The language of choice for many Middle Eastern poets, Pashto is an East Iranian language which is part of the broader Indo-European language family. While the true origin of Pashto continues to be debated, most linguists agree that Pashto shared characteristics of ancient languages such as Bactrian, Khwarezmian, and Sogdian. This historical foundation has contributed to Pashto’s phonology and complex grammatical structures, both of which have played a significant role in shaping Pashto speech and language development across generations.
Pashto is spoken as a native language by approximately 40 – 50 million people, with most speakers residing in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is one of the official languages of Afghanistan and is a recognized minority language in Pakistan. Communities of Pashto speakers also reside in countries such as Iran, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and India. Over the past one hundred years, Pashto speakers have moved beyond the Middle East and now have a small presence in the United States.
Pashto has many dialects, but it can be separated into the eastern (Nangraharo-Peshawari) and western (Kandahari) dialects, with the western (Kandahari) dialect being most prevalent. Pashto speakers are called different names depending on the region, such as Pakhtūn in northern Afghanistan, Pashtūn in southern Afghanistan, and Pathān or Afghan in Pakistan. In this post we will discuss the importance of understanding Pashto culture and language.
Interesting Facts About Pashto Speech and Language Development
- The name Pashto is derived from the proto-Iranian word parsawā which means “Persian.”
- Historically, Pashto was the language of choice for Middle Eastern poets, authors, and intellectuals.
- Among the Iranian languages, Pashto has one of the most complicated morphological systems.
- In Afghan culture, poetry plays a central role, and Pashto-speaking communities often hold “mushairas” or poetry gatherings as a form of artistic and social expression.
- In Afghan culture, poetry plays a central role, and Pashto-speaking communities often hold “mushairas” or poetry gatherings as a form of artistic and social expression.
- Pashto vocabulary includes a significant number of Persian and Arabic loanwords, reflecting centuries of cultural and religious interaction.
- Pashto is a subject-object-verb (SOV) language, and this word order may impact how Pashto-speaking children acquire syntax and process sentence structure, especially when transitioning to English, which uses a subject-verb-object (SVO) structure.
Pashto Speech and Language Development
Pashto Consonants in Comparison to English
| Pashto Consonants Not Shared with English | Retroflex stops/affricates: /ʈ ɖ ʈ͡s ʈ͡ʃ ɖ͡z/; uvulars: /q χ ʁ/; pharyngeals: /ʕ/; palatal fricatives: /ç ʝ/ |
| Consonants Shared With English | /p b t d k g f s z ʃ ʒ h m n ŋ j l/ |
| English Consonants Not Shared with Pashto | /t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ, ð, θ, ɹ, w/ |
Pashto Vowels in Comparison to English
| Pashto Vowels Not Shared with English | /ɑ/ (open back unrounded), central schwa /ə/ plus diphthong /ə́/ (schwa-stressed) |
| Vowels Shared With English | /a i u e o/ |
| English Vowels Not Shared with Pashto | /ɚ ɔ ʌ ʊ ɛ I æ/ |
Notes on Pashto Phonology
- Consonants: Pashto adds retroflex sounds, uvulars, pharyngeals, and palatal fricatives—sounds absent in English. It does not include English affricates like /t͡ʃ/ or liquids like /ɹ/ and /w/ .
- Vowels: While sharing five primary vowels, Pashto uses a central schwa (/ə/) and a distinct low-back /ɑ/ not found in English, and lacks English’s r-colored or lax vowels. While English also has a schwa sound, some consider it distinct from the central schwa of Pashto.
The Use of Phonotactic Constraints in Pashto Speakers
Pashto’s native phonotactics allow complex onsets and codas, governed by sonority sequences and syllable weight. These patterns influence how Pashto speakers adapt English words—often simplifying or restructuring clusters using predictable strategies.
Key Phonotactic Constraints in Pashto
- Complex Onsets (up to CCC)
Pashto allows up to three-consonant clusters (e.g., /xwə/, /ʃxw/) in word-initial position (en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org). - Coda Clusters (up to C₄C₅)
Syllable codas can include up to two consonants, with second consonant often a stop or retroflex (cdn6.f-cdn.com). - Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP)
Clusters conform to SSP: sonority increases toward the vowel, decreases toward the coda (en.wikipedia.org). - Final-Cluster Simplification
Native clusters may undergo similarity avoidance or vowel epenthesis in final clusters—e.g., s + stop may change to stop or use epenthetic /ə/ in loan adaptation (“bulb” → /bələb/) (sciencedirect.com, magiran.com). - No Gemination Constraints
Pashto has no contrastive gemination; double consonants merge into single segments (en.wikipedia.org).
Implications for SLPs and Teachers
- Initial clusters such as “street” may be broken or simplified: e.g., /str/ → /stəɾ/ or /sətr/.
- Final clusters like “desk” may trigger a vowel insertion (e.g., /desək/) to ease pronunciation.
- Pashto speakers will rearrange or simplify consonant clusters following the sonority hierarchy (stop > fricative > nasal > liquid).
- No gemination means English consonant length contrasts (e.g., in “letter”) may be neutralized or underspecified.
Language Specific Differences Between English and Pashto
Pashto and English differ in several key structural ways, though both languages can form clear subject–verb phrases. Pashto primarily uses Subject–Object–Verb (SOV) order, places adjectives and possessives before nouns, and features split ergativity—where verbs align with objects in past transitive clauses. Pashto has no articles, uses plural suffixes, and includes gendered pronouns and noun inflections that English lacks. Verbs in Pashto are richly inflected for tense, aspect, mood, gender, and agreement, whereas English relies on auxiliaries and more fixed word order. Understanding these differences can help SLPs differentiate between typical L1 transfer and true language gaps.
| Language Features | Pashto | English |
|---|---|---|
| Sentence Word Order | SOV (e.g., man woman sees); flexible with modifiers at the end | SVO |
| Adjectives/Noun Modifiers | Adjectives and possessors precede nouns | Adjectives precede nouns |
| Possessives | Genitive precedes noun (e.g., Zamā kitab “my book”) | Possessor + ’s |
| Possessive Pronouns | Separate forms: zamā, stā, hagha | my, your, his, etc. |
| Verb inflection | Split ergative; verbs inflect for gender, tense, aspect, subject/object agreement | Verbs change mainly for tense |
| Pronouns | Subject/object forms; gender marked; formal/informal distinctions | Independent pronouns required |
| Pronoun Gender | Gendered third person (hagha, haghā) | he, she, it |
| Subjects of Sentences | Omitted when inflected; ergative structure | Normally expressed |
| Regular Past Tense | Past marked by affixes in non-ergative contexts | verb + -ed |
| Irregular Past Tense | No irregular verbs; pattern-based past forms | Irregular forms exist |
| Negatives | Negative particle na placed before verb | “not” with auxiliary |
| Double Negatives | Occasionally used in colloquial speech | Present in dialects |
| Question formation | Verb-final + question particle; no inversion | Auxiliary inversion required |
| Definite Articles | None | “the” |
| Indefinite Articles | None (he emphasised hingegen) | “a,” “an” |
| Prepositions | Pre- and postpositions; head-final adpositional phrases | in, on, at |
| Present Progressive | No continuous form; context used | verb + -ing |
| Modal Verbs | Mood via clitics or verb forms (e.g., ba, de) | can, will, must |
| Copula/”To Be” Verbs | Copula included in inflection; not always overt | is, are, am |
| Auxiliary Verbs | Fewer auxiliaries; aspect via inflection and light verbs | do, have, be |
| Passive Voice | Uses light verbs or reflexives; less common | be + past participle |
| Direct Object Pronouns | Clitics or full forms, often suffixes | me, him, her |
| Conjunctions | o, ya, mah for and/or/but | and, but, or |
| Plurals | Plural suffixes -ān, -ūnā | noun + -s |
Additional Iranian (Indo-Iranian) Languages
This is just one of several Iranian branch languages featured in the World Language Library. Click below to learn more about related languages like Pashto, Kurdish, and Laki, spoken across Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.
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Contributors:
A special thanks to Aidan Stumpf with Concordia University- Wisconsin for data compilation and research that went into this article!
