A Diphthong Related Issue in Pashto Script and Its Solution

Abstract

Pashto orthography, based on Perso-Arabic script, has a long tradition that is basically phonetic in nature but is deeply rooted in etymology of lexicons especially borrowed from Arabic and Persian. Despite numerous issues related to orthography, it has evolved with the passage of time and to a great extent it did overcome its shortcomings. Nevertheless, its vowel-system still poses problems. In this research article, a diphthong /-ǝi/ representing feminine nouns and imperative for 2nd person plural at word-final position has been discussed in detail. Having the same voice, it is written in two ways in modern Pashto script against which voices raised in different circles times and again. Here, in this paper, light has been thrown on its various manifestations of the diphthong and an attempt has been made to work out its potential solution.