Pashto alphabet
The Pashto alphabet, like that of other neighboring Arabic-influenced Indo-European languages, is a modified form of the Arabic alphabet with letters added to accommodate phonemes used in Pashto which are not found in Arabic.
History
The seventeenth century saw the rise of a polemic debate which also was polarized along lines of script. The heterodox Roshani movement wrote their literature mostly in the Persianate style called the Nasta'liq script. The followers of the Akhund Darweza, and the Akhund himself, who viewed themselves as defending the religion against the influence of syncretism, wrote Pashto in the Arabicized Naskh. With some individualized exceptions Naskh has been the generally used script in the modern era of Pashto, roughly corresponding with the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, due to its greater adaptability for typesetting. Even lithographically reproduced Pashto has been calligraphied in Naskh as a general rule, since it was adopted as standard.
Letters
Pashto has several special vowels and consonants that are not found in Arabic or Persian. As a result, the Pashto alphabet has several letters which do not appear in any other Arabic script. For example, the letters representing the retroflex consonants /ʈ/, /ɖ/, /ɺ̡/ and /ɳ/ are written like the standard Arabic te, dāl, re and nun with a "panḍak", "γaṛwandai" or also called "skəṇai" attached underneath, which looks like a small circle: ړ ,ډ ,ټ, and ڼ, respectively. It also has the letters ṣ̌in and ẓ̌e (representing voiceless and voiced retroflex fricatives), which look like a sin and reh respectively with a dot above and beneath: ښ and ږ. The letters representing /[[Voiceless alveolar affricate|ts]]/ and /[[Voiced alveolar affricate|dz]]/ look like a ح with three dots above and an hamza (ء) above; څ and ځ and are also specific to Pashto, although the former letter was also used in the related extinct language of Khwarezmian to represent these sounds. Pashto has a number of additional vowel diacritics as well.
Pashto Alphabet
Below are the 46 letters of the Pashto alphabet. The dialects of Abdali (A), Ghilzai (G) and Yusufzai (Y) are included.
| Name | ALA-LC Romanization | IPA | Transliteration | Final | Medial | Initial | Isolated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| alif | ā, ʾ | [ɑ], [ʔ] | ā, ʾ | ـﺎ | ا | ||
| be | b | [b] | b | ـﺐ | ـﺒـ | بـ | ب |
| pe | p | [p] | p | ـﭗ | ـﭙـ | پـ | پ |
| te | t | [t] | t | ـﺖ | ـﺘـ | تـ | ت |
| ṭe | ṭ | [ʈ] | ṭ (or 'tt') | ـټ | ـټـ | ټـ | ټ |
| se | s̱ | [s] | s | ـﺚ | ـﺜـ | ثـ | ث |
| ǰīm | j | [dʒ] | ǰ | ـﺞ | ـﺠـ | جـ | ج |
| jim (dzim) | ż | [dz] (A, G) / [z] (Y) | j (or 'dz') | ـځ | ـځـ | ځـ | ځ |
| če | ch | [tʃ] | č | ـﭻ | ـﭽـ | چـ | چ |
| cim (tsim) | ṡ | [ts] (A, G) / [s] (Y) | c (or 'ts') | ـڅ | ـڅـ | څـ | څ |
| he | ḥ | [h] | h | ـﺢ | ـﺤـ | حـ | ح |
| xe (khe) | kh | [x] | x | ـﺦ | ـﺨـ | خـ | خ |
| dāl | d | [d] | d | ـﺪ | د | ||
| ḍāl | ḍ | [ɖ] | ḍ (or 'dd') | ـډ | ډ | ||
| zāl | ẕ | [z] | z | ـﺬ | ﺫ | ||
| re | r | [r] | r | ـﺮ | ﺭ | ||
| ṛe | ṛ | [ɺ̡] | ṛ (or 'rr') | ـړ | ړ | ||
| ze | z | [z] | z | ـﺰ | ﺯ | ||
| že | zh | [ʒ] (A, G) / [dʒ] (Y) | ž | ـﮋ | ژ | ||
| ẓ̌e (A) / γ̌e (G) / ge (Y) | ẓh (A) / g'h (G) / g (Y) | [ʐ] (A) / [ʝ] (G) / [g] (Y) | ẓ̌ (A) / γ̌ (G) / g (Y) | ـږ | ږ | ||
| sin | s | [s] | s | ـﺲ | ـﺴـ | سـ | س |
| šin | sh | [ʃ] | š | ـﺶ | ـﺸـ | شـ | ش |
| ṣ̌in (A) / x̌in (G) / xin (Y) | ṣh (A) / k'h (G) / kh (Y) | [ʂ] (A) / [ç] (G) / [x] (Y) | ṣ̌ (A) / x̌ (G) / x (Y) | ـښ | ـښـ | ښـ | ښ |
| swād | ṣ | [s] | s | ـﺺ | ـﺼـ | صـ | ص |
| dwād / zwād | z̤ | [z], [d] | z, d | ـﺾ | ـﻀـ | ضـ | ض |
| twe | ṭ | [t] | t | ـﻂ | ـﻄـ | طـ | ط |
| zwe | ẓ | [z] | z | ـﻆ | ـﻈـ | ظـ | ظ |
| ʻayn | ʻ | [ʔ] | ʻ | ـﻊ | ـﻌـ | عـ | ع |
| γayn | gh | [ɣ] | γ | ـﻎ | ـﻐـ | غـ | غ |
| fe | f | [f] | f | ـﻒ | ـﻔـ | فـ | ف |
| qāf | q | [q] | q | ـﻖ | ـﻘـ | قـ | ق |
| kāf | k | [k] | k | ـﮏ | ـﮑـ | کـ | ک |
| gāf | g | [ɡ] | g | ـګ | ـګـ | ګـ | ګ |
| lām | l | [l] | l | ـﻞ | ـﻠـ | لـ | ل |
| mim | m | [m] | m | ـﻢ | ـﻤـ | مـ | م |
| nun | n | [n] | n | ـﻦ | ـﻨـ | نـ | ن |
| ṇun | ṇ | [ɳ] | ṇ (or 'nn') | ـڼ | ـڼـ | ڼـ | ڼ |
| wāw | w, u, o | [w], [u], [o] | w, u, o | ـﻮ | و | ||
| wāw-hamza | o | [o] | o | ـﺆ | ؤ | ||
| he | h, a, ə | [h], [a], [ə] | h, a, ə | ـﻪ | ـﻬـ | هـ | ه |
| zwarakai | ə | [ə] | ə | ـﮥ | ۀ | ||
| ye | y, ay | [j], [ai] | y, ai | ـﯽ | ـﯿـ | یـ | ی |
| klaka ye | ī | [i] | i | ـﻲ | ـﻴـ | يـ | ي |
| pasta ye | e | [e] | e | ـﯥ | ـﯧـ | ېـ | ې |
| ṣ̌əjina ye | ạy | [əj] | əi | ـۍ | ۍ | ||
| kəṛwāla ye (Y) | ạy | [əj] | əi | ـﺊ | ـﺌـ | ئـ | ئ |