Pashto
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Pashto (Naskh: پښتو, IPA: [pəʂ'to]), also rendered as Pakhto, Pushto, Pukhto, Pashtoe, Pashtu, Pushtu, also known as Afghani[1][2] or Kabuli,[3] is an Eastern Iranian language spoken by Pashtuns living in Afghanistan and Pakistan.[4]
Native speakers of Pashto account for 42% of the Afghan population[5] and 15.42% of Pakistan.[6] As defined in the Constitution, Pashto is a national and official language of Afghanistan and is used for the administration of the Afghan government throughout the country.
Dialects
As a consequence of life in mountainous areas, weak socio-economic inter-relations, along with other historic and linguistic reasons, there are many dialects in Pashto language. However, as a whole, Pashto has two main dialects: soft or western dialect and hard or eastern dialect. The difference between these two dialects is in the use of some vowels and sounds. One of the main features of the dialects is the differences in the pronunciation of these five phonemes (all sounds in IPA):
Southwest: | [ts] | [dz] | [ʂ] | [ʐ] | [ʒ] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Southeast: | [ts] | [dz] | [ʃ] | [ʒ] | [ʒ] |
Northwest: | [s] | [z] | [ç] | [j] | [ʒ] |
Northeast: | [s] | [z] | [x] | [g] | [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.
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)[7] and by over 15 million people in the south, east, west and a few northern provinces of Afghanistan (ca. 40% of the total population).[8] In Pakistan, smaller, modern "transplant" communities are also found in Sindh (Karachi, Hyderabad). Other smaller communities of Pashto-speakers are found in northeastern Iran and in India.[9]Cite error: A <ref>
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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 و ى ئ ي ې ۍ
Letters specific to Pashto
The letters below are specific to Pashto only:
ټ، ځ، څ، ډ، ړ، ږ، ښ، ګ، ڼ، ې ،ۍ
The five Yaas of Pashto
The following are the five Yaas used in Pashto writing:
ی، ي، ې، ۍ، ﺉ
Examples
- Note - The following transliterations 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
- Pashtunization
- List of Pashto language poets
- List of Pashto language singers
- Iranian Languages vocabulary comparison table
Bibliography
- Schmidt, Rüdiger (ed.) (1989). Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum. Wiesbaden: Reichert. ISBN 3-88226-413-6.
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- 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
- ^ 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>.
- ^ "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>
- ^ Abstract of speakers’ strength of languages and mother tongues – 2001, Census of India (retrieved 17 March 2008)
- ^ UCLA Language Materials Project: Language Profile
- ^ CIA World Fackbook: Afghanistan
- ^ Pakistan Census: Population By Mother Tongue
- ^ Government of Pakistan: Population by Mother Tongue
- ^ CIA -The World Factbook -- Afghanistan
- ^ "Phonemic Inventory of Pashto" (PDF). CRULP. Retrieved 2007-06-07.
- ^ Pashto Alphabet Table
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/80/Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg/40px-Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg.png)
- 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 [1]
- Pashto to English Dictionary [2]
- H. G. Raverty. A Dictionary of the Puk'hto, Pus'hto, or Language of the Afghans. Second edition, with considerable additions. London: Williams and Norgate, 1867.
- Freeware Online Pashto Dictionaries
- Dr. Kabir Stori (ډاکتر کبیر ستوری)
- Pashto (پښتو ېده کړه)
- afghanan(افغانان)
- Khyber.Org - Khyber Gateway
- AEAS
- ( Talafghan.com تل افغان خپلواکه ناپېيلې فرهنګي ټولنيزه وېب پاڼه )
- Pashtoonkhwa(د پښتنو ټولنيز ولسوليز ګوند پښتونخوا/ افغانستان)
- TolAfghan (ټول افغان)
- Benawa.com: Kandahar Afghanistan (بېنوا ويب پاڼه - افغانستان)
- Hewad Afghanistan - هېواد افغانستان
- Pashto.org - Da Pashto Network
- Yaw Afghan (Free Pashto software, fonts etc.)
- Afghan Adabi Baheer (د افغان ادبي بهير)
- Gorbat.org (ګوربت كلتوري ټولنه)
- LawangOnline Pashto magazine (لونګ مجله)
- First Unicode Pashto Discussion Board from Pukhtoonkhwa دستار پښتو حجره
- Google in Pashto
- VOA News - Pashto (د امریکا غږ - پښتو)
- Azadi Radio (د آزادۍ راديو)
- BBC News - Pashto
- CRI Radio پښتو (Pashto)
- Deutsche Welle Pashto - د المان غږ
- Deutsche Welle Pashto Radio - د المان غږ راديو
- AVT Khyber - Pashto TV
- UCLA article
- Ethnologue report for Pashto
- GRN report for Pashto
- Hindi/Urdu-English-Kalasha-Khowar-Nuristani-Pashtu Comparative Word List
- Download free english-pashto dictionary
- د پښتو ژبی ډیر ارزښتناکه کورتپانه
- An cultural pashto web site
- Shamshad Tv is the only and the best Pashto television in Afghanistan
- The Pashto software localization and development
Pashto Computer Fonts
- Free fonts: