Pashto dialects

This article contains Pashto text. Without proper rendering support, you may see unjoined letters or other symbols instead of Pashto script.

Pashto dialects (Pashto: د پښتو ژبګوټي də Pəx̌tó žәbgóṭi) can be divided into two large varieties: Northern Pashto and Southern Pashto. Each of the two varieties of Pashto is further divided into a number of dialects. Northern Pashto is spoken in eastern Afghanistan, and central, northern and eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (including Peshawar). Southern Pashto is spoken to the south of it, in southern and western Afghanistan (including Kandahar), southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern Balochistan (including Quetta). 'Ethnologue' divides Pashto into Northern, Southern and Central Pashto, and Wanetsi.^[2]

Pashto Dialects - "we"

Northern [Eastern and Western dialects]

/muɡ/

Northern [Eastern and Western dialects]

/munɡ/

Northern Eastern [Wardak Dialect]

/muʝ/

Central [Waziri]

/miʒ/

Central [Zadrāni]

/miʝ/

South Western [possibly Kunduz]

/muʐ/

South Eastern [Quetta]

/muʒ/

South Western [Kandahar]

/muʐ/

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Overview edit

According to David Neil MacKenzie , a consonant shift took place in the northern parts of Pashtunistan in several phases in the medieval era. During the shift, the retroflex fricative ṣ̌ [ʂ] changed to x̌ [ç] or to x [x], while ẓ̌ [ʐ] changed to ǵ [ʝ] or to g [g].^[3] That is supported by the linguist Georg Morgenstierne's assertion that the Pashto script developed in the Northeast which had the phonology of a Southwestern Pashto in the 16th century.^[4] The shift was likely complete before the Pashto book Khayr al-Bayān was written by Bayazid Pir Roshan from Waziristan in 1651. According to Michael M. T. Henderson in Balochistan [Southeast]: the spilt ṣ̌ [ʂ] into š [ʃ] and ẓ̌ [ʐ] into ž [ʒ] may never have occurred in that they were always pronounced as š [ʃ] and ž [ʒ] there or that a split did occur.^[5]

Among the other Eastern Iranian languages outside Pashto, the Shughni (Khughni) and Yazgulyami branch of the Pamir languages also seem to have been affected from the ṣ̌ to x consonant shift. E.g. "meat": ɡuṣ̌t in Wakhi and ğwáṣ̌a in Southwestern Pashto, but changes to guxt in Shughni and ğwáxa in Northerneastern Pashto.^[6]

Classification edit

1. Southern variety

Abdali dialect (or South Western dialect)
Kakar dialect (or South Eastern dialect)
Shirani dialect
Marwat-Bettani dialect
Southern Karlani group

Khattak dialect
Baniswola dialect
Dawarwola dialect
Masidwola dialect
Wazirwola dialect

2. Northern variety

Central Ghilji dialect (or North Western dialect)
Yusufzai dialect (or North Eastern dialect)
Northern Karlani group

Taniwola dialect
Khosti dialect
Zadran dialect
Mangal dialect
Afridi dialect
Khogyani dialect
Wardak dialect

3. Waṇetsi Dialect

Standards edit

Regional standards edit

There are several regional standard forms of Pashto which have high prestige, and serve as a means of communication between the various tribal communities in those regions.

Central Pashto edit

Central Pashto dialects are also referred to as middle dialects.^[7]

Southern regional standard edit

Southern Pashto compromises of the South Western and South Eastern dialects.^[8]

Southern Western Pashto, also called Kandahari Pashto, is the prestige variety of Pashto in southern and western Afghanistan.

A similar variety known as South Eastern is spoken in the Balochistan province of Pakistan.^[9]

Northern regional edit

Northern Pashto compromises of the North Western and North Eastern dialects.^[10]

North Eastern Pashto, also called Eastern Pashto, is the prestige variety of Pashto, known as Yusufzai Dialect, it is spoken in central, northern, and eastern parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and in northeastern Afghanistan.

North Western Pashto is spoken, in eastern and northeastern Afghanistan, in the central Ghilji or Ghilzai region.^[9]

Tareeno edit

Although this dialect is spoken only by the Spin Tareens and not the Tor Tareens, it is known locally as Tareeno and by Western academics as Wanetsi. It is the most distinct amongst the dialects of Pashto.

Features edit

Variations have been noted in dialects of Pashto.^[11] The differences between the standard varieties of Pashto are primarily phonological, and there are simple conversion rules.^[12] The morphological differences between the standard varieties are very few and unimportant. Two of the key phonemes whose pronunciation vary between the different Pashto dialects are ښ and ږ. The southern dialect of Kandahar is considered to be the most conservative with regards to phonology. It retains the original pronunciation of these two phonemes as voiceless and voiced retroflex sibilants, respectively, and does not merge them into other phonemes unlike the northern dialects.^[13]

The dialects spoken by the tribes from the Karlani confederacy of Pashtuns are lexicologically different and very varied. Moreover, the Karlani dialects have a tendency towards a change in the pronunciation of vowels. Depending on the particular dialect, the standard Pashto [a], [ā], [o], [u] may change into [ā], [â/å/o], [ȯ/ȫ/e], [i], respectively.^[14] In the Karlani dialects of Waziristan, Bannu, and Tani (southern Khost), which follow the vowel shift to the greatest extent, these four vowels normally change into [ā], [o], [e], [i], respectively.

The nine phonemes represented in the column headings below show key phonetic differences between the dialects. Five of them are consonants written in the Pashto alphabet, and four are vowels written in the Latin script; sounds are transcribed in the IPA:

Dialects		Location	ښ	ږ	څ	ځ	ژ	a	ā	o	u
	Subdialects	Location	ښ	ږ	څ	ځ	ژ	a	ā	o	u
Abdali		Southern and western Afghanistan, including Kandahar	[ʂ]	[ʐ]	[t͡s]	[d͡z]	[ʒ]	[a]	[ɑ]	[o]	[u]
Kākaṛ		Northern Balochistan	[ʃ]	[ʒ]	[t͡s]	[d͡z]	[ʒ, z]	[a]	[ɑ]	[o]	[u]
Shirani		Shirani and Darazinda	[ʃ]	[ʒ]	[t͡s, s]	[d͡z, z]	[z]	[a]	[ɑ]	[o]	[u]
Marwat-Beṭani-Ganḍāpur^[15]		Lakki Marwat, Jandola, Tank, and Dera Ismail Khan	[ʃ]	[ʒ]	[t͡ʃ]	[d͡ʒ]	[z]	[a]	[ɑ]	[o]	[u]
Tareeno^[16]	Haranai	Harnai and Sanjawi	[ʃ]	[ʒ]	[t͡s, s, t͡ʃ]	[d͡z, z, d͡ʒ]	[z]	[a]	[ɑ]	[o]	[u]
Tareeno^[16]	Choter	Harnai and Sanjawi	[ʃ]	[ʒ]	[t͡s, s, t͡ʃ]	[d͡z, z, d͡ʒ]	[z]	[a]	[ɑ]	[o]	[u]
Khattak	General	Karak District and eastern Kohat	[ʃ]	[ʒ]	[t͡s, s]	[d͡z, z]	[ʒ]	[ɑ]	[ɔ]	[o]	[u]
	Teri
	Nasrati
Baniswola		Bannu , Mir Ali , Baka Khel , Jani Khel	[ʃ]	[ʒ]	[s]	[z]	[ʒ]	[ɑ]	[ɔ]	[ɛː]	[i]
Dawarwola		Tochi in North Waziristan	[ʃ]	[ʒ]	[t͡s, s]	[d͡z, z]	[ʒ]	[ɑ]	[o]	[e]	[i]
Wazirwola	Southern ^[17](Ahmadzai)	From Janimela, South Waziristan to Shuidar Ghar (south of Razmak)	[ʃ]	[ʒ]	[t͡ʃ]	[d͡ʒ]	[ʒ]	[ɑ]	[ɒ]	[œː, ɛː]	[i]
	Masidwola	South Waziristan	[ʃ]	[ʒ]	[t͡ʃ]	[d͡ʒ]	[ʒ]	[ɑ]	[ɒ]	[œː, ɛː]	[i]
	Northern ^[17](Utmanzai)	North Waziristan, Khaisora Valley, Razmak, Dossali, Datta Khel, Spin Wam, Shawal^[18]	[ʃ]	[ʒ]	[t͡s, s]	[d͡z, z]	[ʒ]	[ɑ]	[ɔ]	[œː, ɛː]	[i]
Taṇi		Tani, Gurbuz, and Mandozayi, in southern Khost	[x]	[ɡ]	[t͡s, s]	[d͡z, z]	[ʒ]	[ɑ]	[o]	[e]	[i]
Khosti		Central and northern Khost	[x]	[ɡ]	[t͡s, s]	[d͡z, z]	[ʒ]	[ɑ]	[ɒ]	[ɵ]	[u]
Dzādroṇ^[19]		The Zadran Arc in southern Paktia, northeastern Paktika, and southwestern Khost	[ç]	[ʝ]	[t͡s]	[d͡z]	[ʒ]	[ɑ]	[o]	[o, e]	[u, i]
Bangash-Orakzai-Turi-Zazi-Mangal		Kurram, eastern Paktia, northeastern Khost, Orakzai, Hangu, and northwestern Kohat	[x]	[ɡ]	[t͡s, s]	[d͡z, z]	[ʒ]	[ɑ]	[ɔ]	[o]	[u]
Apridi^[20]^[21]	Kambar Khel	Central and southern Khyber and Darra Adamkhel	[x]	[ɡ]	[t͡s, s]	[d͡z, z]	[ʒ, d͡ʒ]	[ɑ]	[ɔ]	[ɵ]	[u, i]
Apridi^[20]^[21]	Zakha Khel	Central and southern Khyber and Darra Adamkhel	[x]	[ɡ]	[t͡s, s]	[d͡z, z]	[ʒ, d͡ʒ]	[ɑ]	[ɔ]	[ɵ]	[u, i]
Khogyani		Khogyani, Sherzad, and Pachir aw Agam, in southwestern Nangarhar	[x]	[ɡ]	[t͡s, s]	[d͡z, z]	[ʒ]	[ɑ]	[ɒ]	[ɵ]	[u]
Wardag		Chaki Wardak, Saydabad, Jaghatu, and Jilga, in central and southern Maidan Wardak	[ç]	[ʝ]	[t͡s]	[d͡z]	[ʒ, z]	[ɑ]	[ɒ]	[o]	[u]
Central Ghilzai^[9]		Central Ghilji region (Sharana, Qalat, southern Ghazni, etc.)	[ç]	[ʝ]	[t͡s, s]	[d͡z, z]	[ʒ, z]	[a]	[ɑ]	[o]	[u]
Momand and Shinwari	Upper Momand and Shinwari	Nangrahar province	[x]	[ɡ]	[t͡s, s]	[d͡z, z]	[ʒ]	[a]	[ɑ]	[o]	[u]
Momand and Shinwari	Lower Momand (Ghoryakhel)	Peshawar, Mohmand Districy	[x]	[ɡ]	[s]	[z]	[d͡ʒ]	[a]	[ɑ]	[o]	[u]
Yusapzai	Swat	Central, northern, and eastern Pakhtunkhwa (Dir, Swat, Swabi, Hazara etc.)	[x]	[ɡ]	[s]	[z]	[d͡ʒ]	[a]	[ɑ]	[o]	[u]
Yusapzai	Mardan		[x]	[ɡ]	[s]	[z]	[d͡ʒ]	[a]	[ɑ]	[o]	[u]

Dialects belonging to the southern non-Karlani variety, the southern Karlani variety, the northern Karlani variety, and the northern non-Karlani variety, respectively, are color-coded.
Tareeno/Wanetsi is color-coded as pink

Grammar edit

The grammatical rules are may vary slightly in dialects; with the most divergence in Tarīno. Example:^[22]

Dialect	Dialect Sentence	Literary Pashto	Meaning	Divergence Noted
Kandahar	پلوشه راغلل Palwašá rā́ğləl	پلوشه راغله Palwašá rā́ğla	Palwasha came	3rd Person Plural Verbal suffix ل [əl] employed instead of 3rd Person Feminine Verbal Suffix ه [a]
Nangarhar	ما او تا ښار ته ځو mā aw tā xār tə zú	زه او ته ښار ته ځو zə aw tə x̌ār tə dzú	Me and you are going to the city	Oblique pronouns ما [mā] and تا [tā] used instead of direct pronouns زه [zə] and ته [tə]
Dzādzə́i	پلوشه زما خور دی Palwašá zmā xor de	پلوشه زما خور ده Palwašá zmā xor da	Palwasha is my sister	No differentiation in masculine and feminine "to be" - uses دی
Ghani Paktya	هلکان راغلو haləkā́n rā́ğlu	هلکان راغل haləkā́n rā́ğləl	The boys came	The third person plural verbal suffix "u" used instead of "əl"

Lexemes edit

Special words edit

Dialects can also have special vocabulary^[23]:

	Dialect	Meaning	Pashto general</general>	Borrowings
ديګول ḍigwә́l	Banisi	nest	جاله / ځاله dzā́la / jā́la	Not used
دوګول ḍugwә́l	Marwat	nest	جاله / ځاله dzā́la / jā́la	Not used
رېبون^[24] rebū́n	Waṇetsi	shirt	خت xat	کميس kamís [from Arabic]
کليس^[25] kə́līs	Waṇetsi	intellect		ذهن/عقل zehn/akə́l [from Arabic]
پينۍ^[26] pinə́i	Kakāṛi	universe	ټوپن ṭopán	جهان jahā́n [from Persian]

Example:

Special Vocabulary Example

Kə́līs (intellect)

Tareeno

Pashto [Southeastern Dialect]

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ما دې دا خبرې ته کليس نه رسېژ

mā

me:1:SG:STR:POSS

de

de:CONT:PARTICLE

dā

this:DEM

xabə́re

word:F:SG:OBL

tə

to:POST

kə́līs

intellect:M:SG:DIR

nə́

not:NEG

raséž

reach:CONT:PRS:3:SG

This topic is beyond my understanding

Compare:

زما دغه خبرې ته ذهن/عقل نه رسېږي

zmā

me:1:SG:STR:POSS

dáğe

this:DEM:OBL

xabə́re

word:F:SG:OBL

tə

to:POST

zehn/akə́l

intellect:M:SG:DIR

nə́

not:NEG

raséži

reach:CONT:PRS:3