Pashto Explained
Pashto ([2] [3] [4] ;, in Pushto; Pashto pronounced as /pəʂˈto, pʊxˈto, pəʃˈto, pəçˈto/) 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 .
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan alongside Dari,[5] [6] [7] and it is the second-largest provincial language of Pakistan, spoken mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern districts of Balochistan.[8] Likewise, it is the primary language of the Pashtun diaspora around the world. The total number of Pashto-speakers is at least 40 million,[9] although some estimates place it as high as 60 million.[10] Pashto is "one of the primary markers of ethnic identity" amongst Pashtuns.[11]
Geographic distribution
A national language of Afghanistan,[12] 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%[13] [14] [15] [16] of the total population of Afghanistan.
In Pakistan, Pashto is spoken by % of its population,[17] [18] 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,[19] [20] [21] [22] which may have the largest Pashtun population of any city in the world.[23]
Other communities of Pashto speakers are found in India, Tajikistan,[24] and northeastern Iran (primarily in South Khorasan Province to the east of Qaen, near the Afghan border).[25] 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,[26] and the Pathan community in the city of Kolkata, often nicknamed the Kabuliwala ("people of Kabul").[27] [28] Pashtun diaspora communities in other countries around the world speak Pashto, especially the sizable communities in the United Arab Emirates[29] and Saudi Arabia.
Afghanistan
Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, along with Dari Persian.[30] Since the early 18th century, the monarchs of Afghanistan have been ethnic Pashtuns (except for Habibullāh Kalakāni in 1929). Persian, the literary language of the royal court,[31] 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" leading Afghanistan to independence after the defeat of the British Empire in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919. 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[32] and the inauguration of the Kabul University in 1932 as well as the formation of the Pashto Academy (Pashto Tolana) in 1937. 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.[33] The Pashto Tolana was later incorporated into the Academy of Sciences Afghanistan in line with Soviet model following the Saur Revolution in 1978.[34]
Although officially supporting the use of Pashto, the Afghan elite regarded Persian as a "sophisticated language and a symbol of cultured upbringing".[35] 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.[36] In 1936 a royal decree of Zahir Shah formally granted Pashto the status of an official language,[37] 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.[38] 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.[39] [40] The lyrics of the national anthem of Afghanistan are in Pashto.
Pakistan
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.[41] In 1955, Pashtun intellectuals including Abdul Qadir formed the Pashto Academy Peshawar on the model of Pashto Tolana formed in Afghanistan.[42] In 1974, the Department of Pashto was established in the University of Balochistan for the promotion of Pashto.[43]
In Pakistan, Pashto is the first language around of % of its population (per the 1998 census).[44] 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.[45] Yet, the primary medium of education in government schools in Pakistan is Urdu.[46]
The lack of importance given to Pashto and its neglect has caused growing resentment amongst Pashtuns.[47] [48] [49] [50] It is noted that Pashto is taught poorly in schools in Pakistan.[51] Moreover, in government schools material is not provided for in the Pashto dialect of that locality, Pashto being a dialectically rich language.[52] Further, researchers have observed that Pashtun students are unable to fully comprehend educational material in Urdu.[53]
Professor Tariq Rahman states:[54] Robert Nicols states:[55]
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.[56] 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".[57]
History
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.[58] [59] [60] 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.[61] [62]
Compare with other Eastern Iranian Languages and Old Avestan:
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).
[67] [68] [69] [70] 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 (Pushto; Pashto: پټه خزانه) is a Pashto manuscript[71] 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.[72] [73] Nile Green comments in this regard:[74]
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.[75]
For instance Khushal Khattak laments in :[76]
Grammar
See main article: Pashto grammar. 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.[12] 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),[77] 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
See main article: Pashto phonology.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back |
|---|
| Close | pronounced as /ink/ | | pronounced as /ink/ |
|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ |
|---|
| Open | pronounced as /ink/ | | pronounced as /ink/ | |
|---|
Consonants
Labial! colspan="2" Dental/
alveolar | Post-
alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal |
|---|
| Nasal | | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ | | | | pronounced as /ink/ | | | | pronounced as /ink/ | | | | |
|---|
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | | | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | | | |
|---|
| Affricate | | | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | | | | | | | | | |
|---|
| Fricative | (pronounced as /ink/) | | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | | | pronounced as /ink/ | |
|---|
| Approximant | | | | pronounced as /link/ | | | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ | | | | |
|---|
| Rhotic | | | | pronounced as /link/ | | | | | | | | | | | |
|---|
- The retroflex rhotic or lateral, tends to be a lateral flap [{{IPA link|}}</small>] at the beginning of a syllable or other prosodic unit, and a regular flap [{{IPA link|ɽ}}</small>] or approximant [{{IPA link|ɻ}}] elsewhere.[78] [79]
Vocabulary
In Pashto, most of the native elements of the lexicon are related to other Eastern Iranian languages. 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".[80] For instance, Georg Morgenstierne notes the Pashto word Pushto; Pashto: مېچن i.e. a hand-mill as being derived from the Ancient Greek word Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: μηχανή (i.e. a device).[81] Post-7th century borrowings came primarily from Persian and Hindi-Urdu, with Arabic words being borrowed through Persian,[82] but sometimes directly.[83] [84] Modern speech borrows words from English, French, and German.[85]
However, a remarkably large number of words are unique to Pashto.[86] [87]
Here is an exemplary list of Pure Pashto and borrowings:[88] [89]
| Pashto | Persian Loan | Arabic Loan | Meaning |
|---|
| Persian: خدمت
| Arabic: خدمة
| service |
hátsa | Persian: کوشش
kušeš | | effort/try |
,
malgə́ray, malgə́re | Persian: دوست
dost | | friend |
| naṛә́i | جهان jahān
| دنياdunyā | world |
| tod/táwda | گرمgarm | | hot |
| aṛtyā́ | | ضرورةḍarurah | need |
| híla | اميدumid | | hope |
| də...pə aṛá | بارهbāra | | about |
| bolә́la | | قصيدةqasidah | 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.
[87] [90] [91] Classical vocabulary
There is a lot of old vocabulary that has been replaced by borrowings e.g. Pushto; Pashto: پلاز|nocat=y Pushto; Pashto: plâz|nocat=y[92] 'throne' with Persian: تخت Persian: takht, from Persian.[93] [94] Or the word Pushto; Pashto: يګانګي|nocat=y Pushto; Pashto: yagānagí|nocat=y[95] meaning 'uniqueness' used by Pir Roshan Bayazid.[96] Such classical vocabulary is being reintroduced to modern Pashto.[97] Some words also survive in dialects like Pushto; Pashto: ناوې پلاز 'the bride-room'.[98]
Example from Khayr al-Bayān:
Transliteration: Pushto; Pashto: ... '''be-yagānagə́i''', be-kararə́i wi aw pə badxwə́i kx̌e wi pə gunāhā́n|italic=no
Translation: "... without singularity/uniqueness, without calmness and by bad-attitude are on sin ."
Writing system
See main article: Pashto alphabet. Pashto employs the Pashto alphabet, a modified form of the Perso-Arabic alphabet or Arabic script.[99] 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[100] and 4 diacritic marks. Latin Pashto is also used.[101] [102] [103] 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:
Pushto; Pashto: ا
ā
pronounced as //ɑ, a// | Pushto; Pashto: ب
b
pronounced as //b// | Pushto; Pashto: پ
p
pronounced as //p// | Pushto; Pashto: ت
t
pronounced as //t// | Pushto; Pashto: ټ
ṭ
pronounced as //ʈ// | Pushto; Pashto: ث
(s)
pronounced as //s// | Pushto; Pashto: ج
ǧ
pronounced as //d͡ʒ// | Pushto; Pashto: ځ
g, dz
pronounced as //d͡z// | Pushto; Pashto: چ
č
pronounced as //t͡ʃ// | Pushto; Pashto: څ
c, ts
pronounced as //t͡s// | Pushto; Pashto: ح
(h)
pronounced as //h// | Pushto; Pashto: خ
x
pronounced as //x// |
Pushto; Pashto: د
d
pronounced as //d// | Pushto; Pashto: ډ
ḍ
pronounced as //ɖ// | Pushto; Pashto: ﺫ
(z)
pronounced as //z// | Pushto; Pashto: ﺭ
r
pronounced as //r// | Pushto; Pashto: ړ
ṛ
pronounced as //ɺ, ɻ, ɽ// | Pushto; Pashto: ﺯ
z
pronounced as //z// | Pushto; Pashto: ژ
ž
pronounced as //ʒ// | Pushto; Pashto: ږ
ǵ (or ẓ̌)
pronounced as //ʐ, ʝ, ɡ, ʒ// | Pushto; Pashto: س
s
pronounced as //s// | Pushto; Pashto: ش
š
pronounced as //ʃ// | Pushto; Pashto: ښ
x̌ (or ṣ̌)
pronounced as //ʂ, ç, x, ʃ// |
Pushto; Pashto: ص
(s)
pronounced as //s// | Pushto; Pashto: ض
(z)
pronounced as //z// | Pushto; Pashto: ط
(t)
pronounced as //t// | Pushto; Pashto: ظ
(z)
pronounced as //z// | Pushto; Pashto: ع
(ā)
pronounced as //ɑ// | Pushto; Pashto: غ
ğ
pronounced as //ɣ// | Pushto; Pashto: ف
f
pronounced as //f// | Pushto; Pashto: ق
q
pronounced as //q// | Pushto; Pashto: ک
k
pronounced as //k// | Pushto; Pashto: ګ
ģ
pronounced as //ɡ// | Pushto; Pashto: ل
l
pronounced as //l// |
Pushto; Pashto: م
m
pronounced as //m// | Pushto; Pashto: ن
n
pronounced as //n// | Pushto; Pashto: ڼ
ṇ
pronounced as //ɳ// | Pushto; Pashto: ں
̃, ń
pronounced as //◌̃// | Pushto; Pashto: و
w, u, o
pronounced as //w, u, o// | Pushto; Pashto: ه
h, a
pronounced as //h, a// | Pushto; Pashto: ۀ
ə
pronounced as //ə// | Pushto; Pashto: ي
y, i
pronounced as //j, i// | Pushto; Pashto: ې
e
pronounced as //e// | Pushto; Pashto: ی
ay, y
pronounced as //ai, j// | Pushto; Pashto: ۍ
əi
pronounced as //əi// | Pushto; Pashto: ئ
əi, y
pronounced as //əi, j// | |
Dialects
See main article: Pashto dialects. Pashto dialects are divided into two categories, the "soft" southern grouping of Paṣ̌tō, and the "hard" northern grouping of Pax̌tō (Pakhtu).[104] Each group is further divided into a number of dialects. The Southern dialect of Tareeno is the most distinctive Pashto dialect.1. Southern variety
- Abdaili or Kandahar dialect (or South Western dialect)
- Kakar dialect (or South Eastern dialect)
2. Northern variety
- Central Ghilji dialect (or North Western dialect)
- Yusapzai and Momand dialect (or North Eastern dialect)
- Bangash-Orakzai-Turi-Zazi dialect
3. Tareeno Dialect
Literary Pashto
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.[105]
Criticism
There is no actual Pashto that can be identified as "Standard" Pashto, as Colye remarks:[105] As David MacKenzie notes there is no real need to develop a "Standard" Pashto:[106]
Literature
See main article: Pashto literature and poetry.
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
An excerpt from the Kalām of Rahman Baba:
Pronunciation:
Transliteration:
Translation: "I Rahman, myself am guilty that I am a lover,
On what does this other universe call me guilty."
Proverbs
See:
Pashto also has a rich heritage of proverbs (Pashto matalúna, sg. matál).[107] [108] An example of a proverb:
Transliteration: Obә́ pə ḍāng nə beléẓ̌i
Translation: "One cannot divide water by [hitting it with] a pole."
Phrases
Greeting phrases
| Greeting | Pashto | Transliteration | Literal meaning |
|---|
| Hello | | stә́ṛay mә́ šestә́ṛe mә́ še | May you not be tired |
| stә́ṛi mә́ šəi | May you not be tired [said to people] |
| pə xair rā́ğle | With goodness (you) came |
| Thank you | | manә́na | Acceptance [from the verb {{nq|{{lang|ps|منل}}}}] |
| Goodbye | | pə mә́kha de x̌á | On your front be good |
| xwdā́i pāmā́n | From: [With/On God's security] |
|
Colors
List of colors:
List of colors borrowed from neighbouring languages:
- nārәnjí - orange [from [[Persian language|Persian]]]
- gulābí - pink [from [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]], originally Persian]
- nilí - indigo [from [[Persian language|Persian]], ultimately Sanskrit]]
Times of the day
| Time | Pashto | Transliteration | IPA |
|---|
| Morning | | gahíź | pronounced as //ɡaˈhid͡z// |
| Noon | | ğarmá | pronounced as //ɣarˈma// |
| Afternoon | | māspasx̌ín | Kandahar: pronounced as //mɑs.paˈʂin//
Yusapzai: pronounced as //mɑs.paˈxin//
Bannuchi: pronounced as //məʃ.poˈʃin//
Marwat: pronounced as //mɑʃˈpin// |
| Later afternoon | | māzdigár
māzigár | pronounced as //mɑz.di.ˈɡar//
pronounced as //mɑ.zi.ˈɡar// |
| Evening | | māx̌ā́m | Kandahari: pronounced as //mɑˈʂɑm//
Wardak: pronounced as //mɑˈçɑm//
Yusapzai: pronounced as //mɑˈxɑm//
Wazirwola: pronounced as //lmɑˈʃɔm//
Marwat: pronounced as //mɑˈʃɑm// |
| Late evening | | māsxután | pronounced as //mɑs.xwəˈtan//
pronounced as //mɑs.xʊˈtan// | |
Months
Pashtuns use the Vikrami calendar:[109]
| Vikrami month[110] | Pashto | Pashto[Karlāṇí dialects] | Gregorian months |
|---|
| 1 | Chaitra | četә́r | četә́r | March–April |
| 2 | Vaisākha | sāk | wasyók | April–May |
| 3 | Jyeshta | jeṭ | žeṭ | May–June |
| 4 | Āshāda | hāṛ | awóṛ | June–July |
| 5 | Shraavana | sāwә́ṇ | wā́sa | July–August |
| 6 | Bhādra | badrú | bā́dri | August–September |
| 7 | Ashwina | āsú | ássi | September–October |
| 8 | Kartika | kātә́i / kāták | kā́tye | October–November |
| 9 | Mārgasirsa(Agrahayana) | mangә́r | mā́ngər | November–December |
| 10 | Pausha | čilá | po | December–January |
| 11 | Māgha | bә́la čilá | kunzә́la | January–February |
| 12 | Phālguna | pāgáṇ | arbә́ša | February–March | |
Bibliography
- Book: Hallberg, Daniel G. . 1992 . Pashto, Waneci, Ormuri . Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan . 4 . National Institute of Pakistani Studies . 969-8023-14-3 . 1034637486.
- Book: Morgenstierne, Georg . Georg Morgenstierne . 1926, pub. by Aschehoug, Oslo . Report on a Linguistic Mission to Afghanistan . Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning Serie C I-2 . 978-0-923891-09-1 . 2007 . Ishi Press International . New York.
- Book: Penzl, Herbert . Herbert Penzl . A Grammar of Pashto: A Descriptive Study of the Dialect of Kandahar, Afghanistan . 978-0-923891-72-5 . 2009 . Ishi Press . New York . 1955, pub. by American Council of Learned Societies, Washington, DC.
- Book: Penzl, Herbert . A Reader of Pashto . 2009 . Ishi Press . New York . 978-0-923891-71-8 . 1962, pub. by University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI.
- Book: Schmidt . Rüdiger. Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum . L. Reichert . Wiesbaden . 1989 . 3-88226-413-6.
Further reading
- Morgenstierne . Georg . The Place of Pashto among the Iranic Languages and the Problem of the Constitution of Pashtun Linguistic and Ethnic Unity . Paṣto Quarterly . 1 . 4 . 1978 . 43–55.
External links
Notes and References
- Book: Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. 6 April 2010. Elsevier. 978-0-08-087775-4. 845–.
- Web site: Pashto (less commonly Pushtu) . Merriam-Webster Dictionary . Merriam-Webster, Incorporated . 18 July 2016.
- Web site: Pashto (also Pushtu) . American Heritage Dictionary . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company . 18 July 2016.
- Web site: Pashto (also Pushtu) . https://web.archive.org/web/20151201094147/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/english/pashto . dead . 1 December 2015 . Oxford Online Dictionaries, UK English . Oxford University Press.
- Web site: Article Sixteen of the 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan . From among the languages of Pashto, Dari, Uzbeki, Turkmani, Baluchi, Pashai, Nuristani, Pamiri (alsana), Arab and other languages spoken in the country, Pashto and Dari are the official languages of the state. . 2004 . 13 June 2012 . 28 October 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131028065437/http://www.afghan-web.com/politics/current_constitution.html#preamble . dead .
- [Constitution of Afghanistan]
- Book: Afghanistan: The land . Banting . Erinn . 2003 . Crabtree Publishing Company . 0-7787-9335-4 . 4 . 22 August 2010 . en.
- http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/tables/POPULATION%20BY%20MOTHER%20TONGUE.pdf Population by Mother Tongue
- (40 million)
- Book: A Grammar of Pashto a Descriptive Study of the Dialect of Kandahar, Afghanistan . Penzl . Herbert . Ismail Sloan . 2009 . Ishi Press International . 978-0-923891-72-5 . 210 . Estimates of the number of Pashto speakers range from 40 million to 60 million... . en.
- Book: Hakala, Walter. Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors: The Changing Politics of Language Choice. 2011-12-09. Brill. 978-90-04-21765-2. 55. en. "As is well known, the Pashtun people place a great deal of pride upon their language as an identifier of their distinct ethnic and historical identity. While it is clear that not all those who self-identify as ethnically Pashtun themselves use Pashto as their primary language, language does seem to be one of the primary markers of ethnic identity in contemporary Afghanistan.".
- Web site: Pashto language . Encyclopædia Britannica. 7 December 2010.
- Web site: Languages: Afghanistan. Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook. 27 October 2020. (48% L1 + L2)
- Book: Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world. Brown. Keith. Sarah Ogilvie. 2009. Elsevie. Pashto, which is mainly spoken south of the mountain range of the Hindu Kush, is reportedly the mother tongue of 60% of the Afghan population.. 978-0-08-087774-7. 845. 7 April 2012.
- Web site: Pashto . . UCLA International Institute: Center for World Languages . 10 December 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090103185916/http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=64&menu=004 . 3 January 2009 . dead . (50%)
- Encyclopedia: Kieffer. Ch. M.. 1982. https://iranicaonline.org/articles/afghanistan-v-languages. AFGHANISTAN v. Languages . "Paṧtō (1) is the native tongue of 50 to 55 percent of Afghans".. Encyclopædia Iranica. 11 October 2020.
- Web site: Government of Pakistan: Population by Mother Tongue. statpak.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. https://web.archive.org/web/20060217220529/http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf. 17 February 2006. 18 July 2016.
- Web site: Population by mother tongue . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141010134307/http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/tables/POPULATION%20BY%20MOTHER%20TONGUE.pdf . 2014-10-10 . 2023-09-15 . www.pbs.gov.pk.
- Web site: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. 17 July 2009. Karachi's Invisible Enemy . 24 August 2010. PBS.
- Web site: 24 August 2009. In a city of ethnic friction, more tinder. https://web.archive.org/web/20100116211443/http://www.thenational.ae/. 16 January 2010. 24 August 2010. The National.
- 28 August 2010. Columnists The Pakhtun in Karachi. 8 September 2011. Time.
- http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta2/tft/article.php?issue=20110715&page=5
- Lieven. Anatol . 2021-05-04. An Afghan Tragedy: The Pashtuns, the Taliban and the State . Survival. 63. 3. 7–36. 10.1080/00396338.2021.1930403. 235219004 . 0039-6338. free.
- Web site: Pashto, Southern . SIL International . Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 14th edition . 2000 . 18 September 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080626003043/http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_language.asp?code=PBT . 26 June 2008 .
- Web site: Languages of Iran . SIL International . Ethnologue: Languages of the World . 27 September 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120204023910/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=iran . 4 February 2012 .
- News: Tattooed 'blue-skinned' Hindu Pushtuns look back at their roots. The Hindu. 3 February 2018. Haidar. Suhasini.
- News: The 'Kabuliwala' Afghans of Kolkata. BBC News. 23 May 2015.
- Web site: Hindu Pashtuns: How One Granddaughter Uncovered India's Forgotten Links to Afghanistan. 8 August 2018.
- Web site: Languages of United Arab Emirates. SIL International. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 27 September 2010.
- 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. https://books.google.com/books?id=LMZm0w0k1c4C&pg=PA1914
- 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.
- Other sources note 1933, i.e. Johannes Christian Meyer-Ingwersen. Untersuchungen zum Satzbau des Paschto. 1966. Ph.D. Thesis, Hamburg 1966.
- Book: Green. Nile. Afghanistan in Ink: Literature Between Diaspora and Nation. Arbabzadah. Nushin. 2013. Hurst. 978-1-84904-204-8. 17. en.
- Book: Green. Nile. Afghanistan in Ink: Literature Between Diaspora and Nation. Arbabzadah. Nushin. 2013. Hurst. 978-1-84904-204-8. en.
- Tariq Rahman. "Pashto Language & Identity Formation in Pakistan." Contemporary South Asia, July 1995, Vol 4, Issue 2, p151-20.
- István Fodor, Claude Hagège. Reform of Languages. Buske, 1983. P. 105ff.
- Campbell, George L.: Concise Compendium of the world's languages. London: Routledge 1999.
- Hussain, Rizwan. Pakistan and the emergence of Islamic militancy in Afghanistan. Burlington, Ashgate: 2005. p. 63.
- [Louis Dupree (professor)|Dupree, Louis]
- 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.
- Book: Green. Nile. Afghanistan in Ink: Literature Between Diaspora and Nation. Arbabzadah. Nushin. 2013. Hurst. 978-1-84904-204-8. 109. en.
- Book: Brown. Michael Edward. Fighting Words: Language Policy and Ethnic Relations in Asia. Ganguly. Sumit. MIT Press. 2003. 978-0262523332. 71. limited.
- Web site: Department of Pashto. 2021-09-07. web.uob.edu.pk.
- Web site: Government of Pakistan: Population by Mother Tongue. https://web.archive.org/web/20060217220529/http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf. 17 February 2006. 18 July 2016. statpak.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
- Septfonds, D. 2006. Pashto. In: Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world. 845 – 848. Keith Brown / Sarah Ogilvie (eds.). Elsevier, Oxford: 2009.
- Web site: Will change in medium of instruction improve education in KP?. Bushra. Rahim. 28 September 2014. dawn.com. 18 July 2016.
- Book: Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan. Daniel Hallberg. 1992. Quaid-i-Azam University & Summer Institute of Linguistics. 4. 36 to 37. 969-8023-14-3. 6 October 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20180712204446/http://www-01.sil.org/sociolx/pubs/32847_SSNP04.pdf. 12 July 2018. dead.
- Web site: د کرښې پرغاړه (په پاکستان کې د مورنیو ژبو حیثیت) . mashaalradio.org. 22 July 2014 . 18 July 2016.
- Teaching and learning in Pakistan: the role of language in education . Hywel Coleman . 2010 . British Council, Pakistan . 24 September 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101104060039/http://www.britishcouncil.org/pakistan-ette-role-of-language-in-education.htm . 4 November 2010 .
- News: Mohmand. Mureeb. 27 April 2014. The decline of Pashto. The Express Tribune. "...because of the state's patronage, Urdu is now the most widely-spoken language in Pakistan. But the preponderance of one language over all others eats upon the sphere of influence of other, smaller languages, which alienates the respective nationalities and fuels aversion towards the central leadership...If we look to our state policies regarding the promotion of Pashto and the interests of the Pakhtun political elite, it is clear that the future of the Pashto language is dark. And when the future of a language is dark, the future of the people is dark.".
- Carter. Lynn. Socio-Economic Profile of Kurram Agency. Planning and Development Department, Peshawar, NWFP. 1991. 82.
- Carter and Raza. Socio-Economic Profile of South Waziristan Agency. Planning and Development Department, Peshawar, NWFP. 1990. 69. Sources say that this is mainly because the Pushto text books in use in the settled areas of N.W.F.P. are written in the Yusufzai dialect, which is not the dialect in use in the Agency.
- Hallberg. Daniel. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan. National Institute of Pakistan Studies Quaid-i-Azam University and Summer Institute of Linguisitics. 4. 36. A brief interview with the principal of the high school in Madyan, along with a number of his teachers, helps to underscore the importance of Pashto in the school domain within Pashtoon territory. He reported that Pashto is used by teachers to explain things to students all the way up through tenth class. The idea he was conveying was that students do not really have enough ability in Urdu to operate totally in that language. He also expressed the thought that Pashto-speaking students in the area really do not learn Urdu very well in public school and that they are thus somewhat ill prepared to meet the expectation that they will know how to use Urdu and English when they reach the college level. He likened the education system to a wall that has weak bricks at the bottom..
- Rahman. Tariq. The Pashto language and identity-formation in Pakistan. Contemporary South Asia . July 1995. 4. 2. 151–20. 10.1080/09584939508719759. Research Gate . 0958-4935 .
- Book: Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors: The Changing Politics of Language Choice. 2011-12-09. Brill. 978-90-04-21765-2. 279. en.
- Book: Khan, M. Taimur S.. Pakistanizing Pashtun: The linguistic and cultural disruption and re-invention of Pashtun. American University. 2016. 72. Urdu which is the native language of only 7.57 per cent of Pakistanis (though widely spoken as the national language and lingua franca in Pakistan) dominates all other local languages; and Pashto which is the native language of 15.42 per cent of the total population has no official recognition beyond primary school...Despite its limited scope, the Pashto-medium schools were a success as the "achievement tests showed an improvement in Pashto medium schools as compared to Urdu medium schools". Nonetheless, the better results have so far not motivated the government to introduce Pashto-medium schools at a larger scale in Pashtun populated areas..
- Book: Khan, M. Taimur S.. Pakistanizing Pashtun: The linguistic and cultural disruption and re-invention of Pashtun. American University. 2016. 96–97.
- Book: Darmesteter, James . Chants populaires des Afghans . 1890 . Paris.
- 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'."
- Book: Hotak . Muhammad . Habibi . Abd al-Hayy . The Hidden Treasure: A Biography of Pas̲htoon Poets . 1997 . 21 . With regard to Morgenstierne's statement that the language is affiliated with eastern Iranian languages there is ample evidence to consider it a Bactrian language..
- Book: Comrie . Bernard . The world's major languages . 2009 . Routledge.
- Web site: AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṧto. 10 October 2010. G. Morgenstierne. Encyclopaedia Iranica. Paṧtō undoubtedly belongs to the Northeastern Iranic branch.. 22 January 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120122024645/http://www.iranica.com/articles/afghanistan-vi-pasto. dead.
- Book: Beekes, Robert Stephen Paul. A Grammar of Gatha-Avestan. 1988. BRILL. 978-90-04-08332-5. en.
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- Book: Efimov, V. A.. The Ormuri Language in Past and Present. 2011. Forum for Language Initiatives. 978-969-9437-02-1. en.
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- Web site: Afghan and Afghanistan . . alamahabibi.com. 1969. 24 October 2010.
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- Book: Afghanistan – a country without a state?. Noelle-Karimi. Christine. Conrad J. Schetter . Reinhard Schlagintweit . 2002. IKO. University of Michigan, United States. 3-88939-628-3. 18. The earliest mention of the name 'Afghan' (Abgan) is to be found in a Sasanid inscription from the third century AD and their language as "Afghani"..
- Web site: Events Of The Year 910 (1525) . 5 . John Leyden, Esq. M.D. . William Erskine, Esq. . . . 1921 . 10 January 2012 . To the south is Afghanistān. There are ten or eleven different languages spoken in Kābul: Arabic, Persian, Tūrki, Moghuli, Afghani, Pashāi, Parāchi, Geberi, Bereki, Dari and Lamghāni. . https://web.archive.org/web/20121114042010/http://persian.packhum.org/persian//pf?file=03501051&ct=92 . 14 November 2012 . dead .
- Web site: Pata Khazana. https://web.archive.org/web/20110723045855/http://patakhazana.home.comcast.net/~patakhazana/Khazana.pdf. 23 July 2011. 27 September 2010.
- 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, .p. 142
- Lucia Serena Loi: Il tesoro nascosto degli Afghani. Il Cavaliere azzurro, Bologna 1987, p. 33
- Book: Afghan History Through Afghan Eyes. 2016. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-049223-6. 37–38. en-US. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190247782.001.0001. Green. Nile.
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- Book: Raverty, Henry G.. Selections from the Poetry of the Afghans: From the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century, Literally Translated from the Original Pushto, with Notices of the Different Authors, and Remarks on the Mystic Doctrine and Poetry of the Sūfis. 2015. Cosmo Publications. 978-81-307-1858-3. 127. en.
- Emeneau, M. B. (1962) "Bilingualism and Structural Borrowing" Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 106(5): pp. 430–442, p. 441
- D.N. MacKenzie, 1990, "Pashto", in Bernard Comrie, ed, The major languages of South Asia, the Middle East and Africa, p. 103
- Herbert Penzl, 1965, A reader of Pashto, p 7
- Book: Kaye, Alan S.. Phonologies of Asia and Africa: (including the Caucasus). 1997-06-30. Eisenbrauns. 978-1-57506-019-4. 736. en.
- Book: Morgenstierne, Georg. A New Etymological Vocabulary of Pashto. 2003. Reichert. 978-3-89500-364-6. 48. en.
- 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"
- 4030748. Areal Lexical Contacts of the Afghan (Pashto) Language (Based on the Texts of the XVI-XVIII Centuries). Vladimir Kushev. 1. Iran and the Caucasus. 159–166. 1997 . 10.1163/157338497x00085.
- Census of India, 1931, Volume 17, Part 2. At the same time Pashto has borrowed largely from Persian and Hindustani, and through those languages from Arabic.. 292. Times of India. 1937. 7 June 2009. Census Commissioner. India.
- 10.2307/594900 . Journal of the American Oriental Society. Herbert Penzl. January–March 1961. Western Loanwords in Modern Pashto. 81. 1. 43–52. 594900.
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- http://www.hewad.com/mohammadgul/ Muhammad Gul Khan Momand
- https://qamosona.com/G3/index.php/term/,6f57b19b61545da79b9ea5acae615c.xhtml
- Pata Khanaza by M. Hotak (1762–1763), translated by K. Habibi page 21, Alama Habibi Portal.
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- Faqir . Faqir Muhammad . 2014 . The Neologism of Bayazid Ansari . https://web.archive.org/web/20211014062439/http://khyber.org/pacademy/journal/pdf/2014-Pasht-43-Faqir-TheNeologi.pdf . usurped . 14 October 2021 . Pashto . 43 . 647–648 . 147–165 .
- Book: Pashtoon, Zeeya A. . Pashto–English Dictionary . 2009 . Dunwoody Press . 978-1-931546-70-6 . 144 . en .
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- Web site: NGA: Standardization Policies. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130213212545/http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/romanization.html. 2013-02-13. nga.mil.
- Book: Claus . Peter J. . Diamond . Sarah . Ann Mills . Margaret . South Asian Folklore: An Encyclopedia : Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka . 2003 . Taylor & Francis . 9780415939195 . 447. en.
- Master's thesis . Coyle. Dennis Walter. 2014-01-01. Placing Wardak Among Pashto Varieties. University of North Dakota.
- MacKenzie. D. N.. 1959. A Standard Pashto. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 22. 1/3. 231–235. 609426. 0041-977X.
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- 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.
- Book: Jazab, Yousaf Khan. An Ethno-Linguistic Study of the Karlanri Varieties of Pashto. Pashto Academy, University of Peshawar. 342–343.
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Afghanistan
Pakistan