Resources for the Study of Pashto

Compiled by Maggie Ronkin, Georgetown University

<ronkinm@georgetown.edu

Websites
Pashto Teachionary, demo of a language-learning tool from Sprex, Inc., Seattle:
http://cassandra.sprex.com/teachionary/Pashto.html
Work in Progress
Web-Based Resources for the Study of Pashto Literature, organized by Dr. Wilma H
eston:
http://www.southasia.upenn.edu/pashto/
Sources
Much of this resource list was by Dr. Elena Bashir of the University of Chicago
ebashir@uchicago.edu
A=UCLA Language Materials Project
http://www.lmp.ucla.edu
B=InterLit Foundation
http://www.interlitfoundation.org
C=ERIC Database: Copied Abstracts for Multi-Volume Courses
D=U.S. Library of Congress (selections from 110 records)
http://www.loc.gov
Ahmed, Akbar S. (translator). 1975. Mataloona: Pukhto Proverbs. Karachi, PK: Oxf
ord University Press.
A collection of proverbs with literal translations and occasional mentions of eq
uivalents in other languages.
Source=A
Bashir, Elena L. 1991. A Contrastive Analysis of Pashto and Urdu. Washington, DC
: Academy for Educational Development.
Source=D
Bellew, Henry W. 1867/1980. A Dictionary of the Pukkhto or Pukshto Language: In
Which the Words Are Traced to Their Sources in the Indian and Persian Languages.
Karachi, PK: Pakistan Publishing House.
A nineteenth-century Pashto-to-English and English-to-Pashto dictionary.
Source=A
Bellew, Henry W. 1867/1983. A Grammar of the Pukkhto or Pukshto Language. London
: W. H. Allen.
A nineteenth-century pedagogical grammar.
Source=A
Blumhardt, James Fuller and D.N. MacKenzie. 19??/1965. Catalogue of Pashto Manus
cripts in the Libraries of the British Isles. London: Trustees of the British Mu
seum.
Chavarria-Aguilar, Oscar Luis. 1962. Pashto Instructor s Handbook. Ann Arbor, MI:

Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan.

Contains minimal pair and other types of oral drills for improving Pashto pronun
ciation.
Source=A
Chavarria-Aguilar, Oscar Luis. 1962. A Short Introduction to the Writing System
of Pashto. Ann Arbor, MI: Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Mich
igan.
A brief introduction to Pashto orthography that explains the relationship betwee
n the script and phonemes.
Source=A
Note: The Instructor s Handbook (above) together with A Short Introduction to the
Writing System of Pashto (above) and Herbert Penzl s A Reader of Pashto (below) we
re intended to form an oral language course.
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. 1986. Pashto Basic Course: T
extbook, Units 1-7. Monterey, CA: Defense Language Institute, Foreign Language C
enter.
A seven-week, full-time course that includes instruction, listening laboratory w
ork, and writing practice.
Source=A, C (below)
Intended (with its accompanying written and recorded materials) for an intensive
language course which includes instruction, listening laboratory work and writi
ng practice. Divided into seven units, consisting of five lessons each. Designed
to take one week of class time to complete a unit. Lessons include a summary of
goals for the lesson, review of previously learned material relevant to the les
son, presentation of new vocabulary, a dialog, fluency practice, sentence struct
ure presentation, exercises for structural practice, and exercises for conversat
ion practice. Structural exercises include repetition, completion and transforma
tion. Conversation exercises include repetition of dialogues and oral pair work
in transformation and expansion of each dialogue. Includes a variety of topics s
uch as seasons, days and times, prayer, weddings, the family, Pashtun life and c
ulture, including city and country life, telephoning, asking for and giving info
rmation, etc. Contains maps, photos, illustrations and charts for cultural backg
round references. Quizzes are provided in the Teachers Manual to be photo-copied
and taken by students after units 1,3,5 and 7. Tests are provided for use after
units 2, 4 and 6. Tests and quizzes include an oral component which is provided
on the Textbook tapes following lesson five of each unit.
Subjects: communicative competence, culture and customs, grammar instruction, te
aching method theories--audiolingual
Script--Arabic, tests
Electronic Media Description: Audio cassettes; textbook
Time Frame: Seven weeks (thirty hours per week)
Features: Illustrated, writing system
Available From
ERIC Document Reproduction Service, 7420 Fullerton Road, Suite 110, Springfield,
VA 22153-2852, Phone: 800.443.3742 FREE, Fax: 703.440.1408
Material: General text, Skill: All, Level: Beginning, Audience: Adult
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. 1986. Pashto Basic Course: W
orkbook, Units 1-7. Monterey, CA: Defense Language Institute, Foreign Language C
enter.
Source=A
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. 1986. Pashto Basic Course: T
eachers Manual, Units 1-7. Monterey, CA: Defense Language Institute, Foreign Lang
uage Center.

Source=A
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. 1986. Pashto Basic Course: W
riting Manual to Accompany Units 3-7. Monterey, CA: Defense Language Institute,
Foreign Language Center.
Source=A
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. 1986. Pashto Basic Course: L
aboratory Manual, Units 1-7. Monterey, CA: Defense Language Institute, Foreign L
anguage Center.
Source=A
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. 1986. Pashto Basic Course: L
aboratory Tapescripts, Units 1-7. Monterey, CA: Defense Language Institute, Fore
ign Language Center.
Source=A
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. 1986. Pashto Basic Course: T
extbook Tapescripts, Units 1-7. Monterey, CA: Defense Language Institute, Foreig
n Language Center.
Source=A
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. 1986. Pashto Basic Course: W
orkbook Tapescript, Units 1-7. Monterey, CA: Defense Language Institute, Foreign
Language Center.
Source=A
Dorn, Bernhard. 1982. A Chrestomathy of the Pushtu or Afghan Language: To which
is
Subjoined a Glossary in Afghan and English. Osnabrck, Germany: Biblio Verlag.
An anthology of selections from literary works, religious law, the Bible, and po
etry, with a 250-page English glossary.
Source=A
Enevoldsen, Jens. 1968. An Introduction to Pakhto. Copenhagen: Dansk Pathan Miss
ion.
A basic grammar in thirty-nine lessons.
Source=A
Enevoldsen, Jens. 1970/2000. Sound the Bells, O Moon, Arise and Shine. Sugar Hil
l, NH: Interlit Foundation.
A short collection of proverbs and lines from tappas, with parallel translations
, cultural explanations, and illustrations.
Source=B
Enevoldsen, Jens. 1993. The Nightingale of Peshawar: Selections from Rahman Baba
.
Sugar Hill, NH: InterLit Foundation.
English translations of fifty poems from the diwan of the seventeenth-century Pe
rsian mystic Abdur Rahman Baba, with parallel presentations of the original Pash
to, linguistic and cultural annotations, and an introduction.
Source=B
Gilbertson, George W. 1932. The Pakkhto Idiom: A Dictionary. Hertford, UK: Steph
en Austin and Sons.
The first of two volumes of a comprehensive dictionary of Pashto idiomatic phras
es-covers a to l -arranged by key words.
Source=A

Hanley, Barbara. 1970. Concise English-Pushtu Dictionary / Da Inglisi Aw Pushto

Qamus. Kabul: Da Pohane Wizarat. (Available from Malik Book Depot, Chowk Urdu Ba
zaar, Lahore, PK.)
4,000 words with romanized and Pashto scripts; includes a phonetic chart and a m
ethod of converting Nagrahari pronunciation to Kandari pronunciation.
Source=A
India Office Library and Records. 1990. Catalogue of the Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto,
and Kashmiri Manuscripts and Documents in the India Office Library and Records.
Compliled by S. Quraishi. London: British Library.
Source=D
Khaliq, Q. A. 1973. Fifty Lessons to Learn Pushto with Fluency and Accuracy. Pes
hawar, PK: Ferozsons.
A short functional introduction with vocabulary, conversations, drills, and exer
cises. No table of contents, instructions, or answers.
Source=A
Khan, Qazi Rahimullah. 1992. The Modern Pushtu Instructor. New Delhi: Asian Educ
ational Services.
The first of two volumes for attaining the proficiency expected of British civil
service and military personnel. Grammar, reading and writing exercises, and pro
se composition.
Source=A
Lorenz, Manfred. 1982. Lehrbuch des Pashto (Afghanisch) / von Manfred Lorenz.
Edition 2., durchgesehene Aufl. Leipzig : Verlag Enzyklopadie.
A German-language textbook for a basic Pashto course in seven units.
Source=reviewer recommendation
Lorimer, John Gordon. 1902. Grammar and Vocabulary of Waziri Pashto. Calcutta: O
ffice of the Superintendant of Government Printing, India.
Source=D
M. R. M. Staff. 1984. A Pashto Newspaper Reader. Kensington, MD: Dunwoody Press.
An intermediate-level sample of fifty-one newspaper articles on political, socia
l, and civic topics with English translations.
Source=A
No author listed. 1989. English-Pushtu Dictionary. New Delhi: Publications India
.
An 820-page English-to-Pashto dictionary, with a list of common abbreviations.
Source=A
Olson, Randall with Mohammad Afzal Rashid. 1996. Speaking Afghan Pashto: Eastern
Afghan Dialect. Sugar Hill, NH: InterLit Foundation.
A basic intensive course on the eastern Afghan variety designed for NGOs, develo
pment agencies, and academics. Dialogues, pronunciation drills, grammatical expl
anations, exercises, comprehension drills, vocabulary lists, and proverbs.
Source=B
Paper, Herbert H. 1964. A Short Grammatical Outline of Pashto. Bloomington, IN:
Indiana University Research Center in Anthropology, Folklore, and Linguistics. (
Available from Mouton and Company, The Hague, Netherlands.)
A brief introduction to the sound system, morphology, and syntax of Pashto, whic
h will aid dictionary users.
Source=A

Penzl, Herbert. 1965. A Reader of Pashto. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan
Press. (Available from Ambassador Books, Toronto, Ontario, CA.)
An introduction to reading several text genres in twenty-one units comprised of
texts, romanized transcriptions, glosses, cultural and linguistic-dialectal note
s, and English translations.
Source=A
Raverty, H. G. 18??/1986. A Dictionary of the Puk hto, Pus hto or Languages of the A
fghans: with Remarks on the Originality of the Language and Its Affinity to the
Semitic and Other Oriental Tongues. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services.
A brief dictionary to accompany a nineteenth-century grammar by the same author
(below).
Source=A
Raverty, H. G. 18??/1986. The Pushto Manual: The Language of the Afghans: Compri
sing a Concise Grammar; Exercises and Dialogues; Familiar Phrases, Proverbs, and
Vocabulary. New Delhi, India: Cosmo Publications.
The title says it all.
Source=A
Raverty, H. G. 1860/1887. A Grammar of the Puk hto, Pus hto, or Language of the Afgh
ans. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services.
A nineteenth-century grammar that includes theories of the 1850s on the origins
of the Pashtun and Pashto.
Source=A
Rudelson, Justin John. 1998. Central Asia Phrasebook. 1998. Oakland, CA: Lonely
Planet Publications.
A travelers phrasebook containing sections on Uighur, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Pask
to, and Tajik, as well as briefer phase lists for other Central Asian languages.
Source=A
Shafeev, D.A. 1964. A Short Grammatical Outline of Pashto. Herbert H. Paper, tra
nslator and editor. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University.
[See also the entry under Paper above.]
Source=D
Tair, Muhammad Navaz and T. C. Edwards. 1982. Rohi Mataluna / Pashto Proverbs.
Peshawar, PK: Pashto Academy, University of Peshawar.
A collection of Pashto proverbs with translations into English.
Source=reviewer recommendation

Tegey, Habibullah and Barbara Robson. 1990. Beginning Pashto: Glossary

Source=A

Tegey, Habibullah and Barbara Robson. 1990. Beginning Pashto: Textbook.

This textbook is a component of Beginning Pashto, a set of materials (including a
student workbook, teachers manual, glossary, and tapescripts) that teaches the Pu
shto language. The language taught is Afghan Pushto, particularly the standard c
entral district dialect spoken in Kabul and in the official media. The text prov
ides 14 units of study; each unit is approximately 10 hours of class work, and t

herefore, is sufficient for 2 semesters of academic language training. The first

unit of study teaches the Pushto writing system and consists of the following s
ections: (1) Greeting and Goodby Phrases; (2) Pushto Pronunciation; (3) The Push
to Alphabet Letter Shapes; and (4) Diversions. The remaining 13 units of study p
resent the language through dialogues and readings on various topics (e.g. food,
shopping, weather, family, etc.), with accompanying presentations on grammar an
d vocabulary, and exercises for oral practice and conversation. Each unit also c
ontains a diversion (a proverb, poem, or story) intended to amuse the student, a
nd to provide a glimpse of Pushto folk literature. The dialogues revolve around
the activities of a group of Pashtuns and Americans at an American university. T
he readings, for the most part, describe Pashtun life and customs in Afghanistan
and are related to the topic in the corresponding dialogue. (GLR)
ERIC database abstract
Source=A
Tegey, Habibullah and Barbara Robson. 1990. Beginning Pashto: Workbook.
Source=A
Tegey, Habibullah and Barbara Robson. 1990. Beginning Pashto: Teachers
Source=A

Manual.

Tegey, Habibullah and Barbara Robson. 1990. Beginning Pashto: Textbook Tapescrip
t.
Source=A
Tegey, Habibullah and Barbara Robson. 1990. Beginning Pashto: Workbook Tapescrip
t.
Source=A
Tegey, Habibullah and Barbara Robson. 1991. Intermediate Pashto: Interim PashtoEnglish Glossary.
Source=A
Tegey, Habibullah and Brabara Robson. 1991. Intermediate Pashto: Textbook.
The textbook for intermediate level Pushto instruction consists of 14 units (1528) on a variety of cultural topics and linguistic structures. Cultural topics i
nclude engagement and marriage, children's education, agriculture and related su
bjects, the family, Pashtun history, genealogies of major Pashtun tribes, the Pa
shtun code of behavior, Afghan government and politics, Moslem traditions, and v
illage life. Grammar topics include perfective participles, relative clauses, th
e imperfective participle, can phrases, comparisons, conditional statements, relat
ives, and past and present unreal conditions. Each unit contains a dialogue or s
tory in Pushto, a new vocabulary list, notes on new grammatical structures, rela
ted exercises for language practice and comprehension, and additional brief read
ings. (MSE)
ERIC database abstract.
Source=A
Tegey, Habibullah and Barbara Robson. 1991. Intermediate Pashto: Teachers
Source=A
Tegey, Habibullah and Barbara Robson. 1991. Intermediate Pashto: Workbook.
Source=A

Manual.

Tegey, Habibullah and Barbara Robson. 1992. Pashto Reader.

Source=A
Tegey, Habibullah and Barbara Robson. 1992. Pashto Reader Passages in Transcript
ion.
Source=A
Tegey, Habibullah and Barbara Robson. 1992. Pashto Reader Originals.
Source=A
Tegey, Habibullah 1993. Pashto-English Glossary for the CAL Pashto Materials
Source=A
Tegey, Habibullah and Barbara Robson. 1993. Pashto Conversation: Manual.
Source=A
Tegey, Habibullah and Barbara Robson. 1993. Pashto Conversation: Tapescript.
Source=A
Thorburn, S. S. 1876/1978. Bannu: Our Afghan Frontier. Lahore, PK: Niaz Ahmed, S
ang-e-Meel Publications. [Original in the Library of Congress].
Reprint of a late nineteenth-century book, the second half of which covers 406 p
roverbs, with translations.
Source=A, D
Trumpp, Ernest. 1969. Grammar of the Pashto or Language of the Afghans, Compared
with the Iranian and North-Indian Idioms. Osnabrck, Germany: Biblio Verlag.
Reprint of a 412-page descriptive grammar covering parts of speech, the sound sy
stem, morphology, syntax, etc.
Source=A
Wardak, Giljan Woro. 1990. Pushto Shud / Pashto Teacher. Peshawar, PK. Pak-Germa
n Bas-Ed, University.
Thirty-eight lessons with exercises, focusing on conversational skills, translat
ion, grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary.
Source=A
Work in Progress
Standard Proficiency/Competency Examination for Pashto, under development by
Dr. Benedicte Grima Santry, University of Pennsylvania, b.santry@verizon.net
Proposal to the SALRC
ACTFL currently provides no proficiency testing for Pashto. Neither does the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania, where the language is taught. This project will fill th
at gap. The exam will test four skill areas: listening comprehension, reading co
mprehension, writing, and spoken proficiency. Each skill area will be broken int
o four proficiency levels: novice, low intermediate, high intermediate and advan
ced, according to the levels used by the ACTFL OPI testing.
The listening comprehension portion will be presented as a series of spoken line
s, short dialogues and longer passages of increasing difficulty, followed by que
stions in English, and multiple choice answers. The selections will include both
recordings by a native speaker, as well as authentic materials recorded live fr
om media sources and digitalized on disc.

The reading comprehension portion will present a series of texts in Pashto, begi
nning short at the novice level and lengthening to longer texts of increasing di
fficulty to the advanced level. Each text will be followed by questions that tes
t the understanding of meaning with multiple choice answers. A wide variety of g
enres will be used in this section, both original and taken from already existin
g sources.
The writing portion will require the examinee to compose a short paragraph in Pa
shto, using various grammatical structures reflecting the expectations of each l
evel. The oral proficiency section of the exam will assess functional speaking a
bility. It will contain a collection of structured dialogue situations and conve
rsation topics aimed at each level, and will follow the ACTFL guidelines for tes
ting. This examination will not be web-based, but presented on disc.