Dawarwola Pashto in the State of Migration

Abstract

Pashtun tribal system consists of multiple subdivisions and sub-subdivision where, a variety of their language, Pashto, which a tribesman speaks, is a powerful indicator to disclose his identity. If one remains true to this allegiance, i.e. tribal affiliations remain intact, in the classification of Pashto dialectology, one’s ethnicity is a strong identity marker. Based on this ethnicity, Karlanri tribes of Pashtuns form a heterogeneous group of varieties manifesting shared phonological, morphological and lexical features. Nevertheless these varieties also differ from one another that give them distinction too. The prominent feature of the Karlanri varieties is the vowel shift where this phenomenon can be partially compared with some other languages of the world. But the present scenario might endanger the existence of these varieties. Key factors that bring forth homogenization in the region are schooling of children and the notion that Karlanri varieties are non-standard. However, migration of Pashtun-tribes is the decisive element that is tantamount to dialectocide and vanishing of various varieties of Pashto. These movements of tribes can be categorized as local and non-local migrations. The former may result in dialectocide (dialect-killing) whereas the latter in lingocide (language-murder). In this paper, a case study of Dawar tribe showcases impact of local move on their variety.