"Pushto Dialects" by prof. M. A. Zyar - a part of the article

[یاسمینه]

I have a copy of the typescript of the article Pushto Dialects written by professor Mojawer Ahmad Zyar (at that time he was a doctor). I don't know if it has been published. I think it was presented during some conference. I also can't say when the paper was written. The copy is hardly readable. Below is the one part of the article.

Problems and difficulties

The task of research about Pashto dialects faces a great deal of problems whose nature ranges from pressing diffuculties of a developping country to negative and non-constructive attitudes and mentalities. For the sake of brevity, we would have only to name some of them leaving it for the listeners to follow the implications and explanations.

1. Lack of adequate sources about Pushto as well as of general theoretical works.

2. Lack of a standard prescribed form of writting and sufficient printing paraphasnelia to represent different variants.

3. Lack of a standard dialect for written Pushto, especially one which should be selected from amon the various dialects, or on the basis of which we can make comparative studies.

4. Difficulties in classification due to tribal and nomadic life which cuts across geographical units and also due to lack of ethnographical maps.

5. Lack of organizations or institutions staffed with specialized personell.

6. The Durand line which leaves half of the Pushtons practically out of reach for our purposes.

7. A kind of sensitivity on the part of the traditional Pushto authorities who are for example afraid that such studies might harm unity. Actually however to study the dialects would further unity and clear the way for establishing a standard Pushto.

8. Reluctance on the part of the traditional figures to accept the scientific classification and to submit to what the premises lead to. Also attempts to separate the language from its sister languages as though it were a sign of pride to have a language far away from related languages. This resistance to objective empirical [?] study of the language and the tendency to speculate about it could be considered one of the biggest impediments in the way of a useful and workable approach to Pushto.

9. Regionalism and prejudices such as favoring one's own dialect biasly.

10. Traditionalism and one sideness which subjects linguistic matters to petty considerations and personal preferences or fears. Such is for example our traditional speculative etymology which identifies Pushto word roots in words as far removed as Mexico and Scandinavia.

[Pukhtoon]

I have a copy of the typescript of the article Pushto Dialects written by professor Mojawer Ahmad Zyar (at that time he was a doctor). I don't know if it has been published. I think it was presented during some conference. I also can't say when the paper was written. The copy is hardly readable. Below is the one part of the article.

Problems and difficulties

The task of research about Pashto dialects faces a great deal of problems whose nature ranges from pressing diffuculties of a developping country to negative and non-constructive attitudes and mentalities. For the sake of brevity, we would have only to name some of them leaving it for the listeners to follow the implications and explanations.

1. Lack of adequate sources about Pushto as well as of general theoretical works.

2. Lack of a standard prescribed form of writting and sufficient printing paraphasnelia to represent different variants.

3. Lack of a standard dialect for written Pushto, especially one which should be selected from amon the various dialects, or on the basis of which we can make comparative studies.

4. Difficulties in classification due to tribal and nomadic life which cuts across geographical units and also due to lack of ethnographical maps.

5. Lack of organizations or institutions staffed with specialized personell.

6. The Durand line which leaves half of the Pushtons practically out of reach for our purposes.

7. A kind of sensitivity on the part of the traditional Pushto authorities who are for example afraid that such studies might harm unity. Actually however to study the dialects would further unity and clear the way for establishing a standard Pushto.

8. Reluctance on the part of the traditional figures to accept the scientific classification and to submit to what the premises lead to. Also attempts to separate the language from its sister languages as though it were a sign of pride to have a language far away from related languages. This resistance to objective empirical [?] study of the language and the tendency to speculate about it could be considered one of the biggest impediments in the way of a useful and workable approach to Pushto.

9. Regionalism and prejudices such as favoring one's own dialect biasly.

10. Traditionalism and one sideness which subjects linguistic matters to petty considerations and personal preferences or fears. Such is for example our traditional speculative etymology which identifies Pushto word roots in words as far removed as Mexico and Scandinavia.

Thank you for the article. As an aside, may I ask where you studied/study that has given you so much insight into the language? I believe your a non-native speaker and you seem to have a very academic understanding of Pashto, i.e., understanding of grammar, syntax, etc. and am curious to know how you got to that point. Thanks.

[Badlun]

Please share the other parts of this very useful article.

I am of the mind that differences in Pashto dialects are usually exaggerated. My personal experience is that when I met Pashtuns from Khost and Bannu for the first time I had some problems with few geosynonyms like brhashtan/shirak/kanjarha (quilt/blanket) as words like shirak or kanjarha were totally new for me .

Similarly I found tikaley and marhai strange for dodai(bread) but after passing few hours and getting accustomed to sounds khin/shin and ge/je I had not at all any problem with listening comprehension.

With Written Pashto I had never had any problem. As I speak Dari, English and Urdu so no problem at all with such terms.I know Pashtuns have problem with written Pashto when they do not know the pure Pashto and Persian/Urdu/English/French loan words and terms.

[Haris]

Thank you for sharing that Yasmeenah.

I concur with all of the points mentioned there leading me to want to see more of what he has to say.

I, too, would appreciate it if you could possibly share further extracts from the book.

written by me, this report far more cohesive http://www.pashtunforums.com/pashto-...3/index12.html

That was a really helpful article. If you have more to say on the matter then I would certainly read it.

[یاسمینه]

Another part of the article by prof. Zyar, mentioned at the beginning of this thread.

The tribal and nomadic life of the Pushtones, scattered all around a mountanous land, has naturally given rise to numerous variations in their languages, creating there by a rich variety of dialects. This is however no wonder in a country which has been the ancient historical and geographical crossroad of cultures. The mountanous regions of the land have remained the most valuable theasures of variety of dialects. Accordingly, it is hard to pin down the differentioation through social stratification. Class jargons have not so far appeared among the Pushtones. So the basis for differentation of dialects is certainly the tribal social organization as well as to some extent regional, i. e. geographical division.
(...)

A Proposed Classification

A general view of the numerous dialects leads us to their broad classification in to three main branches. This is the way well-known Pushto specialists such as Dr. Kiefer, have approached the problem. The first of these groups is the Kandahari dialect, or the soft dialects which is spread not only in Kandahar, but in areas as far west as Pala Murghab, Kohsan of Herat and Niaz Kala in Ghor, and as far east as Jaldak in Zabul. Ethnically the dialect is represented maiinly by Sarban and Gharghisht tribes, e.g. Barekzay, Mohamadzay, Popalzay, Kakar etc.
The second group is the middle one which starts from Jaldak and is extented upto Darunta. It belongs to the Mutozi (Ghiljay) and Kerlani tribes settled in Zabul, Ghazni, Kabul, Logar, Paktia, Wardaq, Parwan, Kapisa, Laghman, e.g. Hotek, Tokhi, Naser, Taraki, Suliman Khil, Ali Khil, Andar, Zazi, Zadran, Mangal, Tota Khil, Kharoti, Sapi, Ahmadzay etc.
Thirdly it is the Nangarhari or the eastern group which starts from Darwanta and extends east ward and north-east ward to the Indus. In these areas mainly branches of Sarban and Kerlani tribes, e.g. Khogyani, Shinwari, Sapi, Mohmand, Yosafzi, Mamoond, Salarzi, etc have settled.
In addition to the these three however we can indentify another group as well, i. e. the Waziri group whose representativesexcepting mamozi's in Zurmut, Alikhils in Sharan Kharoti's in Urgoon, Gurbuz in Khost, live mostly in Central Pashtunistan, e.g. Wazir, Masid, Dawar, Betani, Apridi, Khattek, etc... This fourth group is near to Kandahari dialects (...).