Clearing Pukhto of Foreign words

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

All the languages are inter-related and have tons of words in common. you can't just remove those words which are part of your language since ages. It is said that the Hindu Pandits once tried to purify Hindi from foreign words by making new words. the result was that later common man was unable to learn or understand Hindu as they had given it a complete new shape with tons of new words n vocabulary. Even today only Pandits know the pure hindi and common people learn from them. Today the Pashtuns of Afghanistan are heading in the same direction. Every person who some how has an attachment to literature and writings introduce bundle of new words on the pretext of purifying the language which isn't a good sign bcoz no body care about the grammatical rules. For example there is a word "Khkula" and another "Leekwal" invented in Afghanistan which are not created according to grammatical rules.
in grammar when there is "laam" in the end of a "Masdar" we make a noun of it by replacing "laam" with "oonkey" like from "Katal" we have "Katoonkey" , Auredal we have "Auredoonkey" similarly from "Leekal" the noun should be "Leekoonkey" not "Leekwal" but leekwal has been invented out of it and has now become a common word.
So in short if any body want to purify the language by making a new words he/she should keep in view the grammatical rules and there should be certain procedure or rules according to which new words should be created. It shouldn't be anyone 's own choice.

As far as naming different things in pashto is concerned i totally discourage it coz name remain the same in every language so naming Rocket, TV or Fridge which are invented by Angrez should be translated into Pashto. They have promoted their language by making development in science and Technology and now in every part of the world how backward it may be every person use the words like Sim, Battery, TV, Mobile etc. So if Pashtuns wants to promote their language they should focus on development and progress in every field.

Did it ever occur to you that leekwal might not be just a literal translation of writer but rather something broader?

Leekunkey means literally the one who is doing the wtiting. Leekwal refers to a person who is either an author or a novelist or a poet. He may even be a commentator, a reviewer or he might be in to redacting.

All of these activities are related to writing. Thats why we use the word leekwal.

Leekunkey is a specific term we may use for its specific descriptive connotation.

[Yousafzai Pakhtun]

@shamlawar: leekwaal is just an example there are plenty of such words like meena waal, khkula, etc
For example
zalaa is from zaledal
Khkula is from ????? Khkuledal hahaha
Kom kom la ba jawaz gorey mullah jana!

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

@shamlawar: leekwaal is just an example there are plenty of such words like meena waal, khkula, etc
For example
zalaa is from zaledal
Khkula is from ????? Khkuledal hahaha
Kom kom la ba jawaz gorey mullah jana!

You may consider them as grammatically inaccurate. Since Pashto grammar is not standardized, you basically have nothing to stand on.

Let's have one standard pashto grammar first before deciding what is grammatically correct and what is incorrect.

Pekhawari grammar is different, Kandahari grammar is different and everything in between varies in varying levels.

Try fixing the grammar first before you dictate about what is grammatically correct and what not, kafir jana.

[یاسمینه]

I don't think that any of us has sufficient knowledge to determine which words came to Pashto from other languages and which are native Pashto ones. Also, it is difficult to determine the boundaries between loan words and words of foreign origins, which have been transformed that much, that seem to be native Pashto words.
If it comes to the latter, 'tapos' is my favorite example. It means 'question', but also refers to the one of Pashtun customs. Linguistically, 'tapos' has Arabic origins and comes from f-h-s root, tafahhus. My question is: is 'tapos', taking into account its origins and cultural context, a Pashto word?

[Yousafzai Pakhtun]

You may consider them as grammatically inaccurate. Since Pashto grammar is not standardized, you basically have nothing to stand on.

Let's have one standard pashto grammar first before deciding what is grammatically correct and what is incorrect.

Pekhawari grammar is different, Kandahari grammar is different and everything in between varies in varying levels.

Try fixing the grammar first before you dictate about what is grammatically correct and what not, kafir jana.

Hahaha! You can explain these words keeping in view any of your mentioned grammars,.can you? Be logical musalmaana!
Grammar is always there but you people has deteriorated its shape by butchering and introducing nonsense to it. Its the people who make it alive its upto you grammar always remain one and the same. If todays we have diffent grammars as you said its stupidity its mere a collection of wrong and self made rules made by people like you that you term as grammar

[Yousafzai Pakhtun]

1. By language purification, I largely mean returning to the old words that have now been replaced by new ones especially in Pakistan e.g. people use the urdu word pareshaan rather than Andexman
2. Your pandit example lacks a strand of truth.Language purification has been done several times in history -Ataturk has purified Turkish successfully. And now if you speak old Turkish to Turks no one will understand you. Even sanskrit-ised Hindi is becoming more intelligible: even I have began to use words like samay, shakti, vichar, tevar, samaj in my Urdu convos with friends.
3. Foreign words are more likely to not fit grammatical structure, being of different grammar languages. Grammatical structures have been taken into account for instance with zadkawoonkay for student and xawoonkay for teacher. If you compare pre-shakespearean English and post you can see how creation of words has benefited English also.
4. Pashto has the ability to form new natural words by adding "oonkay". It is not a new concept.
5. Nations that have pride in there heritage use naturalised foreign words or try to invent new words for instance in Japan a car warehouse is called: 車庫 Shoko. The On-sounds for each character is adopted, the first letter 車 stands for car and the second 庫 for a godown (Pashto: Godaam).

I completely agree wed the first paragraph and i have same opinion about this.

Secondly i am not against language purification what i m saying is that if you want to purify your language by replacing foreign or loan words wed new word, then try to introduce and make words keeping in view certain rules n principles so that in future others can make words using same grammatical rules. What i m saying is the creation of new words should be according to some qaida and principles and we do have these rules. I mentioned the words created in afghanistan which are not grammatically accurate. So if new words are invented such errors and mishaps should be avoided

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

Hahaha! You can explain these words keeping in view any of your mentioned grammars,.can you? Be logical musalmaana!
Grammar is always there but you people has deteriorated its shape by butchering and introducing nonsense to it. Its the people who make it alive its upto you grammar always remain one and the same. If todays we have diffent grammars as you said its stupidity its mere a collection of wrong and self made rules made by people like you that you term as grammar

Judging by your attitude and arrogance, it is obvious who is committed to stupidity here.

Instead of talking rubbish, why don't you attend an elementary pashto course in Nangarhar. Maybe, then you will realize you have been speaking Urdu all your life thinking you're speaking Pashto.

[یاسمینه]

You can refer to this article which shows how grammatically different is Paxto from both Farsi and Hindi, yet retaining similarity: http://people.ku.edu/~mmth/Some_Indi..._in_Pashto.pdf
Thereby showing independent grammar and hence an independent language.

Moreover, Paxto has several original vocabulary e.g
"Moon"
In Pashto: Spogmai
In Avestan (from which Iranian languages descended from): maŋha
In Sanskrit (from which Indian languages descended e.g. Punajbi, Urdu/Hindi etc): Chandra (चन्द्र)

I do not think tapos (تپوس) is from the Arabic word تفحص . Because when in Paxto as in Urdu when a loanword from Farsi or Arabic is used the spelling is retained. Moreover if it was a naturalisation of the arabic word then it would have been تپهس (tapahs) there would have been no "o" sound. Lastly the arabic word tafhas is also in the Paxto dictionary (see= http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bi...t&display=utf8).

Tafahhus (Arab.)> tafahos (Persian, Urdu) -> and then, through the following phonological transformations:
1. change of intervocalic F to P (according to Pashto phonology),
2. then loss of intervocalic H (also according to Pashto phonology)
you have the word: tapaos, pronounced as tapos...

[یاسمینه]

You can refer to this article which shows how grammatically different is Paxto from both Farsi and Hindi, yet retaining similarity: http://people.ku.edu/~mmth/Some_Indi..._in_Pashto.pdf
Thereby showing independent grammar and hence an independent language.

Moreover, Paxto has several original vocabulary e.g
"Moon"
In Pashto: Spogmai
In Avestan (from which Iranian languages descended from): maŋha
In Sanskrit (from which Indian languages descended e.g. Punajbi, Urdu/Hindi etc): Chandra (चन्द्र)

I do not think tapos (تپوس) is from the Arabic word تفحص . Because when in Paxto as in Urdu when a loanword from Farsi or Arabic is used the spelling is retained. Moreover if it was a naturalisation of the arabic word then it would have been تپهس (tapahs) there would have been no "o" sound. Lastly the arabic word tafhas is also in the Paxto dictionary (see= http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bi...t&display=utf8).

BTW, I speak some Farsi/Dari as well as Hindi...
The aim of my post was to make people realize that it is very difficult to determine which words are pure Pashto ones, because of lack of knowledge (non-linguists). Even linguists argue about the boundaries of borromings/ transformations...

[Yousafzai Pakhtun]

Judging by your attitude and arrogance, it is obvious who is committed to stupidity here.

Instead of talking rubbish, why don't you attend an elementary pashto course in Nangarhar. Maybe, then you will realize you have been speaking Urdu all your life thinking you're speaking Pashto.

Yes you are right! I should study at Ningrahar and Kunar bocoz these cities has been great seats for learning science, technology, literature and language for the last few decades thanks to you people.

A language is kept alive by poets, writers and historians. We peshawaris are too unlucky in this regard coz all the famous Pashto poets like Khushal Khan Khattak, Rehman Baba, Ashraf Khan hijri, Misri Khan gigyani, Daulat khan lwani, Afzal khan khattak, Ali khan, Qalandar Momand, Ghani Khan, Ajmal Khattak, Rehmat Shah Sayil, Sahib shah sabir, Saif ur Rehman salim were Nangraharis :P

And yea my Pashto is urdunized equally to the extent your pashto is persianized, and i admit it ,you don't.

[Yousafzai Pakhtun]

What is KPK? Wrora! If you think Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is lengthy enough for you then just say "Pakhtunkhwa" but please don't use abreviation. We just got rid of NWFP , no to KPK.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the most stupid and divisive name. It perpetuates regionalism within pashtun society.

They should have called it something more appropriate.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

Just to remind u guys, this is a language forum not a political one

The implications of purifying a language are political.

[Al Hanif]

A language becomes powerful because the civilization using it innovates, produces things and invents concepts and these new words spread to other surrounding civilizations.

This is why English became the lingua franca.

If you want Pashto to not die, this will not happen by "purifying it". If you "purify it" it will only be temporary.

You need to produce and invent things in Pashto to keep your language alive.

[Forum Member]

Pashto Purification Wordlist:

1) Instead of the English word Cut (کټکول) lets use the pure Paxto پریکول Pre-kol or غوڅول Ghotswal when used for cutting flesh.
2) Instead of the Arabic word for وطن lets use the pure Paxto هېواد Hewad
3) Instead of the Urdu word Awaam (عوام) lets use the pure Paxto اولس Ulas
4) Instead of the Farsi word تازه lets use pure Paxto word سمسور Samsor

GUYS PLEASE KEEP ON ADDING MORE. THE MORE WE CHANGE THE MORE REST WILL FOLLOW

(You can even see the beauty of paxto in having a separate verb to cut for flesh)

"Ghuts" and "cut" are derived from the same source.
"Ulas" is Mongolian.