Pashto alphabet

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

Pashto alphabet پښتوالفبې Pəx̌tó alfbâye
The 46 Pashto alphabet shown in boxes
Script type	Abjad
Time period	16th century–present
Direction	Right-to-left
Official script	Afghanistan, Pakistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Languages	Pashto (incl. various dialects)
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian hieroglyphs Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Nabataean Arabic Pashto alphabet

Form

Two of the special Pashto letters: x̌in/ṣ̌in (left) and ǵē/ẓ̌e (right)

Pashto is written in the Arabic Naskh. Pashto uses all 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet, and shares 3 letters (چ, پ, and ژ) 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:

Letter	IPA	Base Arabic letter
ټ	/ʈ/	ت
ډ	/ɖ/	د
ړ	/ɭ̆/	ﺭ
ڼ	/ɳ/	ن
ښ	/ʂ/, /ç/	س
ږ	/ʐ/, /ʝ/	ﺭ
څ	/t͡s/	ح
ځ	/d͡z/	ح ء

All the additional characters are derived from existing Arabic letters by adding diacritics; for example, the consonants x̌īn/ṣ̌īn and ǵe/ẓ̌e look like Arabic's sīn and re respectively with a dot above and beneath. Similarly, the letters representing retroflex consonants are written with a small circle (known as a "panḍak", "ğaṛwanday" or "skəṇay") attached underneath the corresponding dental consonants.

The consonant /ɡ/ is written as either ګ or گ.

In addition to Persian vowels, Pashto has ئ, ې, ۀ, and ۍ for additional vowels and diphthongs.

Stress

See also: Pashto Phonology § 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.

Example

Diactric	Pashto	Transliteraltion	Stress in Bold
á	ډَلَه	ḍála	ḍá-la
ó	اوړى	óṛay	ó-ṛay
ā́	شاباس	šā́bās	šā́-bās
ә́	ګَڼٙل	gaṇә́l	ga-ṇә́l
í	ناخْوَښي	nāxwaṣ̌í	nā-xwa-ṣ̌í
ú	اُوږَه	úẓ̌a	ú-ẓ̌a
é	بې ښې	be ṣ̌é	be-ṣ̌é

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.

Name	IPA		Transliteration	Contextual forms			Isolated	ALA-LC Romaniz.	Latin	Unicode (Hex)
	Symbol	English Examples		Final	Medial	Initial
alep or alif	[ɑ]	bark	ā	ـا	ـا	آ, ا	آ, ا	ā	Ā ā	U 0627, U 0622
be	[b]	born	b	ـب	ـبـ	بـ	ب	b	B b	U 0628
pe	[p]	peel	p	ـپ	ـپـ	پـ	پ	p	P p	U 067E
te	[t̪]		t	ـت	ـتـ	تـ	ت	t	T t	U 062A
ṭe	[ʈ]		ṭ	ـټ	ـټـ	ټـ	ټ	ṭ	Ṭ ṭ	U 067C
se2	[s]	biscuit	s	ـث	ـثـ	ثـ	ث	s̱	S s	U 062B
jim	[d͡ʒ]	jug	j (or ǰ)	ـج	ـجـ	جـ	ج	j	J j	U 062C
če	[t͡ʃ]	cheese	č	ـچ	ـچـ	چـ	چ	ch	Č č	U 0686
he2	[h]3	house	h	ـح	ـحـ	حـ	ح	ḥ	H h	U 062D
xe	[x]	loch (Scottish)	x	ـخ	ـخـ	خـ	خ	kh	X x	U 062E
tse śe	[t͡s] / [s]	cats	ts (or c)	ـڅ	ـڅـ	څـ	څ	ṡ	Ś ś	U 0685
dzim źim	[d͡z] / [z]	aids	dz (or j)	ـځ	ـځـ	ځـ	ځ	ż	Ź ź	U 0681
dāl	[d̪]		d	ـد	ـد	د	د	d	D d	U 062F
ḍāl	[ɖ]		ḍ (or dd)	ـډ	ـډ	ډ	ډ	ḍ	Ḍ ḍ	U 0689
zāl2	[z]	zoo	z	ـذ	ـذ	ذ	ذ	ẕ	Z z	U 0630
re	[r]	rain	r	ـر	ـر	ر	ر	r	R r	U 0631
ṛe4	[ɽ]		ṛ (or rr)	ـړ	ـړ	ړ	ړ	ṛ	Ṛ ṛ	U 0693
ze	[z]	zoo	z	ـز	ـز	ز	ز	z	Z z	U 0632
že	[ʒ] / [d͡z]	vision, delusion, division	ž	ـژ	ـژ	ژ	ژ	zh	Ž ž	U 0698
ẓ̌ey (SW) z̄ey (SE) ǵey (NW) gey (NE)	[ʐ] (SW) [ʒ] (SE) [ʝ] (NW) [ɡ] (NE)	vision or gift	ẓ̌ (SW) z̄ (SE) γ̌/ǵ (NW) g (NE)	ـږ	ـږ	ږ	ږ	ẓh (SW) zh (SE) g'h (NW) gh (NE)	Ǵ ǵ (or Ẓ̌ ẓ̌)	U 0696
sin	[s]	biscuit	s	ـس	ـسـ	سـ	س	s	S s	U 0633
šin	[ʃ] / [t͡s]	shoot	š	ـش	ـشـ	شـ	ش	sh	Š š	U 0634
ṣ̌in (SW) s̄in (SE) x̌in (NW) x̌in (NE)	[ʂ] (SW) [ʃ] (SE) [ç] (NW) [x] (NE)		ṣ̌ (SW) s̄ (SE) x̌ (NW) x (NE)	ـښ	ـښـ	ښـ	ښ	ṣh (SW) sh (SE) k'h (NW) kh (NE)	X̌ x̌ (or Ṣ̌ ṣ̌)	U 069A
swād2	[s]	see	s	ـص	ـصـ	صـ	ص	s	S s	U 0635
zwād2	[z]	zoo	z	ـض	ـضـ	ضـ	ض	z	Z z	U 0636
twe2	[t]	talk	t	ـط	ـطـ	طـ	ط	t	T t	U 0637
zwe2	[z]	zebra	z	ـظ	ـظـ	ظـ	ظ	z	Z z	U 0638
ayn2	[ɑ]	bark	a	ـع	ـعـ	عـ	ع	ʻ	nothing	U 0639
ğayn	[ɣ]	loch (Scottish) But Voiced	gh (or γ)	ـغ	ـغـ	غـ	غ	gh	Ğ ğ	U 063A
pe or fe2	[f] / [p]5	peel / fire	f	ـف	ـفـ	فـ	ف	f	F f	U 0641
qāp	[q] / [k]6	keep	q	ـق	ـقـ	قـ	ق	q	Q q	U 0642
kāp	[k]	keep	k	ـک	ـکـ	کـ	ک 7	k	K k	U 06A9
gāp	[ɡ]	get	g	ـګ	ـګـ	ګـ	ګ 8	g	G g	U 06AB
lām	[l]	lamb	l	ـل	ـلـ	لـ	ل	l	L l	U 0644
mim	[m]	minute	m	ـم	ـمـ	مـ	م	m	M m	U 0645
nun	[n]	near	n	ـن	ـنـ	نـ	ن	n	N n	U 0646
ṇun	[ɳ]		ṇ (or nn)	ـڼ	ـڼـ	ڼـ	ڼ	ṇ	Ṇ ṇ	U 06BC
nun póza15 nose nun	[˜]	macaron (French)	̃ (over the vowel) or ń	ں	ـنـ	نـ	ں	ṉ	N n	U 06BA
wāw	[w], [u], [o]	watch soup	w, u, o	ـو	ـو	و	و	w, ū, o	W w, U u, O o	U 0648
ğwə́nḍa he round hē	[h], [a]	hey  ; stuck (Cockney)	h, a	ـه	ـهـ	هـ	ه	h, a	H h, A a	U 0647
kajíra he large-pretty hē	[ə]	bird (Received Pronunciation)	ə	ـۀ			ۀ 13	ạ	Ə ə	U 06C0
tsərgánda ye obvious yē	[j], [i]	yacht; week (General American)	y, i	ـي	ـيـ	يـ	ي	y, ī	Y y, I i	U 064A
úǵda ye long yē	[e]	eight [Note: [e] is not lengthened]	e	ـې	ـېـ	ېـ	ې 9	e	E e	U 06D0
nāriná ye masculine yēor wə́ča ye dry yē	[aj], [j]10	try	ay, y	ـی ـے	ـ	ـ	ی ے 9	ay, y	Ay ay, Y y	U 06CC U 06D2
x̌əźiná ye feminine yē or lakə́y ye tail yē	[əj]	stay	əy	ـۍ	ـ	ـ	ۍ 10	ạy	Əy əy	U 06CD
fālí ye verbal yē	[əj], [j]12	stay or see	əy, y	ـئ	ـئـ	ئـ	ئ 9,12	ạy, y	Əy əy, Y y	U 0626

Notes

• ^1 At the beginning of a word, آ (alif with madda) represents the long vowel /ɑ/ in words borrowed from other languages (e.g. آغا āğā́ 'agha' (a title). At the beginning of a word, the letter ا (alif) represents the vowel /a/, e.g., اَسْپَه áspa 'mare'. In the middle or end of a word, ا‎ represents the long vowel /ɑ/ which is following a consonant (e.g., کال kāl 'year', and نْيا nyā 'grandmother'). At the beginning of a word, the letter alif can also be used with a diactric mark [often not written] e.g. اِ (alif with a zer) as in اِسلام Islām 'Islam'.
• ^2 Ten letters, ق ف ع ظ ط ض ص ح ﺫ ث, appear only in loanwords of Arabic origin borrowed through Persian. Eight of these, ع ظ ط ض ص ح ﺫ ث, represent no additional phonemes of Pashto, and their pronunciation is replaced with other phonemes.
• ^3 ح /h/ tends to be omitted in pronunciation when at the end of a word, e.g., اِصْلاح iṣlāḥ is always pronounced as [isˡlɑ].
• ^4 The letter ړ represents /ɽ/
• ^5 The phoneme /f/ ف occurs only in loanwords. It tends to be replaced with /p/ پ.
• ^6 The phoneme /q/ ق occurs only in loanwords. It tends to be replaced with /k/ ک.
• ^7 It is also common to write the letter ک as ك.
• ^8 It is also common to write the letter ګ as and گ.
• ^9 In informal texts, ی and ې are sometimes replaced by the letter ے, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• ^10 ی represents /aj/ when it is following a consonant (e.g., لَرْګی largay 'wood'), and represents /j/ when it is following a vowel (e.g., دُویْ duy 'they').
• ^11 The letter ئ represents /j/ after a vowel, e.g., جُدائِي judāyi 'separation'.
• ^12 It is also common to write ﺉ with the hamza over the right side of the letter – ٸ.
• ^13 The letter ۀ is only represented at the end of a word, e.g., تېرٙۀ terə́ 'sharp'. The vowel /ə/, when present between consonants, is not represented by the letter ۀ, but instead is omitted, e.g., نٙنَوَتٙل nənawatə́l 'to enter'.
• ^14 Some dialects also omit the letter غ in some words, e.g. consider the following words:
  • هغلته → هلته
  • دغه → دا
  • دغوے\دغوی → دوے\دوی
  • دغه سے\دغه سی → داسے\داسی
  • دغه هومره → دومره
  • دغلته → دلته
• ^15 Nasalised vowels /̃/ appear in certain dialects such as Banisi/Banuchi and Waṇetsi. It is represented with ں, e.g., بُويْں buĩ 'smell' [in these dialects].

Historical letters

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

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

Another rare glyph for /d͡z/ is ج࣪֗, a ج with the same dot about harakat.

Diacritic marks

The Pashto diacritic marks: zwarakay, pēš, zēr, and zwar

The four diacritic marks are used:

Diacritic	Unicode	Name	Transliterated name	Translit.	IPA	Latin
َ	U 064E	زْوار	zwār	a	[a]	a
ٙ	U 0659	زْوارَکَیْ زْوارَکے	zwārakay	ə	[ə]	ə
ِ	U 0650	زیر	zer	i	[ɪ]	i
ُ	U 064F	پیش	peš	u	[ʊ]	u

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 ملا - back (body part) and مُلا - Mullah.
• In Arabic loanwords, the tanwin fatha (ً) can be used, e.g. مَثَلاً – masalan, "for example".

"Ye" letters

"Ye"-letters in Pashto alphabet

Letter	Pashto name	Unicode name	Transliteration	IPA	Position in a word	Example
ي	tsərgánda ye5	ARABIC LETTER YEH	y, i	[j], [i]	can appear anywhere	يٙم yəm ('(I) am') دي di ('(they) are')
ې	úǵda ye4	ARABIC LETTER E	e	[e]	middle or end	يې ye ('you (sing.) are')
ی or ے	nāriná ye1	ARABIC LETTER FARSI YEH or ARABIC LETTER YEH BARREE	ay when following a consonant	[aj]	end	سْتوری or سْتورے stóray ('star')
			y when following a vowel	[j]	end	دُوىْ or دُوے duy ('they')
ۍ	x̌əźiná ye2	ARABIC LETTER YEH WITH TAIL	əy	[əj]	end	وَړۍ waṛә́i ('wool')
ئ	fālí ye3	ARABIC LETTER YEH WITH HAMZA ABOVE	əy	[əj]	end	يٙئ yəy ('you (plur.) are')
			y	[j]	middle	جُدائِي judāyí ('separation')

Notes

• ^1 In Afghan orthography, this letter has ی shape, while in Peshawari orthography, its shape is ے. 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^[1].
• ^2 If ۍ ends a word it always indicates that the word it occurs in is feminine.
• ^3 If ئ occurs at the end of a verb, it indicates the verb is in second person plural form.
• ^4 If ې appears at end of nouns and adjectives it indicates that those are feminine. At the end of verbs it is used as verbal suffix^[2] and to form verbal participle in the feminine.^[3] It also ends certain circumpositions^[4].
• ^5 If ي 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.

Orthography 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: ټ ډ ړ ږ ښ ڼ ې ۍ‎. 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 alphabets.

The main differences between the two are as follows:

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

Word	Pre-reform orthography	Peshawar orthography	Afghan orthography
saṛay "man"	سَړَیْ‎‎	سَړے‎	سَړی‎
dzāy "place"	ځای‎	ځاے‎	ځای‎
loy "big"	لویْ‎	لوے‎	لویْ‎
lari "has"	لَرِی‎	لَري‎
likunkay "writer"	لِيکُونْکَیْ‎	لِيکُونْکَے‎	لِيکُونْکَی‎
likunki "writers"	لِيکُونْکِی‎	لِيکُونْکِي‎
day "is"[5]	دَیْ‎	دَے‎	دَیْ‎
di "(they) are"	دِی‎	دِي‎

• ^ Also pronounced dəy in some dialects, and thus written دۍ‎ or دئ‎, chiefly in Afghanistan.

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

Word	Peshawar orthography	Afghan orthography
zə "I"	زۀ‎	زٙه‎
ṣ̌ə/xə "good (masculine)"	ښۀ‎	ښٙه‎
ṣ̌a/xa "good (feminine)"	ښَه‎

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

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

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

Word	Peshawar orthography	Afghan orthography
yəy "(you, plural) are"[6]	ئٙئ‎	یٙئ‎
ye/yi "him, his (pronominal clitic)"	ئې‎	يِي‎
ibtidayi "initial"	اِبْتِدائِي‎	اِبْتِدایِي‎

• ^ Also ياسْت‎ yāst in Southern Pashto.

Pakistani orthography uses کْښې‎ for the postposition kx̌e "in". Afghan standard prefers کي‎. 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 kṣ̌e. The verbal prefix کْښېـ‎ (as in کْښېناسْتٙل‎ kenastəl or kṣ̌enastəl "to sit down") is still pronounced kṣ̌e- in Southern Pashto and ke- in Northern Pashto, but some Afghan authors may also spell it like کيـ‎. On the other hand, words with خښ‎ combination, like نٙخْښَه‎‎ nәxṣ̌a "mark, sign", بٙخْښٙل‎ bәxṣ̌әl "forgive, pardon", are written identically according to both standards, but some authors speaking Northern Pashto may write them according to their pronunciation: نٙښَه‎‎ nәxa, بٙښٙل‎ bәxәl.

In some auxiliary words like pronouns and particles, as well as in plural and oblique singular forms of feminine nouns, the Pakistani orthography uses ې‎, while the Afghan orthography often uses ي‎. 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 تاسو‎ tāso in Pakistan, reflecting the local dialects. In Afghanistan, this pronoun is written تاسي‎ tāsi or تاسو‎ tāso. In verbal prefixes like پْرېـ‎ pre-, کْښېـ‎ kṣ̌e-/ke-, both standards use ې‎.

Word	Peshawar orthography	Afghan orthography
me/mi "me, my (pronominal clitic)"	مې‎	مي‎
ke/ki "in (a postpoistion and prefix)"	کْښې‎	کي‎
tā́se/tā́si "you (plural)"	تاسې‎	تاسي‎
stә́rge/stә́rgi (unstressed -e/-i) "eyes"	سْتٙرْګې‎	سْتٙرْگي‎
fāydé (stressed -é) "profits"	فائِدې‎	فایِدې‎
kenastəl/kṣ̌enastəl "to sit down"	کْښېناسْتٙل‎	کْښېناسْتٙل‎ کېناسْتٙل‎
prexodəl/preṣ̌odəl "to leave, to stop"	پْرېښودٙل‎

The auxiliary verb شول‎ in passive constructions is often written without a space with the copula in the Afghan orthography. E.g., لِیکٙلې شْوې دَه‎ likәle šәwe da "is (fem.) written" may be spelled لِیکٙلې شْوېدَه‎ by some authors.

The potential/optative participles are written with ـای‎ -āy in Afghanistan (e.g. لِیکٙلای‎ likəlāy "able to write"), and with ـے‎ -ay in Pakistan (لِیکٙلے‎ likəlay). These participles are pronounced with -āy in Southern Pashto of Kandahar, but even the Kabuli writers who pronounce them with -ay use ـای‎ -āy to distinguish them from the past participles (لِیکٙلی‎\لِیکٙلے‎ likəlay "written").

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

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

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.

Word	Peshawar orthography	Afghan orthography
lāslik "signature"	لاس‌لِیك‎ لاس‌لِیک‎	لاسْلِیك‎ لاسْلِیک‎
baryālaytob "victory"	بَرْیالےتوب‎	بَرْیالَيْتوب‎
pāytaxt "capital"	پاےتَخْت‎	پايْتَخْت‎
zṛәwar "brave, daring"	زْړۀوَر‎	زْرٙوَر‎
šāzādagān "princes"	شاه‌زادَه‌ګان‎	شاهْزادَگان‎

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

Word	Peshawar orthography	Afghan orthography	Archaic orthography
zә "I"	زۀ‎	زٙه‎	ځٙه‎
zmung/zmug/zmuẓ̌ "our"[7]	زْمُونْږ‎ زموږ‎	زْمُوږ‎ زمونږ‎	ځْمُونْږ‎
zmā "my"	زْما‎		ځْما‎
zoy "son"	زوے‎	زویْ‎	ځوے‎ ځویْ‎
Kandahār "Kandahar"	قَنْدَهار‎	کَنْدَهار‎	قَنْدَهار‎
paṇa/paṇṛa "leaf"	پاڼَه‎ پانړه‎	پاڼَه‎	پانْړَه‎
če/či "that"	چې‎	چي‎	چِه‎‎
ke/kṣ̌e "in"	کْښې‎	کي‎	کْښِ‎
dre "three"	دْرې‎		دْرِ‎
ğruna "mountains (direct case)"	غْرُونَه‎		غْرُونَ‎
ğruno "mountains (oblique case)"	غْرُونو‎		غْرُونُ‎

• ^ In different dialects, "we" and its derivatives are pronounced مُونْږ‎ mung or مُوږ‎ mug/muẓ̌. Both types are found in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but the Afghan tradition prefers مُوږ‎ 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.

Word	Peshawar orthography	Afghan orthography
Parliament	پارْلِیمان‎	پارْلَمان‎
Process	پْروسیسَه‎	پْروسِه‎
Conference	کانْفَرَنْس‎	کُنْفِرانْس‎
Chicago	شِکاګو‎	شِیکاگو‎
Culture	کَلْچَر‎	کُلْتُور‎‎

History

Excerpt from Khayr al-Bayān, written in Pashto in Nastaʿlīq script in 1651. The book was originally written by Bayazid Pir Roshan in the 16th century

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

ا /ɑ, ʔ/	ب /b/	پ /p/	ت /t̪/	ټ /ʈ/	ث /s/	ج /d͡ʒ/	چ /t͡ʃ/	څ /t͡s/	ح /h/	خ /x/
د /d̪/	ډ /ɖ/	ڊ /d͡z/	ﺫ /z/	د· /ʐ/	ﺭ /r/	ړ /ɺ˞, ɻ, ɽ/	ﺯ /z/	ږ /ʒ/
ڛ /s/	س /s/	ش /ʃ/	ښ /ʂ/	ص /s/	ض /z/	ط /t̪/	ظ /z/	ع /ʔ/	غ /ɣ/
ف /f,p/	ق /q, k/	ک /k/	ګ /ɡ/	ل /l/	م /m/	ن /n/	ڼ /ɳ/	و /w, u, o/	ه /h, a, ə/	ي /j, i, e/

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. ګ ,ښ ,ړ ,ډ ,څ ,ټ and ڼ 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 ږ (rē with dot below and dot above) to represent /ʒ/, like the ⟨s⟩ in pleasure, for which modern Pashto uses ژ instead. Modern Pashto uses the letter ږ to represent the sound /ʐ/ (northern dialect: /g/), but for that sound, Pir Roshan used a letter looking like ·د (dāl with central dot). His letter ڊ (dāl with dot below) to represent /d͡z/ has been replaced by ځ in modern Pashto. He also used ڛ (sīn with three dots below), an obsolete letter from the medieval Nastaʿlīq script, to denote the letter س (representing /s/) only in the isolated form. The Arabic ligature ﻻ (lām-alif) was also used. Two of his letters, پ and چ, 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:

ا ā /ɑ, a/	ب b /b/	پ p /p/	ت t /t̪/	ټ ṭ /ʈ/	ث s /s/	ج j /d͡ʒ/	ځ ź, dz /d͡z/	چ č /t͡ʃ/	څ c, ts /t͡s/	ح h /h/	خ x /x/
د d /d̪/	ډ ḍ /ɖ/	ذ z /z/	ر r /r/	ړ ṛ /ɺ,ɻ, ɽ/	ز z /z/	ژ ž /ʒ/	ږ ǵ, ǰ (or ẓ̌, ẓ) /ʐ, ʝ, ɡ, ʒ/	س s /s/	ش š /ʃ/	ښ x̌ (or ṣ̌, ṣ) /ʂ, ç, x, ʃ/
ص s /s/	ض z /z/	ط t /t̪/	ظ z /z/	ع ā /ɑ/	غ ğ, ɣ, ǧ /ɣ/	ف f /f/	ق q /q/	ک k /k/	ګ g /ɡ/	ل l /l/
م m /m/	ن n /n/	ڼ ṇ /ɳ/	ں ̃ , ń /◌̃/	و w, u, o /w, u, o/	ه h, a /h, a/	ۀ ə /ə/	ي y, i /j, i/	ې e /e/	ی ay, y /aj, j/	ۍ əy /əj/	ئ əy, y /əj, j/

Dialect vowels

See also: Central Pashto

Waziristani has the following vowels:

	Front		Central	Back
	Unrounded	Rounded
Close	i			u
Close-mid			ə
Open-mid	ɛ	œ		ɔ
Open	a			ɒ

These can potentially be romanised as:

IPA	Waziri Dialect	Romanisation	Notes	With stress
ɔ	North	ọ	as in Yoruba	ọ́
ɒ	South	å	as in Scandinivian	ǻ
œ	Both	ö	as in German	ö́
ɛ	Both	ɛ	as in Greek	ɛ́

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

Nasalised IPA	Romanisation	With Stress
ɑ̃	ā̃	ā̃́
ã	ã	ã́
ẽ	ẽ	ẽ́
ĩ	ĩ	ĩ́
ũ	ũ	ṹ
õ	õ	ṍ
ə̃	ə̃	ə̃́

It can also be transcribed as:

Nasalised IPA	Romanisation	With Stress
ɑ̃	āń	ā́ń
ã	ań	áń
ẽ	eń	éń
ĩ	iń	íń
ũ	uń	úń
õ	oń	óń
ə̃	əń	ə́ń

See also

• Pre-Islamic scripts in Afghanistan

Notes

1.^ As 2nd Person Singular - example: ته کور ته ځې [you are going home]. And as Past Feminine 3rd Person Plural - example: هغوی ګډېدې [They (women) were dancing)

2.^ Example: پرې, پې, تر...پورې etc

3. ^ Example: سړی تللی و [the man had gone]

4. ^ Example: خځه تللې وه [the woman had gone]

Bibliography

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

External links

• khyber.org^[usurped]
• pcgn.org.uk (PDF)
• loc.gov (PDF)
• abnea.com (PDF)
• eki.ee (PDF)
• Pashto English-English Pashto Dictionary Phrasebook Romanized (Nicholas Awde)