ژبه
Language & Poetry
Dialects and varieties
How Pashto differs from region to region.
Articles on dialects and varieties
- Bannuchi Pashto: the speech of the Bannu valleyBannuchi is the Pashto of the irrigated middle of the Bannu valley. It carries the Waziri-type vowel shift (plor for plār, "father"), while the neighbouring Marwat keep plār; the earliest printed Bannu proverbs are Thorburn's of 1876.
- Central Ghilzai Pashto: the speech of Wardak, Ghazni and LogarCentral Ghilzai Pashto, spoken around Ghazni, Logar, Wardak and Kabul, says ښ and ږ with the tongue against the palate (ç and ʝ), between Kandahar's retroflex sounds and Peshawar's x and g. Wardak is a dialect of Pashto.
- Kakari and Quetta Pashto: the south-eastern dialectKakari and Quetta Pashto, the south-eastern dialect of Balochistan, say ښ and ږ as plain sh and zh and keep ts and dz. Bray's 1911 census lists Kakari habits, and Grierson placed Pishin with Kandahar.
- Kandahari Pashto: the south-western dialectKandahari Pashto, the soft south-western dialect, keeps the retroflex ṣ̌ and ẓ̌ and the affricates ts and dz that Peshawar has lost, and its pronunciation underlies standard Pashto spelling.
- Pashto dialects: soft and hard speechPashto dialects divide first on how the letters ښ and ږ are said: as retroflex sh and zh around Kandahar, as kh and g around Peshawar, as plain sh and zh around Quetta, and as palatal sounds among the central Ghilzai; Waziri and Wanetsi stand furthest from the Kandahar-based written standard.
- South-eastern Pashto: Khost, Paktia and the Karlanri speechThe Karlanri speech of Khost, Paktia, Bannu and Waziristan is marked by a vowel shift: ā, o and u become o, e and i, so Khost says ploor for plār, "father". Whether ښ is said sh, kh or a palatal sound depends on the place.
- Standard written Pashto: one spelling for every dialectWritten Pashto uses one spelling, fixed by Pashtun committees at Kabul in 1942, 1948 and 1958 and at Bara Gali in 1990, that follows the sounds of Kandahar and is read in each dialect's own way.
- Wanetsi (Tarino): the speech of the Spin Tarin of HarnaiWanetsi, which its speakers call Tarino, is spoken by the Spin Tarin around Harnai and Sanjawi in Balochistan. It differs from all other Pashto so much that Elfenbein said a fair case could be made for a separate language, but its speakers call it Pashto.
- Waziri Pashto: the speech of the Wazir and MahsudWaziri is the Pashto of Waziristan and the Wazir of Bannu. Its mark is a shift of vowels: plār "father" is plor, mor "mother" is mer and lur "daughter" is lir, though the change is irregular and varies by tribe.
- Yusufzai Pashto: the north-eastern dialect of PeshawarYusufzai Pashto is the hard Pakhto of Peshawar, Mardan, Swat, Buner and Dir, where ښ is said kh and ږ is said g. A 1990 report found the Pashto text books of the settled districts written in it.