Pashto, Southern

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A language of Afghanistan

ISO 639-3
pbt
Alternate Names
Kandahari Pashto, Qandahari Pashto, Southwestern Pashto
Autonym
پښتو‎‎ (Pax̌tō)
User Population

13,320,000 in Afghanistan, all users. L1 users: 9,840,000 in Afghanistan (2017). L2 users: 3,480,000 (2021). Total users in all countries: 19,732,400 (as L1: 16,252,400; as L2: 3,480,000).

Location

Badghis, Farah, Helmand, Herat, Kandahar, Nimroz, Uruzgan, and Zabul provinces.

Language Maps
Language Status

1 (National). Statutory national language (2004, Constitution, Article 16(1)).

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Eastern, Southeastern, Pashto
Dialects

Durani. Lexical similarity: 80% between northern and southern varieties of Pashto. A member of macrolanguage Pushto [pus].

Typology

SOV; noun head final; gender (masculine/feminine); no articles; case-marking (3 cases); verb affixes mark person, number, gender of subject; passives; tense and aspect; causatives.

Language Use

Afghan government has worked since 1930s to standardize and publicize it. All domains. Used by all. Positive attitudes. Some also use Dari [prs], especially those who are educated or have business in Dari-speaking provinces. A few also use Urdu [urd].

Language Development

Pashto is one of two national languages taught in schools. Low literacy rate, especially in non-urban locations and among women. Taught in all primary and secondary schools in predominantly Pashto-speaking areas; taught as subject in primary schools in some other regions. Literature. Newspapers. Periodicals. Radio. TV. Videos. Dictionary. Grammar. Texts. Bible portions: 2011–2019.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Pashto, Southern
Writing

Arabic script, Naskh variant [Arab], used in print. Arabic script, Nastaliq variant [Aran], used in handwriting and for book titles.

Other Comments

Muslim.

Also spoken in:

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