Pashto dialects

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 Archived 2021-02-28 at the Wayback Machine 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 Northeastern Pashto.^[6]

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; Miranzai Dialect (Bangash and Orakzai)

3. Waṇetsi Dialect

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.

Central Pashto Speak Mostly The Tribes of Bangash , Wazir , Banusi,Zadran , Mahsud & Dawar.

Southern regional standard#edit

Southern Pashto compromises of the South Western and South Eastern dialects.^[7]

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.^[8]

Northern regional#edit

Northern Pashto compromises of the North Western and North Eastern dialects.^[9]

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.^[8]

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.

Variations have been noted in dialects of Pashto.^[10] The differences between the standard varieties of Pashto are primarily phonological, and there are simple conversion rules.^[11] 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.^[12]

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.^[13] 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 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:^[21]

Lexemes#edit

Special words#edit

Dialects can also have special vocabulary^[22]:

Example:

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

This topic is beyond my understanding

Derivative words#edit

These can be classed as deriving from "standard" Pashto

In general, the Karlani dialects, both in southern and northern varieties, show more vocabulary differences than the non-Karlani southern and northern dialects.

• Pashto Swadesh list
• Eastern Iranian languages
• Proto-Indo-European language
• Indo-Iranian languages

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2. ^ Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Language Family Trees. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International.
3. ^ MacKenzie, D. N. "A Standard Pashto". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 22: 232–233. Archived from the original on October 24, 2005.
4. ^ Morgenstierne, Georg (2003). A New Etymological Vocabulary of Pashto. Reichert. pp. vii–viii. ISBN 978-3-89500-364-6.
5. ^ Henderson, Michael M. T. (1983). "Four Varieties of Pashto". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 103 (3): 596. doi:10.2307/602038. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 602038.
6. ^ Gawarjon (高尔锵/Gāo Ěrqiāng) (1985). Outline of the Tajik language (塔吉克语简志/Tǎjíkèyǔ Jiǎnzhì). Beijing: Nationalities Publishing House.
7. ^ "Glottolog 4.3 - Southern Pashto". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
8. ^ a b c d Coyle, Dennis Walter (2014). Placing Wardak Among Pashto Varieties (Master's thesis). University of North Dakota.
9. ^ "Glottolog 4.3 - Northern Pashto". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
10. ^ Grierson, George (1921). Linguistic survey of India. Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing. [Reprinted by Accurate Publishers, Karachi, Pakistan.] p. 96. The dialects spoken by those tribes do not vary greatly from one another, but differ considerably in accidence, vocabulary, and even idiom, from the dialects spoken by the Pathans on the Kohat and Peshawar Frontiers
11. ^ Herbert Penzl. "Orthography and Phonemes in Pashto (Afghan)". Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 74, No. 2. (Apr. - Jun., 1954), pp. 74-81.
12. ^ "Four Varieties of Pashto". www.scribd.com. Archived from the original on 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2025-11-13.
13. ^ Morgenstierne, Georg (15 December 1983). "AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṧto". Encyclopædia Iranica. Archived from the original on 22 January 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
14. ^ Khan Jazab, Yousaf (2017). An Ethno-linguisitic Study of the Karlani Varieities of Pashto. Pashto Academy, University of Peshawar. p. 71.
15. ^ Elfenbein, Josef (1967). "Lanḍa Zor Wəla Waṇecī". Archiv Orientální. XXXV: 563–606.
16. ^ a b Kaye, Alan S. (1997-06-30). Phonologies of Asia and Africa: (including the Caucasus). Eisenbrauns. pp. 751–753. ISBN 978-1-57506-019-4.
17. ^ "UTMANZAI WAZIR TRIBE". Naval Postgraduate School. The Program for Culture & Conflict Studies Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, CA.
18. ^ David, Anne Boyle (2014). Descriptive Grammar of Pashto and Its Dialects. De Gruyter Mouton. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-61451-303-2.
19. ^ Kaye, Alan S. (1997-06-30). Phonologies of Asia and Africa: (including the Caucasus). Eisenbrauns. pp. 750–751. ISBN 978-1-57506-019-4.
20. ^ Morgenstierne, Georg (1931). The Story of an Afridi Sepoy. Verlag nicht ermittelbar.
21. ^ زيار, پوهاند مجاور (2006). ليکلار ښود (PDF). د ساپي پښتو څېړنې او پراختيا مركز. p. 16.
22. ^ Khan Jazab, Yousaf (2017). An Ethno-linguisitic Study of the Karlani Varieities of Pashto. Pashto Academy, University of Peshawar. p. 81.
23. ^ Elfenbein, J. H. (1984). "The Wanetsi Connexion: Part I". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 116 (1): 54–76. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00166122. ISSN 0035-869X. JSTOR 25211626. S2CID 162701995.
24. ^ Elfenbein, J. (1984). "The Wanetsi Connexion. Part II: Glossary". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (2): 236. ISSN 0035-869X. JSTOR 25211709.
25. ^ صادق, محمد. کاکړۍ غاړي. پښتو ادبي غورځنګ - کوټه. p. 22.
26. ^ "باچخه". thePashto.com.
27. ^ Hallberg, Daniel G. 1992. Pashto, Waneci, Ormuri. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 4.