Pashayi - also known as
PashaiPashai are a Dardic ethno-linguistic group living primarily in eastern Afghanistan. Their total population is estimated to be 500,000. They are mainly concentrated in the northern parts of Laghman and Nangarhar provinces and eastern Kapisa province. Pashai are believed to be descendants of ancient...
- is a
languageA language is a system for encoding and decoding information. In its most common use, the term refers to so-called "natural languages" — the forms of communication considered peculiar to humankind. In linguistics the term is extended to refer to the human cognitive facility of creating and using...
(or a group of languages) spoken in parts of Kapisa,
LaghmanLaghman is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern portion of Afghanistan, the capital is Mihtarlam. The province is composed of several districts including: Alingar, Alishang, Dawlat Shah, Mihtarlam, and Qarghayi.-Buddhism:During the invasions of Alexander the...
, Nuristan,
KunarKunar is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. It borders Nurestan to the north-west, Laghman to the west, and Nangarhar to the south. Its capital is Asadabad.-Geography and ethnic makeup:...
, and Nangarhar Provinces in Northeastern
AfghanistanThe Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East...
.
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Pashayi - also known as
PashaiPashai are a Dardic ethno-linguistic group living primarily in eastern Afghanistan. Their total population is estimated to be 500,000. They are mainly concentrated in the northern parts of Laghman and Nangarhar provinces and eastern Kapisa province. Pashai are believed to be descendants of ancient...
- is a
languageA language is a system for encoding and decoding information. In its most common use, the term refers to so-called "natural languages" — the forms of communication considered peculiar to humankind. In linguistics the term is extended to refer to the human cognitive facility of creating and using...
(or a group of languages) spoken in parts of Kapisa,
LaghmanLaghman is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern portion of Afghanistan, the capital is Mihtarlam. The province is composed of several districts including: Alingar, Alishang, Dawlat Shah, Mihtarlam, and Qarghayi.-Buddhism:During the invasions of Alexander the...
, Nuristan,
KunarKunar is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. It borders Nurestan to the north-west, Laghman to the west, and Nangarhar to the south. Its capital is Asadabad.-Geography and ethnic makeup:...
, and Nangarhar Provinces in Northeastern
AfghanistanThe Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East...
.
It belongs to the
Indo-EuropeanThe Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, Iran, and northern India, and historically also predominant in Anatolia and Central Asia...
language familyA language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family.As with biological families, the evidence of relationship is observable shared characteristics...
, and is on the
DardicThe Dardic languages is a sub-group of the Indo-Aryan languages spoken in northern Pakistan, eastern Afghanistan, and in the Indian region of Jammu and Kashmir.-Position in Indo-Iranian languages:...
group of the
Indo-IranianThe Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of three language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Nuristani. The term Aryan languages is occasionally still used to refer to the Indo-Iranian languages...
branch.
It was spoken by over 216,842 people who are predominantly
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
. Literacy rates are low: below 1% for people who have it as a
first languageA first language is the language a human being learns from birth...
, and between 15% to 25% for people who have it as a
second languageA second language is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue . Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas....
.
There are four main varieties, which are all mutually unintelligible: the Northeastern, the Northwestern, the Southeastern and the Southwestern.