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Pashto

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Template:Short description Template:Other uses Template:Pp-move Template:Protection padlock Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Oxford spelling Template:Infobox language Template:Contains special characters

PashtoTemplate:Efn (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ahd">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="OEDuk">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell;Template:Efn Template:Langx, Template:IPA) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (Template:Langx).<ref name="Leyden" />

Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan alongside Dari,<ref name="AO">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="AC">Constitution of AfghanistanChapter 1 The State, Article 16 (Languages) and Article 20 (Anthem)</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and it is the second-largest provincial language of Pakistan, spoken mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern districts of Balochistan.<ref>Population by Mother Tongue, Population Census – Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Government of Pakistan</ref> Likewise, it is the primary language of the Pashtun diaspora around the world. The total number of Pashto-speakers is at least 40 million,<ref name="ELL2">Template:ELL2 (40 million)</ref> although some estimates place it as high as 60 million.<ref name="Penzl">Template:Cite book</ref> Pashto is "one of the primary markers of ethnic identity" amongst Pashtuns.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Geographic distribution

[edit]

Template:Further A national language of Afghanistan,<ref name="Pashto-language">Template:Cite web</ref> 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%<ref>Template:Cite web (48% L1 + L2)</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="UCLA">Template:Cite web (50%)</ref><ref name="Iranica-languages">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> of the total population of Afghanistan.

In Pakistan, Pashto is spoken by Template:Sigfig% of its population,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="pbs.gov.pk">Template:Cite web</ref> mainly in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern districts of Balochistan province. It is also spoken in parts of Mianwali and Attock districts of the Punjab province, areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and in Islamabad. Pashto speakers are found in other major cities of Pakistan, most notably Karachi, Sindh,<ref name="pbs">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="The National">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="tribune.com.pk">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="thefridaytimes.com">[1] Template:Webarchive, thefridaytimes</ref> which may have the largest Pashtun population of any city in the world.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Other communities of Pashto speakers are found in India, Tajikistan,<ref name="Ethnologue-2000">Template:Cite web</ref> and northeastern Iran (primarily in South Khorasan Province to the east of Qaen, near the Afghan border).<ref name="Ethnologue-Iran">Template:Cite web</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the Pathan community in the city of Kolkata, often nicknamed the Kabuliwala ("people of Kabul").<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Pashtun diaspora communities in other countries around the world speak Pashto, especially the sizable communities in the United Arab Emirates<ref name="Ethnologue-UAE">Template:Cite web</ref> and Saudi Arabia.

Afghanistan

[edit]

Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, along with Dari Persian.<ref name="socioling">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. Template:ISBN [2]</ref> Since the early 18th century, the monarchs of Afghanistan have been ethnic Pashtuns (except for Habibullāh Kalakāni in 1929).<ref name=rahman /> Persian, the literary language of the royal court,<ref>Lorenz, Manfred. "Die Herausbildung moderner iranischer Literatursprachen." In: Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung, Vol. 36. Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR. Akademie Verlag, Berlin: 1983. P. 184ff.</ref> was more widely used in government institutions, while the Pashtun tribes spoke Pashto as their native tongue. King Amanullah Khan began promoting Pashto during his reign (1926–1929) as a marker of ethnic identity and as a symbol of "official nationalism" after the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, which restored Afghan control over their foreign policy.<ref name=rahman /> 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<ref>Other sources note 1933, i.e. Johannes Christian Meyer-Ingwersen. Untersuchungen zum Satzbau des Paschto. 1966. Ph.D. Thesis, Hamburg 1966.</ref> and the inauguration of the Kabul University in 1932 as well as the formation of the Pashto Academy (Pashto Tolana) in 1937.<ref name="hussain" /> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Pashto Tolana was later incorporated into the Academy of Sciences Afghanistan in line with Soviet model following the Saur Revolution in 1978.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Although officially supporting the use of Pashto, the Afghan elite regarded Persian as a "sophisticated language and a symbol of cultured upbringing".<ref name=rahman>Tariq Rahman. "Pashto Language & Identity Formation in Pakistan." Contemporary South Asia, July 1995, Vol 4, Issue 2, p151-20.</ref> King Zahir Shah (reigning 1933–1973) thus followed suit after his father Nadir Khan had decreed in 1933 that officials were to study and utilize both Persian and Pashto.<ref>István Fodor, Claude Hagège. Reform of Languages. Buske, 1983. P. 105ff.</ref> In 1936 a royal decree of Zahir Shah formally granted Pashto the status of an official language,<ref>Campbell, George L.: Concise Compendium of the world's languages. London: Routledge 1999.</ref> 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.<ref name="hussain">Hussain, Rizwan. Pakistan and the emergence of Islamic militancy in Afghanistan. Burlington, Ashgate: 2005. p. 63.</ref> Thus Pashto became a national language, a symbol for Pashtun nationalism.

The constitutional assembly reaffirmed the status of Pashto as an official language in 1964 when Afghan Persian was officially renamed to Dari.<ref>Dupree, Louis: "Language and Politics in Afghanistan." In: Contributions to Asian Studies. Vol. 11/1978. p. 131–141. E. J. Brill, Leiden 1978. p. 131.</ref><ref>Spooner, Bryan: "Are we teaching Persian?" In: Persian Studies in North America: Studies in Honor of Mohammad Ali Jazayery. Mehdi Marashi (ed.). Bethesda, Iranbooks: 1994. p. 1983.</ref> The lyrics of the national anthem of Afghanistan are in Pashto.

Template:Further

Pakistan

[edit]

In British India, prior to the creation of Pakistan by the British government, the 1920s saw the blossoming of Pashto language in the then NWFP: 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1955, Pashtun intellectuals including Abdul Qadir formed the Pashto Academy Peshawar on the model of Pashto Tolana formed in Afghanistan.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1974, the Department of Pashto was established in the University of Balochistan for the promotion of Pashto.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In Pakistan, Pashto is the first language around of Template:Sigfig% of its population (per the 1998 census).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, Urdu and English 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 and north Balochistan.<ref>Septfonds, D. 2006. Pashto. In: Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world. 845 – 848. Keith Brown / Sarah Ogilvie (eds.). Elsevier, Oxford: 2009.</ref> Yet, the primary medium of education in government schools in Pakistan is Urdu.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The lack of importance given to Pashto and its neglect has caused growing resentment amongst Pashtuns.<ref name="Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite report</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It is noted that Pashto is taught poorly in schools in Pakistan.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Moreover, in government schools material is not provided for in the Pashto dialect of that locality, Pashto being a dialectically rich language.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Further, researchers have observed that Pashtun students are unable to fully comprehend educational material in Urdu.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Professor Tariq Rahman states:<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:BlockquoteRobert Nicols states:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Template:Blockquote

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

History

[edit]

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.<ref name="Darmesteter 1890">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Henning (1960), p. 47. "Bactrian thus 'occupies an intermediary position between Pashto and Yidgha-Munji on the one hand, Sogdian, Choresmian, and Parthian on the other: it is thus in its natural and rightful place in Bactria'."</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, neither position is universally agreed upon. What scholars do agree on is the fact that Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language sharing characteristics with Eastern Middle Iranian languages such as Bactrian, Khwarezmian and Sogdian.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Iranica-Pashto">Template:Cite web</ref>

Compare with other Eastern Iranian Languages and Old Avestan:

"I am seeing you"
Pashto Template:Lang
Zə tā winə́m
Old Avestan<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Lang
Ossetian Template:Lang
/ɐz dɐ wənən/
Ormuri<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Lang
Az bū tū dzunim
Yidgha<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Lang
Munji<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Template:Lang
Shughni<ref name="youtube.com">Template:Citation</ref> Template:Lang
Wakhi<ref name="youtube.com"/> Template:Lang

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. 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).<ref name="Habibi">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Britannica-Abgan">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Abgan">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Leyden">Template:Cite web</ref>

Abdul Hai Habibi believed that the earliest modern Pashto work dates back to Amir Kror Suri of the early Ghurid period in the 8th century, and they use the writings found in Pata Khazana. Pə́ṭa Xazāná (Template:Lang) is a Pashto manuscript<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> claimed to be written by Mohammad Hotak under the patronage of the Pashtun emperor Hussain Hotak in Kandahar; containing an anthology of Pashto poets. However, its authenticity is disputed by scholars such as David Neil MacKenzie and Lucia Serena Loi.<ref>David Neil MacKenzie: David N. Mackenzie: The Development of the Pashto Script. In: Shirin Akiner (Editor): Languages and Scripts of Central Asia. School of Oriental and African Studies, Univ. of London, London 1997, Template:ISBN.p. 142</ref><ref name="Lucia Serena Loi 1987, p. 33">Lucia Serena Loi: Il tesoro nascosto degli Afghani. Il Cavaliere azzurro, Bologna 1987, p. 33</ref> Nile Green comments in this regard:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Template:Blockquote

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), Khushal Khan Khattak, Rahman Baba, Nazo Tokhi, 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 used Pashto poetry to rally for Pashtun unity and Pir Bayazid as an expedient means to spread his message to the Pashtun masses.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

For instance Khushal Khattak laments in :<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Template:Blockquote

Grammar

[edit]

Template:Main 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.<ref name="Pashto-language"/> Verbs 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 for two genders (masculine and feminine),<ref>Emeneau, M. B. (1962) "Bilingualism and Structural Borrowing" Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 106(5): pp. 430–442, p. 441</ref> two numbers (singular and plural), and four cases (direct, oblique, ablative, and vocative). The possessor precedes the possessed in the genitive construction, and adjectives come before the nouns they modify.

Unlike most other Indo-Iranian languages, Pashto uses all three types of adpositions—prepositions, postpositions, and circumpositions.

Phonology

[edit]

Template:Main

Vowels

[edit]
Front Central Back
Close Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Mid Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Open Template:IPA link Template:IPA link

Consonants

[edit]
Consonant phonemes of PashtoTemplate:Sfnp
Labial Dental/
alveolar
Post-
alveolar
Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Plosive Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link)
Affricate Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Fricative (Template:IPA link) Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Approximant Template:IPA link Template:IPA link* Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Rhotic Template:IPA link

*The retroflex rhotic or lateral, tends to be a lateral flap [[[:Template:IPA link]]] at the beginning of a syllable or other prosodic unit, and a regular flap [[[:Template:IPA link]]] or approximant [[[:Template:IPA link]]] elsewhere.<ref name="pashto1">D.N. MacKenzie, 1990, "Pashto", in Bernard Comrie, ed, The major languages of South Asia, the Middle East and Africa, p. 103</ref><ref name="pashto2">Herbert Penzl, 1965, A reader of Pashto, p 7</ref>

Vocabulary

[edit]

Template:See also In Pashto, most of the native elements of the lexicon are related to other Eastern Iranian languages.<ref name="Iranica-Pashto" /> 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".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> For instance, Georg Morgenstierne notes the Pashto word Template:Lang Template:Transliteration i.e. a hand-mill as being derived from the Ancient Greek word Template:Lang (Template:Transliteration, i.e. a device).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Post-7th century borrowings came primarily from Persian and Hindi-Urdu, with Arabic words being borrowed through Persian,<ref>John R. Perry, "Lexical Areas and Semantic Fields of Arabic" in Éva Ágnes Csató, Eva Agnes Csato, Bo Isaksson, Carina Jahani, Linguistic convergence and areal diffusion: case studies from Iranian, Semitic and Turkic, Routledge, 2005. p. 97: "It is generally understood that the bulk of the Arabic vocabulary in the central, contiguous Iranian, Turkic and Indic languages was originally borrowed into literary Persian between the ninth and thirteenth centuries"</ref> but sometimes directly.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Modern speech borrows words from English, French, and German.<ref name="Penzl2">Template:Cite journal</ref>

However, a remarkably large number of words are unique to Pashto.<ref name="BensonKosonen20132">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Ehsan M Entezar 2008 89">Template:Cite book</ref>

Here is an exemplary list of Pure Pashto and borrowings:<ref name="A dictionary of the Puk'hto, Pus'hto, or language of the Afghans">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref>

Pashto Persian Loan Arabic Loan Meaning
Template:Nq
Template:Transliteration
Template:Lang
Template:Transliteration
Template:Lang
Template:Transliteration
service
Template:Nq
Template:Transliteration
Template:Lang
Template:Transliteration
effort/try
Template:Nq, Template:Nq
Template:Transliteration
Template:Lang
Template:Transliteration
friend
Template:Nq
naṛә́i
Template:Lang
Template:Transliteration
Template:Lang
Template:Transliteration
world
Template:Nq
Template:Transliteration
Template:Lang
Template:Transliteration
hot
Template:Nq
Template:Transliteration
Template:Lang
Template:Transliteration
need
Template:Nq
Template:Transliteration
Template:Lang
Template:Transliteration
hope
Template:Nq
Template:Transliteration
Template:Lang
Template:Transliteration
about
Template:Nq
bolә́la
Template:Lang
Template:Transliteration
an ode

Due to the incursion of Persian and Persianized-Arabic in modern speech, linguistic purism of Pashto is advocated to prevent its own vocabulary from dying out.<ref name="Ehsan M Entezar 2008 89"/>Template:Self-published inline<ref name="BensonKosonen2013">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Muhammad Gul Khan Momand Template:Webarchive, Hewād Afghanistan</ref>

Classical vocabulary

[edit]

There is a lot of old vocabulary that has been replaced by borrowings e.g. Template:Lang Template:Lang<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 'throne' with Template:Lang Template:Lang, from Persian.<ref>Pata Khanaza by M. Hotak (1762–1763), translated by K. Habibi page 21, Alama Habibi Portal.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Or the word Template:Lang Template:Lang<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> meaning 'uniqueness' used by Pir Roshan Bayazid.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> Such classical vocabulary is being reintroduced to modern Pashto.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Some words also survive in dialects like Template:Lang 'the bride-room'.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Example from Khayr al-Bayān:<ref name=":0" />

Template:Nq
Transliteration: Template:Lang
Translation: "... without singularity/uniqueness, without calmness and by bad-attitude are on sin ."

Writing system

[edit]

Template:Main Pashto employs the Pashto alphabet, a modified form of the Perso-Arabic alphabet or Arabic script.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and 4 diacritic marks. Latin Pashto is also used.<ref>BGN/PCGN romanization</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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:

Template:Lang
ā
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
b
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
p
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
t
Template:IPA
Template:Lang

Template:IPA
Template:Lang
(s)
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
ǧ
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
g, dz
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
č
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
c, ts
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
(h)
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
x
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
d
Template:IPA
Template:Lang

Template:IPA
Template:Lang
(z)
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
r
Template:IPA
Template:Lang

Template:IPA
Template:Lang
z
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
ž
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
ǵ (or ẓ̌)
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
s
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
š
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
x̌ (or ṣ̌)
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
(s)
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
(z)
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
(t)
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
(z)
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
(ā)
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
ğ
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
f
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
q
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
k
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
ģ
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
l
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
m
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
n
Template:IPA
Template:Lang

Template:IPA
Template:Lang
̃ , ń
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
w, u, o
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
h, a
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
ə
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
y, i
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
e
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
ay, y
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
əi
Template:IPA
Template:Lang
əi, y
Template:IPA

Dialects

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Template:Main Pashto dialects are divided into two categories, the "soft" southern grouping of Paṣ̌tō, and the "hard" northern grouping of Pax̌tō (Pakhtu).<ref name="T&F">Template:Cite book</ref> Each group is further divided into a number of dialects. The Southern dialect of Tareeno is the most distinctive Pashto dialect.Template:Listen1. 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
  • 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 dialect
  • Khogyani dialect

3. Tareeno Dialect

Literary Pashto

[edit]

Literary Pashto is the artificial variety of Pashto that 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 region. Literary Pashto's vocabulary, also derives from other dialects.<ref name="Coyle 2014">Template:Cite thesis</ref>

Criticism

[edit]

There is no actual Pashto that can be identified as "Standard" Pashto, as Colye remarks:<ref name="Coyle 2014"/> Template:Blockquote According to David MacKenzie, there is no real need to develop a "Standard" Pashto:<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Failed verification Template:Blockquote

Literature

[edit]

Template:Main

Pashto-speakers have long had a tradition of oral literature, including proverbs, stories, and poems. Written Pashto literature saw a rise in development in the 17th century mostly due to poets like Khushal Khan Khattak (1613–1689), who, along with Rahman Baba (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 [Pashto]"). After that, the first grammar book of Pashto verbs 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, chief of the Barech. 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

[edit]

An excerpt from the Kalām of Rahman Baba:

Template:Nq

Pronunciation: Template:Ipa

Transliteration: Template:Transliteration

Translation: "I Rahman, myself am guilty that I am a lover,
On what does this other universe call me guilty."

Proverbs

[edit]

Template:See also

Pashto also has a rich heritage of proverbs (Pashto matalúna, sg. matál).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Bartlotti, Leonard and Raj Wali Shah Khattak, eds. (2006). Rohi Mataluna: Pashto Proverbs, (revised and expanded edition). First edition by Mohammad Nawaz Tair and Thomas C. Edwards, eds. Peshawar, Pakistan: Interlit and Pashto Academy, Peshawar University.</ref> An example of a proverb:

Template:Nq

Transliteration: Obә́ pə ḍāng nə beléẓ̌i

Translation: "One cannot divide water by [hitting it with] a pole."

Phrases

[edit]

Greeting phrases

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Greeting Pashto Transliteration Literal meaning
Hello Template:Nq stә́ṛay mә́ še
stә́ṛe mә́ še
May you not be tired
Template:Nq stә́ṛi mә́ šəi May you not be tired [said to people]
Template:Nq pə xair rā́ğle With goodness (you) came
Thank you Template:Nq manә́na Acceptance [from the verb Template:Nq]
Goodbye Template:Nq pə mә́kha de x̌á On your front be good
Template:Nq xwdā́i pāmā́n From: Template:Nq [With/On God's security]

Colors

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List of colors

[edit]

Template:Gallery items

List of colors borrowed from neighbouring languages

[edit]

Times of the day

[edit]
File:Ps-times.jpg
Parts of the day in Pashto
Time Pashto Transliteration IPA
Morning Template:Nq gahíź Template:IPA
Noon Template:Nq ğarmá Template:IPA
Afternoon Template:Nq māspasx̌ín Kandahar: Template:IPA
Yusapzai: Template:IPA
Bannuchi: Template:IPA
Marwat: Template:IPA
Later afternoon Template:Nq māzdigár
māzigár
Template:IPA
Template:IPA
Evening Template:Nq māx̌ā́m Kandahari: Template:IPA
Wardak: Template:IPA
Yusapzai: Template:IPA
Wazirwola: Template:IPA
Marwat: Template:IPA
Late evening Template:Nq māsxután Template:IPA
Template:IPA

Months

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Pashtuns use the Vikrami calendar:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

# Vikrami month<ref name="fuller292">Template:Cite book</ref> Pashto Pashto
[Karlāṇí dialects]
Gregorian
months
1 Chaitra Template:Nq
četә́r
Template:Nq
četә́r
March–April
2 Vaisākha Template:Nq
sāk
Template:Nq
wasyók
April–May
3 Jyeshta Template:Nq
jeṭ
Template:Nq
žeṭ
May–June
4 Āshāda Template:Nq
hāṛ
Template:Nq
awóṛ
June–July
5 Shraavana Template:Nq
sāwә́ṇ
Template:Nq
wā́sa
July–August
6 Bhādra Template:Nq
badrú
Template:Nq
bā́dri
August–September
7 Ashwina Template:Nq
āsú
Template:Nq
ássi
September–October
8 Kartika Template:Nq
kātә́i / kāták
Template:Nq
kā́tye
October–November
9 Mārgasirsa
(Agrahayana)
Template:Nq
mangә́r
Template:Nq
mā́ngər
November–December
10 Pausha Template:Nq
čilá
Template:Nq
po
December–January
11 Māgha Template:Nq
bә́la čilá
Template:Nq
kunzә́la
January–February
12 Phālguna Template:Nq
pāgáṇ
Template:Nq
arbә́ša
February–March

Notes

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Template:Notelist

References

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Template:Reflist

Bibliography

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Further reading

[edit]
[edit]

Template:InterWiki Template:Commons category Template:Wiktionary Template:Wikivoyage

Template:Pashto language Template:Navboxes Template:Authority control