Pashto Phonology

Amongst the Iranian Languages the phonology of Pashto is of middle complexity but its morphology is very complex.^[1]

Consonants

	Labial		Denti- alveolar		Retroflex		Post- alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Glottal
Nasal		m		n		ɳ						ŋ
Plosive	p	b	t	d	ʈ	ɖ					k	ɡ	q		ʔ
Affricate			t͡s	d͡z			t͡ʃ	d͡ʒ
Fricative	f		s	z	ʂ	ʐ	ʃ	ʒ	ç	ʝ	x	ɣ			h
Approximant				l						j		w
Rhotic				r		ɺ̢

Foreign Consonants

Phonemes that have been borrowed are colour-coded. The phonemes /q/, /f/ tend to be replaced by [k], [p].^[2]

Notes on Consonants

1. [m] voiced bilabial nasal
2. [n] voiced post-dental nasal; non-phonemic allophones are [ŋ] before [k] and [g], and [ɳ] before [ʈ] and [ɖ], and [ɲ] before [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ], and [m] before [b] and [p]
3. [ɳ] voiced retroflex nasal flap
4. [p] voiceless bilabial stop, somewhat aspirated prevocalically, especially in a stressed syllable
5. [b] voiced bilabial stop, unaspirated
6. [t] voiceless post-dental stop, somewhat aspirated prevocalically in a stressed syllable
7. [d] voiced post-dental stop, unaspirated
8. [ʈ] voiceless retroflex stop, somewhat aspirated prevocalically in a stressed syllable
9. [ɖ] voiced retroflex stop, unaspirated
10. [k] voiceless velar stop, somewhat aspirated when prevocalic in a stressed syllable
11. [g] voiced velar stop, unaspirated
12. [t͡s] voiceless post-dental affricate, slightly aspirated in a stressed syllable
13. [d͡z] voiced post-dental affricate, not aspirated
14. [t͡ʃ] voiceless palato-alveolar affricate, slightly aspirated in a stressed syllable
15. [d͡z] voiced palato-alveolar affricate, unaspirated
16. [ɳ] voiceless post-dental spirant
17. [z] voiced post-dental spirant
18. [ʂ] voiceless retroflex spirant; used in the Southwest dialects [represented by ښ]
19. [ʐ] voiceled retroflex spirant; used in the Southwest dialects [represented by ږ]
20. [ʃ] voiceless palato-alveolar spirant
21. [ʒ] voiced palato-alveolar spirant
22. [ç] voiceless palatal fricative; used in the Wardak and Central Ghilji dialects [represented by ښ]
23. [ʝ] voiced palatal fricative; used in the Wardak and Central Ghilji dialects [represented by ږ]
24. [x] voiceless velar fricative
25. [ɣ] voiced velar fricative
26. [h] voiceless glottal fricative; dropped in most Southwest dialects and Waṇētsī
27. [l] voiced post-dental lateral, non-fricative, medium clear
28. [j] voiced palatal continuant
29. [w] voiced labio-dental continuant
30. [ɲ] voiced post-dental flap, single in most dialects
31. [ɽ] voiced back-alveolar retroflex flap

Voiceless stops [p, t, k] are all unaspirated, like Spanish, other Romance languages, and Austronesian languages; they have slightly aspirated allophones prevocalically in a stressed syllable, almost like English.

Phonotactics

Pashto syllable structure can be summarized as follows; parentheses enclose optional components:

• (C₁ (C₂)) (S₁) V (S₂) (C₃ (C₄))

Pashto syllable structure consists of an optional syllable onset, consisting of one or two consonants; an obligatory syllable nucleus, consisting of a vowel optionally preceded by and/or followed by a semivowel; and an optional syllable coda, consisting of one or two consonants. The following restrictions apply:

• Onset
  • First consonant (C₁): Can be any consonant, including a liquid (/l, r/).
  • Second consonant (C₂): Can be any consonant. (see #Consonant Clusters below)
• Nucleus
  • Semivowel (S₁)
  • Vowel (V)
  • Semivowel (S₂)
• Coda
  • First consonant (C₃): Can be any consonant
  • Second consonant (C₄): Can be any consonant

Consonant Clusters

Pashto also has a liking for word-initial consonant clusters in all dialects; some hundred such clusters occurs. However consonant gemination is unknown to Pashto.^[3]

	Examples
Two Consonant Clusters	/t̪l/, /kl/, /bl/, /ɣl/, /lm/, /nm/, /lw/, /sw/, /br/, /t̪r/, /ɣr/, /pr/, /d̪r/, /wr/, /kɽ/, mɽ, /wɽ/ /xp/, /pʃ/, /pʂ/, /xr/, /zb/, /zɽ/, /ʒb/, /d͡zm/, /md͡z/, /t͡sk/, /sk/, /sp/, /ʃp/, /ʂk/, /xk/, /ʃk/, /kʃ/, /kx/, /kʂ/, /ml/, /gr/, /gm/ and /ʐm/ etc.
Three Consonant Clusters	/sxw/, /xwɽ/, /xwl/, /nɣw/ etc.

Vowels

Most dialects in Pashto have seven vowels and seven diphthongs.^[4]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open		a	ɑ

Waziri Vowels

In Waziri Dialect the [ɑ] in Standard Pashto becomes [ɔː] in Northern Waziri and [ɒː] in Southern Waziri.^[5]

In Waziri Dialect the stressed [o] in Standard Pashto becomes [œː] as in the word [/lor/] meaning 'sickle' becomes [/lœːr/] and [ɛː] as in the word [/oɽəˈ/] meaning 'flour' becomes [/ɛːɽəˈ/] .^[6] The [o] in Standard Pashto may also become [(y)e] as in the word [/yeʒaˈ/] meaning 'shoulder' from [/ogaˈ/] or [/oʐaˈ/].^[7]

Diphthongs

	Front	Central	Back
High			[uɪ]
Mid		[əi]	[oɪ]
Low	[aɪ] and [aw]		[ɑi] and [ɑw]

Ortography of Diphthongs

	Initial	Medial	Final
aɪ	ای	َيـ	َی
əi			ۍ
oɪ	اوی	ويـ	وي
uɪ	اوی	ويـ	وي
aw	او	َو	َو
ɑi	آي	اي	اي
ɑw	آو	او	او

Diphthongs in Dialects

The diphthongs varies according to dialect. The stressed diphthong [aɪ] changes to [æɪ] in the Mohmand Dialect and [a] in Wanetsi. The diphthong [əi] used to indicate feminine noun gender changes to [ʌi] in the Afridi Dialect [and also (iyé)], [i] in Wanetsi and [ʌi] in Kâkaṛi. The long diphthongs [ɑi] and [ɑw] becomes [ɑe] and [ɑo], respectively, in most Northeastern dialects.^[8]

Stress

Pashto has phonemic variable stress, unique amongst Iranian languages.^[9]

For instance the pronouns are differently inflected:

Pronoun	Meaning	Pronoun	Meaning
haɤá	that, he	háɤa	that one, he (emphatic)
daɤá	this, he	dáɤa	this one, he (emphatic)

In verbs to distinguish aspect:

Verb	Meaning	Verb	Meaning
kẍenɑstǝ́ləm	I was sitting	kẍénɑstələm	I sat down
ba kẍenǝ́m	I shall be sitting	ba kẍénəm	I shall sit

In verbs to distinguish mood:

Verb	Meaning	Verb	Meaning
pregdǝ́m	I leave	prégdəm	that I leave

References

1. Josef Elfenbein (1997). Alan S. Kaye, ed. Phonologies of Asia and Africa: Including the Caucasus. Eisenbrauns. p. 736. ISBN 978-1-57506-019-4.
2. Tegey, Habibullah; Robson, Barbara (1996). A Reference Grammar of Pashto (PDF). Washington: Center for Applied Linguistics. p. 15.
3. Josef Elfenbein (1997). Alan S. Kaye, ed. Phonologies of Asia and Africa: Including the Caucasus. Eisenbrauns. p. 737. ISBN 978-1-57506-019-4.
4. Anne Boyle David (2013). Descriptive Grammar of Pashto and Its Dialects. Walter de Gruyter. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-61451-303-2.
5. Alan S. Kaye (1997). Phonologies of Asia and Africa: Including the Caucasus. Eisenbrauns. p. 748. ISBN 978-1-57506-019-4.
6. Alan S. Kaye (1997). Phonologies of Asia and Africa: Including the Caucasus. Eisenbrauns. p. 748. ISBN 978-1-57506-019-4.
7. Alan S. Kaye (1997). Phonologies of Asia and Africa: Including the Caucasus. Eisenbrauns. p. 749. ISBN 978-1-57506-019-4.
8. Josef Elfenbein (1997). Alan S. Kaye, ed. Phonologies of Asia and Africa: Including the Caucasus. Eisenbrauns. pp. 751 to 753. ISBN 978-1-57506-019-4.
9. Josef Elfenbein (1997). Alan S. Kaye, ed. Phonologies of Asia and Africa: Including the Caucasus. Eisenbrauns. p. 737. ISBN 978-1-57506-019-4.