Pashto PDF

Rhode Island College
M.Ed. In TESL Program

Language Group Specific Informational Reports
Produced by Graduate Students in the M.Ed. In TESL Program

In the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development
Language Group: Pashto

Author: Julia McKeever
Program Contact Person: Nancy Cloud (ncloud@ric.edu)

By: Julia McKeever
TESL 539
Spring 2011
 Pashto is one of the East Iranian group of languages.
 There are two subgroups of the Indo – European

Language family: Western Iranian and Eastern Iranian.
 Pashto is one of the national languages

of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is also
spoken in India, Iran, Tajikistan,
United Arab Emirates and the
U.K. (Pimsleur Method 2010)
(no author, www.i-love-china.net/maps-of-asia/, 2010)

• About 9 million people speak Pashto in Afghanistan,
and about 8 million people in Pakistan. (UCLA Language
Materials)
• There are only 7,700 Pashto speakers that live in the United
States according to the 2000 Census. (Associated Press 2009)
Dialects A Map of Afghanistan
and Pakistan
• There are two major dialects in Pashto:
• Eastern Pashto which is spoken in
northeastern Pakistan.
• Western Pashto which is spoken in
Afghanistan in the city of Kabul.
• There are also two other dialects:

• Southern Pashto which is spoken in
Baluchistan (western Pakistan and
eastern Iran) and in Kandahar,
Afghanistan. (Magellan Geographix,
www.ticklethewire.com/tag/afghanistan/, 1997)
• Central Pashto which is spoken in
northern Pakistan (Wazirstan).
 The Pashto language is a variant of the Arabic Script. It is
written in the Arabic Script. (Afghans, 2002)
Example of the Pashto Alphabet

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/pashto.htm
 There are seven vowel sounds in the Pashto Language

 The Pashto Alphabet has a similar set of consonants like
English.
 Has a series of retroflex consonants: t, d, r, n. Retroflex
consonants sounds are made by curling the tongue backwards.
The retroflex in English is r. (Afghans, 2002)
Stress and Rhythm
• The English and Pashto language are similar as they both stress
the last syllable in the word.
• As in English, Pashto also has short and long vowel sounds.
• Pashto speakers should have no trouble with the pronunciation

of English. they will speak with an "accent," their pronunciation
of English will be quite easy to understand and will require no
special pronunciation work. (Afghans, 2002)
• Pashto allows consonant clusters of two or three sounds at the

beginning of a syllable. (UCLA Language Materials)
 Pashto speakers often have trouble with the /th/ sound.
 Example: Words as in thank and this
 They will also have trouble with the distinction between /w/ and
/v/.
 Example: Words as in wine and vine
 Speaker s of Pashto may also have difficulty with the difference

between /f/ and /p/.
 Pashtuns will have trouble distinguishing /oy/ and /ay/ so that

lawyer and liar come out the same.
Afghans, 2002
 In comparison to English, Pashto’s word order is very rigid, subject-
object-verb.
 Verbs agree with their subjects in person, number, and grammatical
gender as well as being marked for tense/aspect. (UCLA Language
Materials)
 There are some fundamental differences in structure between English
and Pashto.
 Pashto puts the direct objects before the verb

 Example: John Mary saw
 In English we put direct objects after the verb

 Example: John saw Mary
(Afghans 2002)
 Past tense transitive sentences are formed as ergatives: in these,
the object rather than the subject agrees with the verb, and weak
pronoun objects rather than subjects are omitted if they are not
emphatic. (UCLA Language Materials)
 Pashto has some grammatical elements that relate to English

such as the verb systems that make a distinction between
 Past tenses
 Example: I went to the store
 Perfect tenses
 Example: I have gone to the store
 Pashto has prepositions before, after, and both before
and after the noun.
 Examples: in the house, the house in, in the house in
 Where as English has prepositions before the noun

only.
 Example: in the house

(Afghans, 2002)
 Afghan refugees will have trouble developing English
reading skills.
 They will have trouble with the new alphabet and irregular
spelling system.
 Lack of vocabulary and the complexity of written English

structures as compared with spoken structures will pose
further problems.
 They will also have to learn how to decode words.
 The necessity for reading skills will vary widely from person
to person and depend on reading level in Pashto.
(Afghans, 2002)
 It more acceptable that you keep a proper distance, meaning just
be as close to the person as he/she can hear you and you can hear
them.
 Men often hug each other and will shake hands with both males
and females.
 Shaking hands is common, if you offer a hand shake, they will

not hesitate to respond with a handshake.
 When speaking be sure to use a clear, but not very loud voice.
The loudness of you voice should be determined by how close
you are to the person.
(Cultural Information , 2009)
Journal Articles
Method, P. (2010). Where in the world do they speak Pashto? Retrieved March 17, 2011, from:
http://www.pimsleurmethod.com/blog/2010/11/01/where-in-the-world-do-they-speak-
pashto
Straziuso, J. (2009) Many translators unfit in any language. Associated Press. Retrieved
March 18, 2011, from:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/07/ap_translators_afghanistan_072209
Internet Sites
SAGART Design. (2002). Afghans: Their history and culture. Retrieved March 17, 2011, from :
http://www.cal.org/co/afghan/acult.html
UCLA International Institute. (n.d.). Pashto. UCLA language materials project: Teaching
resources for less commonly taught languages. Retrieved March 17, 2011, from:
http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=64&menu=004

Maps
Engwell. (2011). Map of the continent of Asia [Map], Retrieved March 19, 2011, from:
engwell.wikispaces.com/china+MN+%26+SB
Magellen Geograhix. (1997). Map of Afghanistan [Map], Retrieved March 19, 2011, from:
www.ticklethewire.com/tag/afghanistan
M.Ed. in TESL Program
Nancy Cloud, Director
Educational Studies Department
Rhode Island College, HBS 206 #5
600 Mt. Pleasant Avenue
Providence, RI 02908
Phone (401) 456-8789
Fax (401) 456-8284
ncloud@ric.edu
The M.Ed. in TESL Program at Rhode Island College

is Nationally Recognized by TESOL and NCATE

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Rhode Island College

M.Ed. In TESL Program

Produced by Graduate Students in the M.Ed. In TESL Program

Language Group: Pashto

Program Contact Person: Nancy Cloud (ncloud@ric.edu)

 There are two subgroups of the Indo – European

 Pashto is one of the national languages

(no author, www.i-love-china.net/maps-of-asia/, 2010)

• There are also two other dialects:

Example of the Pashto Alphabet

 There are seven vowel sounds in the Pashto Language

• As in English, Pashto also has short and long vowel sounds.

• Pashto speakers should have no trouble with the pronunciation

• Pashto allows consonant clusters of two or three sounds at the

 Example: Words as in thank and this

 Example: Words as in wine and vine

 Speaker s of Pashto may also have difficulty with the difference

 Pashtuns will have trouble distinguishing /oy/ and /ay/ so that

 Pashto puts the direct objects before the verb

 In English we put direct objects after the verb

 Pashto has some grammatical elements that relate to English

 Examples: in the house, the house in, in the house in

 Where as English has prepositions before the noun

 Example: in the house

 Lack of vocabulary and the complexity of written English

 They will also have to learn how to decode words.

 Shaking hands is common, if you offer a hand shake, they will

The M.Ed. in TESL Program at Rhode Island College

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