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PUSHTU

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 669 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PUSHTU , the See also:

language of the See also:Pathan races of See also:Afghanistan and the See also:North-See also:West Frontier See also:province of See also:India. It belongs to the Iranian See also:group of the Indo-See also:European See also:languages, but possesses many See also:Panjabi words. In Afghanistan it is the dominant language, but is not spoken west of the See also:Helmund. In India it has two See also:main dialects, the See also:northern, hard or Pukhtu, and the See also:southern, soft or Pushtu. The dividing See also:line of the two dialects runs eastwards from Thal through the See also:Kohat See also:district almost to the See also:Indus, but it then turns northwards, as the speech of the Akhora Khattaks belongs to the Pushtu or southern See also:dialect. Thus Pukhtu is spoken in See also:Bajour, See also:Swat and See also:Buner, and by the Yusufzais, See also:Bangash, Orakzais, Afridis and Mohmands; while Pushtu is spoken by the Waziris, Khattaks, Marwats and various See also:minor tribes in the See also:south. The language See also:division corresponds roughly with the tribal See also:system of the Pathans, who are aristocratic in the north and democratic in the south. The classical dialect of Pukhtu is that of the Yusufzais, in which the earliest See also:works in the language were composed. The See also:Orakzai dialect differs from that of the Afridis, in that it is broader but less guttural and spoken more rapidly. The See also:standard dialect is that of See also:Peshawar. The literature is richest in See also:poetry, Abdur Rahman, of the 17th See also:century, being the best-known poet. Pushtu was spoken in the North-West Frontier province in 19o1 by 1,142,011 persons, or 54% of the See also:population.

See Grierson, Linguistic Survey of India; Roos-See also:

Keppel, See also:Manual of Pushtu (1901); Lorimer, See also:Grammar of Waziri Pushtu (1902).

End of Article: PUSHTU

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