<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="">Romanising Pashto: The debate rages on</h1><div class=""><a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?m2w&s=100&p[title]=Romanising%20Pashto%3A%20The%20debate%20rages%20on&p[summary]=Regardless%20of%20political%20beliefs%2C%20latinisation%20is%20taking%20place%20as%20an%20organic%20result%20of%20communication%20necessity.&p[url]=http%3A%2F%2Ftribune.com.pk%2Fstory%2F997680%2Fromanising-pashto-the-debate-rages-on%2F&p[images][0]=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.tribune.com.pk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F11%2F997680-poetssxx-1448411430.jpg%20" class=""><span class=""></span>Share</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftribune.com.pk%2Fstory%2F997680%2Fromanising-pashto-the-debate-rages-on%2F&text=Romanising%20Pashto%3A%20The%20debate%20rages%20on" class=""><span class=""></span>Tweet </a></div><div class=""><div id="id-997680" class=""><h1 class=""><a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/997680/romanising-pashto-the-debate-rages-on/">Romanising Pashto: The debate rages on </a></h1><div class=""><div class="">By <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/author/143/iftikhar-firdous/" title="Posts by Iftikhar Firdous">Iftikhar Firdous</a></div><div class="" title="2015-11-25T00:31:06 GMT">Published: November 25, 2015</div></div><div id="socialshare"><div class=""><span class="">21</span><span class="">SHARES</span></div> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?m2w&s=100&p[title]=Romanising%20Pashto%3A%20The%20debate%20rages%20on&p[summary]=Regardless%20of%20political%20beliefs%2C%20latinisation%20is%20taking%20place%20as%20an%20organic%20result%20of%20communication%20necessity.&p[url]=http%3A%2F%2Ftribune.com.pk%2Fstory%2F997680%2Fromanising-pashto-the-debate-rages-on%2F&p[images][0]=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.tribune.com.pk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F11%2F997680-poetssxx-1448411430.jpg%20" class=""><span class=""></span></a></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""> <img src="http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/997680-poetssxx-1448411430-831-640x480.jpg" alt="Regardless of political beliefs, latinisation is taking place as an organic result of communication necessity. STOCK IMAGE" height="469" width="625"></div><p class=""> Regardless of political beliefs, latinisation is taking place as an organic result of communication necessity. STOCK IMAGE</p></div><div><strong class="">PESHAWAR: </strong><p><strong>Is
the romanisation of Pashto a good idea? Regardless of our views, it is
something that already exists. For a language that has more speakers
than writers, the decision to do or not to do will depend on political
beliefs of the native speakers.</strong></p></div><p>In the census of
1998, it was estimated that 73.9 % people in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (known
then as NWFP) spoke Pashto. However, Pashto literacy remained a low
priority for the provincial and national assemblies. It was not until
1984 that Pashto was officially sanctioned.</p><p>The politics related
to Pashto language have been well documented by Robert Nicols in
Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and its Neighbors:
The Changing Politics of Language Change. The author discusses the
manner in which historical conditions of the area raised and lowered the
value of the Pashto and its use in social and political domains.</p><p>He implicitly mentions the language was predominantly used and solidified in madrassas rather than the formal schooling system.</p><p>Today,
however, as education has become an integral part of Pukhtun
society—idealistically—the most common script of communication amongst
the middle and upper middle classes is romanised Pashto. Perhaps the
most pervasive influence on romanisation has been technological;
evidence of which is clear in the form of text messages, tweets or
Facebook posts. Most of them are in the romanised form of the language.</p><p>Over
the years, public spaces in Pukhtun society have shrunk and the hujra
or jumat, considered integral to the linguistic community, has been
severely affected by terrorism. This resulted in the progression to a
relatively closed off and safe social media where the same interaction
takes place, but with less intimacy.</p><p>Whether romanisation should
be officially notified or not is something that has developed into a
debate. The earliest of efforts to romanise Pashto were in the 1950s and
60s in Afghanistan through the Yaqubi script. Later, and perhaps the
most noteworthy, efforts were the ones in the aftermath of 9/11.</p><p>The
conservative school of thought believes a standardised, romanised
Pashto will have consequences for the original script. The more liberal
school of experts believes a romanised form will encourage more people
to learn it. The argument for the more liberal school is based on the
fact that the differences in various dialects are not morphological, but
based on the pronunciation of various dialects.</p><p>The debate is not
specific to Pashto alone; languages throughout the world are facing
similar issues. A Pashto-specific romanised script carries political
undertones that have been unresolved for decades.</p><p>The last
government in K-P made proposals for a romanised script, but there was
no tangible progress. The criticism for Pukhtuns has been their
deliberate aloofness. Meanwhile, the Pukthuns argue they have been
marginalised. The romanisation of the language can perhaps become a step
to negate both.</p><p><a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/997680/romanising-pashto-the-debate-rages-on/">http://tribune.com.pk/story/997680/romanising-pashto-the-debate-rages-on/</a><br></p></div></div></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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