Pashto alphabet

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Excerpt from Khayr ul-Bayān, the oldest known document written in Pashto, written in Nastaliq in 1651

The Pashto alphabet (Pashto: پښتو الفبې‎ Pax̌to alifbe) is a modified form of the Arabic alphabet with letters added to accommodate phonemes used in Pashto that are not found in Arabic.

History

The Pashto alphabet

The seventeenth century saw the rise of a polemic debate that was also polarized along lines of script. The heterodox Roshani movement wrote their literature mostly in the Persianate style called Nasta'liq hand. 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, which is the generally used script in the modern era of Pashto with some individualized exceptions because of its greater adaptability for typesetting. Even lithographically reproduced Pashto has been calligraphied in Naskh as a general rule, since it was adopted as standard.

Pashto alphabet

Pashto alphabet
ﺍ    ﺏ    پ    ﺕ    ﺙ     ﺝ    چ
ﺡ    ﺥ    ﺩ    ﺫ    ﺭ    ﺯ    ژ
ﺱ    ﺵ     ﺹ    ﺽ    ﻁ    ﻅ
ﻉ    ﻍ    ﻑ    ﻕ    ک    ګ    ږ
ﻝ    ﻡ    ﻥ    ﻭ    ه    ی
History Transliteration Diacritics Hamza ء Numerals Numeration

Two of the special Pashto letters: x̌in/ṣ̌in and γ̌ē/ẓ̌e

The Pashto alphabet has several letters which do not appear in any other Arabic script. For example, the letters representing the retroflex consonants /ʈ /, /ɖ /, / / and /ɳ / are written like the standard Arabic te, dāl, re and nun with a "panḍak", "ğaṛwanday" or also called "skəṇay" attached underneath, which looks like a small circle: ړ, ډ, ټ, and ڼ, respectively. The letters ښ and ږ (x̌īn/ṣ̌īn and ǵe/ẓ̌e) look like sīn (س) and re (ﺭ) respectively with a dot above and beneath. The letters representing t͡s and d͡z look like a ح with three dots above and an hamza (ء) above; څ and ځ, and are also specific to Pashto, although څ was also used in the related extinct language of Khwarezmian to represent both /t͡s/ and /d͡z/. Pashto has ی, ې, ۀ, and ۍ for additional vowels and diphthongs as well.

Pashto uses all 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet, and shares 3 letters (چ, پ, and ژ) with Persian and Urdu in the additional letters.

Letters

Below are the 44 letters of the Pashto alphabet. The Southern (S), Central (C) and Northern (N) dialects of Pashto are included.

Contextual forms				Unicode (Hex)	Name	IPA	ALA-LC Romaniz.	Transliteration	Latin alphabet
Isolated	End	Middle	Beginning
آ‎, ا‎	ـﺎ‎	ـ	ـ	U+0627, U+0622	alif	[ɑ], [ʔ]	ā, ʾ	ā, ʾ	Ā ā, nothing
ب‎	ـﺐ‎	ـﺒـ‎	بـ‎	U+0628	be	[b]	b	b	B b
پ‎	ـﭗ‎	ـﭙـ‎	پـ‎	U+067E	pe	[p]	p	p	P p
ت‎	ـﺖ‎	ـﺘـ‎	تـ‎	U+062A	te	[t̪]	t	t	T t
ټ‎	ـټ‎	ـټـ‎	ټـ‎	U+067C	ṭe	[ʈ]	ṭ	ṭ (or tt)	Ṭ ṭ
ث‎	ـﺚ‎	ـﺜـ‎	ثـ‎	U+062B	se	[s]	s̱	s	S s
ج‎	ـﺞ‎	ـﺠـ‎	جـ‎	U+062C	jīm	[d͡ʒ]	j	j (or ǰ)	J j
چ‎	ـﭻ‎	ـﭽـ‎	چـ‎	U+0686	če	[t͡ʃ]	ch	č	Č č
ح‎	ـﺢ‎	ـﺤـ‎	حـ‎	U+062D	he	[h] / [x]	ḥ	h	H h
خ‎	ـﺦ‎	ـﺨـ‎	خـ‎	U+062E	xe	[x]	kh	x	X x
څ‎	ـڅ‎	ـڅـ‎	څـ‎	U+0685	ce	[t͡s] / [s]	ṡ	ts (or c)	C c
ځ‎	ـځ‎	ـځـ‎	ځـ‎	U+0681	źim	[d͡z] / [z]	ż	dz (or j)	Ź ź
د‎	ـﺪ‎	ـ	ـ	U+062F	dāl	[d̪]	d	d	D d
ډ‎	ـډ‎	ـ	ـ	U+0689	ḍāl	[ɖ]	ḍ	ḍ (or dd)	Ḍ ḍ
ﺫ‎	ـﺬ‎	ـ	ـ	U+0630	zāl	[z]	ẕ	z	Z z
ﺭ‎	ـﺮ‎	ـ	ـ	U+0631	re	[r]	r	r	R r
ړ‎	ـړ‎	ـ	ـ	U+0693	ṛe	[ɺ̢] (, ɭ̆), [ɻ]	ṛ	ṛ (or rr)	Ṛ ṛ
ﺯ‎	ـﺰ‎	ـ	ـ	U+0623	ze	[z]	z	z	Z z
ژ‎	ـﮋ‎	ـ	ـ	U+0698	že	[ʒ] / [d͡z]	zh	ž	Ž ž
ږ‎	ـږ‎	ـ	ـ	U+0696	ǵe (C, N) / ẓ̌e (S)	[ʐ] (S) / [ʝ] (C) / [ɡ] (N)	ẓh (S) / g'h (C) / g (N)	ẓ̌ (S) / γ̌/ǵ (C) / g (N)	Ǵ ǵ (or Ẓ̌ ẓ̌)
س‎	ـﺲ‎	ـﺴـ‎	سـ‎	U+0633	sīn	[s]	s	s	S s
ش‎	ـﺶ‎	ـﺸـ‎	شـ‎	U+0634	šīn	[ʃ]	sh	š	Š š
ښ‎	ـښ‎	ـښـ‎	ښـ‎	U+069A	x̌īn (C, N) / ṣ̌īn (S)	[ʂ] (S) / [ç] (C) / [x] (N)	ṣh (S) / k'h (C) / kh (N)	ṣ̌ (S) / x̌ (C) / x (N)	X̌ x̌ (or Ṣ̌ ṣ̌)
ص‎	ـﺺ‎	ـﺼـ‎	صـ‎	U+0635	swād	[s]	ṣ	s	S s
ض‎	ـﺾ‎	ـﻀـ‎	ضـ‎	U+0636	dwād / zwād	[z], [d̪]	z̤	z, d	Z z, D d
ط‎	ـﻂ‎	ـﻄـ‎	طـ‎	U+0637	twe	[t̪]	ṭ	t	T t
ظ‎	ـﻆ‎	ـﻈـ‎	ظـ‎	U+0638	zwe	[z]	ẓ	z	Z z
ع‎	ـﻊ‎	ـﻌـ‎	عـ‎	U+0639	ayn	[ʔ]	ʻ	ʻ	nothing
غ‎	ـﻎ‎	ـﻐـ‎	غـ‎	U+063A	ğayn	[ɣ]	gh	gh (or γ)	Ğ ğ
ف‎	ـﻒ‎	ـﻔـ‎	فـ‎	U+0641	fe	[f] / [p]	f	f	F f
ق‎	ـﻖ‎	ـﻘـ‎	قـ‎	U+0642	qāf	[q] / [k]	q	q	Q q
ک‎	ـک‎	ـکـ‎	کـ‎	U+06A9	kāf	[k]	k	k	K k
ګ‎	ـګ‎	ـګـ‎	ګـ‎	U+06AB	gāf	[ɡ]	g	g	G g
ل‎	ـﻞ‎	ـﻠـ‎	لـ‎	U+0644	lām	[l]	l	l	L l
م‎	ـﻢ‎	ـﻤـ‎	مـ‎	U+0645	mīm	[m]	m	m	M m
ن‎	ـﻦ‎	ـﻨـ‎	نـ‎	U+0646	nūn	[n]	n	n	N n
ڼ‎	ـڼ‎	ـڼـ‎	ڼـ‎	U+06BC	nūṇ	[ɳ]	ṇ	ṇ (or nn)	Ṇ ṇ
و‎	ـﻮ‎	ـ	ـ	U+0648	wāw	[w], [u], [o]	w, ū, o	w, ū, o	W w, Ū ū, O o
ه‎	ـﻪ‎	ـﻬـ‎	هـ‎	U+0647	gərda he round hē	[h]/[ʔ], [a], [ə]	h, a, ə	h, a, ə	H h, A a, Ə ə
ي‎	ـﻲ‎	ـﻴـ‎	يـ‎	U+064A	klaka ye hard yē	[j], [i]	y, ī	y, ī	Y y, Ī ī
ې‎	ـﯥ‎	ـﯧـ‎	ېـ‎	U+06D0	pasta ye soft yē	[e]	e	ē	E e
ی‎	ـی‎	ـ	ـ	U+06CC	nārīna ye masculine yē	[ai], [j]	ay, y	ay, y	Ay ay, Y y
ۍ‎	ـۍ‎	ـ	ـ	U+06CD	x̌əźīna ye feminine yē	[əi]	ạy	əi	Əi əi
ئ‎	ـئ‎	ـئـ‎	ئـ‎	U+0626	fāiliya ye verbal yē	[əi], [j]	ạy, y	əi, y	Əi əi, Y y

Notes

• ^1 In the beginning of a word, آ (alif with madda) represents the long vowel /ɑ/ (e.g. آس - ās, "horse"), and ا (alif) represents the consonant /ʔ/ (e.g. اسلام - ʾislām or islām, "Islam"). In the middle or end of a word, ا represents the long vowel /ɑ/ which is following a consonant (e.g. کال - kāl, "year"; and نيا - nyā, "grandmother").
• ^2 The letter ړ represents /ɺ̢/ if it is not at the final position of a syllable; if it is final, it represents /ɻ/.
• ^3 ف tends to be pronounced as پ.
• ^4 Ten of the letters, ق ف ع ظ ط ض ص ح ﺫ ث, appear only in loanwords which are mostly of Arabic origin. Eight of them, ع ظ ط ض ص ح ﺫ ث, represent no additional phonemes of Pashto, and their pronunciation merges with other phonemes.
• ^5 ی represents /ai/ when it is following a consonant (e.g. لرګی - largay, "wood"), and represents /i/ when it is following a vowel (e.g. دوی - duy, "they").
• ^7 The letter ئ is also used to represent the sound /j/, e.g. جدائي - judāyī, "separation".

Alternative forms

• ^5 ی as well as ې, ۍ and ئ are sometimes replaced by the Urdu letter ے in Pakhtunkhwa.
• ^6 It is also common to write the letter ک as ك.
• ^7 It is also a traditional way to write the letter ﺉ with the hamza above turned to right - ٸ.

Historical letters now in disuse

The superscribed element of the letter ځ in earlier varieties was not hamza-shaped, but was very similar to little kāf of the letter ك. Such character is hard to find in modern fonts.

In the earliest known Pashto manuscript written in 1651 CE, ڊ (dāl with subscript dot) was used for /t͡s/ and /d͡z/, which was still used in the Diwan of Mirza written in 1690 CE, but this sign was soon replaced by څ which was first attested in 1696-7 CE. څ is now used for only /t͡s/.

Diacritic marks

The Pashto diacritic marks: zwarakay, pēš, zēr, and zwar

The four diacritic marks are:

Diacritic	Unicode	Name	Translit.	IPA	Latin
َ	U+064E	zwar	a	[a]	a
ِ	U+0650	zer	i	[i]	i
ُ	U+064F	peš	u	[u]	u
ٓ	U+0653	zwarakay	ə	[ə]	ə

Notes

• The diacritic marks are not considered separate letters. Their use is optional and are usually not written; they are occasionally used to distinguish between two words which appear similar.
• In Arabic words, the tanwin fatha (ً) can be used, e.g. مَثَلاً - masalan, "for example".

"Ye" letters

Letter	Name	Transliteration	IPA	Position in a word	Example
ي	klaka ye	y, ī	[j], [i]	it can be anywhere	يم yəm ('I am')
ې	pasta ye	e	[e]	it is at middle or end	يې ye ('you (sing.) are')
ی	nārīna ye	ay when following a consonant	[ai]	it is always at end	ستوری storay ('star')
		y when following a vowel	[j]	it is always at end	دوى duy ('they')
ۍ	x̌əźīna ye	əi	[əi]	it is always at end	وړۍ waṛəi ('wool')
ئ	fāiliya ye	əi	[əi]	it is always at end	يئ yəi ('you (plur.) are')
		y	[j]	it is at middle	جدائي judāyī ('separation')

Indications

• ^1 If ى follows a consonant in a word, it indicates the word is masculine singular and in direct case.
• ^2 ۍ always indicates the word it occurs in is feminine.
• ^3 If ئ occurs at the end of a verb, it indicates the verb is in second person plural form.

See also

• Pre-Islamic scripts in Afghanistan
• Perso-Arabic alphabet

References

• Awde & Sarwan (2002). "Pashto dictionary & phrasebook", page 24.