Northern Pashto

Northern Pashto
Yusufzai
یوسفزئی پښتو
Native to	Pakistan, Afghanistan
Region	(Pakistan) Peshawar, Dir, Swat, Bajaur, Malakand, Nowshehra, Charsadda, Swabi, Hazara (Afghanistan) Jalalabad, Kunar, Kunduz
Ethnicity	Pashtun
Native speakers	21 million (2013)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Eastern Iranian Pashto Northern Pashto
Writing system	Pashto alphabet
Official status
Regulated by	Pashto Academy (Peshawar, Pakistan)[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pbu
Glottolog	nort2646[3]

Northern Pashto, sometimes known as Pekhawari Pashto after its principal subdialect, is a Northern dialect of Pashto spoken in northern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, including city of Peshawar and by most of the Khalil, Mohmand, Daoudzai, Chamkani, Afridi and Shinwari, Bajawari and Yousafzai tribes.

Subdialects

Strictly speaking, Yusufzai is a subdialect of Northern Pashto. Other subdialects are Durani, Ghilzai, Ningraharian, Kohat, Afridi, Khalil, Mohmand, Shilmani, Shinwari, and Northwestern Pashto.

Phonology

Yusufzai Pashto has a difference in affricates: in other dialects t͡s, d͡z/z, ʒ, in Peshawari instead s, z, j. Such as in most Northern dialects, in Yusufzai is pronounced x and g instead southern ʂ, ʐ.

Dialects[4]	ښ	ږ	څ	ځ	ژ	ā	ū
Kandahari Pashto	[ʂ]	[ʐ]	[t͡s]	[d͡z]	[ʒ]	[ɑ]	[u]
Quetta Pashto	[ʃ]	[ʒ]	[t͡s]	[d͡z]	[ʒ, z]	[ɑ]	[u]
Ghilji, central Pashto	[ç]	[ʝ]	[t͡s]	[z]	[ʒ, z]	[ɑ]	[u]
Northern (Peshawari) Pashto	[x]	[ɡ]	[s]	[z]	[d͡ʒ]	[ɑ]	[u]

Grammar

Peshawari pronouns are very simplifed, especially əğə (he, she) and muŋ/muŋg (we).

Pronouns	Kandahar	Quetta	Peshawar	Jalal-Abad	Meaning
زه	zə	zə	zə	zə	I
ته	tə, реже təi	tə, реже təi	tə	tʰə, tə	you (sing)
هغه	hağə	ağə	əğə	hağə	he
هغه	hağe	ağə	əğə	hağe	she
موږ/مونږ	mʊž̥	mʊž/məž	muŋ/muŋg	muŋg	we
تاسو/تاسې	tāse/tāsī	tāse/tāsī	tāso	tāso	you (pl)
هغوی	hağwi/hağūi	ağwi/ağūi	ağʷi/ağʷəi	hağʷi/hağʷəi	they

References

1. Northern Pashto at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Sebeok, Thomas Albert (1976). Current Trends in Linguistics: Index. Walter de Gruyter. p. 705.
3. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Northern Pashto". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
4. Hallberg, Daniel G. 1992. Pashto, Waneci, Ormuri. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 4.