Northern Pashto
Northern Pashto (Pashto: شمالي پښتو) comprises the North Western (Pashto: شمال لويديزه پښتو) and North Eastern (Pashto: شمال ختيځه پښتو) dialects.[3]
|  | 
| Part of a series on | 
| Pashto language | 
|---|
| Writing systems | 
| Dialects | 
| Language regulation | 
| Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan Pashto Academy | 
| Native to | 
| Northern Pashto | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Pakistan, Afghanistan | 
| Ethnicity | Pashtun | 
| Native speakers | 21 million (2013)[1] | 
| Indo-European
 
 | |
| Pashto alphabet | |
| Official status | |
| Regulated by | Pashto Academy (Peshawar, Pakistan)[2] | 
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | pbu | 
| Glottolog | nort2646 | 
North Eastern
    
Northeastern Pashto,[4] is spoken primarily in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
Yusapzai
    
Yusufzai/Yusapzai Pashto is the most-spoken subdialect[5] in the Northeastern Dialect.
Comparison:
| Dialects[6] | ښ | ږ | څ | ځ | ژ | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Eastern (e.g. Yusapzai) | [x] | [ɡ] | [s] | [z] | [d͡ʒ] | 
| North Western (e.g Jalalabad) | [x] | [ɡ] | [s] | [z] | [ʒ] | 
| North Western (e.g. Wardak) | [ç] | [ʝ] | [t͡s] | [d͡z] | [ʒ, z] | 
Lexical Variation
    
Even within the Yusapzai dialect; regional lexical variation is noted; as pointed out by Dr. Muhammad Ali Kaleem:[7]
| Meaning | Mardan | Swat | 
|---|---|---|
| Ring | ګتمه gʊ́tma | ګوتۍ gwə́təi or Guta | 
| Spinach | ساګ sāg | سابه sābə́ | 
| Cup | پيالۍ pyālə́i | پياله pyālá | 
| Puppy | کوتری kutré or Spey | کوکری kukré | 
Sub-regional lexical variation
    
Even with regions there can be minor differences in pronunciation. Example:
| Malakand District [some localities] | Malakand District [general] | Standard Pashto | Meaning | 
|---|---|---|---|
| فپه fpa | ښپه xpa | پښه px̌a, pxa, pša, pṣ̌a | foot | 
North Western
    
The North Western is spoken in the east and northeast Afghanistan.[8]
Phonological Variation
    
There is regional difference in North Western Pashto in pronunciation of words:[9]
| Meaning | Wardak | Jalalabad | Bati Kot | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| دوی | they | deɪ | ˈduwi | ˈduwi | 
| راکړه | give [imperative of راکول] | ˈrɑka | ˈrɑka | ˈrɑkɽa | 
| پوهېدل | to know [infinitive] | pijeˈdəl | pojeˈdəl | pojidəl | 
| شپږ | six | ʃpaʝ | ʃpag | ʃpiʒ | 
| وريځ | cloud | wərˈjed͡z | wrez | wəˈred͡z | 
| ښځه | woman | ˈçəd͡za | ˈxəza | |
| اوبه | water | oˈbə | uˈbə | oˈbə | 
References
    
- Northern Pashto at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- Sebeok, Thomas Albert (1976). Current Trends in Linguistics: Index. Walter de Gruyter. p. 705.
- "Glottolog 4.3 - Northern Pashto". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
- Prods Oktor Skjærvø, P.O. 1989. Pashto. In "Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum", R. Schmitt (ed.), 384-410.
- "Redirected". 19 November 2019.
- Hallberg, Daniel G. 1992. Pashto, Waneci, Ormuri. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 4.
- Kaleem, Muhammad (2015). "Lexical Variation in Pashto: A Comparative Study Conducted in Mardan and Swat , in Pashto" (PDF). Pashto. 44 (650): 21–52.
- Anna B. David (2014). A Descriptive Grammar of Pashto and its Dialects. De Gruyter Mouton. p. 36. ISBN 978-1-61451-303-2.
- Coyle, Dennis Walter (2014). Placing Wardak Among Pashto Varieties (Master's thesis). University of North Dakota.