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    A Reference Grammar of Pashto - By Habibullah Tegey - Complete Book - English

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    353 views243 pages

    A Reference Grammar of Pashto - by Habibullah Tegey - Complete Book - English

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    Ibrahim Afganzai
    A Reference Grammar of Pashto - By Habibullah Tegey - Complete Book - English

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    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 399 825 FL 024 258 ‘AUTHOR Tegey, Habibullah; Robson, Barbara TITLE A Reference Grammar of Pashto. INSTITUTION Center For Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C. SPONS AGENCY Department of Education, Washington, DC. PUB DATE 96 CONTRACT PO17AS0047-95, NOTE, 243p. PUB TYPE Reference Materials - General (130) LANGUAGE English; Pashto EDRS PRICE -MFOL/PC10 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adjectives; Alphabets: Diachronic Linguistics: Form Classes (Languages); *Granmar; “Language Patterns; Language Usage; Linguistic Borrowing: Literature; Morphology (Languages); Nouns: Oral Language; Pashto; Phoneme Graphene Correspondence; Phonology: Propositions; Pronouns; Punctuation; Reference Materials; Second Languages: Sentence Structure: Syntax; *Uncommonly Taught Languages: Verbs; Writes Language ADSTRACT This grammar of Pashto was designed to accompany & set of beginning- and internediate-level instructional materials for teaching the Pashto language to English speakers, but can be used separately as a reference by readers who are not learning Tanguage. Introductory sections in English and Pashte describe the content and organization. The first chapter gives background Information on the people who speak it and on the language (history, social status, dislects, standardization, and history of its study) Subsequent chapters address granpat ical forms and uses in the language, including: phonology ané pronunciation; Pashty word stuch and their origins, borrowings from Persian, Arabic, Urdu, English, and Russian and other languages; the Arabic-based writing system, written literature, alphabet, and punctuation: nouns: pronouns: Déjectives; verd forms and verb uses; prepositions; simple sentence structure: conjunction: and subordinate clause structure. Contents are indexed. (HSE) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ED 399 825 A Reference Qrammar of Pashto Center for Applied Linguistics BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 A Reference Grammar of Pashto Habibullah Tegey Barbara Robson Center for Applied Linguistics Washington, D.C. 1996 3 A~rcknowledgements This Reference Grammar of Pashto has been developed with funding fram Grant No. P017A50047-95 from the International Research and Studles Program of the US. Department of Education. We are grateful to that office for its continuing support of aur materials development projects for Pashto and other languages. ‘The Grammar is the inal component of a set of materials teaching the Pashto Tenguage to English speakers, ell developed et the Center for Applied Linguistics. The other components are: Beginning Pashto (textbook, workbook, tepascripts, teachers’ manual) Intermediate Pasnto (textbook, workbook, teachers’ manual) Pashto Reader (textbook, originals, passages in transcription) Pashto Conversation (tapescripts, workbook) Pashto-English Glossary for the CAL Pastito Materials ‘All components are avatiable in microfiche or herd copy through the ERIC Document Repraduction Service. For ordering Information, please contact EDRS at 1- 800-443-ERIC. For information on ERIC and the Pashto materials, please call the ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics at 1-600-276-9834, or contact them ‘through thetr web site at http://www celorg/ericcll. Further information on the Pashte materials can be found at the Center for Applied Linguistics’ web site st htto://www.cal.org. we are grateful to Or. Fazel Nur, for his ongoing service to the project as a ‘second opinion’ on the Pashto examples and analyses, We are espectally indebtod to Taylor Roberts, graduate student in linguistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose careful reading and extensive, detailed comments have improved the grammar exponentially in accuracy, consistency and roadabitity a ‘Acknowledgem To the English-speaking Reader Note «aly Chapter 1: A B Chapter 2: Pronunciation & 2 ie o7moom> J : The Writing System Table of Contents ents Pashto and the Pashtuns The People Who Speak Pashto ‘Tho Language ftsname... is ancestry Its social status Its dialects... Its standardizat History of its study . tntreduction Consonants... “Technical description of consonants Non-native Pashto conconants ‘The dental consonants... The retroflex consonants Vowels... 16 Technical description of vowels 7 Notes on the vowels 18 Diphthongs.. 18 . Syllable Struciure 19 “Two-consonant Clusters. 19 ‘Three-consonant Clusters 23 Consonant Clusters atthe ends of syllablos 23 . Stress and Intonation 24 Basic word stress : cn 24 Stress in affixes 28 Saoondary stresses 27 Intonation a7 Major Dialect Differences co BB Other Analyses 28 30 30 30 Borrowings ftom and through Persian oat Borrowings Directly trom Arabic 33 Borrowings from Urdu and English. 34 Recent Borrowings from English and Russian 135 Intemational Words in Pashto Es Pashto's Arabic-based Writing “Tho Arabi APHADAL Letters pecullar to Pashio, css wo Chapter 4: The Weting System (Cont) Chapter 6: Pronouns Chapter 7: Adjoctives ‘8. Handwritten, Printed, and Computerized Pashto ©. Pashto Written Literature D. The Lettors in the Pashto Alphabet E. Punctuation a... a F. Relationship between Spoken and B. Masculine and Feminine Noun Classes ©) Mascuttts Nouns ‘Mt nouns. ‘M2 nouns. M3 nouns. Mé nouns. Feminine Nouns FI nouns. F2 nouns. F3 nouns. Irreguiar Nouns 2 ‘Arabic borrowings. Kinship terms... Other old ireqular words. . Regularization. Gender and class assignment of borrowed nouns. G. Singulare and Plurals Mass nouns. .. Numerical plurals. H, Uses of the Case ar {Uses of the arect forms of nouns... Uses of the oblique forms of noun: |. Other Analyses. 9 m m Introduction B. Weak Pronouns Form Occurrence CCther charactarisice of wanic pronouns ©. Strong Pronouns. D. Demonstrative Pronouns E. Other Pronouns Interrogative /ndefinte pronouns Note on {knpatl Js F, Other Analyses pala NANNSSRSARAR SVRTSVASSVIsSAgegrsesssa asses ‘A. Introduction B. Adjective Classes. 6 ‘Adj 5 Ady2 . 78 Adj 77 Adj4 79 “1 6 Chapter 7: Adjectives (Cont.) Chapter & Verb Forms Chapter 9: Verb Uses C. Irregular Adjectives ©. Numbers 80 ‘Number symbols 80 ‘Numbers as agject 80 Ordinal numbers ~ 83 E, Vocative Forms of. Adecives F. Uses of Adjectives .. G, Comparison of Adjectives Hi. Variation. 1. Adjectives and Adverbs J. Other Analyses A, Introduction B. Personal Endings Prosent tense endings Past tense endings ©. Tense and Aspect D. The Verb be E, Auxiliaries ‘The intransitive auxiliary The transitive auxilany F. Simple Verbs ‘Ordinary simpie verb formations ‘Simple intransitive vertss ending in Simple verbs ending in [-aw-] = Simple iregular verbs Simple Verbs beginning with [8] -1 G. Derivative Verbs +H. Doubly Irregular Verbs i. Particples. Format Formation of pertective participles: Idiosyncratic participles = Ji Other Analy808 ‘A. Introduction 2 B. Present Time Expressions, ‘The prosent perfective tense. ©. Future Time Exorvesions Future Statements with be [ba] with the present perfective tense Negative future exprassions Prosent impartective tense with future time phrases Contrastive future expressions vit Shaper v: Vath ees (Cont) Commands wth [ward2-I as (J yj and (r8dz-1 ~ nl, (13) Negative cornmands. .. - co Intensive commands. E. Past Time Expressions Past time expressions with be ‘The pastimparective tense ‘The past perfective tense “Perfect” expressions F. Expressions with Infinitives Gttation forms Infintves es nouns PRSSIVEE ee G. Expressions of, “canfbe able to! ‘might be able! H. Expressions of Obligation Constructions with ‘must (del 5. Constructions with should [b8yéd) yt |. Summary: Forms and Uses J. Other Analyses (Chapter 10: Prapostons Introduction Pre-possionss ©. Post-positions ©. Pre-post-positions E, a> Deleted elements «... Special Cases ‘from’ [la tar Phrases with house’ [kor], . Proforms ane Noun Gases with Prepastions : : “188 Propositions in Phrases... |. Usas of Propositional Phrases nal zon |. Other Analyses Chapter 14: Simple Sentence Structure A, Introduction: 8, Basic Word Order ‘SOV ordar : Deletion of subjects and objects... Word order In questions wg Chapter 11: Simple Sentence Structure (Cont) ‘C. Noun Phrases Order of elements (Order of modifier in noun phrases D. Verb Phrases ‘Order of elémenis in verb phrases Crser i negate vet phrases E. Particles ‘The particles ‘The first stressed element in a sentence Order of partiles among themselves F. Order of Modifier in Sentences Time phrase G. Agreament .. : H._The Ergative Construction |. Two Unusual Constructions“ Verbs that require possessive subjects Impersonal transitive’ verbs K. Other Analyses Chapter 12: Conjunction ‘A. Introduction. B. Conjoined Nouns and Noun Phrases ‘Adjective agreement with conjoined nouns ‘Agreement of verbs with conjoined subjects ©. Double Conjunetions : 1D. Conjoined Sentences E. Other Analyses... Chapter 13: Subordinate Clause Structure ‘A. Introduction B. Noun Clauses ‘Noun clauses a8 eubjects Noun clauses as direct objects Roportad speech Tense restrictions with some common verbs ‘Noun clauses as complements .. or c. : D. Adverbial Cleuses: Time clauses on Consequence clauses. Purpose causes... Causal clauses and [dz6kal HUIS pl Srl she 2 oS ey 8 S SHES Gay dQ, LL eS 8 5 ot te pat pe pS cok Gg Slee poe Jad Sa978 8 53 3 33 6 BS Slaps s Gul S ad lo Fs bo spo Slee red srl S coes ah Ary oe oars P88 Nt Sas pe lS seg a ge soles Cet se pie ol set SLE ope ghle I sale guys we Gl S sie 3 oye glo Sl d Gan care SIs nS s (7999 SH 9 Ae 0d ere YS osl Gg slag s2 sh 5! SS gk sd oe ay SS es g GS 855 > GEL we bot ell po oe gall eye 2 o SHES Garde Sree tt Sha cle elite oyyy pe 6 lS dass ple aly ple soy > glo Sle saa ye a gd ey oe HLS log os de set dee ot SHS! © ss 238 a 4g Chapter 1: Pashto and the Pashtuns A. The People Who Speak Pashto Pashto Is @ principal language in Afghantstan and Pakistan. 1t Is spoken natively by over nair tne poputation of afghanistan, an estimated 7,500,0U0, ana ay anout vox ot the population inthe Northwest Frontler Province of Pakistan, an estimated 14,000,000, Pashto is also spoken natively in Baluchistan the province of Pakistan directly south of contrat Afghanistan; thora fea community of about twe milion who opeak Pashto atively n Karachl; ana tnere ar spout 50,000 native speakers in Iran. PAKISTAN Ed posnto speuking Area (Language name) Other language spoken 14 Chapter 1: Pashto ard the Pashtun The majority of Pashto speskers accupy @ single geographical ar constitut whten oughly the southern part of afghanistan and the northeastern part of Pakistan. This predominantly Pashtun area is bordered by Dari speakers in the north; Deri ts a dialect of Persi | and {s the other major language in Afghanistan, The areas to tha northeast are adjacent to Uzbeh snd Turkmen- speaking areas in Afghanistan, which themselves border Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The Pashto-speaking ares ts bordered on the southeast by Urdu speakers, and by Beluchi speakers directly south. Pashto speakers and th other ethnic groups have been living side by side for centuries, and share many cultural and economtc characteristics. ‘The peopie wno speak Pashto cell themselves Pashtuns (pronounces [peshténzl)? In Paktstan and India, they are referred to as Pathans; (pronounced [paténz}) by non- Pasntuns, Other ethnic groups, including westerners, have traditionally called Pashtuns ‘Atghans; when King Ahmad Shah established s political state in the 1700's, he cated ft ‘Afghanistan - the country of the Afghans, fe.. Peshtuns. It 1s only in the last rifty years or so that the term Afghan has come to refer to any resident of Afghanistan, regardless of ethnic background, Now, the term Pashtun seems to have been adopted by westerners although Pashtuns in Pakistan are still called Pathans). When the notion ts discussed of en independent Pashtun state, for example, the state {s usually called Pashtunisten Pashtuns figure prominently in the history of the Brittsh Empire in india. They occupied and dominated the Northwest Frontier area, which was then the northernmost boundary of the British holdings tn india, The British spent years trying not very successfully to bring the “Afgher nth into some sort of governable order. Nin century British attitudes towards Pashtuns are reflected in a number of books, grammars and government °eports, and alternate between extreme exasperation and reluctant admiration and affection. An example of tha exasperation can be seen in an 1861 article in the Army and Navy Gazette: “Afghan chiets were able to talk treason in Pashto before the noses of our generals, while assuring them of their fideitty in Persian." An example of the admiration can be seen in the first sentences of the introduction to Sir Olaf Carse’s The Pathans: “There 1s a strange fascination in living among the Pathans..One seeret of the hold of the North-West Frontier ts to be sought in the tremendous scenic canvas | Words in square brackets represent transcriptions of pronunciation. There Is ¢ detalled explanation of the transcription system used in this Grammar in Chapter 2. In English spelling, Pashtun would be approximately pahshtoon, end Pathan would be approximately pantann. The stress 1s on the last syllable in both words. Chapter 1 Pashto and the Pashtuns against wnicn tha Pathan plays out nis life, @ canvas brought into vivid relief by sharp, cruel changes of climate. Sometimes the assault an the spirit is that of stark ugliness and discomfort - appalling heat, a dust-storm acrass the Peshawar plain, the eroded faot-hills of Knaibar or Waziristan; more often it ts an Impression of beauty indescribable in its clarity end contrast with the barren emptiness that went before. The weft and warp of this tapastry is waven into the souls and badies of the men who move befare it..." (p. xv) Pashtun sactaty is hastcally trinal Tara ara w 1 over a hundred tribes, sach 2, the latter usually traced to a mythical ancestor. Tribes bower in particular areas--Gritisn records traquantly refer to one ar the other of the tribes providing opposition to British ambitions in en area, Most Pashtuns are highly conscious of their tribal affiliation, although many who nave migrated to Kabul and Herat have become “detribalizac", naving iost their ties ta their tribes, Many of these ethnic Pashtuns no longer speak Pashto, although they identify themselves as Pashtuns. Such Pashtuns.in Afghanistan speak Dart; those in Pakistan speak Urdu or Seluchi Pashtun society Is characterized by what westerners call the Pashtunwalt, an unwritten but nonetheless powerful code of ethics which emphasizes hospitality, avenge, and honor, Overlying the Pashtunwalt ts Islam: Pashtuns In general are among ‘the more conservative Sunni Moslems, and since the Soviet occupation in the 1980's, the lotamtc fundamentalist movement that has established itself in other Islamic countries has gained a strong foothold among the Pashtuns as well, Traditionally, such education es Pashtuns received was provided by mosques, and ‘was confined to teaching of the Kora. (In Arabic) and related subjects. In the years defore the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, various governments had started a basic public education system, and at least primary education gradually became avaliable to rural as well ao urban Peshtune, Progreso was brought to a helt, however, by reponse to the Soviet attempts to “Soviatize” the educational system, and whatever was left of tt was completely destroyed by fighting emong the factions struggling for control after the Soviets left Afghenistan in 1989. ‘The literacy rate among Afghan Pashtuns has always bean vary low (about SX according to the best available estimates), and the destruction of the educational system will undoubtedly resuit in even lower rates for the foreseeable future. Bolow are listed the mast extensive general descriptions of the Pashtuns and of Atghanisten. Netional Geographic erticles on Afghanistan and Pekistan are alsa with its own name and line are located and/or hat aig Chapter 1: Pashto and the Pashtuns recommended as vivid introductions to the people and the land they occupy, For a more extensive bibliography of works on Afghanistan, see the article ‘Afghanistan’ on pp. 25- 36 of Vol, 13, The Encyciopedia Britannica (15th edition, 1994). Caroe, Sir Olaf The Patnans 550 B.C. ~ AD. 1957. With an eptlogue on Russta by the ‘author. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1983. Dupree, Lou's. Afghanistan. Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press, 1980, Nyrop, Richard F. and Donald M1. Seekins, Arghanistan, A Country Study, Sth ed Washington, D.C. US. Government Printing Oftice, 1983 B. The Language Jis name, For a variety of reasons, the name of the Pashto language hes been spelled in several ways. One reason is that the middle consonant (the (sh) !s @ sound that oiffers from one dialect to the ather. As will be discussed in Chapter 2, speakers of the Kandehar detect pronounce the word with a[shl-itke midgle consonant, and speekers of the central and eastern dialects pronounce it with a sound similar to German chor Greek x ‘The second reason forthe vertety in rendering of the word Pashto ts that there nas never been a standardized transitteration! system ror renaering the language In roman alphabet, and so writers dealing with the langua they choose. In the West, the Pashto spelling seems to have takon hold (the Voice of ‘America has a Pasnta Service, and the BBC has a Pashta Program) sIthough Pushtu ts 0 commoniy seen variant tree to transiiterate as ‘A look at earlier books and reports on the Pashtuns shows more diversity in the representation of the name, H.W. 83 celled A Grammer of the Pukkhto or Pukshto Language (the underlining {s Bellew's),end Bellew spells the language as Pukkhto throughout, with the kk underlined, presumably to show that 1t ts a muitiple-letter rendition of @ single sound, or maybe to show that it W's 1867 grammar of Pashto, for oxampl 1 The term transiiteration refers to the writing of one alphabet 1n the characters of another, and 18 different from transcription, which refers to the representation of the ‘sounas of @ language oy means of written symools. Strictly speaking, tne trans\iteration of the Pasnto spelling of Pashto into ramen characters would be something like pxtu (the ‘alphabet does not spelt cut many of the vowels); the transcription of the word Pashto !s, {n the system used in this Grammar, [oaxtél 4 ae Chapter 1: Pashto and the Pachtuns ‘was a non-English sound, In... Lorimer's grammar, published fifty years later, the Janguage name {s spelled Pashtu Jts ancesivy. Pashto belongs ta the Iranian branch of the Indo-European temily of languages. its closest major relatives are Perstan, Kurdish, Selucht, Tajik, and Ossetian, ail languages are spoken in the area around Afghanistan, as language, Pastity Is distantly related tu English, as can be seen in the following diagram, which includes the major branches of the family and one or two well-known languages belonging to each branch: ogu-Eur op ‘Indo-European Lanqusos Family Celtic Germanic tac = ‘Hellnic ‘Baltic. Stevie Indic. == ranan (Welsh) (English, (taian, (Greek) (Latvian, (Pussian, (Hind, (Persian, German} French) Lithuanian) Polish)" Urdu) Pashto) Despite the fact that it 1s written with a variant of the Arabic alphabet and uses 2 number of Arabic words, Pashto is not related to Arabic. It 1s also not related to the Turkle languages, two of which (Uzbek and Turkmen) a ‘spoken in Afghanistan. Pashto appears to be the most conservative of the Iranian languages, in that it has preserved archaic elements that the other languages have lost. One of these elements is the distinctive ergative construction described in Chapter 11, which has been lost toe great extent in the other Iranian languages. Another element retained by Pashto is a gender system In nouns: Pashto has masculine and feminine ncuns, wherees nouns in the other tranian languages are not differentiated by gender. Besides retaining archaic elements of the Irantan languages, Pashto shares some characteristics with the indic languages spoken to the south, most notably the retratlex consonants, which are present in the indic but not in the Iranian languay 3. Pashto shares great numbers of words with Dari, not only because the languages are related, but also because Pashtuns and Dari speakers have been neighbors for centuries, and more recently have been citizens of the same country. Both Pashto and Dart also have numbers of wards In common which have been borrowed from Arabic. 716 Chapter 1: Pashte and the Pashters Tis social status. While Pashto Is 4 national language of Afghanistan, it is ‘ond in sacial prestige to Dari, which as we mentioned above is a dialect of Persian Before the Soviet occupation, there were attempts to “equalize” Pashto: Dari-sneaking children were required to study Pashto in the public schools, and Dert-speaking government of i jals were raquirad to take Pashto classes, These attempts did not result in much change, however; now, as before, any educated Pashtun in Afghanistan speaks Dart, but very few Dari speakers speak Pashto. In Pakistan, Pachto ni 1no official otatue: Pethane who receive oducetton do eo in Urdu and/or English AS a result of the British presence in the Northwest Frontier Province, however, there are more publishing houses In Pakistan, and, consequently, more Pashto books are published in Peshawar than in Afghanistan. Tis dialects. There are dialects and sub-dialects of Pashto, es there are of any language?. These dialects have not been clessified or studied to any ,-eat extent by western grammarians, and most Pashtuns themselves are sensitive only to the abvious differences In pronunciation and vacabulary, ‘There are three major dialects of Pashto: the Kandshar or wastern dialect, tha Kabul or central dialect, and the Ningranar or eastern dislect3, Speakers of the Kandahar dialect live mostly tn southwest Afghanistan and in Beluchistan. The Khattak tribe living in Qunat - the tribe that effectively estaniished the Pashto Iiterery tradition ~ ‘speaks Kandehar Pashto, and the neighboring Waziris have some of the Kendehor characteristics in their dialect, notably the same set of retroflex consonants, Speakers of the central, or Kabul, dialect, jive mostly in the Kabul, Loger, Ghazni and Parwen provinces. Speakers of the eastern, or Ningrahar dialect, live in the northeast sections of Afghanistan, and in the Narthwest Frontier Province of Pakistan, Differences among these dialects are largely in pronunciation, the detatis of which will be discussed in Chapter 2. The Kandahar and Kabul dialects (spoken n 2 wo are using the term ‘dialect’ In ts technical sense, ie. to refer to variations of the language that arise mostly through geographical or historical tsotation. Note that in this sense, no one dialect of another 1s considered ta be ‘vetter” In some absolute sense, although it 1s often the case that one dialect may carry mo soci. prestige than another, 3 You will frequently encounter the adjectival torms ot the city names--Kencanart, Kabull, and Ningrahart-~ in referring to the inhabitants of the cities, and in such phrai as ‘the Kandanart dialect’ or Kabull customs 6 19 Chapter 11 Pashto and the Pashtune Afghanistan) are mast likely to borrow vocabulary from Persian, whereas the Eastern ject (spoken mostly in Pakistan) 1s mora likaly to borrow vocabulary from Urdu and English. Sophisticated Pashtuns have large passive vocabulartes of words from other dialects, 1.2. they know a good many words an hearing them, but do not use them in their own speech, ‘The dialectal differences among these major dialect groups of Pashto ere relotively minor: speakers of most diolects of Pashto are readily understood by almost all speakers of other dialects, excent for Peshtuns located in isolated areas who might have trouble understanding and being understoad by Pashtuns fram distant areas. Two of these Isolated dialects have attracted attention and same study: the Waziri dialect spoken on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the Wardak cialect spoken ‘in Kabul pravince, have been observed to differ markedly from the other dialects. ‘By and large, each Pashtun considers his own dialect to be the ‘normal’ way to speak Pasnta, although the Kandahar dialect enjcys the most prestige (at least among the Kandaharis), and serves as the basis for the writing system. However, as the 19th~ century British soldier and grammarian 0. L.R. Lorimer observed: Many an Afridi or Shinwart [tribes then lecated in the Northwest Frontier Province] phrase or pronunciation will incur the contempt of the Peshawar Munshi a Pashtun teacher of the British troops in Peshawar! as @ solectsm or a boorishness. while to the countryman the Munsht's speech will saem foreign ‘womanish, and mincing. It is highly probable that one tribe's opinion of another's dialect of Pashto reflected, and still reflects, the tribe's general opinion of the other. Jis standardization, Pashto is not stendardized in the way thet English or most of the European languages are, There is, nother words, no universal agreement among Pashto speakers es to what constitutes ‘correct’ Pashto, either oral or written Stendardization arises {rom 2 high level of literacy or from 2 long-standing grammatical tradition, neither of which Pashto has. English speakers, for example, are accustomed to the notion that there are universally-zccepted rules for spalling and punctuation, and re uneducated, Pashto speakers, on the other hand, have no set of rules to go by, and many of them (in Pakistan espectally) have never had formal instruction in Pashto. consider that writers who do nat follow these rul One of the results of this Tack of stendardization fs that individual Pashtun writers vary Widely in spelling and punctuation. Words are frequently spelled ” 90 Chapter 11 Pashto and the Pashto differently, not only from one writer to ancther, but often by the same writer, and evan withta the same document. Even such matters as spacing between words are not consistent, This vartation does not pose much of a problem to native speakers (highly iterate Peshtuns are so accustomed to dealing with the variation that thay do not even notice it) but it {5 @ major challenge to learners of the language and non-native speaking readers. It ts important to remember that although many Pashto texts are by writers who have only 8 few years of formel schooling, lack of consistency in spelling and punctuation does not always reflect lack of education or sophistication on the pert of the writer: it is as often a reflection .f the lack of standardization in the language Another challenge to learners of the language 1s that Pashto writing in newspapers and magazines is frequently written by non-native speakers, and ts Hable to contain ‘real’ errors, simtlar in kind to such errors as He are here in English. Also, Pashto newspaper and magezine articles are likely to be translated fram Dari or Urdu, and the translated sentences often boar mora rozamblancs ta the original language than they do to Pashto. Finally, typesetters are usually not native Pashto speakers, end therefore cannot verify the correctness of their own typesetting, In the years before the Russian invasion in 1979, there attempts to establish stendards for Pashto, For example, the Pashto Academy was established in Kabul in the 1930's uy King Zaher, in an effort to develop Pashto so that it could be used +s the ‘medium of instruction in schools and the language spoken in government offices. Members of the Pashto Academy engaged in a variety of activities: they developed dictionaries, printed the works of Pashtun poets, conducted research in the social sciences, and translated works (mostly from Arabic, Urdu, and English), They also developed recommendations for spelling and punctustton, many of which are now followed by Pashtun writers. An exemple of one of these recommendations 1s the spelling of retrofiex inles rather than 5 ‘A parallel Pashto Academy began in Peshawar in the 1950's, for the purpo: developing the Pashto spoken in Pakistan, engaging tn and publishing research on the Tanguage, and translating important and interesting works into Pashto. Recently, the publications of the Peshawar academy have reflected the stendardizations recomm.nded by the Kabul academy, although in general, written Pakistani Pashto tends to reflect influences from English and Urdu 8 of History of its study, As we mentioned above, Pashto does not have grammatical tredition. Such traditions are # result of interest on the part of @ 8 ai Chapter 1: Pashto and the Pashtuns Janguage’s speakers in grammar in ganeral, and the grammar or structure of their Tenguage in particular, English and the major European languages have lang grammatical traditions, as does Arabic, and such traditions have yielded widespread agreement on matters I1ke the number af noun classes, the names of tenses, and even whether a set of verbs is merely irregular or constitutes a special class. These agreements have been arrived at through articles and books that have proposed analyses, arguments against the proposed analyses. re-analyses and continuing arguments until eventually a consensus is. reached. Pashto grammatical stutles are still in their infancy, and consensus has not been reached on any but the most obvious elements of Pashto grammer. Despite a long literary tradition, Pashtuns themselves have nat heen widely interested in the grammar of their language. During the nineteenth century, however, ‘when Russia and Great Britain both had political and territorial interests in the Pashto- ‘speaking araa, soldiers and administrators on both sides found it necessary to deal with Pashtuns and to learn Pashto. There are, correspondingly, a number of grammors of Pashto written in Russian and English dating from this period. These vary greatly in quality and accuracy, depending on the amount of Pashto learned by their authors, their ‘authars* general educational and linguistic backgrounds, and the sophistication of the Pashtuns who served as the authors’ consultants on the tenguage. The most interesting of the Pashto grammars in English 1s Lorimer's Pashtu: Pert 14 (a sentence from its praface ts quated ahava), which dagcrinas the spoken language. Larimar's analysas ara reminiscent of Latin grammer, but are still valuable: his transcription system accurately reflects the pronunclation of his Pashtun consultants, and his analyses show great insight into the language. After indla’s independence and the end of the rivalry between Britain and Russia, political interast in the Pashtuns waned, With 1t the need for foreigners to speak Pashto lessened, and western interest in grammatical aspects of the language diminished. At the same time, the academies mentioned above focused their limited rasaurces an ‘matters more crucial than grammatical study, In particular issues of spelling stendardization and dictionary development. After the Russian invaston of Afghanistan, there was renewed political interest in the Pashtuns on the part of western powers, and therefore a resumption of interest in Pasnto, Included in the results of that interest ére several Pashto-Russian dictionaries and grammatical sketches, and the reference grammar you are holding in your hands 4 Part 2 was unfortunately never comaleted Rees Chapter 1: Pashto and the Pashtans Below are listed the most readily evailable or interesting general arammatical studies of Pashta in English. Most of the early British grammars nave besn reprinted, ‘and are available In bookstores in Pakistan. Lorimer, D.L.R. 1915. Pashtu Part 1: Syntax of <. .auial Pashtu, with chepters on the Persian and Indtan elements tn the modern language. Oxford: Clarendon Press Penzi, Herbert. 1955. A grammar of Pashto: A descriptive study of the dialect of Kandehar, Afghanistan, Program in Griental Languages, Publications Series 8 - Aids - Number 2, Washington, 0.¢.; American Council of Learned Socteties. Mackenzie, DN. 1987, ‘Pashto’. In The Wortd's Major Languages, Bernard Comrie, ed. New York: Oxford University Press Shafeev, 0.4, 1964. A Short Grammatical Outline of Pashto, Translated from the Russian by Herbert H. Paper, The Hague: Mouton & Co, 40 23 Chapter 2: Pronunciation A. Introduction In this chapter, wa will describe the consonants ané vowels of the central dialect, ang the ways in which these sounds mey combine to form Words. We will algo describe the ways thet the Kendaher ond Ningrahar dielects af Pashto differ fcom the central dlalect. Each examale Is given with Its Pashto spelling, tts transcription in square rackets, and {ts English translation or gloss, in single quote marks, es in the following exemple: ‘grandfather (0808) Ui The transcription shows the stress in words of more than ane sylleble, by means of the symbol ‘ pieced aver the vawel of the stressed syllable. The raman symbols that are usad to represent tha Pashto sounds in the transerintions have been chosen ta make them waster for the English-speaking student of Pashto to ramemaer, Although most symbols represent one and only one Pashto sound, sometimes a double symbol represents @ single sound (for example [chl, [dz], {ts], and (sh]) in order to minimize the use of unfamiliar symbols. Because the English spelling system nas only five vowel symocrs, ang Pashto nas nine vowels, regresentation of the vowel system requires the use of unfamiliar symbols fo, (1 (8, and {ul in addition to the tamtiar al el, (fol and ul B, Consonants We will first discuss the consonants of Pashto from the point of view of the English speaker, and after that discuss their phonological characteristics in more technical terms. ‘There are thirty-two consonants tn the Central dialect. They are grouped below according to their rasemblance to English consonants, with the retroflex consonants listed separately ‘Consonants similar to English consonants (bl as in poy, cup: ‘other (ball fe, ‘aranarather’ [bavél Ly {onl as tn church, teacher ‘where’ {chéral » yep, ‘Tefl’ {chapl cae {02] a8 in dads, adze ‘self’ {4z8n) yL2, ‘place’ [dzayl (gle I asin sire, sf: ‘break’ [tall cep 3, pronunciation’ [telafda] Als 24 Chapter 2: Pronunciation fol 28 n go, jug: “tall {Jag] Sa, ‘flower Igwall JS Uhl as In Bet, Behave ‘nine’ [néhal «3, ‘also! [ham] a UJ} as tn judge, edge: ‘good [jor] y y=, war" Jang) San {kl as tn car, cake: ‘work’ [kBr} 4S, ‘house’ [kor] , 5S Im] a8 in mom, bump: ‘mother’ [mor] pe, nelle" [2cl6m) ja he {p] 88 in ore, aggle: ‘curtain’ [perdé] 93», ‘left’ [chap] < {s] as tn go, city. ‘hand’ (188) 4, red" (surl pe [sh] as in show, puah: ‘six’ [shpag] yp, ‘twenty’ [snail J fits] as in cuts, gutsy ‘how many’ [tso} y2, "how [tsénga] Sit fw] as in wait, kiwf: ‘say’ Lwéwayal <2! 99, open’ (wézal 05! 9 Iy a8 in yes, boy: ‘one’ [yaw] 52. "Godt [khwddyl «glad [2] 88 in ag, zero: ‘son’ f20yl ¢g93, ‘Won! (zmardyl «5 y+ 5 Consonants sumewnat different from English consonants {th ‘thank’ fteshakGr] S25, ‘eight’ [até] 6! {ah ‘this’ [40] Is, three’ fdrel 45 52 Oh: ‘hend’ (185) oY, ‘here’ [¢éital a2) Ink: ‘not’ Ina] « , ‘field’ Ikerwands) 045 5S Consonants very different fram English consonants (ghk: “Afghan (efghén] ¢,Las!, ‘thet’ fagné] ae Rl: March-Aprit faméll Jaa, ‘dear ab{d] om {kh ‘time’ (wakht] cS, ‘God (khweilyl sf as. {ok ‘trunk’ IsandGa) jai ‘minute’ [aaataél 423 [rh “where’(chéral’e ype, ‘thank’ [tashakir] S25 el. “good! [xal ‘mate doctor’ [gaktérl y#Sl9 ‘deputy Igoptth Ggtyo C. Vowels ‘The central dialect of Pashto has nine vowels, Below Is @ 11st with English equivalents lal as in ask, glass, or close to Midwastern English got, box: "is" {dal 0, pronunciation’ (talafiz) Saks {8] 08 in awful, caught : “rane N8s) 4, you {t8sel gel {el ae in bad, yattow : this’ [del «53, ‘me [mel .« (tuerBr] 41 5S, ‘spelt sett fo 1 ae in beat, feat: ‘go! [atl cot, ‘are’ [dil gs lal as in sit, rift: ‘rep: (ol asin dgat, sq: ‘Pashto naKt6] ys», ‘oan’ [porl 42 Chapter 2: Pronunciation lu] a8 in Dgat, fogl: ‘street’ {kutsd] «& 4S, ‘hands (Vasiina] lawl: both [dwéral 9513, two" [dwal 23, ‘praying *[dwal Is [dzghalew!l gyLis, ‘endurence' [dzghamél] Jar. ldamb ‘arm [dzmékal Sat, ‘our tézmungt £3 yas [azghk “oper fazwh ‘young (dzwanl lyk, “hanging [dewaréndl 3.» 9, (grk ‘inftation’ (grant) (gst 9S, ‘dear {gran} I 5S, ‘placket’ igreywanl cyl 5y 9S lark “foot facandéyl «sas x6, ‘mucus tgrongl

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