khorasan Province
South Khorasan Province ( fa, استان خراسان جنوبی ''Ostān-e Khorāsān-e Jonūbī'') is a province located in eastern Iran. Birjand is the centre of the province. The other major cities are Ferdows, Tabas and Qaen. In 2014, it ...
to the east of Qaen
Qayen ( fa, قائن, also Romanized as Ghayen, Qaen or Ghaen; from pal, kʾyyn ''Kāyēn'') is a city in and the capital of Qaen County, in South Khorasan Province, Iran. The population at the 2006 census, was 32,474 in 8,492 families.
Histor ...
, near the Afghan border). In India most ethnic Pashtun (Pathan) peoples speak the geographically native Hindi-Urdu language rather than Pashto, but there are small numbers of Pashto speakers, such as the Sheen Khalai in Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...
, and the Pathan community in the city of Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, often nicknamed the ''Kabuliwala'' ("people of Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
"). Pashtun diaspora communities in other countries around the world speak Pashto, especially the sizable communities in the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
and Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
.
Afghanistan
Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, along with Dari Persian
Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī  ...
.[Modarresi, Yahya: "Iran, Afghanistan and Tadjikistan, 1911–1916." In: ''Sociolinguistics'', Vol. 3, Part. 3. Ulrich Ammon, Norbert Dittmar, Klaus J. Mattheier, Peter Trudgill (eds.). Berlin, De Gryuter: 2006. p. 1915.]
/ref> Since the early 18th century, List of heads of state of Afghanistan, the monarchs of Afghanistan have been ethnic Pashtuns (except for Habibullāh Kalakāni
Habibullah Kalakani ( prs, , 19 January 1891 – 1 November 1929), also known by his nickname "Bacha-ye Saqao" (also romanized Bachai Sakao; literally ''son of the water carrier'') was the ruler of Afghanistan from 17 January to 13 October 192 ...
in 1929). Persian, the literary language of the royal court, was more widely used in government institutions, while the Pashtun tribes
The Pashtun tribes ( ps, پښتانه قبايل), historically also known as Afghan tribes, are the tribes of the Pashtun people, a large Eastern Iranian ethnic group who use the Pashto language and follow Pashtunwali code of conduct. They a ...
spoke Pashto as their native tongue. King Amanullah Khan
Ghazi Amanullah Khan ( Pashto and Dari: ; 1 June 1892 – 25 April 1960) was the sovereign of Afghanistan from 1919, first as Emir and after 1926 as King, until his abdication in 1929. After the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War in August 1 ...
began promoting Pashto during his reign (1926–1929) as a marker of ethnic identity and as a symbol of "official nationalism" leading Afghanistan to independence after the defeat of the British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
in the Third Anglo-Afghan War
The Third Anglo-Afghan War; fa, جنگ سوم افغان-انگلیس), also known as the Third Afghan War, the British-Afghan War of 1919, or in Afghanistan as the War of Independence, began on 6 May 1919 when the Emirate of Afghanistan inv ...
in 1919. In the 1930s a movement began to take hold to promote Pashto as a language of government, administration, and art with the establishment of a Pashto Society ''Pashto Anjuman'' in 1931 and the inauguration of the Kabul University
Kabul University (KU; prs, دانشگاه کابل, translit= Dāneshgāh-e-Kābul; ps, د کابل پوهنتون, translit=Da Kābul Pohantūn) is one of the major and oldest institutions of higher education in Afghanistan. It is in the 3rd ...
in 1932 as well as the formation of the Pashto Academy Pashto Academy ( ps, پښتو اکېډمي) is a language regulatory institution based at the University of Peshawar in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan responsible for the standardisation, advancement, and promotion of the Pashto language in ...
(Pashto ''Tolana)'' in 1937. Muhammad Na'im Khan, the minister of education between 1938 and 1946, inaugurated the formal policy of promoting Pashto as Afghanistan's national language, leading to the commission and publication of Pashto textbooks. The Pashto Tolana was later incorporated into the Academy of Sciences Afghanistan in line with Soviet model following the Saur Revolution in 1978.
Although officially supporting the use of Pashto, the Afghan elite regarded Persian as a "sophisticated language and a symbol of cultured upbringing".[Tariq Rahman. "Pashto Language & Identity Formation in Pakistan." ''Contemporary South Asia'', July 1995, Vol 4, Issue 2, p151-20.] King Zahir Shah
Mohammed Zahir Shah (Pashto/Dari: , 15 October 1914 – 23 July 2007) was the last king of Afghanistan, reigning from 8 November 1933 until he was deposed on 17 July 1973. Serving for 40 years, Zahir was the longest-serving ruler of Afghanistan s ...
(reigning 1933–1973) thus followed suit after his father Nadir Khan
The nadir (, ; ar, نظير, naẓīr, counterpart) is the direction pointing directly ''below'' a particular location; that is, it is one of two vertical directions at a specified location, orthogonal to a horizontal flat surface.
The direc ...
had decreed in 1933 that officials were to study and utilize both Persian and Pashto. In 1936 a royal decree
A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...
of Zahir Shah formally granted Pashto the status of an official language, with full rights to use in all aspects of government and education – despite the fact that the ethnically Pashtun royal family and bureaucrats mostly spoke Persian.[Hussain, Rizwan. ''Pakistan and the emergence of Islamic militancy in Afghanistan''. Burlington, Ashgate: 2005]
p. 63.
/ref> Thus Pashto became a national language
A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...
, a symbol for Pashtun nationalism
Pashtun nationalism ( ps, پښتون ملتپالنه) generally refers to the idea that Pashtuns must always be united to preserve their culture and defend their homeland against any oppressor. It propagates the view that Muslims are not a nation ...
.
The constitutional assembly
A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
reaffirmed the status of Pashto as an official language in 1964 when Afghan Persian was officially renamed to Dari
Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī ...
. The lyrics of the national anthem of Afghanistan are in Pashto.
Pakistan
In British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, prior to the creation of Pakistan by the British government, the 1920s saw the blossoming of Pashto language in the then NWFP
NWFP may refer to:
*North-West Frontier Province, a province of British India, and later, Pakistan
*Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP o ...
: Abdul Ghafar Khan in 1921 established the ''Anjuman-e- Islah al-Afaghina'' (Society for the Reformation of Afghans) to promote Pashto as an extension of Pashtun culture; around 80,000 people attended the Society's annual meeting in 1927. In 1955, Pashtun intellectuals including Abdul Qadir formed the Pashto Academy Peshawar on the model of Pashto Tolana formed in Afghanistan. In 1974, the Department of Pashto was established in the University of Balochistan for the promotion of Pashto.
In Pakistan, Pashto is the first language around of % of its population (per the 1998 census). However, and English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
are the two official languages of Pakistan. Pashto has no official status at the federal level. On a provincial level, Pashto is the regional language of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...
and north Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
. Yet, the primary medium of education in government schools in Pakistan is Urdu.
The lack of importance given to Pashto and her neglect has caused growing resentment amongst Pashtuns. It is noted that Pashto is taught poorly in schools in Pakistan. Moreover, in government schools material is not provided for in the Pashto dialect of that locality, Pashto being a dialectically rich language. Further, researchers have observed that Pashtun students are unable to fully comprehend educational material in Urdu.
Professor Tariq Rahman states:Robert Nicols states:
Although Pashto used as a medium of instruction in schools for Pashtun students results in better understanding and comprehension for students when compared to using Urdu, still the government of Pakistan has only introduced Pashto at the primary levels in state-run schools. Taimur Khan remarks: "the dominant Urdu language squeezes and denies any space for Pashto language in the official and formal capacity. In this contact zone, Pashto language exists but in a subordinate and unofficial capacity".
History
Some linguists have argued that Pashto is descended from Avestan or a variety very similar to it, while others have attempted to place it closer to Bactrian. However, neither position is universally agreed upon. What scholars do agree on is the fact that Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language
The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages emerging in Middle Iranian times (from c. the 4th century BC). The Avestan language is often classified as early Eastern Iranian. As opposed to the Middle Western Iranian dial ...
sharing characteristics with Eastern Middle Iranian languages such as Bactrian, Khwarezmian and Sogdian.
Compare with other Eastern Iranian Languages and Old Avestan
Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...
:
Strabo, who lived between 64 BC and 24 CE, explains that the tribes inhabiting the lands west of the Indus River were part of Ariana
Ariana was a general geographical term used by some Greek and Roman authors of the ancient period for a district of wide extent between Central Asia and the Indus River, comprising the eastern provinces of the Achaemenid Empire that covered the ...
. This was around the time when the area inhabited by the Pashtuns was governed by the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. From the 3rd century CE onward, they are mostly referred to by the name ''Afghan'' (''Abgan'').
Abdul Hai Habibi
Abdul Hai Habibi ( ps, عبدالحى حبيبي, fa, عبدالحی حبیبی) – ''ʿAbd' ul-Ḥay Ḥabībi'') (1910 – 9 May 1984) was a prominent Afghan historian for much of his lifetime as well as a member of the National Assembly of ...
believed that the earliest modern Pashto work dates back to Amir Kror Suri of the early Ghurid
The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; fa, دودمان غوریان, translit=Dudmân-e Ğurīyân; self-designation: , ''Šansabānī'') was a Persianate dynasty and a clan of presumably eastern Iranian Tajik origin, which ruled from th ...
period in the 8th century, and they use the writings found in Pata Khazana. Pə́ṭa Xazāná () is a Pashto manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...
claimed to be written by Mohammad Hotak under the patronage of the Pashtun emperor Hussain Hotak
Shah Hussain Hotak, (Pashto/Dari: ), son of Mirwais Hotak, was the fifth and last ruler of the Hotak dynasty. An ethnic Pashtun (''Afghan'') from the Ghilji tribe, he succeeded to the throne after the death of his brother Mahmud Hotak in 1725. ...
in Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
; containing an anthology of Pashto poets. However, its authenticity is disputed by scholars such as David Neil MacKenzie
David Neil MacKenzie FBA (8 April 1926 – 13 October 2001) was a scholar of Iranian languages.
Biography
Neil MacKenzie (he never used his given first name to be distinguished with his namesake father, David) was born in London in 1926 an ...
and Lucia Serena Loi.[Lucia Serena Loi: ''Il tesoro nascosto degli Afghani''. Il Cavaliere azzurro, Bologna 1987, p. 33] Nile Green Nile Green is Professor of History and the current holder of the Ibn Khaldun Endowed Chair in World History at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He specializes in Islamic history of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, including ...
comments in this regard:
From the 16th century, Pashto poetry become very popular among the Pashtuns. Some of those who wrote in Pashto are Bayazid Pir Roshan (a major inventor of the Pashto alphabet
The Pashto alphabet () is a version of Perso-Arabic script used to write the Pashto language.
Form
Pashto is written in the Arabic Naskh. Pashto uses all 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet, and shares 3 letters (, , and ) with Persian in the ...
), Khushal Khan Khattak
Khošāl Khān Khaṭak (1613 – 25 February 1689; Pashto: خوشال خان خټک), also known as Khushal Baba ( ps, خوشال بابا), was a Pashtun poet, chief, and warrior. Khushal Khan served the Mughal Empire protecting them fr ...
, Rahman Baba
Abdur Rahmān Momand ( ps, عبدالرحمان بابا; 1632–1706) or Rahmān Bābā ( ps, رحمان بابا), was a renowned Pashtun Sufi Dervish and poet from Momand Agency in Peshawar during the Mughal era. He, along with his contemp ...
, Nazo Tokhi
Nāzo Tokhī (نازو توخۍ), commonly known as Nāzo Anā ( ps, نازو انا, "Nazo the grandmother"), was an Afghan poetess and a writer in the Pashto language. Mother of the famous early-18th century Afghan king Mirwais Hotak, she gr ...
, and Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the modern state of Afghanistan or the Durrani Empire. The Pashtun literary tradition grew in the backdrop to weakening Pashtun power following Mughal rule: Khushal Khan Khattak
Khošāl Khān Khaṭak (1613 – 25 February 1689; Pashto: خوشال خان خټک), also known as Khushal Baba ( ps, خوشال بابا), was a Pashtun poet, chief, and warrior. Khushal Khan served the Mughal Empire protecting them fr ...
used Pashto poetry to rally for Pashtun unity and Pir Bayazid as an expedient means to spread his message to the Pashtun masses.
For instance Khushal Khattak
Khošāl Khān Khaṭak (1613 – 25 February 1689; Pashto: خوشال خان خټک), also known as Khushal Baba ( ps, خوشال بابا), was a Pashtun poet, chief, and warrior. Khushal Khan served the Mughal Empire protecting them fr ...
laments in :
Grammar
Pashto is a subject–object–verb (SOV) language with split ergativity. In Pashto, this means that the verb agrees with the subject in transitive and intransitive sentences in non-past, non-completed clauses, but when a completed action is reported in any of the past tenses, the verb agrees with the subject if it is intransitive, but with the object if it is transitive. Verb
A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...
s are inflected for present, simple past, past progressive, present perfect, and past perfect tenses. There is also an inflection for the subjunctive mood.
Nouns and adjectives are inflected
In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defi ...
for two genders (masculine and feminine), two numbers
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...
(singular and plural), and four cases (direct, oblique, ablative, and vocative). The possessor precedes the possessed in the genitive construction, and adjective
In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun.
Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...
s come before the noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, ...
s they modify.
Unlike most other Indo-Iranian languages, Pashto uses all three types of adpositions—prepositions, postpositions, and circumpositions.
Phonology
Vowels
Consonants
* Phonemes that have been borrowed, thus non-native to Pashto, are color coded. The phonemes and tend to be replaced by and respectively.
* is apical postalveolar . The exact place of articulation of is unclear. The approximant is palatal
The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity.
A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separ ...
, whereas and vary from retroflex sibilants to non-sibilant dorso-palatal fricatives , depending on the dialect. In particular, the retroflex fricatives, which represent the original pronunciation of these sounds, are preserved in the South Western dialects (especially the prestige dialect of Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
), while they are pronounced as palatal fricatives in the North Western dialects. Other dialects merge the retroflexes with other existing sounds: The South Eastern dialects merge them with the postalveolar fricatives , while the North Eastern dialects merge them with the velar
Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the velum).
Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive a ...
phonemes in an asymmetric pattern, pronouncing them as . Furthermore, according to Henderson (1983), the voiced palatal fricative actually occurs generally in the Wardak Province
Maidan Wardak (Pashto: ; Dari: ), also called Wardag or Wardak, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the central region of Afghanistan. It is divided into eight districts and has a population of approximately 500,00 The capita ...
, and is merged into elsewhere in the North Western dialects. Sometimes it is also pronounced as in Bati Kot according to the findings of D.W Coyle.
* The velar
Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the velum).
Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive a ...
s followed by the close back rounded vowel assimilate into the labialized
Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve ...
velars .
* Voiceless stops are all unaspirated
In linguistics, a tenuis consonant ( or ) is an obstruent that is voiceless, unaspirated and unglottalized.
In other words, it has the "plain" phonation of with a voice onset time close to zero (a zero-VOT consonant), as Spanish ''p, t, ...
, like Romance languages
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...
, and Austronesian languages; they have slightly aspirated allophones prevocalically in a stressed syllable.
Vocabulary
In Pashto, most of the native elements of the lexicon are related to other Eastern Iranian languages. As noted by Josef Elfenbein, "Loanwords have been traced in Pashto as far back as the third century B.C., and include words from Greek and probably Old Persian". For instance, Georg Morgenstierne
Georg Valentin von Munthe af Morgenstierne (2 January 1892 – 3 March 1978) was a Norwegian professor of linguistics with the University of Oslo (UiO). He specialized in Indo-Iranian languages.
Studies
During the years 1923 to 1971, Morgens ...
notes the Pashto word i.e. ''a hand-mill'' as being derived from the Ancient Greek word (, i.e. a device). Post-7th century borrowings came primarily from Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
and Hindi-Urdu
Hindustani (; Devanagari: ,
*
*
*
* ; Perso-Arabic: , , ) is the '' lingua franca'' of Northern and Central India and Pakistan. Hindustani is a pluricentric language with two standard registers, known as Hindi and Urdu. Thus, the lang ...
, with Arabic words being borrowed through Persian, but sometimes directly. Modern speech borrows words from English, French, and German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
.
However, a remarkably large number of words are unique to Pashto.
Here is an exemplary list of Pure Pashto and borrowings:
Due to the incursion of Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
and Persianized-Arabic in modern speech, linguistic purism of Pashto is advocated to prevent its own vocabulary from dying out.
Classical vocabulary
There is a lot of old vocabulary that has been replaced by borrowings e.g
'throne' with , from Persian. Or the wor
meaning 'uniqueness' used by Pir Roshan Bayazid. Such classical vocabulary is being reintroduced to modern Pashto. Some words also survive in dialects like 'the bride-room'.
Example from Khayr al-Bayān:
:
: Transliteration:
: Translation: "... without singularity/uniqueness, without calmness and by bad-attitude are on sin ."
Writing system
Pashto employs the Pashto alphabet
The Pashto alphabet () is a version of Perso-Arabic script used to write the Pashto language.
Form
Pashto is written in the Arabic Naskh. Pashto uses all 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet, and shares 3 letters (, , and ) with Persian in the ...
, a modified form of the Perso-Arabic alphabet
The Persian alphabet ( fa, الفبای فارسی, Alefbâye Fârsi) is a writing system that is a version of the Arabic script used for the Persian language spoken in Iran (Western Persian) and Afghanistan ( Dari Persian) since the 7th cent ...
or Arabic script. In the 16th century, Bayazid Pir Roshan introduced 13 new letters to the Pashto alphabet. The alphabet was further modified over the years.
The Pashto alphabet consists of 45 to 46 letters and 4 diacritic marks. Latin Pashto is also used. In Latin transliteration, stress is represented by the following markers over vowels: ә́, á, ā́, ú, ó, í and é. The following table (read from left to right) gives the letters' isolated forms, along with possible Latin equivalents and typical IPA values:
Dialects
Pashto dialects are divided into two categories, the "soft" southern grouping of ''Paṣ̌tō'', and the "hard" northern grouping of ''Pax̌tō'' (Pakhtu). Each group is further divided into a number of dialcets. The Southern dialect of Tareeno is the most distinctive Pashto dialect.1. Southern variety
:*'' Abdaili'' or Kandahar dialect (or ''South Western'' dialect)
:*''Kakar'' dialect (or ''South Eastern'' dialect)
:*''Shirani'' dialect
:*''Mandokhel'' dialect
:*''Marwat-Bettani'' dialect
:* Southern Karlani group
::*''Khattak'' dialect
::*''Wazirwola
Waziristāní ( ps, وزیرستانۍ), also known as Wazirwóla ( ps, وزیرواله, meaning "of the Wazirs") and Wazirí, is a central Pashto dialect spoken in North Waziristan and South Waziristan. Waziristani differs in pronunciation and ...
'' dialect
:::*''Dawarwola'' dialect
:::*'' Masidwola'' dialect
::*''Banisi (Banu)'' dialect
2. Northern variety
:*''Central Ghilji'' dialect (or ''North Western'' dialect)
:*Yusapzai and Momand dialect (or ''North Eastern'' dialect)
:* Northern Karlani group
::*''Wardak'' dialect
::*''Taniwola'' dialect
::*'' Mangal tribe'' dialect
::*''Khosti'' dialect
::*''Zadran'' dialect
::*''Bangash-Orakzai-Turi-Zazi'' dialect
::*''Afridi
The Afrīdī ( ps, اپريدی ''Aprīdai'', plur. ''Aprīdī''; ur, آفریدی) are a Pashtun tribe present in Pakistan, with substantial numbers in Afghanistan. The Afridis are most dominant in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal ...
'' dialect
::*''Khogyani'' dialect
3. Tareeno Dialect
Literary Pashto
Literary Pashto is the artificial variety of Pashto which is used at times as literary register of Pashto. It is said to be based on the North Western dialect, spoken in the central Ghilji
The Ghiljī ( ps, غلجي, ; fa, خیلجی, Xelji) also spelled Khilji, Khalji, or Ghilzai or Ghilzay (), are one of the largest Pashtun tribes. Their traditional homeland is Ghazni and Qalati Ghilji in Afghanistan but they have also sett ...
region. Literary Pashto's vocabulary, also derives from other dialects.
Criticism
There is no actual Pashto that can be identified as "Standard" Pashto, as Colye remarks:
As David MacKenzie notes there is no real need to develop a "Standard" Pashto:
Standardisation also comes at the cost of overlooking the rich number of Pashto dialects.
Literature
Pashto-speakers have long had a tradition of oral literature, including proverbs
A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbia ...
, stories, and poems. Written Pashto literature saw a rise in development in the 17th century mostly due to poets like Khushal Khan Khattak
Khošāl Khān Khaṭak (1613 – 25 February 1689; Pashto: خوشال خان خټک), also known as Khushal Baba ( ps, خوشال بابا), was a Pashtun poet, chief, and warrior. Khushal Khan served the Mughal Empire protecting them fr ...
(1613–1689), who, along with Rahman Baba
Abdur Rahmān Momand ( ps, عبدالرحمان بابا; 1632–1706) or Rahmān Bābā ( ps, رحمان بابا), was a renowned Pashtun Sufi Dervish and poet from Momand Agency in Peshawar during the Mughal era. He, along with his contemp ...
(1650–1715), is widely regarded as among the greatest Pashto poets. From the time of Ahmad Shah Durrani (1722–1772), Pashto has been the language of the court. The first Pashto teaching text was written during the period of Ahmad Shah Durrani by Pir Mohammad Kakar with the title of ''Maʿrifat al-Afghānī'' ("The Knowledge of Afghani ashto). After that, the first grammar book of Pashto verb
A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...
s was written in 1805 under the title of ''Riyāż al-Maḥabbah'' ("Training in Affection") through the patronage of Nawab Mahabat Khan, son of Hafiz Rahmat Khan
Hafiz Rahmat Khan (1723 – April 1774) was the Regent of Rohilkhand in North India, from 1749 to 1774. He was a Pashtun by background, ruling over Rohillas. Hafiz Rahmat Khan had served honorably throughout the reign of three Mughal Emperor ...
, chief of the Barech
Barech (also Baraich, Bareach, Barreach) is a Pashtun tribe in southern Kandahar province
Kandahār ( ps, ; Kandahār, prs, ; ''Qandahār'') is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southern part of the country, sha ...
. Nawabullah Yar Khan, another son of Hafiz Rahmat Khan, in 1808 wrote a book of Pashto words entitled ''ʿAjāyib al-Lughāt'' ("Wonders of Languages").
Poetry example
An excerpt from the ''Kalām'' of Rahman Baba
Abdur Rahmān Momand ( ps, عبدالرحمان بابا; 1632–1706) or Rahmān Bābā ( ps, رحمان بابا), was a renowned Pashtun Sufi Dervish and poet from Momand Agency in Peshawar during the Mughal era. He, along with his contemp ...
:
Pronunciation:
Transliteration:
Translation: "I Rahman, myself am guilty that I am a lover,
On what does this other universe call me guilty."
Proverbs
''See:''
Pashto also has a rich heritage of proverbs (Pashto ''matalúna'', sg. ''matál''). An example of a proverb:
Transliteration: O''bә́ pə ḍāng nə beléẓ̌i''
Translation: "One cannot divide water by itting it witha pole."
Phrases
Greeting phrases
Colors
List of colors:
List of colors borrowed from neighbouring languages:
* ''nārәnjí'' - orange [from Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
]
* ''gulābí'' - pink [from Hindustani language, Hindustani, originally Persian]
* ''nilí'' - indigo [from Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, ultimately Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
]]
Times of the day
Months
Pashtuns use the Vikrami calendar:
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
* Georg Morgenstierne
Georg Valentin von Munthe af Morgenstierne (2 January 1892 – 3 March 1978) was a Norwegian professor of linguistics with the University of Oslo (UiO). He specialized in Indo-Iranian languages.
Studies
During the years 1923 to 1971, Morgens ...
(1926) ''Report on a Linguistic Mission to Afghanistan''. Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning, Serie C I-2. Oslo.
* Daniel G. Hallberg (1992) ''Pashto, Waneci, Ormuri (Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 4)''. National Institute of Pakistani Studies, 176 pp. .
* Herbert Penzl ''A Grammar of Pashto: A Descriptive Study of the Dialect of Kandahar, Afghanistan'',
* Herbert Penzl ''A Reader of Pashto'',
Further reading
*Morgenstierne, Georg. "The Place of Pashto among the Iranic Languages and the Problem of the Constitution of Pashtun Linguistic and Ethnic Unity." Paṣto Quarterly 1.4 (1978): 43-55.
External links
Pashto Dictionary with Phonetic Keyboard & Auto-Suggestion
Pashto Phonetic Keyboard
Pashto Language & Identity Formation in Pakistan
Indo-Aryan identity of Pashto
* Henry George Raverty
Henry George Raverty (31 May 1825 – 20 October 1906) was an officer and linguist in the British Indian Army.
Life
Raverty was born in Falmouth, Cornwall.
He served from 1843 to 1864, rising to the rank of Major in the 3rd Bombay Native Infan ...
''A Dictionary of the Puk'hto, Pus'hto, or Language of the Afghans''
Second edition, with considerable additions. London: Williams and Norgate, 1867.
* D. N. MacKenzie
"A Standard Pashto"
Khyber.org
Freeware Online Pashto Dictionaries
Origins of Pashto
Resources for the Study of the Pashto Language
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