Amongst the Iranian languages, the phonology of Pashto is of middle complexity, but its morphology is very complex.
Consonants +Consonant phonemes of Pashto Labial Dental/alveolar Post-alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal Nasal 1 Plosive ()2 Affricate 3 3 Fricative ()2 4 5 5 ( ) 6 9 Approximant 7 Rhotic 8
1. The voiced velar nasal is not represented by a separate letter in the Pashto alphabet, but naturally occurs as an allophonic variant of the voiced alveolar nasal before velar consonants.2. The voiceless uvular plosive (ق) and the voiceless labiodental fricative (ف) primarily appear in loanwords borrowed from Persian of Arabic origin. In Pashto, the former tends to be replaced with the voiceless velar plosive or the voiceless velar fricative , and the latter tends to be replaced with the voiceless labiodental plosive .3. The voiced (ځ) and voiceless alveolar affricates (څ) remain in the Kandahar (Southwestern) and Quetta (Southeastern) dialects, as well as among majority of the Karlani dialects. In the Derajat region, these respectfully tend to be simplified to the voiced and voiced palato-alveolar sibilant affricates . Whereas in the Northwestern and Northeastern Dialects, they are simplified to the voiced and voiceless alveolar fricatives .4. The voiced postalveolar fricative (ژ) exists within the majority of Pashto dialects, but changes to the voiced alveolar fricative in the Derajat region and the Northwestern Dialect, and to the voiced palato-alveolar sibilant affricate in the Northeastern Dialect, specifically in Peshawar and Swat.5. The Pashto letters (ږ) and (ښ) have the most variation in pronunciations; from the archaic Kandahar (Southwestern) voiced and voiceless retroflex sibilant fricatives ,Michael M.T. Henderson, Four Varieties of Pashto which had shifted to the voiced and voiceless palatal fricatives in the Northwestern Dialect, and from it to the voiced velar plosive (through phonological fortition/stop reinforcement) and the voiceless velar fricative in the Northeastern Dialect. On the other hand, it got simplified to the voiced and voiceless postalveolar fricatives , specifically in the Quetta (Southeastern) and Derajat Dialects.6. The Pashto letter (خ) is mostly pronounced as a voiceless velar fricative , and as a voiceless uvular fricative in some accents of the Northeastern Dialect, particularly in the regions of Peshawar and Swat.7. The Pashto letter (ړ) is a voiced retroflex flap most of the time, but tends to be a lateral flap at the beginning of a syllable or other prosodic unit, and a regular flap or approximant elsewhere.D.N. MacKenzie, 1990, "Pashto", in Bernard Comrie, ed, The major languages of South Asia, the Middle East and Africa, p. 103Herbert Penzl, 1965, A reader of Pashto, p 78.The Pashto letter (ر) is pronounced with a voiced alveolar trill when it is typically used at the beginning of a syllable, and the voiced alveolar tap or flap is pronounced in between vowels and in word-end position.9. The Pashto letter (غ) is mostly pronounced as a voiced velar fricative , and as a voiced uvular fricative in some accents of the Northeastern Dialect, particularly in the regions of Peshawar and Swat. Voiceless stops and affricates are all unaspirated; they have slightly aspirated allophones prevocalically in a stressed syllable, almost like English.
Dialects
Dialectal allophones represented by and . The retroflex variants are used in the southwestern dialects, whereas the post-alveolar variants are used in southeastern dialects. The palatal variants are used in the Wardak and Central Ghilji dialects. In the northeastern dialects, and merge with the velar .
Phonotactics
Pashto syllable structure can be summarized as follows; parentheses enclose optional components: (C1 C2 (C3)) (S1) V (S2) (C4 (C5))
Pashto syllable structure consists of an optional syllable onset, consisting of one or two consonants; an obligatory syllable nucleus, consisting of a vowel optionally preceded by and/or followed by a semivowel; and an optional syllable coda, consisting of one or two consonants. The following restrictions apply:
Onset First consonant (C1): Can be any consonant, including a liquid (). Second consonant (C2): Can be any consonant. Third consonant (C3): Can be any consonant. (see #Consonant Clusters below) Nucleus Semivowel (S1) Vowel (V) Semivowel (S2) Coda First consonant (C4): Can be any consonant Second consonant (C5): Can be any consonant
Consonant clusters Pashto has a lot of word-initial consonant clusters in all dialects; some hundred such clusters occurs. However, there is no consonant gemination. Examples Two consonant clusters , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and etc. Three consonant clusters , , , etc.
Examples An editedWith some corrected IPA for words mentioned therein . Sources of correction: Kaye (1997), Zeeya Pashtoon (2009) and Qamosona.com list from the book Pashto Phonology by M.K. Khan: IPA Meaning V 'was' (dialectal)و VC 'horse'اَس VCC 'loose'اَرْتCV'you'تٙهCVC'many, very'ډېرCVCC'wet'لُونْد CCVbackمْلاCCVC'hard'کْلَکCCVCC'life'ژْوٙنْدCCCV'mouth'خْوْلٙه CCCVC'sister-in-law'نْدْرور CCCVCC'chewing [of food]'شْخْوَنْد
Vowels Most dialects in Pashto have seven vowels and seven diphthongs.
Front Central Back Close Mid Open
Tegey & Robson (1996) also include near-close vowels // and //.
Prehistory There are many complexities on the development from Proto-Iranian into the modern Pashto vowel inventory (romanization will be used here): *a > ā in a stressed closed syllable (lā́s < *jásta- 'hand') ā > o before w (owə́ < *haftá) or if there is u or w in the next syllable (pox < *paxwá-); sometimes also in adjectives (corb < *čarpá)
Diphthongs Front Central Back Close Mid Open , , Elfenbein notes that the long diphthongs [, ] are always stressed, whilst the short diphthongs may or may not be stressed.
Orthography of diphthongs and
Stress Pashto has phonemic variable stress, unique amongst Iranian languages.
For instance, in verbs to distinguish aspect: SpellingImperfective verb (mostly final stress)MeaningPerfective verb (initial stress)Meaningکېناسْتٙلٙم'I was sitting''I sat down'کېناسْتٙم'I was sitting''I sat down'بَه کېنٙم'I shall be sitting''I shall sit'
Basic word stress Stress is indicated by the IPA stress marker [ˈ].
In general, the last syllable is stressed if the word ends in a consonant, and the penultimate syllable is stressed if the last syllable ends in a vowel.
ExampleIPAMeaningرَنْځُور'sick' رَنْځُورَه'sick' کورُونَه'houses' ښٙځو'women' لانْدې'below' ځْمٙکْپوهٙنَه'geography'
Masculine words ending in "ə" These have final stress generally. ExampleIPAMeaningتېرٙه'sharp' لېوٙه'wolf'
Feminine words ending in "o" These end in a stressed /o/. ExampleIPAMeaningبِيزو'monkey'پِيشو'cat'وَرْشو'meadow, pasture'
Wordings ending in aleph Words ending in IPA /ɑ/ i.e. ا are stressed in the last syllable. ExampleIPAMeaningاَشْنا'familiar' رَڼا'light'
Exceptions Word meanings also change upon stress. WordIPAMeaning 1IPAMeaning 2جوړَه'well''pair'اَسپَه'mare''spotted fever'
Intonation
Questions WH-Questions (who, where, when, etc.) follow a hat pattern of intonation: a rise in pitch followed by a fall in pitch.
تاسو چېرْتَه کار کَوئ
Yes/No-Questions end in a high intonation: a rise in pitch.
غَنٙم يې وٙرېبٙل؟
Contrastive focus When a word is contrasted with another word it carries a low then high pitch accent, followed by a sharp fall in pitch accent.
نَه لٙه دٙ نٙه کٙشٙر يٙم
Dialectal phonology Consonants This diagram is based on Anna Boyle's division of the dialect variations on geographic regions: Dialect ښږڅځژSouthwestern dialects e.g., Sharkhbun dialects (Kandahar–Herat, southwestern Afghanistan)Southeastern dialects e.g., Ghurghusht and Lodi dialects (Quetta–Zhob and Dera Ismail Khan–Bannu, southwestern Pakistan) Central dialects – Karlani dialects (Paktika–Tirah, southeastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan) Northwestern dialects e.g., Wardak and Ghilji dialects (Zabul–Maidan Wardak, northwestern Afghanistan) and and and Northeastern dialects e.g., Kharshbun dialects (Kabul–Kunar and Swat–Peshawar, northeastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan)
Regional variation This diagram, however, does not factor in the regional variations within the broad geographic areas. Compare the following consonant and vowel differences amongst regions categorised as northern dialects: Northern dialectsMeaningWardakJalalabadBati Kotدوی'they' دېى دُویْ دُویْراکړه 'give' راکَه راکَه راکْړَهپوهېدل 'to know' پِيېدٙل پويېدٙل پويِيدٙلشپږ'six' شْپَږ شْپَږ شْپِږورېځ'cloud' وٙرْيېځ وْرېځ وٙرېځښځه'woman' ښٙځَه ښٙځَه ښٙځِهاوبه'water' اوبٙه اُوبٙه اوبٙه Or the difference in vowels and diphthongs in North Eastern Pashto: MeaningSwatPeshawarودرېږه 'stop' وٙدْرېږَه اودْرېږَهجنۍ'girl' جِنۍ جِنې
Alveolo-palatal fricative Rozi Khan Burki claims that the Ormuri alveolo-palatal fricative and may also be present in Waziri. But Pashto linguists such as Josef Elfenbein, Anna Boyle or Yousaf Khan Jazab have not noted this in Waziri Phonology.
Vowels
Waziri vowels
FrontCentralBackUnroundedRoundedCloseMidNear-OpenæOpen
Vowel shift Corey Miller notes that the shift does not affect all words.
In the Waziri dialect, in Standard Pashto becomes in northern Waziri and in southern Waziri. Meaning Standard Pashto N. Wazirwola S. Wazirwola ماسْتٙه 'yogurt' ماسْتٙه ماسْتٙه ماسْتٙه پاڼَه'leaf' پاڼَه پاڼَيه پاڼَيه
In the Waziri dialect, the stressed in Standard Pashto becomes and . The in Standard Pashto may also begin with a glide: , . Meaning Standard Pashto Wazirwola لور'sickle' اوړٙه'flour' اوږَه'shoulder'اوس'now' In the Waziri dialect, stressed in Standard Pashto becomes . Meaning Standard Pashto Wazirwola مُوږ'we' نُوم'navel' When begins a word in Standard Pashto, it can become or w. Meaning Standard Pashto Wazirwola اُوم'raw' اُوږَه 'garlic' اُودٙه'asleep' Elfenbein also notes the presence of the near-open vowel .
Apridi vowels
Apridi has the additional close-mid central rounded vowel .
Diphthongs in dialects The diphthongs varies according to dialect.
Standard pronunciation Apridi Yusupzai Waziri Mohmand Baniswola/BannuchiWanetsi a ˈa ˈəɪ ˈe ˈi , Yousaf Khan Jazab notes that the diphthong // becomes // in the Khattak Dialect in the verbal suffix /ئ/, but it remains as the diphthong // in the nominal/adjectival /ۍ/ example: مَړۍ 'meal'.
Nasalisation of vowels
As noted by Yousaf Khan Jazab, the Marwat and Bansiwola dialects have nasalised vowels also. It is also noted in the Waṇetsi/Tarin dialect.
Standard Marwat Meaning بُوی بُویْں 'smell' هګۍ ان٘ګۍ 'egg'
Notes
References
Bibliography