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'''Pashto''' ('''پښتو'''), also rendered as ''Pakhto'', ''Pushto'', ''Pukhto'', ''Pashtoe'', ''Pashtu'', ''Pushtu'', ''Pathani'' or ''Pushtoo'' and also known as '''Afghan language''' is an Iranian language spoken by Pashtuns living in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Although spoken by nearly 25 million people in various countries, it has been classified as a tribal tongue due to limited vocabulary, unstructured grammar and inconsistencies in syntax. However, some of the Pashto literature has been observed to follow modern literary trends.
{{language
|name=Pashto
|nativename=پښتو ''{{unicode|paʂto}}''
|familycolor=Indo-European
|states= Pakistan: western provinces; Afghanistan: south and east.<ref>University of Texas in Austin - Ethnolinguistic Groups in Afghanistan...[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/afghanistan_ethnoling_97.jpg Link]</ref>
|region= [[South Asia|South]]-[[Central Asia]]
|speakers=''approx.'' 40-45 million<ref>[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=pbu Ethnologue Report for Pashto]</ref>
|rank=82 (Northern),</br> 92 (Southern)<ref>[http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/help/top-100-languages-by-population.html David P. Brown: Top 100 Languages by Population]</ref>
|fam2=[[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
|fam3=[[Iranian languages|Iranian]]
|fam4=[[Southeastern Iranian languages|Southeastern]]
|nation=[[Afghanistan]] (national along with Dari) </br>[[Pakistan]] (Provincial)</br>
|iso1=ps|iso2=pus
|lc1=pus|ld1=Pashto (generic)|ll1=none
|lc2=pst|ld2=Central Pashto
|lc3=pbu|ld3=Northern Pashto
|lc4=pbt|ld4=Southern Pashto}}

'''Pashto''' ({{rtl-lang|ps|'''پښتو'''}}, {{IPA2|pəʂ'to}}, also rendered as ''Pakhto'', ''Pushto'', ''Pukhto'' {{rtl-lang|ps|پختو}}, ''Pashtoe'', ''Pashtu'', ''Pushtu'', ''Pathani'' or ''Pushtoo'' and also known as '''Afghan language'''<ref>"afghan." [[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]], Fourth Edition. [[Houghton Mifflin Company]], 2004. 03 Jan. 2008. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/afghani>.</ref><ref>"afghan." [[WordNet]] 3.0. [[Princeton University]]. 03 Jan. 2008. <Word Net http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=Afghani&sub=Search+WordNet&o2=&o0=1&o7=&o5=&o1=1&o6=&o4=&o3=&h=00></ref>) is an [[Iranian language]] spoken by [[Pashtun people|Pashtuns]] living in [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]].<ref>University of Texas in Austin - Ethnolinguistic Groups in Afghanistan...[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/afghanistan_ethnoling_97.jpg Link]</ref> Although spoken by nearly 25 million people in various countries, it has been classified as a tribal tongue due to limited vocabulary, unstructured grammar and inconsistencies in syntax.<ref>[http://www.khyber.org/articles/2003/PashtoLiterature-AQuestforIden.shtml Pashto Literature - A Quest for Identity :: Khyber.ORG<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> However, some of the Pashto literature has been observed to follow modern literary trends.


==Geographic distribution==
==Geographic distribution==
Pashto is spoken by about 30 million people in the western provinces of North-West Frontier Province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and Balochistan of Pakistan (15.4% of the total population) and by over 15 million people in the south, east, west and a few northern provinces of Afghanistan (ca. 40% of the total population). In Pakistan, smaller, modern "transplant" communities are also found in Sindh, Karachi, Hyderabad. Other smaller communities of Pashto speakers also thrive in northeastern Iran and in India, particularly in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, where Pathan colonies were founded.
[[Image:Moderniranianlanguagesmap.jpg|thumb|350px|Geographic distribution of Pashto '''(purple)''' and other [[Iranian languages]]]]
Pashto is spoken by about 30 million people in the western provinces of [[North-West Frontier Province]], [[Federally Administered Tribal Areas]], and [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]] of Pakistan (15.4% of the total population)<ref>[http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf Government of Pakistan: Population by Mother Tongue]</ref> and by over 15 million people in the south, east, west and a few northern provinces of Afghanistan (ca. 40% of the total population).<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.html CIA -The World Factbook -- Afghanistan]</ref> In Pakistan, smaller, modern "transplant" communities are also found in [[Sindh]] ([[Karachi]], [[Hyderabad, Pakistan|Hyderabad]]). Other smaller communities of Pashto speakers also thrive in northeastern [[Iran]] and in [[India]], particularly in the Indian states of [[Uttar Pradesh]] and [[Jammu & Kashmir]], where [[Pathan]] colonies were founded.<ref name="Dawat-Pathans of India">{{cite web|url = http://www.dawatnet.com/english/fullstory.php?id=333| title = Study of the Pathan Communities in four States of India|publisher = Dawat|accessdate = 2007-01-05}}</ref><ref name="Lucknow for Jesus-Pathans of Lucknow, U.P.">{{cite web|url = http://www.lucknow4jesus.org/people/people2.asp| title = Pathan|publisher = Lucknow for Jesus|accessdate = 2007-01-05}}</ref>


===Official status===
===Official status===
Pashto is the national and (along with [[Dari (Persian)|Dari]]) one of the two official languages of Afghanistan and is widely spoken by pashtuns and other ethnic groups.<ref>Chapter One, [http://president.gov.af/english/constitution.mspx#State Article Sixteen] of the [[Constitution of Afghanistan]]</ref> It is not the official language in Pakistan, and is spoken by Pashtun communities in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province and [[Baluchistan]] Province .
Pashto is the national and (along with Dari) one of the two official languages of Afghanistan and is widely spoken by Pashtuns and other ethnic groups. It is not the official language in Pakistan, and is spoken by Pashtun communities in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province and Baluchistan Province .


===Dialects===
===Dialects===
The northern [[dialect]] is spoken by about 6,000,000 people, and the southern dialect by about 1,500,000. One of the main features of the dialects is the differences in the pronunciation of these five phonemes (all sounds in [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]):
The northern dialect is spoken by about 6,000,000 people, and the southern dialect by about 1,500,000. The dialect of Kandahar is the most conservative with regards to phonology, retaining both the dental affricates and the retroflex fricatives, which have not merged with other phonemes.

{|border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" align="center"
!align = "left"|Southwest:
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[ts]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[dz]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[ʂ]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[ʐ]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[ʒ]}}

|-
!align = "left"|Southeast:
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[ts]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[dz]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[ʃ]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[ʒ]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[ʒ]}}

|-
!align = "left"|Northwest:
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[s]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[z]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[ç]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[j]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[ʒ]}}

|-
!align = "left"|Northeast:
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[s]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[z]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[x]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[g]}}
|align = "center"|{{IPA|[d͡ʒ]}}

|}

The dialect of [[Kandahar]] is the most conservative with regards to phonology, retaining both the dental affricates and the retroflex fricatives, which have not merged with other phonemes.

==Phonology==
===Vowels===

{|class="wikitable"
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-align=center
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA|i}} || || {{IPA|u}}
|-align=center
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPA|e}}
|{{IPA|ə}}
|{{IPA|o}}
|-align=center
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA|ɑ}}
|}

Pashto also has the diphthongs {{IPA|/aj/ /əj/ /aw/}}

===Consonants===
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! [[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
! [[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br>alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-align=center
! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA|m}}
|{{IPA|n}}
|{{IPA|ɳ}}
|
|
|
|
|-align=center
! [[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
|{{IPA|p b}}
|{{IPA|t d}}
|{{IPA|ʈ ɖ}}
|
|
|{{IPA|k g}}
|{{IPA|q}}
|{{IPA|ʔ}}
|-align=center
! [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
|{{IPA|f v}}
|{{IPA|s z}}
|{{IPA|ʂ ʐ}}
|{{IPA|ʃ ʒ}}
|
|{{IPA|x ɣ}}
|
|{{IPA|h}}
|-align=center
! [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
|
|{{IPA|ts dz}}
|
|{{IPA|tʃ dʒ}}
|
|
|
|
|-align=center
! align="left" | [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|
|{{IPA|l}}
|
|
|{{IPA|j}}
|{{IPA|w}}
|
|
|-align=center
! [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
| {{IPA|r}}
| {{IPA|ɺ̢}}
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|}

The sounds {{IPA|/f/, /q/, /h/}} are present only in loanwords. Less educated speakers tend to replace them with {{IPA|[p]}}, {{IPA|[k]}} and nothing, respectively.

The [[retroflex lateral flap]] {{IPA|/ɺ̢/}} is pronounced as [[retroflex approximant]] {{IPA|[ɻ]}} when final.

===Historical sound changes===
{{sectstub}}


==Grammar==
==Grammar==
Pashto is a [[Subject Object Verb|S-O-V]] language with [[split ergativity]]. [[Adjective]]s come before [[noun]]s. Nouns and adjectives are inflected for [[gender]] (Masculine/Feminine), [[number]] (Singular/Plural) and [[Grammatical case|case]] (Direct/Oblique). Direct case is used for [[subject (grammar)|subject]]s and [[direct object]]s in the [[present tense]]. Oblique case is used after most pre- and post-positions as well as in the [[past tense]] as the subject of [[transitive]] verbs. There is no [[definite article]], but instead there is extensive use of the [[demonstrative]]s this/that. The [[verb]] system is very intricate with the following: Simple 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-absolutive language|ergative language]], i.e. transitive verbs in any of the past tenses agree with the object of the sentence.
Pashto is a Subject-Object-Verb language with split ergativity. Adjectives come before nouns. Nouns and adjectives are inflected for gender (Masculine/Feminine), number (Singular/Plural) and grammatical case (Direct/Oblique). Direct case is used for subjects and direct objects in the present tense. Oblique case is used after most pre- and post-positions as well as in the past tense as the subject of transitive verbs. There is no definite article, but instead there is extensive use of the demonstratives this/that. The verb system is very intricate with the following: Simple 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-absolutive language, i.e. transitive verbs in any of the past tenses agree with the object of the sentence.


==Vocabulary==
==Vocabulary==
Pashto, being an [[Indo-European language]], shares many cognates with other related languages.
Pashto, being an Indo-European language, shares many cognates with other related languages.
Following the advent of Islam in Afghanistan, the Pashto language has received a significant influx of loan-words from [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Persian language|Persian]] and various [[Turkic languages]].
Following the advent of Islam in Afghanistan, the Pashto language has received a significant influx of loan-words from Greek, Arabic, Persian and various Turkic languages.


==Writing system==
==Writing system==
From the time of [[Islam]]'s rise in [[South]]-[[Central Asia]], Pashto has used a modified version of the [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] script. The seventeenth century saw the rise of a polemic debate which also was polarized along lines of script. The heterodox Roshani movement wrote their literature mostly in the Persianate style called the [[Nasta'liq script]]. The followers of the Akhund Darweza, and the Akhund himself, who viewed themselves as defending the religion against the influence of syncretism, wrote Pashto in the Arabicized [[Naskh (script)|Naskh]]. With some individualized exceptions Naskh has been the generally used script in the modern era of Pashto, roughly corresponding with the late 19th and 20th centuries, due to its greater adaptability for typesetting. Even lithographically reproduced Pashto (generally in Pakistan) has been calligraphied in Naskh as a general rule, since it was adopted as standard.
From the time of Islam's rise in South-Central Asia, Pashto has used a modified version of the Arabic script. The seventeenth century saw the rise of a polemic debate which also was polarized along lines of script. The heterodox Roshani movement wrote their literature mostly in the Persianate style called the Nasta'liq script. The followers of the Akhund Darweza, and the Akhund himself, who viewed themselves as defending the religion against the influence of syncretism, wrote Pashto in the Arabicized Naskh. With some individualized exceptions Naskh has been the generally used script in the modern era of Pashto, roughly corresponding with the late 19th and 20th centuries, due to its greater adaptability for typesetting. Even lithographically reproduced Pashto (generally in Pakistan) has been calligraphied in Naskh as a general rule, since it was adopted as standard.


Pashto has several letters which do not appear in any other Arabic script which represent the [[retroflex]] versions of the [[consonants]] /t/, /d/, /r/, /n/. The letters are written like the standard [[Arabic language|Arabic]] ta', dal, ra', and nun with a "pandak", "gharwandah" or also called "skarraen" attached underneath which looks like a small circle; ړ ,ډ ,ټ, and ڼ, respectively. It also has the letters ge and xin (the initial sound of which is like the [[German language|German]] ch found in the word "ich") which look like a ra' and sin respectively with a dot above and beneath. Pashto also has the extra letters that has been added to the [[Arabic alphabet]]. It has a number of additional vowel diacritics as well, though these often vary in their usage.
Pashto has several letters which do not appear in any other Arabic script which represent the retroflex versions of the consonants /t/, /d/, /r/, /n/. The letters are written like the standard Arabic ta', dal, ra', and nun with a "pandak", "gharwandah" or also called "skarraen" attached underneath which looks like a small circle; ړ ,ډ ,ټ, and ڼ, respectively. It also has the letters ge and xin (the initial sound of which is like the German ch found in the word "ich") which look like a ra' and sin respectively with a dot above and beneath. Pashto also has the extra letters that has been added to the Arabic alphabet. It has a number of additional vowel diacritics as well, though these often vary in their usage.


====Alphabet====
====Alphabet====
The letters of the Pashto alphabet are:
The letters of the Pashto alphabet are:<ref>[http://www.khpalapashtu.com/sitee/pashtula/pasalph.htm Pashto Alphabet Table]</ref><ref>[http://www.unics.uni-hannover.de/nhtcapri/pashto-alphabet.html Pashto Alphabet Table]</ref><font size=8>
<font size=8>




'''<sup><nowiki>ا ب پ ت ټ ث ج ځ چ څ ح خ د ډ ذ ر ړ ز ژ ږ
'''<sup><nowiki>ا ب پ ت ټ ث ج ځ چ څ ح خ د ډ ذ ر ړ ز ژ ږ


س ش ښ ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ک ګ ل م ن ڼ ه ۀ و ؤ ى ئ ي ې</nowiki> ۍ</sup> '''
س ش ښ ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ک ګ ل م ن ڼ ه ۀ و ؤ ى ئ ي ې</nowiki> ۍ</sup> '''




</font>
</font>


==Examples==

{{convertIPA}}

*Note - The following [[transliteration]]s represent the Kabuli dialect.

Examples of [[intransitive]] sentence forms using the verb "to go" "'''tləl'''":

''Command (you masculine-singular):''

*khawanze/shawanze (ښوونځى) ta '''dza'''! or khawanze/shawanze ta '''lāṛ ša'''!
*School to go - Go to school!

''Command (you masculine-plural):''

*khawanze/shawanze ta '''lāṛ šəy'''!
*Go to school!

''Simple Present:''

*zə khawanze/shawanze ta '''dzəm'''.
*I school to go - I go to school.

*zə ğwāṛəm če khawanze/shawanze ta '''lāṛ šəm'''.
*I want that to school go (Masculine-I-verb form) - I want to go to school.

''Present Perfect:''

*zə khawanze/shawanze ta '''tləlay yəm'''.
*I school to gone (Masculine verb form) am - I have gone to school.

''Simple Past:''

*zə khawanze/shawanze ta '''wəlāṛəm'''.
*I school to went - I went to school.

''Past Perfect:''

*zə khawanze/shawanze ta '''tləlay wəm'''.
*I school to gone (Masculine verb form) was - I had gone to school.

''Past Progressive:''

*zə khawanze/shawanze ta makh kay talay um"
*I school to was going - I was going to school or I used to go to school

Examples of transative sentence forms using the verb "to eat" "'''xwaṛəl'''":

''Command (You singular):''

*[[Panir]] '''wəxora'''!
*cheese eat - Eat the cheese!

*Panir '''məxora'''!
*cheese no-eat - Don't eat the cheese!

''Command (You plural):''

*Panir '''wəxorəy'''!
*cheese eat - Eat the cheese!

*Panir '''məxorəy'''!
*cheese no-eat - Don't eat the cheese!

''Simple Present:''

*zə panir '''xorəm'''.
*I cheese eat - I eat cheese.

''Subjunctive:''

*zə ğwāṛəm če panir '''wəxorəm'''.
*I want that cheese eat (I-verb form) - I want to eat cheese.

''Present Perfect:''
ما پنېر خوړلی دی
*mā panir '''xoṛəlay day'''.
*me (I-oblique) cheese eaten (masculine-singular verb form) is - I have eaten cheese.

''Simple Past:''

*mā panir '''wəxoṛə'''.
*me (I-oblique) cheese ate - I ate cheese

''Past Perfect:''

*mā panir '''xoṛəlay wo'''.
*me (I-oblique) cheese eaten (masculine-singular verb form) was - I had eaten cheese.

''Past Progressive:''

*mā panir '''xoṛə'''.
*me (I oblique) cheese was eating (masculine-singular verb form) - I was eating cheese or I used to eat cheese.

Questions
Stā num tsə day
your name what is - what is your name

==See also==
*[[List of Pashto language poets]]
*[[List of Pashto Language Singers]]
*[[:Template:Iranian Languages|Iranian Languages vocabulary comparison table]]

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|title=Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum|last=Schmidt|first=Rüdiger (ed.)|publisher=Reichert|location=Wiesbaden|year=1989|id=ISBN 3-88226-413-6}}

* Morgenstierne, Georg (1926) ''Report on a Linguistic Mission to Afghanistan''. Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning, Serie C I-2. Oslo. ISBN 0-923891-09-9

== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}


== External links ==
== External links ==
{{InterWiki|code=ps}}
* [http://www.islamicrepublicofafghanistan.com Islamic Republic Of Afghanistan] Official name of Afghanistan / Afghan issues, articles and news on the Pashtu language
* [http://www.islamicrepublicofafghanistan.com Islamic Republic Of Afghanistan] Official name of Afghanistan / Afghan issues, articles and news on the Pashtu language
* Pashto dictionaries in German, French, English and Spanish[http://qamosoona.com]
* Pashto dictionaries in German, French, English and Spanish[http://qamosoona.com]
* Pashto to English Dictionary [http://pashtosoft.com]
* Pashto to English Dictionary [http://pashtosoft.com]
* [[H. G. Raverty]]. [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/raverty/ A Dictionary of the Puk'hto, Pus'hto, or Language of the Afghans.] Second edition, with considerable additions. London: Williams and Norgate, 1867.
* H. G. Raverty. [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/raverty/ A Dictionary of the Puk'hto, Pus'hto, or Language of the Afghans.] Second edition, with considerable additions. London: Williams and Norgate, 1867.
* [http://www.qamosona.com/ Freeware Online Pashto Dictionaries]
* [http://www.qamosona.com/ Freeware Online Pashto Dictionaries]
* [http://www.kabirstori.com/ Dr. Kabir Stori (ډاکتر کبیر ستوری)]
* [http://www.kabirstori.com/ Dr. Kabir Stori (ډاکتر کبیر ستوری)]
Line 358: Line 85:
**[http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Pashto.html Wazu Japan - Free and Non-free Pashto Fonts]
**[http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Pashto.html Wazu Japan - Free and Non-free Pashto Fonts]



{{Iranian Languages Group}}


[[Category:Languages (international)|Pashto]]
[[Category:Languages (international)|Pashto]]
[[Category:Southeastern Iranian languages]]
[[Category:OLPC Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Languages of Afghanistan]]
[[Category:OLPC Pakistan]]
[[Category:Languages of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Languages of Asia]]

[[am:ፐሽቶ]]
[[ar:لغة بشتونية]]
[[ast:Pashtu]]
[[br:Pachtoueg]]
[[bg:Пущунски език]]
[[ca:Paixtu]]
[[cv:Пушту]]
[[cy:Pashto]]
[[da:Pashto]]
[[de:Paschtunische Sprache]]
[[et:Puštu keel]]
[[es:Idioma pashto]]
[[eo:Paŝtoa lingvo]]
[[fa:پشتو]]
[[fr:Pachto]]
[[ko:파슈토어]]
[[hy:Փուշթու]]
[[hi:पश्तो]]
[[id:Bahasa Pashtun]]
[[is:Pashto]]
[[it:Lingua pashtu]]
[[ka:პუშტუ]]
[[ku:Paştûnî]]
[[lij:Lengua Pashtu]]
[[ms:Bahasa Pashto]]
[[nl:Pasjtoe]]
[[ja:パシュトー語]]
[[no:Pashto]]
[[nn:Pasjto]]
[[ps:پښتو]]
[[pl:Język paszto]]
[[pt:Língua pachto]]
[[ru:Пушту]]
[[sk:Paštčina]]
[[fi:Paštun kieli]]
[[sv:Pashto]]
[[ta:பாஷ்தூ மொழி]]
[[th:ภาษาพาชตู]]
[[tg:Забони пушту]]
[[tr:Peştuca]]
[[uk:Пушту]]
[[ur:پشتو]]
[[zh:普什图语]]

Revision as of 20:57, 6 April 2008

Pashto (پښتو), also rendered as Pakhto, Pushto, Pukhto, Pashtoe, Pashtu, Pushtu, Pathani or Pushtoo and also known as Afghan language is an Iranian language spoken by Pashtuns living in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Although spoken by nearly 25 million people in various countries, it has been classified as a tribal tongue due to limited vocabulary, unstructured grammar and inconsistencies in syntax. However, some of the Pashto literature has been observed to follow modern literary trends.

Geographic distribution

Pashto is spoken by about 30 million people in the western provinces of North-West Frontier Province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and Balochistan of Pakistan (15.4% of the total population) and by over 15 million people in the south, east, west and a few northern provinces of Afghanistan (ca. 40% of the total population). In Pakistan, smaller, modern "transplant" communities are also found in Sindh, Karachi, Hyderabad. Other smaller communities of Pashto speakers also thrive in northeastern Iran and in India, particularly in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, where Pathan colonies were founded.

Official status

Pashto is the national and (along with Dari) one of the two official languages of Afghanistan and is widely spoken by Pashtuns and other ethnic groups. It is not the official language in Pakistan, and is spoken by Pashtun communities in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province and Baluchistan Province .

Dialects

The northern dialect is spoken by about 6,000,000 people, and the southern dialect by about 1,500,000. The dialect of Kandahar is the most conservative with regards to phonology, retaining both the dental affricates and the retroflex fricatives, which have not merged with other phonemes.

Grammar

Pashto is a Subject-Object-Verb language with split ergativity. Adjectives come before nouns. Nouns and adjectives are inflected for gender (Masculine/Feminine), number (Singular/Plural) and grammatical case (Direct/Oblique). Direct case is used for subjects and direct objects in the present tense. Oblique case is used after most pre- and post-positions as well as in the past tense as the subject of transitive verbs. There is no definite article, but instead there is extensive use of the demonstratives this/that. The verb system is very intricate with the following: Simple 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-absolutive language, i.e. transitive verbs in any of the past tenses agree with the object of the sentence.

Vocabulary

Pashto, being an Indo-European language, shares many cognates with other related languages. Following the advent of Islam in Afghanistan, the Pashto language has received a significant influx of loan-words from Greek, Arabic, Persian and various Turkic languages.

Writing system

From the time of Islam's rise in South-Central Asia, Pashto has used a modified version of the Arabic script. The seventeenth century saw the rise of a polemic debate which also was polarized along lines of script. The heterodox Roshani movement wrote their literature mostly in the Persianate style called the Nasta'liq script. The followers of the Akhund Darweza, and the Akhund himself, who viewed themselves as defending the religion against the influence of syncretism, wrote Pashto in the Arabicized Naskh. With some individualized exceptions Naskh has been the generally used script in the modern era of Pashto, roughly corresponding with the late 19th and 20th centuries, due to its greater adaptability for typesetting. Even lithographically reproduced Pashto (generally in Pakistan) has been calligraphied in Naskh as a general rule, since it was adopted as standard.

Pashto has several letters which do not appear in any other Arabic script which represent the retroflex versions of the consonants /t/, /d/, /r/, /n/. The letters are written like the standard Arabic ta', dal, ra', and nun with a "pandak", "gharwandah" or also called "skarraen" attached underneath which looks like a small circle; ړ ,ډ ,ټ, and ڼ, respectively. It also has the letters ge and xin (the initial sound of which is like the German ch found in the word "ich") which look like a ra' and sin respectively with a dot above and beneath. Pashto also has the extra letters that has been added to the Arabic alphabet. It has a number of additional vowel diacritics as well, though these often vary in their usage.

Alphabet

The letters of the Pashto alphabet are:

ا ب پ ت ټ ث ج ځ چ څ ح خ د ډ ذ ر ړ ز ژ ږ س ش ښ ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ک ګ ل م ن ڼ ه ۀ و ؤ ى ئ ي ې ۍ


External links


Pashto Computer Fonts

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