Pashto

For other uses, see Pashto (disambiguation).

Pashto
پښتو
Pax̌tó
The word Pax̌tó written in the Pashto alphabet
Pronunciation[pəʂˈto], [pʊxˈto], [pəçˈto], [pəʃˈto]
Native toAfghanistan, Pakistan
EthnicityPashtuns
SpeakersL1: 44 million (2017–2021)[1]
L2: 4.9 million (2022)[1]
Standard forms
DialectsPashto dialects
Pashto alphabet
Official status
Official language in
 Afghanistan
 Pakistan
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated by
Pashto Academy Quetta
Language codes
ISO 639-1ps – Pashto, Pushto
ISO 639-2pus – Pushto, Pashto
ISO 639-3pus – inclusive code – Pashto, Pushto
Individual codes:
pst – Central Pashto
pbu – Northern Pashto
pbt – Southern Pashto
wne – Wanetsi
Glottologpash1269  Pashto
Linguasphere58-ABD-a
A map of Pashto-speaking areas
Areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan where Pashto is:
  the predominant language
  spoken alongside other languages
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 Pashto text. Without proper rendering support, you may see unjoined letters or other symbols instead of Pashto script.

Pashto[b] (/ˈpʌʃtoʊ/ PUH-shto,[6][4][5]/ˈpæʃtoʊ/ PASH-toe;[c] پښتو, Pəx̌tó, [pəʂˈto, pʊxˈto, pəʃˈto, pəçˈto]) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (افغانی, Afghāni).[8]

Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan alongside Dari,[9][10][11] and it is the second-largest provincial language of Pakistan, spoken mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern districts of Balochistan.[12] Likewise, it is the primary language of the Pashtun diaspora around the world. The total number of Pashto-speakers is at least 40 million,[13] although some estimates place it as high as 60 million.[14] Pashto is "one of the primary markers of ethnic identity" amongst Pashtuns.[15]

  1. ^ a b Pashto at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
    Central Pashto at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
    Northern Pashto at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
    Southern Pashto at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
    Wanetsi at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ "Private schools asked to introduce regional languages as compulsory subject". app.com.pk. 28 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  3. ^ Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. Elsevier. 6 April 2010. pp. 845–. ISBN 978-0-08-087775-4.
  4. ^ a b "Pashto (also Pushtu)". American Heritage Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Pashto (also Pushtu)". Oxford Online Dictionaries, UK English. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 1 December 2015.
  6. ^ "Pashto (less commonly Pushtu)". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  7. ^ "Pashto (also Pushto or Pushtu)". Oxford Online Dictionaries, US English. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 20 September 2015.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Leyden was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Article Sixteen of the 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan". 2004. Archived from the original on 28 October 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2012. From among the languages of Pashto, Dari, Uzbeki, Turkmani, Baluchi, Pashai, Nuristani, Pamiri (alsana), Arab and other languages spoken in the country, Pashto and Dari are the official languages of the state.
  10. ^ Constitution of Afghanistan – Chapter 1 The State, Article 16 (Languages) and Article 20 (Anthem)
  11. ^ Banting, Erinn (2003). Afghanistan: The land. Crabtree Publishing Company. p. 4. ISBN 0-7787-9335-4. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  12. ^ Population by Mother Tongue, Population Census – Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Government of Pakistan
  13. ^ Pashto (2005). Keith Brown (ed.). Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (2 ed.). Elsevier. ISBN 0-08-044299-4. (40 million)
  14. ^ Penzl, Herbert; Ismail Sloan (2009). A Grammar of Pashto a Descriptive Study of the Dialect of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Ishi Press International. p. 210. ISBN 978-0-923891-72-5. Estimates of the number of Pashto speakers range from 40 million to 60 million...
  15. ^ Hakala, Walter (9 December 2011). Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors: The Changing Politics of Language Choice. Brill. p. 55. ISBN 978-90-04-21765-2. As is well known, the Pashtun people place a great deal of pride upon their language as an identifier of their distinct ethnic and historical identity. While it is clear that not all those who self-identify as ethnically Pashtun themselves use Pashto as their primary language, language does seem to be one of the primary markers of ethnic identity in contemporary Afghanistan.


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