Amongst the

Iranian languages The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian languages are groupe ...

, the phonology of

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

is of middle complexity, but its morphology is very complex.

Consonants

The phonemes , are only found in loanwords, and tend to be replaced by , respectively. * has non-phonemic allophones: before and , before and , before and , and before and . * Voiceless stops and affricates are all

unaspirated In linguistics, a tenuis consonant ( or ) is an obstruent that is voiceless, unaspirated and unglottalized. In other words, it has the "plain" phonation of with a voice onset time close to zero (a zero-VOT consonant), as Spanish ''p, t, ...

; they have slightly aspirated allophones prevocalically in a stressed syllable, almost like

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

. * is a voiceless palatal fricative; used in the Northwestern dialect. * is a voiced palatal fricative; used in the Northwestern dialect. * is voiced back-alveolar retroflex flap and voiced alveolar approximant at the end of a syllable.

Dialects

Dialectal allophones represented by and . The retroflex variants are used in the Southwest dialects whereas the post-alveolar variants are used in Southeast Dialects. The palatal variants are used in the Wardak and Central Ghilji dialects. In the North Eastern 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 A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological " ...

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 In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel, glide or semiconsonant is a sound that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary, rather than as the nucleus of a syllable. Examples of semivowels in English are the c ...

; 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 also has a liking for word-initial

consonant clusters In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound, is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education ...

in all dialects; some hundred such clusters occurs. However consonant gemination is unknown to Pashto.

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:

Vowels

Most dialects in Pashto have seven vowels and seven diphthongs. * Tegey & Robson (1996) also include near-close vowels // and //.

Diphthongs

Elfenbein notes that the long diphthongs are always stressed, whilst the short diphthongs may or may not be stressed.

Orthography of diphthongs

Stress

Pashto has phonemic variable stress, unique amongst Iranian languages. For instance, in verbs to distinguish aspect:

Basic Word Stress

Stress is indicated by th
IPA stress
marker ˈ.html"_;"title="Stress_(linguistics).html"_;"title="''Stress_(linguistics)">ˈ">Stress_(linguistics).html"_;"title="''Stress_(linguistics)">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. !_

__Masculine_Words_ending_in_"ə"_

These_have_final_stress_generally.

__Feminine_Words_ending_in_"o"_

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__Masculine_Words_ending_in_"ə"_

These_have_final_stress_generally.

__Feminine_Words_ending_in_"o"_

These_end_in_a_stress_/O_(IPA)">o/.

__Wordings_ending_in_Aleph_

Words_ending_in_IPA_/Ɑ_(IPA).html" ;"title="O_(IPA).html" ;"title="Stress_(linguistics)">ˈ.html" ;"title="Stress_(linguistics).html" ;"title="''Stress (linguistics)">ˈ">Stress_(linguistics).html" ;"title="''Stress (linguistics)">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. !

Masculine Words ending in "ə"

These have final stress generally.

Feminine Words ending in "o"

These end in a stress /O (IPA)">o/.

Wordings ending in Aleph

Words ending in IPA /Ɑ (IPA)">ɑ/ i.e. ا are stressed in the last syllable.

Exceptions

Word meanings also change upon stress.

Intonation

Questions

Interrogative word, WH-Questions ho, where, when etcfollow a hat pattern of intonation: a rise in pitch followed by a fall in pitch. : ''تاسو چېرته کار کوئ'' : tā́so ↗čérta kār kawə́ɪ↘ Yes/No-Questions end in a high intonation: a rise in pitch. : ''غنم يې ورېبل ؟'' : ğanə́m ye wә́rebəl↗

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. : نه له د نه کشر يم : na↘ lə ↗də nə kə́shər yə́m↘

Dialectal phonology

Consonants

This diagram is based on Anna Boyle's division of the dialect variations on geographic regions:

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: Or the difference in vowels and diphthongs in North Eastern Pashto:

Alveolo-palatal fricative

Rozi Khan Burki claims that the

Ormuri Ormuri (Pashto: ارموری ژبه) fa, زبان ارموری; literally, "Ormuri language") also known as ''Baraki, Ormur, Ormui or Bargista '' is an Eastern Iranian language spoken in Southeast Afghanistan and Waziristan. It is primarily spo ...

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

= The Vowel Shift

= Corey Miller notes that the shift does not affect all words. In Waziri dialect the in Standard Pashto becomes in Northern Waziri and in Southern Waziri. In Waziri dialect the stressed in Standard Pashto becomes and . The in Standard Pashto may also become or . In Waziri dialect the stressed in standard Pashto becomes . When in begins a word in standard Pashto can become or Elfenbein also notes the presence of the near-open vowel æ.html"_;"title="Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel">æ">Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel">æ

_Apridi_vowels

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_Apridi_vowels

Apridi_has_the_additional__close-mid_central_rounded_vowel__/Close-mid_central_rounded_vowel">ɵ/.

_Diphthongs_in_dialects

The_diphthongs_varies_according_to_dialect. Yousaf_Khan_Jazab_notes_that_the_diphthong_//__becomes__//_in_the_Khattak_Dialect_in_the_verbal_suffix_/ æ.html"_;"title="Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel">æ">Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel">æ

_Apridi_vowels

Apridi_has_the_additional__close-mid_central_rounded_vowel__/Close-mid_central_rounded_vowel">ɵ/.

_Diphthongs_in_dialects

The_diphthongs_varies_according_to_dialect. Yousaf_Khan_Jazab_notes_that_the_diphthong_//__becomes__//_in_the_Khattak_Dialect_in_the_verbal_suffix_/Pashto_alphabet">ئ/,_but_it_remains_as_the_diphthong_//_in_the_nominal/adjectival_/ۍ/_example:_مړۍ_/ma.ˈɽəɪ/_"bread".

__Nasalisation_of_vowels_

As__noted_by_Yousaf_Khan_Jazab,__the_ æ.html"_;"title="Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel">æ">Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel">æ

_Apridi_vowels

Apridi_has_the_additional__close-mid_central_rounded_vowel__/Close-mid_central_rounded_vowel">ɵ/.

_Diphthongs_in_dialects

__Nasalisation_of_vowels_

As__noted_by_Yousaf_Khan_Jazab,__the_Southern_Pashto">Marwat_dialect_and_the_Bansiwola_dialect_have_Nasal_vowel.html" ;"title="Southern_Pashto.html" ;"title="Pashto_alphabet.html" ;"title="Close-mid_central_rounded_vowel.html" ;"title="ear-open_front_unrounded_vowel">æ.html" ;"title="Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Near-open front unrounded vowel">æ">Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Near-open front unrounded vowel">æ

Apridi vowels

Apridi has the additional close-mid central rounded vowel /Close-mid central rounded vowel">ɵ/.

Diphthongs in dialects

The diphthongs varies according to dialect. Yousaf Khan Jazab notes that the diphthong // becomes // in the Khattak Dialect in the verbal suffix /Pashto alphabet">ئ/, but it remains as the diphthong // in the nominal/adjectival /ۍ/ example: مړۍ /ma.ˈɽəɪ/ "bread".

Nasalisation of vowels

As noted by Yousaf Khan Jazab, the Southern Pashto">Marwat dialect and the Bansiwola dialect have Nasal vowel">nasalised vowels also. It is also noted in the Waṇetsi/Tarin dialect. These are indicated by the diactric mark / ̃ /.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pashto Phonology Pashto Iranian phonologies