Phonetic bases of the varieties’ formation in Pashto

Abstract

the tribal and geographical distributions of these pronunciations. Pashto is an Indo-Iranian language that hosts a bunch of varieties. Local as well as western scholars and linguists did not only shed light on these varieties, but have linked them in various dialect groups on the basis of numerous criteria. One of these is linguistic one but it is also limited to phonetic realizations of some segmental phonemes (consonants only) ranging from two to five. It was not before 2015 when in the inventory of Pashto phonemes vowels also got its inclusion. This research article, “Phonetic bases of the varieties’ formation in Pashto”, explores linguistic aspects, employing both consonant and vowel phonemes, of these dialects with reference to different tribes of Pashtoon people. In addition, ample examples of these phonetic realizations have been produced indicating