Dari (Afghanistan)

From Free net encyclopedia

Dari (دری)is the local written name for the Persian language in Afghanistan used mainly in official papers. While the Afghans in their daily usage and spoken language call this language Persian (locally: Fârsi) they are commanded by the government to use the name "Dari' for it, while writing. "Dari" is an abbreviation of the name Court Persian (Fârsi-yi Dari). The name Court Persian was used in old times to refer to the Standard form of Persian. Breaking of that name was made by a certain Pashtu King for some political reasons. So in fact he decided to change the name of the Persian language in Afghanistan and call it "Court".

Persian is the major language of the country and is spoken in the northern and western parts including the capital Kabul in the east. Approximately 60% of the population of Afghanistan are native speakers, with bilingualism widespread. It is the primary language of the Tajik, Hazara, and Chahar Aimak peoples. The language serves as the means of communication between speakers of different languages in Afghanistan.

The syntax of Afghanistan's Persian does not differ greatly from Iran's Persian, but the stress accent is less prominent in Afghanistan's Persian than in Iran's Persian. To mark attribution, spoken Afghan Persian uses the suffix -ra. The vowel system also differs from that of Iranian Persian, to some degree.

Some people don't consider Afghani Persian itself to be a dialect or a language. They consider it to be the written language (written Persian, with no dialects), while they consider Persian (locally: Fârsi) the spoken language (spoken Persian, which has many different dialects). It is also believed by some that Dari should not be called Afghan Persian, because:

It already existed centuries before the creation of Afghanistan
The term is also used by certain Tajikistani and Iranian scholars to refer to the Persian language, including Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
Afghan (in its original meaning) refers to Pashtuns only, who do not speak Persian but Pashto

This variety of Persian spoken in Afghanistan is distinct from the language of the Zoroastrians who live in Yazd and Kerman, Iran, which is also called Dari (or Gabri).

Many speakers of Dari from Afghanistan, are also able to speak languages from neighbouring countries, such as Pakistan.

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