Editing Dari (section)

== Phonology ==
=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Dental consonant|Dental]]/<br />[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br />alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
![[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|
|
|
|
|
|-
![[Stop consonant|Stop]]/<br />[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
|{{IPA link|p}} {{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|t̪|t}} {{IPA link|d̪|d}}
|{{IPA link|tʃ}} {{IPA link|dʒ}}
|
|{{IPA link|k}} {{IPA link|ɡ}}
|{{IPA link|q}}
|({{IPA link|ʔ}})
|-
![[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
|{{IPA link|f}}
|{{IPA link|s}} {{IPA link|z}}
|{{IPA link|ʃ}} {{IPA link|ʒ}}
|
|{{IPA link|x}} {{IPA link|ɣ}}
|
|{{IPA link|h}}
|-
![[Tap and flap consonants|Tap]]
|
|{{IPA link|ɾ}}
|
|
|
|
|
|-
![[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|
|{{IPA link|j}}
|{{IPA link|w}}
|
|
|}
* Stops /{{IPA|t, d}}/ are phonetically dental [{{IPA|t̪, d̪}}].
* A glottal stop /ʔ/ only appears in words of Arabic origin.
* A flap sound /{{IPA|ɾ}}/ may be realized as a trill sound [{{IPA|r}}], in some environments, mostly word-final position; otherwise, they contrast between vowels wherein a trill occurs as a result of gemination (doubling) of [{{IPA|ɾ}}], especially in loanwords of Arabic origin. Only [{{IPA link|ɾ}}] occurs before and after consonants; in word-final position, it is usually a free variation between a flap or a trill when followed by a consonant or a pause, but flap is more common, only flap before vowel-initial words.
* As in many other languages, {{IPA|/n/}} is realized as bilabial {{IPAblink|m}} before bilabial stops and as velar {{IPAblink|ŋ}} before velar stops.
* {{IPA|/f/}} is voiced to {{IPAblink|v}} before voiced consonants.
* /w/ is almost always voiced as {{IPAblink|w}}, as in Middle Persian.

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+(Urban Kabuli) Dari Vowels<ref name="Foundation">{{Cite web |last=Foundation |first=Encyclopaedia Iranica |title=Kābolī Persian |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kaboli-colloquial-persian |access-date=2023-08-11 |website=iranicaonline.org |language=en-US}}</ref>
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[High vowel|High]]
| align="center" |{{IPA link|iː}}
|
| align="center" |{{IPA link|uː}}
|-
! [[Near-high vowel|Near-high]]
|{{IPA link|ɪ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ʊ}}
|-
![[Mid vowel]]
|{{IPA link|eː}}
|
| {{IPA link|oː}}
|-
![[Low vowel|Low]]
| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|a}}
|{{IPA link|ɑː}}
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+(Rural Kabuli) Dari Vowels<ref name="Foundation"/>
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[High vowel|High]]
| rowspan="2" align="center" |{{IPA link|i}} 
|
| align="center" |{{IPA link|u}}
|-
|
|{{IPA link|ʊ}}
|-
![[High-mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}}
|
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA link|o}}
|-
![[Low-mid]]
|{{IPA link|ɛ}}
|
|-
![[Low vowel|Low]]
| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|a}}
|{{IPA link|ɑ}}
|}
Dari does not distinguish [{{IPA|ɪ}}] and [{{IPA|ɛ}}] in any position, these are distinct phonemes in English but are in un-conditional [[free variation]] in nearly all dialects of Dari.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Corey |title=Variation in Persian Vowel Systems – University of Maryland |url=https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:657365/FULLTEXT01.pdf |website=Digitala Vetenskapliga Arkivet}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fiorello |first=Christopher |title=Dari Phonology |journal=SIL International}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rees |first=Daniel A. |title=Towards Proto-Persian: An Optimality Theoretic Historical Reconstruction. Ph.D. dissertation. |publisher=Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Georgetown University. |year=2008}}</ref> There are no environmental factors related to the appearance of [{{IPA|ɪ}}] or [{{IPA|ɛ}}] and native Dari speakers do not perceive them as different phonemes (that is to say, the English words bet [b{{IPA|ɛ}}t] and bit [b{{IPA|ɪ}}t] would be nearly indistinguishable to a native Dari speaker). However, speakers in Urban regions of Kabul, [[Panjshir Province|Panjšir]] and other nearby provinces in southern and eastern Afghanistan tend to realize the vowel as [{{IPA|ɪ}}].<ref name="Foundation"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Neghat |first=Muhammad Nassim |title=Dari-English Dictionary. |publisher=Omaha: University of Nebraska. |year=1993}}</ref> Speakers of Dari in central Afghanistan (i.e. [[Hazaragi]] speakers) tend to realize the vowel in proximity to, or identically to, [{{IPA|i}}], unless the following syllable contains a high-back vowel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vowel Harmony in Hazaragi Persian in Afghanistan |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370050608 |access-date=2023-08-11 |website=ResearchGate}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |first1=Arash |last1=Khazeni |first2=Alessandro |last2=Monsutti |first3=Charles M. |last3=Kieffer |date=2020 |title=HAZĀRA |journal=Encyclopaedia Iranica Online |doi=10.1163/2330-4804_eiro_com_2912 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Efimov |first=V. A. |title=Xazara |publisher=Moskva: Izdatel'stvo Firma Vostočnaya Literatura RAN |year=2008 |location=In V. A. Efimov (ed.), Sredneiranskie i novoiranskie Jazyki |pages=344–414}}</ref> Speakers in western Afghanistan (such as in the Herat or Farah province) and some rural regions in the Kabul province (not the city) most commonly realize the vowel as [{{IPA|ɛ}}].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wahedi |first1=Mohammad Haroon |last2=Najm |first2=Sharaafuddin |last3=Sediqi |first3=Aqlima |date=2022-07-06 |title=Noun Structures in the Persian-Dari Dialect of the People of Farah Province in Afghanistan |url=https://al-kindipublisher.com/index.php/ijlss/article/view/3653 |journal=International Journal of Linguistics Studies |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=41–45 |doi=10.32996/ijls.2022.2.2.6 |issn=2754-2599|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hachard |first=Vincent |date=2003-05-15 |title=Geratskij dialekt jazyka dari. Moskva, Izd. firma Vostočnaja literatura RAN, 1999, 238 p., bibliogr., pas d'index. (Jazyki narodov Azii i Afriki). [Le dialecte dari de Hérat] |journal=Abstracta Iranica |volume=24 |doi=10.4000/abstractairanica.34191 |issn=0240-8910|doi-access=free }}</ref> Additionally, in some varieties of Dari, the phoneme [{{IPA|ɛ}}] appears as an allophone of [a].<ref name=":0" />
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Diphthongs
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[High vowel|High]]
|{{IPA|au}}
|{{IPA|ui}}
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|
|{{IPA|oi}}
|-
![[Low vowel|Low]]
|{{IPA|ai}}
|{{IPA|ɑi}}
|}
* When occurring as lax, the open vowels {{IPA|/a, ɑ/}} are raised to {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|ɐ}}, {{IPAplink|ʌ}}]}}.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Grammar of Dari|last1=Mitchell|first1=Rebecca|last2=Naser|first2=Djamal|publisher=München: LINCOM|year=2017|pages=20–27}}</ref>