Dari

Dari is a name given to the New Persian language since the 10th century, widely used in Arabic (compare Al-Estakhri, Al-Muqaddasi and Ibn Hawqal) and Persian texts.{{Cite web | url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/dari | title=DARĪ – Encyclopaedia Iranica | access-date=18 January 2012 | archive-date=24 November 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124025639/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/dari | url-status=live }}

Since 1964, it has been the official name in Afghanistan for the Persian spoken there. In Afghanistan, Dari refers to a modern dialect form of Persian that is the standard language used in administration, government, radio, television, and print media. Because of a preponderance of Dari native speakers, who normally refer to the language as Farsi ({{lang|fa|فارسی}}, "Persian"), it is also known as "Afghan Persian" in some Western sources.

There are different opinions about the origin of the word Dari. The majority of scholars believe that Dari refers to the Persian word dar or darbār ({{wikt-lang|fa|دربار}}), meaning "court", as it was the formal language of the Sassanids. The original meaning of the word dari is given in a notice attributed to Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (cited by Ibn al-Nadim in Al-Fehrest).Ebn al-Nadim, ed. Tajaddod, p. 15; Khjwārazmī, Mafātīh al-olum, pp. 116–17; Hamza Esfahānī, pp. 67–68; Yāqūt, Boldān IV, p. 846 According to him, "Pārsī was the language spoken by priests, scholars, and the like; it is the language of Fars." This language refers to Middle Persian. As for Dari, he says, "it is the language of the cities of Madā'en; it is spoken by those who are at the king's court. [Its name] is connected with presence at court. Among the languages of the people of Khorasan and the east, the language of the people of Balkh is predominant."

Dari Persian spoken in Afghanistan is not to be confused with the language of Iran called Dari or Gabri, which is a language of the Central Iranian subgroup spoken in some Zoroastrian communities.{{cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=prd |title="Parsi-Dari" Ethnologue |publisher=Ethnologue.org |date=19 February 1999 |access-date=19 August 2013 |archive-date=7 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707181510/http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=prd |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=gbz |title="Dari, Zoroastrian" Ethnologue |publisher=Ethnologue.org |date=19 February 1999 |access-date=19 August 2013 |archive-date=7 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707065844/http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=gbz |url-status=live }}

Dari comes from Middle Persian which was spoken during the rule of the Sassanid dynasty. In general, Iranian languages are known from three periods, usually referred to as Old, Middle, and New (Modern) periods. These correspond to three eras in Iranian history, the old era being the period from some time before, during, and after the Achaemenid period (that is, to 300 BC), the Middle Era being the next period, namely, the Sassanid period and part of the post-Sassanid period, and the New era being the period afterward down to the present day.{{cite web |url=http://www.farsinet.com/farsi/ |title=Farsi, the most widely spoken Persian Language, a Farsi Dictionary, Farsi English Dictionary, The spoken language in Iran, History of Farsi Language, Learn Farsi, Farsi Translation |publisher=Farsinet.com |access-date=26 August 2012 |archive-date=8 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808011813/http://www.farsinet.com/farsi/ |url-status=live }}{{unreliable source?|sure=yes|date=March 2022}}{{cite web |author=UCLA, Language Materials Projects |url=http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/articles/persian_language.php |title=Persian Language |publisher=Iranchamber.com |access-date=26 August 2012 |archive-date=29 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629102420/http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/articles/persian_language.php |url-status=live }}

The first person in Europe to use the term Deri for Dari may have been Thomas Hyde in his chief work, Historia religionis veterum Persarum (1700).{{cite book|author=Thomas Hyde|title=Veterum Persarum et Parthorum et Medorum Religionis Historia|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_qp5BAAAAcAAJ|access-date=12 July 2013|year=1760|publisher=E Typographeo Clarendoniano}}

Dari or Deri has two meanings. It may mean the language of the court:

: "the Zebani Deri (Zeban i Deri or Zaban i Dari = the language of Deri), or the language of the court, and the Zebani Farsi, the dialect of Persia at large (...)"John Richardson, London, 1777 pg. 15{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/avocabularypers00richgoog|title=A vocabulary, Persian, Arabic, and English: abridged from the quarto edition of Richardson's dictionary|author=John Richardson|editor=Sir Charles Wilkins, David Hopkins|year=1810|publisher=Printed for F. and C. Rivingson|page=[https://archive.org/details/avocabularypers00richgoog/page/n657 643]|access-date=6 July 2011}}

It may also indicate a form of poetry used from Rudaki to Jami. In the fifteenth century it appeared in Herat under the Persian-speaking Timurid dynasty. The Persian-language poets of the Indian Subcontinent who used the Indian verse methods or rhyme methods, like Bedil and Muhammad Iqbal, became familiar with the araki form of poetry. Iqbal loved both styles of literature and poetry, when he wrote:

{{blockquote|{{nastaliq|گرچه هندی در عذوبت شکر است|prs}} ¹{{cite web|title=تمهید|url=http://ganjoor.net/iqbal/asrar-khodi/sh2/|work=Ganjoor|access-date=12 July 2013|language=fa|year=2013|archive-date=29 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729050729/http://ganjoor.net/iqbal/asrar-khodi/sh2/|url-status=live}}

Garči Hindī dar uzūbat šakkar ast

{{nastaliq|طرز گفتار دری شیرین تر است|prs}}

tarz-i guftār-i Darī šīrīn tar ast}}

This can be translated as:

Even though in euphonious Hindi is sugar –

Rhyme method in Dari is sweeter

Uzūbat usually means "bliss", "delight", "sweetness"; in language, literature and poetry, uzubat also means "euphonious" or "melodic".

Referring to the 14th-century Persian poet Hafez, Iqbal wrote:

{{blockquote|{{nastaliq|شکرشکن شوند همه طوطیان هند|prs}}

Šakkar-šakan šavand hama tūtīyān-i Hind

{{nastaliq|زین قند پارسی که به بنگاله می‌رود|prs}}

zīn qand-i Pārsī ki ba Bangāla mē-ravad|sign=|source=}}

English translation:

{{blockquote|

All the parrots of India will crack sugar

Through this Persian Candy which is going to Bengal{{cite journal|last=Jafri|first=Sardar|title=Hafiz Shirazi (1312-1387-89)|journal=Social Scientist|date=January–February 2000|volume=28|issue=1/2|pages=12–31|doi=10.2307/3518055|jstor=3518055}}{{cite web|title=The Impact of Khawaja Hafiz on Iqbal's Thought|url=http://www.allamaiqbal.com/publications/journals/review/apr73/5.htm|work=Iqbal|publisher=Government of Pakistan|access-date=12 July 2013|author=Abbadullah Farooqi|year=2013|archive-date=22 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130322231928/http://www.allamaiqbal.com/publications/journals/review/apr73/5.htm|url-status=dead}}}}

Here qand-e Pārsī ("Rock candy of Persia") is a metaphor for the Persian language and poetry.

Persian replaced the Central Asian languages of the Eastern Iranic peoples.{{cite book|author1=Kirill Nourzhanov|author2=Christian Bleuer|title=Tajikistan: A Political and Social History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nR6oAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA27|date=8 October 2013|publisher=ANU E Press|isbn=978-1-925021-16-5|page=27}} Ferghana, Samarkand, and Bukhara were starting to be influenced by Dari, and were originally Khwarezmian and Sogdian-speaking areas during Samanid rule.{{cite book|author1=Kirill Nourzhanov|author2=Christian Bleuer|title=Tajikistan: A Political and Social History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nR6oAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA30|date=8 October 2013|publisher=ANU E Press|isbn=978-1-925021-16-5|pages=30–|access-date=28 August 2016|archive-date=6 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006155342/https://books.google.com/books?id=nR6oAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA30|url-status=live}} Dari Persian spread around the Oxus River region, Afghanistan, and Khorasan after the Arab conquests and during Islamic-Arab rule.{{cite book|author=Ira M. Lapidus|title=A History of Islamic Societies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3mVUEzm8xMC&pg=PA127|date=22 August 2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-77933-3|page=127}}{{cite book|author=Ira M. Lapidus|title=Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qcPZ1k65pqkC&pg=PA255|date=29 October 2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-51441-5|page=255}} The replacement of the Pahlavi script with the Arabic script in order to write the Persian language was done by the Tahirids in 9th century Khorasan.{{cite book|author=Ira M. Lapidus|title=Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qcPZ1k65pqkC&pg=PA256|date=29 October 2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-51441-5|page=256}} Dari Persian spread and led to the extinction of Eastern Iranian languages like Bactrian and Khwarezmian with only a tiny amount of Sogdian descended Yaghnobi speakers remaining, as the ancestors of Tajiks started speaking Dari after relinquishing their original language (most likely Bactrian) around this time, due to the fact that the Arab-Islamic army which invaded Central Asia also included some Persians who governed the region like the Sassanids.{{cite book|author=Paul Bergne|title=The Birth of Tajikistan: National Identity and the Origins of the Republic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3coojMwTKU8C&pg=PA5|date=15 June 2007|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-283-7|page=5}} Persian was a prestigious high-ranking language and was further rooted into Central Asia by the Samanids.{{cite book|author=Paul Bergne|title=The Birth of Tajikistan: National Identity and the Origins of the Republic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3coojMwTKU8C&pg=PA6|date=15 June 2007|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-283-7|pages=6–|access-date=10 October 2016|archive-date=6 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006155343/https://books.google.com/books?id=3coojMwTKU8C&pg=PA6|url-status=live}} Persian also phased out Sogdian.{{cite book|author1=Josef W. Meri|author2=Jere L. Bacharach|title=Medieval Islamic Civilization: L-Z, index|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LaV-IGZ8VKIC&q=sogdian+islam&pg=PA829|year=2006|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-96692-4|pages=829–|access-date=16 October 2020|archive-date=6 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006155344/https://books.google.com/books?id=LaV-IGZ8VKIC&q=sogdian+islam&pg=PA829|url-status=live}} The role of lingua franca that Sogdian originally played was succeeded by Persian after the arrival of Islam.{{cite book|author1=Sigfried J. de Laet|author2=Joachim Herrmann|title=History of Humanity: From the seventh century B.C. to the seventh century A.D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGUz01yBumEC&q=sogdian+islam&pg=PA468|date=1 January 1996|publisher=UNESCO|isbn=978-92-3-102812-0|page=468}}{{cite web | url=https://celcar.indiana.edu/materials/language-portal/dari/index.html | title=Dari }}{{cite web | url=https://www.languagesoftheworld.info/student-papers/language-of-the-mountain-tribe-a-closer-look-at-hazaragi.html | title=Language of the "Mountain Tribe": A Closer Look at Hazaragi | date=12 December 2011 }}

File:Map of Languages (in Districts) in Afghanistan.jpg

Dari is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan. In practice though, it serves as the de facto lingua franca among the various ethnolinguistic groups.

Dari Persian is spoken by approximately 25–80% of the population of Afghanistan.{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/afghanistan-v-languages|title=AFGHANISTAN v. Languages|quote=Persian (2) is the language most spoken in Afghanistan. The native tongue of twenty five percent of the population ...|publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica, online ed.|work=Ch. M. Kieffer|access-date=10 December 2010|archive-date=29 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429162829/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/afghanistan-v-languages|url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_country.asp?name=Afghanistan |title=Languages of Afghanistan |work=SIL International |publisher=Ethnologue: Languages of the World |year=2005 |access-date=16 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130093407/http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_country.asp?name=Afghanistan |archive-date=30 January 2009 }}{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/151550/Dari-language |title=Dari language |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online|access-date=7 December 2010}} Tajiks, who comprise 27–39% of the population,Mobasher, Mohammad Bashir. Political Laws and Ethnic Accommodation: Why Cross-Ethnic Coalitions Have Failed to Institutionalize in Afghanistan. Diss. 2017, p. 42. Link:

[https://digital.lib.washington.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/35da82f3-3bac-4ac9-9cd8-d4a534b72a9f/content]{{Cite journal |title=Afghanistan in 2019 – A survey of the Afghan people |url=https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2019_Afghan_Survey_Full-Report_.pdf |journal=The Asia Foundation |pages=277 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210915152910/https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2019_Afghan_Survey_Full-Report_.pdf |archive-date=15 September 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/images/PollingUnit/1083a1Afghanistan2009.pdf|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://abcnews.go.com/images/PollingUnit/1083a1Afghanistan2009.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2022|url-status=live|title=ABC NEWS/BBC/ARD poll – Afghanistan: Where Things Stand|pages=38–40|publisher=ABC News|location=Kabul, Afghanistan|access-date=23 October 2024}} are the primary native speakers, followed by Hazaras (9%) and Aymāqs (4%). Moreover, while Pashtuns (37–48%){{Citation |title=Afghanistan |date=2024-08-29 |work=The World Factbook |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/afghanistan/#people-and-society |access-date=2024-09-12 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en}}{{Cite journal |title=Afghanistan in 2018 – A survey of the Afghan people |url=https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018_Afghan-Survey_fullReport-12.4.18.pdf |journal=The Asia Foundation |pages=243 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190807211241/https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018_Afghan-Survey_fullReport-12.4.18.pdf |archive-date=7 August 2019}} natively speak Pashto, those living in Tajik and Hazara dominated areas also use Dari Persian as their main or secondary language. Thus, non-native Persian speaking groups have contributed to the increased number of Persian speakers within Afghanistan. The World Factbook states that about 80% of the Afghan population speaks Dari Persian. About 2.5 million Afghans in Iran and Afghans in Pakistan, part of the wider Afghan diaspora, also speak Dari Persian as one of their primary languages.{{cite web |url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/dari.htm |title=Dari language, alphabet and pronunciation |publisher=Omniglot.com |access-date=26 August 2012 |archive-date=11 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511180819/http://www.omniglot.com/writing/dari.htm |url-status=live }}

Dari Persian dominates the northern, western, and central areas of Afghanistan, and is the common language spoken in cities such as Balkh, Mazar-i-Sharif, Herat, Fayzabad, Panjshir, Bamiyan, and the Afghan capital of Kabul where all ethnic groups are settled. Dari Persian-speaking communities also exist in southwestern and eastern Pashtun-dominated areas such as in the cities of Ghazni, Farah, Zaranj, Lashkar Gah, Kandahar, and Gardez.

Dari Persian has contributed to the majority of Persian borrowings in several Indo-Aryan languages, such as Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali and others, as it was the administrative, official, cultural language of the Persianate Mughal Empire and served as the lingua franca throughout the Indian subcontinent for centuries. Often based in Afghanistan, Turkic Central Asian conquerors brought the language into South Asia.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EQJHAQAAQBAJ&q=ghaznavids+brought+persian+to+south+asia&pg=PA18|title=South Asian Sufis: Devotion, Deviation, and Destiny|access-date=23 April 2015|isbn=978-1-4411-5127-8|last1=Bennett|first1=Clinton|last2=Ramsey|first2=Charles M.|date=2012-03-01|publisher=A&C Black }} The basis in general for the introduction of Persian language into the subcontinent was set, from its earliest days, by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan dynasties.Sigfried J. de Laet. [https://books.google.com/books?id=PvlthkbFU1UC&dq=persian+language+in+anatolia&pg=PA734 History of Humanity: From the seventh to the sixteenth century] UNESCO, 1994. {{ISBN|9231028138}} p 734 The sizable Persian component of the Anglo-Indian loan words in English and in Urdu therefore reflects the Dari Persian pronunciation. For instance, the words dopiaza and pyjama come from the Afghan Persian pronunciation; in Iranian Persian they are pronounced do-piyāzeh and pey-jāmeh. Persian lexemes and certain morphological elements (e.g., the ezāfe) have often been employed to coin words for political and cultural concepts, items, or ideas that were historically unknown outside the South Asian region, as is the case with the aforementioned "borrowings". Dari Persian has a rich and colorful tradition of proverbs that deeply reflect Afghan culture and relationships, as demonstrated through the works of Rumi and other literature.{{Cite web |title=Five people from Afghanistan who shaped Middle Eastern history |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/five-afghanistan-who-shaped-middle-east-history-rumi |access-date=2024-09-12 |website=Middle East Eye |language=en}}Zellem, Edward. 2012. {{cite web|url=http://www.afghanproverbs.com/|title=Zarbul Masalha: 151 Afghan Dari Proverbs|publisher=Charleston: CreateSpace|access-date=9 November 2012|archive-date=31 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231183158/http://www.afghanproverbs.com/|url-status=live}}Zellem, Edward. 2012. {{cite web|url=http://www.afghanproverbs.com/|title=Afghan Proverbs Illustrated|publisher=Charleston: CreateSpace|access-date=9 November 2012|archive-date=31 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231183158/http://www.afghanproverbs.com/|url-status=live}}

There are phonological, lexical,{{cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=prs |title=Ethnologue report for language code: prs |publisher=Ethnologue.com |access-date=26 August 2012 |archive-date=7 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101207025528/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=prs |url-status=live }} and morphological differences between Afghan Persian and Iranian Persian. For example, Afghan Farsi has more vowels than Iranian Farsi.{{Cite web |title=Dari |url=https://celcar.indiana.edu/materials/language-portal/dari/index.html |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region |language=en-US}} {{Citation needed span|text=However, there are no significant differences in the written forms, other than regional idiomatic phrases.|date=July 2024|reason=This is a key question, and although the claim may be true, I heard people challenging it, so it requires a reference.}}

The phonology of Dari Persian as spoken in Kabul, compared with Classical Persian, is overall more conservative than the accent of Iran's standard register. In this regard Dari Persian is more similar to Tajiki Persian. The principal differences between standard Iranian Persian and Afghan Persian as based on the Kabul dialect are:

1. The merging of majhul vowels {{IPA|/eː, iː/}} and {{IPA|/oː, uː/}} into {{IPA|/iː/}} and {{IPA|/uː/}} respectively in Iranian Persian, whereas in Afghan Persian, they are still kept separate. For instance, the identically written words {{lang|fa|شیر}} 'lion' and 'milk' are pronounced the same in Iranian Persian as {{IPA|/ʃiːr/}}, but differently as {{IPA|/ʃeːr/}} for 'lion' and {{IPA|/ʃiːr/}} for 'milk' in Afghan Persian, similar to Tajiki Persian. The long vowel in {{lang|fa|زود}} "quick" and {{lang|fa|زور}} "strength" is realized as {{IPA|/uː/}} in Iranian Persian, in contrast, these words are pronounced {{IPA|/zuːd/}} and {{IPA|/zoːr/}} respectively by Persian speakers in Afghanistan.
2. The Classical Persian high short vowels {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} tend to be lowered in Iranian Persian to {{IPA|[e]}} and {{IPA|[o]}}, unlike in Dari where they might have both high and lowered allophones.
3. The treatment of the diphthongs of early Classical Persian "ay" (as "i" in English "size") and "aw" (as "ow" in Engl. "cow"), which are pronounced {{IPA|[ej]}} (as in English "day") and {{IPA|[ow]}} (as in Engl. "low") in Iranian Persian. Dari, on the other hand, is more like ancient Persian, e.g. {{lang|fa|نخیر}} 'no' is realized as {{IPA|/naχejr/}} in Iranian but {{IPA|/naχajr/}} in Afghan Persian, and {{lang|fa|نوروز}} 'Persian New Year' is {{IPA|/nowruːz/}} in Iranian but {{IPA|/nawroːz/}} in Afghan Persian. Moreover, {{IPA|[ow]}} is simplified to {{IPA|[o]}} in normal Iranian speech, thereby merging with the lowered Classical short vowel {{IPA|/u/}} (see above). This does not occur in Afghan Persian.
4. The pronunciation of the labial consonant {{lang|fa|و}}, which is realized as a voiced labiodental fricative {{IPA|[v]}} in standard Iranian, is still pronounced with the classical bilabial pronunciation {{IPA|[w]}} in Afghanistan; {{IPA|[v]}} is found in Afghan Persian as an allophone of {{IPA|/f/}} before voiced consonants and as variation of {{IPA|/b/}} in some cases, along with {{IPAblink|β}}.
5. The convergence of the voiced uvular stop {{IPA|[ɢ]}} ({{lang|fa|ق}}) and the voiced velar fricative {{IPA|[ɣ]}} ({{lang|fa|غ}}) in some dialects of Iranian Persian (presumably under the influence of Turkic languages like Azeri and Turkmen)A. Pisowicz, Origins of the New and Middle Persian phonological systems (Cracow 1985), pp. 112–114, 117. is absent in Dari, where the two are still kept separate.
6. {{IPA|[a]}} and {{IPA|[e]}} in word-final positions are distinguished in Dari, whereas {{IPA|[e]}} is a word-final allophone of {{IPA|/æ/}} in Iranian Persian.

The dialects of Dari spoken in Northern, Central, and Eastern Afghanistan, for example in Kabul, Mazar, and Badakhshan, have distinct features compared to Iranian Persian. However, the dialect of Dari spoken in Western Afghanistan stands in between the Afghan and Iranian Persian. For instance, the Herati dialect shares vocabulary and phonology with both Afghan and Iranian Persian. Likewise, the dialect of Persian in Eastern Iran, for instance in Mashhad, is quite similar to the Herati dialect of Afghanistan.

In a paper jointly published by Takhar University and the Ministry of Education in 2018, researchers studying varieties of Persian from Iran to Tajikistan, Identified 3 dialect groups (or macro dialects) present within Afghanistan.{{cite document|last1=الله حکیمی|first1=مطیع|language=fa|publisher=Takhar University & The Afghanistan Ministry of Education|date=2018|title=گونه‌های زبان فارسی دری|type=journal}} In an article about various languages spoken in Afghanistan, Encyclopaedia Iranica identified a nearly identical categorization but considered varieties spoken in the Sistan region to constitute a distinct group.{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica|title=AFGHANISTAN v. Languages|year=1983}}

Takhar and the MOE only discussed vocabulary differences between the dialect groups and did not extensively discuss phonological differences between these groups. However, there was a noticeable difference in the romanizations of the Western dialects and the South-Eastern dialects. Chiefly that the vowel diacritic "pesh" (Kasrah) was romanized with an "i" for South-Eastern dialects but as an "e" for western dialects. This is presumably due to a difference in quality, however the paper itself did not explain why the vowels were transliterated differently.

The South Eastern group (also referred to the Southern and Eastern group) constitutes varieties spoken in and around Kabul, Parwan, Balkh, Baghlan, Samangan, Kunduz, Takhar, Badakhshan and others. A distinctive character of this group is its conservative nature compared to, for example, the Tehrani dialect. This can be seen in its Phonology (e.g. its preservation of "Majhul" vowels), Morhphonology and Syntax, and its Lexicon. A further distinction may be made between varieties in and near Kabul and varieties in and near Afghan Turkistan. With dialects near Kabul exhibiting some influences from languages in southern Afghanistan and South Asia and dialects in Afghan Turkistan exhibiting more influence from Tajik. All South-Eastern varieties exhibited some influence from Uzbek. Despite the Afghanistan Ministry of Education referring to this group as "South-Eastern" some of the varieties included are in the north.

As seen in many Hazaragi varieties, certain Eastern Dialects have developed a system of retroflex consonants under pressure from Pashto. They are not widespread, however.

The Kabuli dialect has become the standard model of Dari Persian in Afghanistan, as has the Tehrani dialect in relation to the Persian in Iran. Since the 1940s, Radio Afghanistan has broadcast its Dari programs in Kabuli Dari, which ensured the homogenization between the Kabuli version of the language and other dialects of Dari Persian spoken throughout Afghanistan. Since 2003, the media, especially the private radio and television broadcasters, have carried out their Dari programs using the Kabuli variety.

The Western group includes various varieties spoken in and around: Herat, Badghis, Farah and Ghor. Varieties in this group share many features with the dialects of Persian spoken in Eastern Iran, and one may make many comparisons between the speech of Herat and Mashhad.

{{Main|Hazaragi dialect}}

The third group recognized by Afghanistan Ministry of Education is Hazaragi. Spoken by the Hazara people, these varieties are spoken in the majority of central Afghanistan including: Bamyan, parts of Ghazni, Daikundi, Laal Sari Jangal in Ghor province, 'uruzgan khas', in a wide area in the west of Kabul which is mainly recognized as Dashti Barchi, and some regions near Herat. As a group, the Hazaragi varieties are distinguished by the presence of retroflex consonants and distinctive vocabulary.{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica|title=HAZĀRA iv. Hazāragi dialect|year=2003|author=Charles M. Kieffer}} However it has been shown that Hazaragi is more accurately a sub-dialect of Dari rather than its own variety of Persian.{{Cite web |date=March 20, 2012 |title=HAZĀRA iv. Hazāragi dialect |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/hazara-4}}

{{Main|Sistani dialect}}

Afghanistan's Ministry of Education does not make a distinction between varieties of the Sistan region and the varieties in the Western group. However Encyclopaedia Iranica considers the Sistani dialect to constitute their own distinctive group, with notable influences from Balochi.

• Stops /{{IPA|t, d}}/ are phonetically dental [{{IPA|t̪, d̪}}].
• A glottal stop /ʔ/ only appears in words of Arabic origin.
• A flap sound /{{IPA|ɾ}}/ may be realized as a trill sound [{{IPA|r}}], in some environments, mostly word-final position; otherwise, they contrast between vowels wherein a trill occurs as a result of gemination (doubling) of [{{IPA|ɾ}}], especially in loanwords of Arabic origin. Only [{{IPA link|ɾ}}] occurs before and after consonants; in word-final position, it is usually a free variation between a flap or a trill when followed by a consonant or a pause, but flap is more common, only flap before vowel-initial words.
• As in many other languages, {{IPA|/n/}} is realized as bilabial {{IPAblink|m}} before bilabial stops and as velar {{IPAblink|ŋ}} before velar stops.
• {{IPA|/f/}} is voiced to {{IPAblink|v}} before voiced consonants.
• /w/ is almost always voiced as {{IPAblink|w}}, as in Middle Persian.

Dari does not distinguish [{{IPA|ɪ}}] and [{{IPA|ɛ}}] in any position, these are distinct phonemes in English but are in un-conditional free variation in nearly all dialects of Dari.{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Corey |title=Variation in Persian Vowel Systems – University of Maryland |url=https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:657365/FULLTEXT01.pdf |website=Digitala Vetenskapliga Arkivet}}{{Cite journal |last=Fiorello |first=Christopher |title=Dari Phonology |journal=SIL International}}{{Cite book |last=Rees |first=Daniel A. |title=Towards Proto-Persian: An Optimality Theoretic Historical Reconstruction. Ph.D. dissertation. |publisher=Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Georgetown University. |year=2008}} There are no environmental factors related to the appearance of [{{IPA|ɪ}}] or [{{IPA|ɛ}}] and native Dari speakers do not perceive them as different phonemes (that is to say, the English words bet [b{{IPA|ɛ}}t] and bit [b{{IPA|ɪ}}t] would be nearly indistinguishable to a native Dari speaker). However, speakers in Urban regions of Kabul, Panjšir and other nearby provinces in southern and eastern Afghanistan tend to realize the vowel as [{{IPA|ɪ}}].{{Cite book |last=Neghat |first=Muhammad Nassim |title=Dari-English Dictionary. |publisher=Omaha: University of Nebraska. |year=1993}} Speakers of Dari in central Afghanistan (i.e. Hazaragi speakers) tend to realize the vowel in proximity to, or identically to, [{{IPA|i}}], unless the following syllable contains a high-back vowel.{{Cite web |title=Vowel Harmony in Hazaragi Persian in Afghanistan |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370050608 |access-date=2023-08-11 |website=ResearchGate}}{{Cite journal |first1=Arash |last1=Khazeni |first2=Alessandro |last2=Monsutti |first3=Charles M. |last3=Kieffer |date=2020 |title=HAZĀRA |journal=Encyclopaedia Iranica Online |doi=10.1163/2330-4804_eiro_com_2912 |doi-access=free }}{{Cite book |last=Efimov |first=V. A. |title=Xazara |publisher=Moskva: Izdatel'stvo Firma Vostočnaya Literatura RAN |year=2008 |location=In V. A. Efimov (ed.), Sredneiranskie i novoiranskie Jazyki |pages=344–414}} Speakers in western Afghanistan (such as in the Herat or Farah province) and some rural regions in the Kabul province (not the city) most commonly realize the vowel as [{{IPA|ɛ}}].{{Cite journal |last1=Wahedi |first1=Mohammad Haroon |last2=Najm |first2=Sharaafuddin |last3=Sediqi |first3=Aqlima |date=2022-07-06 |title=Noun Structures in the Persian-Dari Dialect of the People of Farah Province in Afghanistan |url=https://al-kindipublisher.com/index.php/ijlss/article/view/3653 |journal=International Journal of Linguistics Studies |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=41–45 |doi=10.32996/ijls.2022.2.2.6 |issn=2754-2599|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Hachard |first=Vincent |date=2003-05-15 |title=Geratskij dialekt jazyka dari. Moskva, Izd. firma Vostočnaja literatura RAN, 1999, 238 p., bibliogr., pas d'index. (Jazyki narodov Azii i Afriki). [Le dialecte dari de Hérat] |journal=Abstracta Iranica |volume=24 |doi=10.4000/abstractairanica.34191 |issn=0240-8910|doi-access=free }} Additionally, in some varieties of Dari, the phoneme [{{IPA|ɛ}}] appears as an allophone of [a].

• When occurring as lax, the open vowels {{IPA|/a, ɑ/}} are raised to {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|ɐ}}, {{IPAplink|ʌ}}]}}.{{Cite book|title=A Grammar of Dari|last1=Mitchell|first1=Rebecca|last2=Naser|first2=Djamal|publisher=München: LINCOM|year=2017|pages=20–27}}

Successive governments of Afghanistan have promoted New Persian as an official language of government since the time of the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526), even as those governments were dominated by Pashtun people. Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty (1826–1973) first introduced the Pashto language as an additional language of administration. The local name for the Persian variety spoken in Afghanistan was officially changed from Farsi to Dari, meaning "court language", in 1964.Willem Vogelsang, "The Afghans", Blackwell Publishing, 2002{{Cite web|url=http://www.datadust.de/download/farsi2dari/|title=Airgram Farsi to Dari 1964 Embassy Kabul to USA|website=datadust.de|access-date=27 September 2019|archive-date=27 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927192306/http://www.datadust.de/download/farsi2dari/|url-status=live}}see too Harold F. Schiffman Language 2012, pp. 39–40 Zaher said there would be, as there are now, two official languages, Pashto and Farsi, though the latter would henceforth be named Dari. Within their respective linguistic boundaries, Dari Persian and Pashto are the media of education.

The term continues to divide opinion in Afghanistan today. While Dari has been the official name for decades, "Farsi" is still the preferred name to many Persian speakers of Afghanistan. Omar Samad, an Afghan analyst and ambassador, says of the dispute:{{Cite news|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-dari-farsi-persian-language-dispute/28840560.html|title=Dari or Farsi? Afghanistan's Long-Simmering Language Dispute|newspaper=Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty |access-date=25 November 2017|archive-date=26 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171126121028/https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-dari-farsi-persian-language-dispute/28840560.html|url-status=live |last1=Bezhan |first1=Frud }}

{{blockquote|This debate pits those who look at language as a shared heritage that includes thinkers, writers, and poets of the Farsi language against those who believe that Dari has older roots and provides a distinct identity that cannot be confused with Iran's claim.}}

{{Portal|Afghanistan|Languages}}

• Persian language
• Iranian Persian
• Tajik Persian
• Hazaragi dialect
• Languages of Afghanistan

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin|2}}

• Lazard, G. "[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/dari Darī – The New Persian Literary Language] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124025639/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/dari |date=24 November 2020 }}" in Encyclopædia Iranica Online Edition.
• {{cite book|last=Phillott|first=Douglas Craven|title=Higher Persian grammar for the use of the Calcutta University, showing differences between Afgan and modern Persian; with notes on rhetoric|url=https://archive.org/details/higherpersiangra00philuoft|date=1919|location=Calcutta|publisher=Baptist Mission Press}}
• Sakaria, S. (1967) Concise English – Afghan Dari Dictionary, Ferozsons, Kabul, [http://worldcat.org/oclc/600815 OCLC 600815]
• Farhadi, A. G. R.('Abd-ul-Ghafur Farhadi)(Abd-ul-ghafûr Farhâdi) (1955) Le Persan Parlé en Afghanistan: Grammaire du Kâboli Accompagné d'un Recueil de Quatrains Populaires de la Région de Kâbol, Centre national de la recherche scientifique or Librairie C. Klincksieck, Paris.
• Farhadi, Rawan A. G. (1975) The Spoken Dari of Afghanistan: A Grammar of Kaboli Dari (Persian) Compared to the Literary Language, Peace Corps, Kabul, [http://worldcat.org/oclc/24699677 OCLC 24699677]
• {{cite book |last=Ioannesyan |first=Youli |title=Afghan folktales from Herat: Persian Texts in Transcription and Translation |location=Amherst |publisher=Cambria Press |date=2009 |pages=1–22 |isbn=978-1-60497-652-6}}
• Zellem, Edward. 2015. {{cite web|url=http://www.afghanproverbs.com/|title=Zarbul Masalha: 151 Afghan Dari Proverbs, 3rd edition|publisher=Charleston: CreateSpace|access-date=9 November 2012|archive-date=31 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231183158/http://www.afghanproverbs.com/|url-status=live}}
• Zellem, Edward. 2012. {{cite web|url=http://www.afghanproverbs.com/|title=Afghan Proverbs Illustrated|publisher=Charleston: CreateSpace|access-date=9 November 2012|archive-date=31 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231183158/http://www.afghanproverbs.com/|url-status=live}}
• {{cite book|title=قرائت دری برای صنف اول |trans-title=Afghanistan primary school text books for Dari language |url=https://archive.org/details/azu_acku_pk6874_qaaf42_1365 |date=1979 |author=دافغانستان دتعلیم اوتربیی اداره|language=fa-AF |doi=10.2458/azu_acku_pk6874_qaaf42_1365}}
• {{Cite JIPA|author=Baker, Adam|title=Dari (Afghan Persian)|volume=46|issue=2|pages=229–234|doi=10.1017/S0025100315000390|printdate=2016-08|soundfiles=no}}{{refend}}
• Harold F. Schiffman Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors (Brill's Studies in South and Southwest Asian Languages) BRILL, Leiden, 1.ed, 2011 {{ISBN|978-90-04-20145-3}}

• {{commons category-inline}}
• {{Wikivoyage inline|Dari phrasebook|Dari|a phrasebook}}
• [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/dari Dari] at Encyclopædia Iranica
• [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dari-language Dari language] at Britannica
• [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/dari.htm Dari language, alphabet and pronunciation]
• [http://www.kodakan.se/books.php Dari language resources]
• [http://www.afghan-web.com/language/dari.html Dari alphabet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171230172225/http://www.afghan-web.com/language/dari.html |date=30 December 2017 }}
• [https://incubator.miraheze.org/wiki/Wp/prs Dari encyclopedia] on Miraheze

{{Persian language}}

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Category:Eastern Persian dialects in Afghanistan

Category:Languages of Iran

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