Pashto phonology
Amongst the Iranian languages,[] the phonology of Pashto is of middle complexity, but its morphology is very complex.
Consonants
- The phonemes, are only found in loanwords, and tend to be replaced by,.
- has non-phonemic allophones: before and, before and, before and, and before and.
- is a voiced retroflex nasal flap, narrowly transcribed
- Voiceless stops and affricates are all unaspirated, like Spanish, other Romance languages, and Austronesian languages; they have slightly aspirated allophones prevocalically in a stressed syllable, almost like English.
- and are dialectal allophones, The retroflex variants are used in the Southwest dialects whereas the palatal variants are used in the Wardak and Central Ghilji dialects. Some Northern dialects merge them with the velar.
- is dropped in most Southwest dialects and Waṇētsī.
- is a voiced alveolar flap, single in most dialects.
- is a voiced retroflex lateral flap. As it does not have a dedicated IPA symbol, it can also be commonly represented as.
Phonotactics
- V
- Onset
- * First consonant : Can be any consonant, including a liquid.
- * Second consonant : Can be any consonant.
- Nucleus
- * Semivowel
- * Vowel
- * Semivowel
- Coda
- * First consonant : Can be any consonant
- * Second consonant : Can be any consonant
Consonant clusters
| Examples | |
| Two Consonant Clusters | ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and etc. |
| Three Consonant Clusters | , ,, etc. |
Vowels
Most dialects in Pashto have seven vowels and seven diphthongs.| Front | Central | Back | |
| Close | |||
| Mid | |||
| Open |
Diphthongs
Orthography of diphthongs
Dialectal Vowels
Waziri vowels
In Waziri dialect the in Standard Pashto becomes in Northern Waziri and in Southern Waziri.In Waziri dialect the stressed in Standard Pashto becomes as in the word meaning 'sickle' becomes and as in the word meaning 'flour' becomes . The in Standard Pashto may also become as in the word meaning 'shoulder' from or.
Afridi vowels
In the Afridi dialect the in Standard Pashto becomes as in becomes. The in Standard Pashto becomes or as in becomes or.Borrowed vowels
Few short vowels occur in speech in borrowed words and in the Peshawar dialect.Diphthongs in dialects
The diphthongs varies according to dialect. The stressed diphthong changes to in the Mohmand dialect and in Wanetsi.The diphthong used to indicate feminine noun gender changes to in Wanetsi and in Kâkaṛi.
The long diphthongs and becomes and, respectively, in most Northeastern dialects.
| Standard | Apridi | Yusupzai | Waziri | Mohmand | Bannu |
| | |||||
Stress
Pashto has phonemic variable stress, unique amongst Iranian languages.For instance the pronouns are differently inflected:
| Pronoun | Meaning | Pronoun | Meaning |
| haɣá | that, he | háɣa | that one, he |
| daɣá | this, he | dáɣa | this one, he |
In verbs to distinguish aspect:
| Verb | Meaning | Verb | Meaning |
| kenɑstə́ləm | I was sitting | kénɑstələm | I sat down |
| ba kenə́m | I shall be sitting | ba kénəm | I shall sit |
In verbs to distinguish mood:
| Verb | Meaning | Verb | Meaning |
| pregdə́m | I leave | prégdəm | that I leave |