Some questions in Peshawari and General Pashto

[Andrey Evseev]

Salaam, İ have some questions in Pekhawari and General Pashto:

1. İs it true, that in Peshawar ژ is pronounced as 'j' [ʤ] ('winter' ژمی jәmey)?

2. İs it true, that in Peshawar 'ay' and 'әy' is pronounced as 'e' or 'ey' ('friend' ملگری malgәray - malgәrey)?

3. Why ارزو 'arzo' (wish) plural form is ارزوگانې 'arzoganai', but شاپو 'shapo' (hat) plural is شاپې 'shapai'? Why it isn't 'shapoganai'?

4. Why imperative form of ازادېدل 'azadedәl' (to be free) is ازاد شه 'azaad sha', but رسېدل 'rasedәl' (to send) is ورسېږه 'wәrasega'? How many '-edәl'-ending verbs, which derive imperfective forms with 'wә'?

5. 'Kana' کنه means 'isn't it' and (urdu) 'ہے نہ'? Why people say so many 'kana' in their speech??

6. İs it true, that all word with '-ū-' in their end, derive plurals whith '-ā(V)ә', as پښتون 'pakhtoon' - پښتانه 'pakhtaana', پوهنتون 'pohantun' - پوهنتانه 'pohantaana', پروت 'proot' - پراته 'praata'?

[یاسمینه]

Salaam, İ have some questions in Pekhawari and General Pashto:

1. İs it true, that in Peshawar ژ is pronounced as 'j' [ʤ] ('winter' ژمی jәmey)?

2. İs it true, that in Peshawar 'ay' and 'әy' is pronounced as 'e' or 'ey' ('friend' ملگری malgәray - malgәrey)?

3. Why ارزو 'arzo' (wish) plural form is ارزوگانې 'arzoganai', but شاپو 'shapo' (hat) plural is شاپې 'shapai'? Why it isn't 'shapoganai'?

4. Why imperative form of ازادېدل 'azadedәl' (to be free) is ازاد شه 'azaad sha', but رسېدل 'rasedәl' (to send) is ورسېږه 'wәrasega'? How many '-edәl'-ending verbs, which derive imperfective forms with 'wә'?

5. 'Kana' کنه means 'isn't it' and (urdu) 'ہے نہ'? Why people say so many 'kana' in their speech??

6. İs it true, that all word with '-ū-' in their end, derive plurals whith '-ā(V)ә', as پښتون 'pakhtoon' - پښتانه 'pakhtaana', پوهنتون 'pohantun' - پوهنتانه 'pohantaana', پروت 'proot' - پراته 'praata'?

3.probably because they have different grammatical gender. آرزو is feminine nouns. What is grammatical gender of ښاپو?
4. because taking into account the structure of these verbs, they are different. Second one is simple regular verb, the first one (i forgot English term) is отымённый verb. Tenses and modes are created in different ways.
5. that's how people talk, nothing more.
6. no, it's not true. Additionally, in your example you mixed nouns with adjectives. Plural forms are formed in different ways.

[Toramana]

Salaam, İ have some questions in Pekhawari and General Pashto:

1. İs it true, that in Peshawar ژ is pronounced as 'j' [ʤ] ('winter' ژمی jәmey)?

Pa khairuna? How are you?

Yes, that is correct. In Peshawar Valley, Malakand, and possibly Nangarhar-Kunar Valley (hard dialect) we use [ʤ] (jim) instead of ژ . Probably in southern districts, e.g., Bannu, Lakki Marwat, it is pronounced correctly.

2. İs it true, that in Peshawar 'ay' and 'әy' is pronounced as 'e' or 'ey' ('friend' ملگری malgәray - malgәrey)?

Yes that is correct as well. In Peshawar Pashto "ay" is more like "a" in English "bat". Probably in Kandahar Pashto, it is more like English diphthong "ai".

3. Why ارزو 'arzo' (wish) plural form is ارزوگانې 'arzoganai', but شاپو 'shapo' (hat) plural is شاپې 'shapai'? Why it isn't 'shapoganai'?

I really don't know why is that so. May be it is arbitrary. May be there is some consideration related to mouth morphology and articulation that there is this inconsistency (which we have in English as well). Someone needs to investigate the rationale.

4. Why imperative form of ازادېدل 'azadedәl' (to be free) is ازاد شه 'azaad sha', but رسېدل 'rasedәl' (to send) is ورسېږه 'wәrasega'? How many '-edәl'-ending verbs, which derive imperfective forms with 'wә'?

Don't have any idea. I think they will not be many.

5. 'Kana' کنه means 'isn't it' and (urdu) 'ہے نہ'? Why people say so many 'kana' in their speech??

It is kind of used to seek affirmation of what one person says from the other person. I think it varies and the use is more in less formal conversation and by common folk. Educated people will not use it much. In formal conversation it will not be used much.

6. İs it true, that all word with '-ū-' in their end, derive plurals whith '-ā(V)ә', as پښتون 'pakhtoon' - پښتانه 'pakhtaana', پوهنتون 'pohantun' - پوهنتانه 'pohantaana', پروت 'proot' - پراته 'praata'?

Yes may be. But "pohantun" has the plural "pohantununa". Another example is "roghtun" (hospital) which has the plural "roghtununa". By the way "proot" is not a noun. May be "praata" is a pluralized adjective just like "khog"(sweet) has pluralized adjective "khwaaga".

[Brown Skinned Savage]

3. Why ارزو 'arzo' (wish) plural form is ارزوگانې 'arzoganai', but شاپو 'shapo' (hat) plural is شاپې 'shapai'? Why it isn't 'shapoganai'?

Because "arzo" is not native Pashto word but one borrowed from Farsi, since foreign loan words do not have natural declensions in Pashto they have a affixed one with "oganai". Shapo however a native word most likely.

4. Why imperative form of ازادېدل 'azadedәl' (to be free) is ازاد شه 'azaad sha', but رسېدل 'rasedәl' (to send) is ورسېږه 'wәrasega'? How many '-edәl'-ending verbs, which derive imperfective forms with 'wә'?

Much like the above, the azadedal is an artificial word in a sense since azad is borrowed from Farsi and azad itself is a noun so once again it cannot be conjugated in the imperative it uses a standard state of being/passive conjugation of "shwal".

rasedal the root word is not a noun but adverb and it is native so it follows the natural imperative conjugations.

[Andrey Evseev]

3.probably because they have different grammatical gender. آرزو is feminine nouns. What is grammatical gender of ښاپو?
4. because taking into account the structure of these verbs, they are different. Second one is simple regular verb, the first one (i forgot English term) is отымённый verb. Tenses and modes are created in different ways.

ډېره مننه!

3. شاپو 'hat, шляпа', according Aslanov's and Zeeya Pashtoon's dictionaries is feminine.

İ have asked one Peshawari Pashto speaker about plural form of 'o'-ending nouns, so he answered me: Shapo=shapay, Pukhto=pukhtoganay.

İn Lebedev's 'Pashto Grammar' described one plural variation: پیشو pīšō - پیشوگاني pīšōgānī
Tegey and Boyle gave: بیزو bīzō - بیزوګانې/بیزووې bizoganē/bīzōwē, and 'wē/wī'-form of plural more common in Kandahari dialect (according Penzl's Pashto grammar).

4. جنګېدل jangēdәl 'воевать' тоже отымённый (denominative), и جنګ jang "война" существует самостоятельно, но глагол образует совершенный вид с wә: وجنګېږئ wәjangēgәy "сражайтесь". А, например,احساسېدل ihsāsēdәl 'ощущаться' - распадается, احساس شو ihsās shәw "чувствовался", хотя احساس "чувство" - не прилагательное.

В грамматиках пишут, что не распадаются некоторые отымённые глаголы, которые "less lexicalized", но не говорится, какие именно это глаголы или как их выявить.

[Gulalai]

4. Why imperative form of ازادېدل 'azadedәl' (to be free) is ازاد شه 'azaad sha', but رسېدل 'rasedәl' (to send) is ورسېږه 'wәrasega'? How many '-edәl'-ending verbs, which derive imperfective forms with 'wә'?

This is one of the reasons why Pashto is so hard to learn