Pashayi languages
language or language group spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Pashayi (or Pashai) is a group of Indo-Aryan languages spoken by the Pashayi people in parts of the Kapisa, Laghman, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Kunar, and Kabul (Surobi) provinces in northeastern Afghanistan.
The Pashayi languages had no known written form prior to 2003. There are four mutually unintelligible varieties, with only about a 30% lexical similarity:
Northeastern: Aret, Chalas (Chilas), Kandak, Korangal, Kurdar dialects
Northwestern: Alasai, Bolaghain, Gulbahar, Kohnadeh, Laurowan, Najil, Nangarach, Pachagan, Pandau, Parazhghan, Pashagar, Sanjan, Shamakot, Shutul, Uzbin, Wadau dialects
Southeastern: Damench, Laghmani, Sum, Upper and Lower Darai Nur, Wegali dialects
Southwestern: Ishpi, Isken, Tagau dialects
A grammar of the language was written as a doctoral dissertation in 2014.
Phonology
Consonants
[h] is only phonemic in the Amla dialect.
Sounds [f] and [q] can also occur, but only in loanwords and among Dari speakers.
[ʂ] is more commonly heard among older speakers, but is lost among younger speakers, and is heard as a postalveolar [ʃ].
[ʐ] is more commonly heard among older speakers, but is lost among younger speakers, and is heard as a postalveolar [ʒ].
/ʋ/ is heard before front vowels /i e/. When occurring before or after central or back vowels /a u o/, it is heard as [w].
According to Masica (1991) some dialects have a /θ/.
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