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Ethnologue > Web version > Country index > Asia > Pakistan > Pashto, Southern

Pashto, Southern

A language of Pakistan

ISO 639-3: pbt

Population	1,360,000 in Pakistan (2000). Population total all countries: 2,680,100.
Region	Balochistan, Quetta area. Also in Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom.
Language map	Southern Pakistan
Alternate names	Pashtu, Pushto, Pushtu, Quetta-Kandahar Pashto
Dialects	Southeastern Pashto, Quetta Pashto. Lexical similarity: 80% between northern and southern varieties of Pashto.
Classification	Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Eastern, Southeastern, Pashto A member of macrolanguage Pushto [pus] (Pakistan).
Language use	Some Pashto educated in Urdu [urd] medium schools mix the languages.
Language development	Grammar.
Writing system	Arabic script.
Comments	Muslim.

Also spoken in:

Afghanistan

Language name	Pashto, Southern
Population	1,090,000 in Afghanistan (2000). 8,000,000 all Pashto in Afghanistan.
Region	Kandahar area.
Language map	Afghanistan, reference number 16
Dialects	Southwestern Pashto, Kandahar Pashto (Qandahar Pashto).
Language use	National language. Afghan government has worked since 1930s to standardize and publicize it.
Comments	Muslim.

Iran

Language name	Pashto, Southern
Population	113,000 in Iran (1993). Population does not include refugees.
Region	Khorasan on Afghanistan border east of Qa’en.
Alternate names	“Afghani” , Paktu, Pashtu
Language use	Also use Western Farsi [pes].
Comments	Different from Northern Pashto [pbu] of Pakistan and India. Laborers. Muslim (Sunni).

Tajikistan

Language name	Pashto, Southern
Population	4,000 in Tajikistan (1970).
Language map	Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan

United Arab Emirates

Language name	Pashto, Southern
Population	26,100 in United Arab Emirates (2000).
Alternate names	Afghan, Pakhtoo, Pakhtu, Paktu
Comments	Came from Afghanistan. Unskilled laborers; drivers; shopkeepers. Muslim (Sunni).

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

Hallberg, Daniel G. 1992. Pashto, Waneci, Ormuri.  

Shah, Sayed Wiqar Ali. 2003. "The impact of the "Khudai Khidmatgar" movement on Pashto literature."

Vernacular Publications

Pashai akaswala dikshanari - Pashai, Ingrizi, Paxto = An introductory pictorial word book in the Pashai of Afghanistan with Pashto and English. 2005.