Southern Pashto () is a standard variety of the

Pashto language Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

spoken in southeastern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, and northern parts of the

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

i province of

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

, comprising the Southwestern and Southeastern dialects of Pashto.

South Western

Kandahārí Pashtó (), also known as, Southwestern Pashto, is a Pashto dialect, spoken in southern and western

, including the city of

Kandahar Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...

. Kandahari Pashto is spoken in

Helmand Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering area. The province contains 18 ...

Ghazni Ghazni (, ), historically known as Ghaznayn () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana (), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategica ...

, most of

Urozgan Uruzgan (Pashto: ; Dari: ), also spelled as Urozgan or Oruzgan, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. Uruzgan is located in the center of the country. The population is 436,079, and the province is mostly a tribal society. Tarinkot ...

, Farah, Faryab and Nimruz, southeastern Ghor, the districts of Murghab, Ghormach, Muqur, and Jawand in Badghis, and parts of Zabul, Paktika, and

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

provinces of Afghanistan. It is also spoken in parts of the provinces of Razavi Khorasan and South Khorasan in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, where they numbered roughly 120,000 (in 1993). It is one of the most archaic varieties of

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

: the Kandahari dialect retains archaic retroflex

sibilants Sibilants (from 'hissing') are fricative and affricate consonants of higher amplitude and pitch, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the teeth. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English word ...

, and (in other dialects, they have shifted to ʃ/x and ʒ/g). Kandahari also has the affricates and .

Lexical Variation

According to the "Pashto Dialectal Dictionary ()" published by the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan the following is noted in

province:

South Eastern

In the South Eastern dialect, and in South Western sometimes change to ʃ and ʒ. Whilst and are generally pronounced.Hallberg, Daniel G. 1992. Pashto, Waneci, Ormuri. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 4. In all 3rd-person pronouns 'h' is not articulated. And distinction in 'he' and 'she' pronouns is not noted.

Kākaṛi

Kākaṛi is classed as Southeastern dialect. The following has been noted:

Sherani

According to Josef Elfenbein, Sherani Pashto can be classed either as South Western or South Eastern. Word choice can be distinct:

Marwat-Bettani

In Marwat-Bettani the following is noted: Compare the words

Comparison with Karlāṇi varieties

Marwatwala agrees with other Karlāṇi varieties in the phonetic change in ښ as � Example:

Rendition of ش

It is noted by Yousuf Khan Jazab, in Marwatwala ش can be rendered as . Example:

References

{{Iranian languages Languages of Pakistan Languages of Afghanistan Languages of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pashto dialects Varieties of Pashto