Pashto: language family and dialect variation

An Iranian language

Pashto belongs to the Iranian language group and is conventionally classified among the Eastern Iranian languages. This is a linguistic classification, not a statement that its speakers hold Iranian nationality. Pashto is spoken across Afghanistan and Pakistan, and by communities beyond those countries. [1]

Shared language, different pronunciations

Pashto contains numerous regional dialects. The familiar distinction between softer sha-type and harder kha-type pronunciations concerns particular consonants, not two completely separate languages. Differences also involve vowels and other sound patterns. Georg Morgenstierne's linguistic account stresses that dialect features overlap, making a simple two-way classification incomplete. [2]

Reading dialect labels carefully

Pashto's written tradition uses an Arabic-derived script, with spelling that does not always reveal a speaker's regional pronunciation. A dialect label is therefore a guide to speech rather than a complete description of a text. The sources below describe linguistic patterns; their older speaker-population estimates should not be treated as current counts. [2]