Dari

For other uses, see Dari (disambiguation).

Dari
Afghan Persian, Eastern Persian
دری
Dari in Perso-Arabic script
(Nastaʿlīq style)
Pronunciation[d̪ɐˈɾiː]
Native toAfghanistan
SpeakersL1: 10 million (2017)[1]
L2: 21 million (2022)[1]
Dialects
[note 1][2][3]
Persian alphabet
Official status
Official language in
Afghanistan
Regulated byAcademy of Sciences of Afghanistan
Language codes
ISO 639-3prs
Glottologdari1249
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
This article contains Persian text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.

Dari (/ˈdɑːri, ˈdæ-/; endonym: دری [d̪ɐˈɾiː]), Dari Persian (فارسی دری, Fārsī-yi Darī, [fʌːɾˈsiːjɪ d̪ɐˈɾiː] or Fārsī-ye Darī, [fʌːɾˈsiːjɛ d̪ɐˈɾiː]), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan.[4][5] Dari Persian is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;[6][7] it is known as Afghan Persian or Eastern Persian in many Western sources.[8][9][10][11] The decision to rename the local variety of Persian in 1964 was more political than linguistic to support an Afghan state narrative.[12] Dari Persian is most closely related to Tajiki Persian as spoken in Tajikistan and the two share many phonological and lexical similarities. Apart from a few basics of vocabulary, there is little difference between formal written Persian of Afghanistan and Iran; the languages are mutually intelligible.[13] Dari Persian is the official language for approximately 35 million people in Afghanistan[14] and it serves as the common language for inter-ethnic communication in the country.[15]

As defined in the 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan, Dari Persian is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan; the other is Pashto.[16] Dari Persian is the most widely spoken language in Afghanistan and the native language of approximately 25–55%[9][17][18][19] of the population.[18] Dari Persian serves as the lingua franca of the country and is understood by up to 78% of the population.[20]

Dari Persian served as the preferred literary and administrative language among non-native speakers, such as the Turco-Mongol peoples including the Mughals,[21] for centuries before the rise of modern nationalism. Also, like Iranian Persian and Tajiki Persian, Dari Persian is a continuation of Middle Persian, the official religious and literary language of the Sassanian Empire (224–651 AD), itself a continuation of Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenids (550–330 BC).[22][23] In historical usage, Dari refers to the Middle Persian court language of the Sassanids.[24]

  1. ^ a b Dari at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Iranica dialects was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference MOE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Afghan Folktales from Herat: Persian Texts in Transcription and Translation. Cambria Press. 2009. ISBN 978-1-60497-652-6.
  5. ^ "11 books". afghanistandl.nyu.edu. Archived from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  6. ^ Lazard, G. "Darī – The New Persian Literary Language Archived 24 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine", in Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition 2006.
  7. ^ "Tajikam Portal - Secret documents Reveal Afghan Language Policy". tajikam.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  8. ^ "Airgram Farsi to Dari 1964 Embassy Kabul to USA". Archived from the original on 27 September 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  9. ^ a b "Afghanistan". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 8 July 2010. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  10. ^ "Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: prs". SIL International. 18 January 2010. Archived from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  11. ^ Library, International and Area Studies. "LibGuides: Dari Language: Language History". guides.library.illinois.edu. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  12. ^ Green, Nile; Arbabzadah, Nushin (2013). Afghanistan in Ink: Literature Between Diaspora and Nation. Hurst. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-84904-204-8.
  13. ^ "Kāboli". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2021. Persian in Afghanistan is generally called fārsi by Persian-speakers and pārsi in Pashto. The standard written Persian of Afghanistan has officially been called Dari since 1964; apart from a few basics of vocabulary, however (and more Indo-Persian calligraphic styles in the Perso-Arabic script), there is little difference between formal written Persian of Afghanistan and of Iran. The term "Dari" is often loosely used for the characteristic spoken Persian of Afghanistan, but is best restricted to formal spoken registers (poetry, speeches, newscasts, and other broadcast announcements).
  14. ^ "South Asia :: Afghanistan". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  15. ^ Library, International and Area Studies. "LibGuides: Dari Language: Language History". guides.library.illinois.edu. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  16. ^ "The Afghans – Language Use". United States: Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL). 30 June 2002. Archived from the original on 4 May 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  17. ^ "Afghanistan v. Languages". Ch. M. Kieffer. Encyclopædia Iranica, online ed. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2010. Persian (2) is the most spoken languages in Afghanistan. The native tongue of twenty five percent of the population ...
  18. ^ a b "Dari". UCLA International Institute: Center for World Languages. University of California, Los Angeles. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  19. ^ "The World Factbook". 15 October 2013. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  20. ^ "South Asia :: Afghanistan – The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  21. ^ "Mughal world and literature". www.laits.utexas.edu. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  22. ^ Lazard, Gilbert 1975, "The Rise of the New Persian Language"
  23. ^ in Frye, R. N., The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 4, pp. 595–632, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  24. ^ Frye, R. N., "Darī", The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Brill Publications, CD version


Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).