Tweet
This is either a very good question or a good propaganda to increase the gap between the Pashtuns from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The presence of the dialects or accents is mainly because of the geographical distance between the speakers of the same language. As Pashtuns live in a rough mountanious terrain and as there were no facilities of transport and movement in past, different dialects were developed. Also now Pashtuns living mainly in two different countries i.e. Pakistan and Afghanistan, there is a political as well linguistic influence from other languages mainly Urdu and Persian on Pashto. But this is not a very complex problems. There are only two main dialects , Hard and soft.and by a little attention you can understand both very easily.
The increasing distance of Pashto language spoken in Pakistan and Afghanistan is very interesting to discuss. There is a marked difference in vocabulary of the Pashto spoken in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghanistani Pashto is influenced by Persian while Pakistani Pashto by Urdu or English . The best or worst example is the use of suffix AST in Afghanistani Pashto and the use of Urdu numbers by Pakistani Pashtuns.
Here the solution is using pure Pashto words neither of Persian nor Urdu nor English ,,,,This will bridge the linguistic difference
The difference of accent is geographical not political. It does not depend on Pakistan or Afghanistan its not East West . its North -South
There r two main dialects in Pashto language.
Hard dialect.......... spoken in areas like Peshawar, Mardan, Swat, Malakand, Dir, Kohat, Paracinar, Jalalabad, Bajawar, Mohmand, Khyber,etc mainly in northern part of Pashto speaking areas.Here the pure Pashto words are pronounced as kh and g not sh and j if the word comprises the sound. As the word for fine is prounced here as kha not sha. The word for beard is pronounced as gira not jira. From the pure Pashto words I mean not words borrowed from other languages .For example. the word khalis is pronounced in both the dialects the same as it is not a pure Pashto word. Such words are written with Arabic khe not Pashto khin
Soft dialect......... spoken in SOUTHERN areas like Banu, Karak, Waziristan, Baluchistan, Qandahar, Paktya etc. Here the above sounds are pronounced as sh and g . fine is sha here and beard is jira here.
A Pashtun should try for orientation in both the dialects or accents.THERE IS NOTHING TO DO SPECIAL . It is not necessary to learn both the dialects as both are easily mutually intelligible. Accents of Qandahar and Peshawar or Mardan are the strandard accents throug out the world.If you just understand where KHIN/SHIN and GE/JE are to be differentiated then you will have no problem to understand both Pashto dialects used in Kandahar or Peshawar.
There are then minute differences in Pashto spoken in different areas or provinces in Pakistan and Afghanistan ,,for example Pashto spoken in Waziristan is different in a way from the Pashto spoken in Karak ,both belongs to the soft dialect area,,,,,or the Pashto in Kohat from the Pashto in Charsada both of hard dialect areas the same is Pashto in Paktya and Qandahar or Pashto of Kunarh and Jalal abad
My suggestion is that when a Pashtun from the same district or province meet a Pashtun from his own district or area or province then they may speak in their own accent/dialect but when they meet a Pashtun from another area then its better to use Peshawari or Qandahari standard Pashto ,,the same for internet ,,,for example instead of minzh ,,Waziristani accent ,,its better to use mong or muzh ,,,,,,for better communication ,,thus the linguistic distances among Pashtuns will be minimized ,,,,,,,
This accent/dialect problem is not only with Pashto its always with languages ,,for examples English has many accents and dialects ,,but they have the received pronunciation/RP for BBC or CNN
Remember that both the dialects are written in the same script . Thats why you see special Pashto letters for khe and ge.
The presence of the dialects or accents is mainly because of the geographical distance between the speakers of the same language. As Pashtuns live in a rough mountanious terrain and as there were no facilities of transport and movement in past, different dialects were developed. Also now Pashtuns living mainly in two different countries i.e. Pakistan and Afghanistan, there is a political as well linguistic influence from other languages mainly Urdu and Persian on Pashto. But this is not a very complex problems. There are only two main dialects , Hard and soft.and by a little attention you can understand both very easily.
The increasing distance of Pashto language spoken in Pakistan and Afghanistan is very interesting to discuss. There is a marked difference in vocabulary of the Pashto spoken in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghanistani Pashto is influenced by Persian while Pakistani Pashto by Urdu or English . The best or worst example is the use of suffix AST in Afghanistani Pashto and the use of Urdu numbers by Pakistani Pashtuns.
Here the solution is using pure Pashto words neither of Persian nor Urdu nor English ,,,,This will bridge the linguistic difference
The difference of accent is geographical not political. It does not depend on Pakistan or Afghanistan its not East West . its North -South
There r two main dialects in Pashto language.
Hard dialect.......... spoken in areas like Peshawar, Mardan, Swat, Malakand, Dir, Kohat, Paracinar, Jalalabad, Bajawar, Mohmand, Khyber,etc mainly in northern part of Pashto speaking areas.Here the pure Pashto words are pronounced as kh and g not sh and j if the word comprises the sound. As the word for fine is prounced here as kha not sha. The word for beard is pronounced as gira not jira. From the pure Pashto words I mean not words borrowed from other languages .For example. the word khalis is pronounced in both the dialects the same as it is not a pure Pashto word. Such words are written with Arabic khe not Pashto khin
Soft dialect......... spoken in SOUTHERN areas like Banu, Karak, Waziristan, Baluchistan, Qandahar, Paktya etc. Here the above sounds are pronounced as sh and g . fine is sha here and beard is jira here.
A Pashtun should try for orientation in both the dialects or accents.THERE IS NOTHING TO DO SPECIAL . It is not necessary to learn both the dialects as both are easily mutually intelligible. Accents of Qandahar and Peshawar or Mardan are the strandard accents throug out the world.If you just understand where KHIN/SHIN and GE/JE are to be differentiated then you will have no problem to understand both Pashto dialects used in Kandahar or Peshawar.
There are then minute differences in Pashto spoken in different areas or provinces in Pakistan and Afghanistan ,,for example Pashto spoken in Waziristan is different in a way from the Pashto spoken in Karak ,both belongs to the soft dialect area,,,,,or the Pashto in Kohat from the Pashto in Charsada both of hard dialect areas the same is Pashto in Paktya and Qandahar or Pashto of Kunarh and Jalal abad
My suggestion is that when a Pashtun from the same district or province meet a Pashtun from his own district or area or province then they may speak in their own accent/dialect but when they meet a Pashtun from another area then its better to use Peshawari or Qandahari standard Pashto ,,the same for internet ,,,for example instead of minzh ,,Waziristani accent ,,its better to use mong or muzh ,,,,,,for better communication ,,thus the linguistic distances among Pashtuns will be minimized ,,,,,,,
This accent/dialect problem is not only with Pashto its always with languages ,,for examples English has many accents and dialects ,,but they have the received pronunciation/RP for BBC or CNN
Remember that both the dialects are written in the same script . Thats why you see special Pashto letters for khe and ge.