Pashto alphabet

The Pashto alphabet () is the right-to-left abjad-based alphabet developed from the Perso-Arabic script, used for the Pashto language in Afghanistan and Northwestern Parts of Pakistan.It originated in the 16th century through the works of Pir Roshan.

Form

Pashto is written in the Arabic Naskh. Pashto uses all 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet, and shares 3 letters (ÃÂ, ÃÂ¾, and ÃÂ) with Persian in the additional letters.

Differences from Persian alphabet

Pashto has several letters which do not appear in the Persian alphabet, which are shown in the table below:

All the additional characters are derived from existing Arabic letters by adding diacritics; for example, the consonants xÃÂÃÂ«n/Ã¡Â¹Â£ÃÂÃÂ«n and ÃÂµe/Ã¡ÂºÂÃÂe look like Arabic's sÃÂ«n and re respectively with a dot above and beneath. Similarly, the letters representing retroflex consonants are written with a small circle (known as a "panÃ¡Â¸Âak", "ÃÂaÃ¡Â¹Âwanday" or "skÃÂÃ¡Â¹Âay") attached underneath the corresponding dental consonants.

The consonant is written as either ÃÂ« or ÃÂ¯.

In addition to Persian vowels, Pashto has ÃÂ¦, ÃÂ, ÃÂ, and ÃÂ for additional vowels and diphthongs.

Stress

Pashto employs stress: this can change the aspect of the verb and the meaning of the word. The Arabic alphabet does not show stress placement, but in transliteration it is indicated by the use of acute accent diactric: over the vowel.

Letters

Pashto has 45 letters and 4 diacritic marks. The Southeastern (SE) and Southwestern (SW), Northeastern (NE) and Northwestern (NW) dialects of Pashto are included.

Notes

At the beginning of a word, (alif with madda) represents the long vowel in words borrowed from other languages (e.g. . At the beginning of a word, the letter (alif) represents the vowel , e.g., . In the middle or end of a word, represents the long vowel which is following a consonant (e.g., , and ). At the beginning of a word, the letter alif can also be used with a diactric mark [often not written] e.g. (alif with a zer) as in .
Ten letters, , appear only in loanwords of Arabic origin borrowed through Persian. Eight of these, , represent no additional phonemes of Pashto, and their pronunciation is replaced with other phonemes.
tends to be omitted in pronunciation when at the end of a word, e.g., is always pronounced as .
The letter represents
The phoneme occurs only in loanwords. It tends to be replaced with .
The phoneme occurs only in loanwords. It tends to be replaced with .
It is also common to write the letter as .
It is also common to write the letter as and .
In informal texts, and are sometimes replaced by the letter , especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
represents when it is following a consonant (e.g., ), and represents when it is following a vowel (e.g., ).
The letter represents after a vowel, e.g., .
It is also common to write with the hamza over the right side of the letter Ã¢ÂÂ .
The letter is only represented at the end of a word, e.g., . The vowel , when present between consonants, is not represented by the letter , but instead is omitted, e.g., .
Some dialects also omit the letter in some words, e.g. consider the following words:
\ \
\ \
Nasalised vowels appear in certain dialects such as Banisi/Banuchi and WaÃ¡Â¹Âetsi. It is represented with , e.g., [in these dialects].

Historical letters

The superscribed element of the letter in earlier varieties was not hamza-shaped, but was very similar to little kÃÂf of the letter . Such shape of the upper element of the letter is hard to find in modern fonts.

Since the time of Bayazid Pir Roshan, (dÃÂl with subscript dot) was used for , which was still used in the Diwan of Mirza written in 1690 CE, but this sign was later replaced by .

Another rare glyph for is , a ÃÂ¬ with the same dot about harakat.

Diacritic marks

The four diacritic marks are used:

Notes

The diacritic marks are not considered separate letters. Their use is optional and are usually not written; they are only occasionally used to distinguish between two words which would otherwise appear similar, like the words ÃÂÃÂÃÂ§ - back (body part) and ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ§ - Mullah.
In Arabic loanwords, the tanwin fatha () can be used, e.g. Ã¢ÂÂ masalan, "for example".

"Ye" letters

Notes

In Afghan orthography, this letter has shape, while in Peshawari orthography, its shape is . If the letter follows a consonant in a word, it indicates the word is masculine singular and in the direct case. At the end of verbs it is used to form verbal participle in the masculine.
If ends a word it always indicates that the word it occurs in is feminine.
If occurs at the end of a verb, it indicates the verb is in second person plural form.
If appears at end of nouns and adjectives it indicates that those are feminine. At the end of verbs it is used as verbal suffix and to form verbal participle in the feminine. It also ends certain circumpositions.
If occurs at the end of a verb, it indicates the verb is in third person plural present form. At the end of nouns and adjectives it indicates that the word is masculine in the singular oblique case, plural direct case. It also used in the non-declining adjective class.

Orthographic differences

There are broadly two standards for Pashto orthography, the Afghan orthography, which is regulated by the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan, and the Peshawar orthography of the Pashto Academy in Peshawar. They used to be very similar in the past, until the orthography reforms were introduced in 1970s and 80s in Afghanistan. Both of them use additional letters: . The Afghan standard is currently dominant due to the lack and negative treatment of Pashto education in Pakistan. Most writers use mixed orthography combining elements of both standards. In Pakistan, Pashto speakers who are not literate in their mother tongue often use Urdu letters.

The main differences between the two are as follows:

Word-final -y sound is denoted by letter in Pakistan and dotless letter in Afghanistan. Word-final -i sound is denoted by letter in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pre-reform Afghan orthography used for both cases, and some writers still often confuse them.

Also pronounced dÃÂy in some dialects, and thus written or , chiefly in Afghanistan.

Word-final -a sound is denoted by in Peshawar orthography, while the -ÃÂ sound is denoted by . Afghan orthography uses for both sounds.

The letters and for g are considered variants of the same character. Both are widely used, but the Afghan official materials prefer the form, while the Pakistani orthography sets a specific glyph for which looks like with a circle below. Most Arabic script fonts, however, only implement a form of that looks like with a circle.

Both standards prescribe the usage of for k. In practice, however, even the official sources often use the form. Historically, the two are calligraphic variants of the same character, is more common in modern Arabic, and is more common in Persian and Urdu. In Unicode they are split into two separate glyphs.

The y- sound before a -letter is written as in the Pakistani orthography and as in the Afghan orthography. Pre-reform Afghan orthography also used .

Also yÃÂst in Southern Pashto.

Pakistani orthography uses for the postposition kxÃÂe "in". Afghan standard prefers . In most dialects, this postposition is pronounced ke or ki, but the historical pronunciation, also found as a variant in some Southern Pashto dialects, is kÃ¡Â¹Â£ÃÂe. The verbal prefix (as in kenastÃÂl or kÃ¡Â¹Â£ÃÂenastÃÂl "to sit down") is still pronounced kÃ¡Â¹Â£ÃÂe- in Southern Pashto and ke- in Northern Pashto, but some Afghan authors may also spell it like . On the other hand, words with combination, like nÃÂxÃ¡Â¹Â£ÃÂa "mark, sign", bÃÂxÃ¡Â¹Â£ÃÂÃÂl "forgive, pardon", are written identically according to both standards, but some authors speaking Northern Pashto may write them according to their pronunciation: nÃÂxa, bÃÂxÃÂl.

In some auxiliary words like pronouns and particles, as well as in plural and oblique singular forms of feminine nouns, the Pakistani orthography uses , while the Afghan orthography often uses . It reflects the pronunciation of unstressed word-final -e in some Afghan dialects, particularly the Kandahari accent. Note also that the pronoun "you" is usually written tÃÂso in Pakistan, reflecting the local dialects. In Afghanistan, this pronoun is written tÃÂsi or tÃÂso. In verbal prefixes like pre-, kÃ¡Â¹Â£ÃÂe-/ke-, both standards use .

The auxiliary verb in passive constructions is often written without a space with the copula in the Afghan orthography. E.g., likÃÂle ÃÂ¡ÃÂwe da "is (fem.) written" may be spelled by some authors.

The potential/optative participles are written with -ÃÂy in Afghanistan (e.g. likÃÂlÃÂy "able to write"), and with -ay in Pakistan ( likÃÂlay). These participles are pronounced with -ÃÂy in Southern Pashto of Kandahar, but even the Kabuli writers who pronounce them with -ay use -ÃÂy to distinguish them from the past participles (\ likÃÂlay "written").

In both modern orthographies, matres lectionis ( for o and u, for i) should always be written in native Pashto words. Words like tÃÂruÃÂµmÃÂy "darkness, dark night", wrusta "after, behind" etc used to be and still sometimes are written as and . The borrowed words should be written the way they were in the original languages: bulbul "nightingale", or gul "flower".

The phrase pÃÂ xayr "welcome", lit. "well, successfully" is written in two words in Afghanistan (), but often as a single word in Pakistan ().

The Afghan orthography does not use a space in compound and suffixed words, while in Peshawar standard the letters should be disconnected without a space. The zero-width non-joiner is used in such cases.

The archaic orthography may also be used in certain texts, before standardisation.

In different dialects, "we" and its derivatives are pronounced mung or mug/muÃ¡ÂºÂÃÂ. Both types are found in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but the Afghan tradition prefers after the Kandahari pronunciation.

Peshawar and Afghan standards also differ in the way they spell Western loanwords. Afghan spellings are influenced by Persian/Dari orthography, and through it often borrows French and German forms of the words, while Pakistani orthography is influenced by Urdu spellings of English words.

History

In the 16th century, Bayazid Pir Roshan from Waziristan Pakhtunkhwa invented the Roshani script to write Pashto. It had 41 letters:

28 of his letters came from the Arabic alphabet. He introduced 13 new letters into the Pashto alphabet. Most of the new letters he introduced i.e. and ÃÂ¼ are still written in the same form and are pronounced almost in the same way in modern Pashto. The sound system of the southern dialect of modern Pashto preserves the distinction between all the consonant phonemes of his orthography.

Pir Roshan also introduced the letter ÃÂ (rÃÂ with dot below and dot above) to represent , like the Ã¢ÂÂ¨sÃ¢ÂÂ© in pleasure, for which modern Pashto uses ÃÂ instead. Modern Pashto uses the letter ÃÂ to represent the sound (northern dialect: ), but for that sound, Pir Roshan used a letter looking like ÃÂ·ÃÂ¯ (dÃÂl with central dot). His letter ÃÂ (dÃÂl with dot below) to represent has been replaced by ÃÂ in modern Pashto. He also used ÃÂ (sÃÂ«n with three dots below), an obsolete letter from the medieval NastaÃÂ¿lÃÂ«q script, to denote the letter ÃÂ³ (representing ) only in the isolated form. The Arabic ligature Ã¯Â»Â» (lÃÂm-alif) was also used. Two of his letters, ÃÂ¾ and ÃÂ, were borrowed from the Persian alphabet.

Romanisation

The following table (read from left to right) gives the letters' isolated forms, along with possible Latin equivalents and typical IPA values:

Dialect vowels

Waziristani has the following vowels:

These can potentially be romanised as:

In the Marwat dialect and in the KarlÃÂÃ¡Â¹Âi dialects presence of nasalised vowels has been noted. As such the nasalised vowels be transcribed in the following ways:

It can also be transcribed as:

Notes

1. As 2nd Person Singular - example: ÃÂªÃÂ ÃÂ©ÃÂÃÂ± ÃÂªÃÂ ÃÂÃÂ [you are going home]. And as Past Feminine 3rd Person Plural - example: ÃÂÃÂºÃÂÃÂ ÃÂ«ÃÂÃÂÃÂ¯ÃÂ [They (women) were dancing)

2. Example: ÃÂ¾ÃÂ±ÃÂ, ÃÂ¾ÃÂ, ÃÂªÃÂ±...ÃÂ¾ÃÂÃÂ±ÃÂ etc

3. Example: ÃÂ³ÃÂÃÂ ÃÂªÃÂÃÂÃÂ ÃÂ [the man had gone]

4. Example: ÃÂ®ÃÂÃÂ ÃÂªÃÂÃÂÃÂ ÃÂÃÂ [the woman had gone]

References

Bibliography

Awde & Sarwan (2002). "Pashto dictionary & phrasebook", page 24.

External links

pcgn.org.uk (PDF)
loc.gov (PDF)
abnea.com (PDF)
eki.ee (PDF)
Pashto English-English Pashto Dictionary Phrasebook Romanized (Nicholas Awde)

Pashto alphabet

Form

Differences from Persian alphabet

Stress

Letters

Notes

Historical letters

Diacritic marks

"Ye" letters

Orthographic differences

History

Romanisation

Dialect vowels

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links