Pashto dialects
Pashto dialects are divided into two varieties: Northern Pashto and Southern Pashto. Northern Pashto is spoken in eastern and northeastern Afghanistan, and central, northern and eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ; while Southern Pashto is spoken to the south of it, in southern and western Afghanistan, southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern Balochistan. Each of the two varieties of Pashto is further divided into a number of dialects. Ethnologue divides Pashto into Northern, Southern and Central Pashto, and Wanetsi.
Overview
In the medieval era, a consonant shift took place in the northern parts of Pashtunistan in several phases. This change gave rise to the Northern Pashto dialect, or the hard Pax̌to. The Southern Pashto dialect, or the soft Paṣ̌to, did not experience the consonant shift. During the shift, the retroflex fricative ṣ̌ changed to x̌ or to x, while ẓ̌ changed to ǵ or to g. The shift was probably complete before the Pashto book Khayr al-Bayān was written by Bayazid Pir Roshan from Waziristan in the 16th century. According to the linguists Georg Morgenstierne and David Neil MacKenzie, after the consonant shift, the distinction between ṣ̌, ẓ̌ and x, g seems to still have been preserved in Northern Pashto in the 16th and 17th century.Among the other Eastern Iranian languages outside Pashto, the Shughni 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 γwaṣ̌a in Southern Pashto, but changes to guxt in Shughni and γwaxa in Northern Pashto.
Classification
1. Southern variety2. Northern variety
Prestige varieties
Literary standard
Literary Pashto, or High Pashto standard, is the standardized variety of Pashto developed by Radio Television Afghanistan and Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan in Kabul. Its phonetics are based on the Northwestern or Central Pashto dialect, spoken in the central Ghilji region, including the Afghan capital Kabul and some surrounding region. Its vocabulary also derives from Southern Pashto. It has adopted neologisms to coin new terms from already existing words or phrases and introduce them into the Pashto lexicon. Educated Standard Pashto is learned in the curriculum that is taught in the primary schools in the country. It is used for written and formal spoken purposes, and in the domains of media and government.Regional standards
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.Southern regional standard
Southern Pashto, also called Kandahari Pashto, is the prestige variety of Pashto in southern and western Afghanistan, and the Balochistan province of Pakistan.Northern regional standard
Northern Pashto, also called Eastern Pashto, is the prestige variety of Pashto in eastern and northeastern Afghanistan, and northern part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. This dialect is almost identical to Yusufzai Pashto.Yusufzai regional standard
Yusufzai Pashto, also called Peshawari or Northeastern Pashto, is the prestige variety of Pashto in central, northern, and eastern parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.Transitional dialects
In an intermediate area of Pashtunistan, mainly Ghilji, transitional dialects or mixings are found. For example š/ṣ̌/ҳ/xəja “woman”, and špaž/ẓ̌/γ̌/g “six”.Phonetic differences
The differences between the standard varieties of Pashto are primarily phonological, and there are simple conversion rules. 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.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 , , , may change into , , , , respectively. In the Karlani dialects of Waziristan, Bannu, and Tani, which follow the vowel shift to the greatest extent, these four vowels normally change into , , , , 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:
| Dialect | Location | ښ | ږ | څ | ځ | ژ | a | ā | o | u |
| Durrani | Southern and western Afghanistan, including Kandahar | |||||||||
| Kakar | Northern Balochistan, including Quetta | |||||||||
| Wanetsi | Harnai and Sanjawi | |||||||||
| Shirani | Shirani and Darazinda | |||||||||
| Marwat-Bettani | Lakki Marwat, Jandola, Tank, and northern Dera Ismail Khan | |||||||||
| Khattak | Karak, eastern Kohat, and southwestern Nowshera | |||||||||
| Banuchi | Bannu, Mir Ali, Baka Khel, Jani Khel | |||||||||
| Dawarwola | Tochi in North Waziristan | |||||||||
| Masidwola | From Janimela, South Waziristan to Shuidar Ghar, North Waziristan | |||||||||
| Wazirwola | Darweshkhel Wazir areas in South Waziristan, North Waziristan, and Domel | |||||||||
| Taniwola | Tani, Gurbuz, and Mandozayi, in southern Khost | |||||||||
| Khosti | Central and northern Khost | |||||||||
| Zadran | The Zadran Arc in southern Paktia, northeastern Paktika, and southwestern Khost | |||||||||
| Bangash-Orakzai-Turi-Zazi-Mangal | Kurram, eastern Paktia, northeastern Khost, Orakzai, Hangu, and northwestern Kohat | |||||||||
| Afridi | Central and southern Khyber and Darra Adamkhel | |||||||||
| Khogyani | Khogyani, Sherzad, and Pachir aw Agam, in southwestern Nangarhar | |||||||||
| Wardak | Chaki Wardak, Saydabad, Jaghatu, and Jilga, in central and southern Maidan Wardak | |||||||||
| Central Ghilji | Central Ghilji region | |||||||||
| Northern | Eastern and northeastern Afghanistan, and northern FATA | |||||||||
| Yusufzai Mohmand - Ghoryakhel |
- Dialects belonging to the, the, the, and the, respectively, are color-coded.
Lexical comparison
| Wanetsi | Kandahari | Translation |
| sī | səl | hundred |
| šwī | šəl | twenty |
| ğa | da | of |
| tərža | təẓ̌ay | thirsty |
| tōw, tōwa | tod, tawda | hot |
| ğandəm | ğanəm | wheat |
| māst | myāst | month |
| atā | atyā | eighty |
| wžəndz | ẓ̌mundz | comb |
| sunzən | stən | needle |
| brēstəṇ | bṛastən | quilt |
| činostang | kṣ̌enāstəl | to sit down |
| wayang | wayəl | to say |
| ze kī | zə kawəm | I do |
Examples of sentences showing the difference between Wanetsi and the regional standard Kandahari:
| Wanetsi | Kandahari | Translation |
| اندي وګوړي چي موښ پيار غه څټ لېژدي وي indī waguṛī čī mōš piyār ğa tsaṭ lēždī wī | په دې کلي کې زموږ د پلار ډېر غويان وو pə de kəli ke zmuẓ̌ da plār ḍer ğwayān wu | In this village our father had many bulls. |
| شمزې و خوارږه شوې مي دې غوزين šamze o xwāržə šwe mī de ğōzīn | شلومبې او خوږې شيدې هم چښي šlombe aw xwaẓ̌e šide ham čṣ̌i | also drink buttermilk and sweet milk. |