As problems pile up, Afghan lawmakers debate words

[Dennis Baron]

from Reuters:

As problems pile up, Afghan lawmakers debate words

11 Aug 2008 13:44:53 GMT
Source: Reuters

KABUL, Aug 11 (Reuters) - As insurgent attacks reach record levels,  
relations with Pakistan sink to new lows and rising food prices hurt  
millions, the Afghan parliament on Monday grappled with what word to  
use for 'university'.

The debate pits Pashtu speakers, mainly from the south and east,  
against Dari-speaking Tajiks from the north and west and centres on  
the thorny issue of which words to use for expressions such as  
'university', 'student', and for academic titles.

"There were two different points of views in the meeting,"  
parliamentarian Ahmad Ali Jebrayeli told Reuters. "There were some who  
favoured the use of Dari expressions by Dari speakers and Pashtu words  
for those who speak Pashtu," he said.

"But there were others who said that we have to preserve our national  
expressions by using the old-style Pashtu words because some of the  
expressions used by Dari speakers are actually Iranian Farsi," he said.

Dari is a dialect of Persian spoken in northern Afghanistan, while  
Farsi is the Iranian dialect of the same language.

Pashtu is the language of Pashtuns, the traditional rulers of  
Afghanistan and the dominant ethnic group of the country.

Jebrayeli lamented that with the huge problems facing Afghanistan,  
lawmakers were locked in debate over terminology.

The debate will likely reinforce the perception of many ordinary  
Afghans that parliamentarians are out of touch with their needs and  
only focus on their own narrow interests.

Parliament failed to agree on a resolution and decided to form a  
committee to look into the problem, Jebrayeli said.

A journalist for a state newspaper was recently fined for using the  
Persian word for university in a report.

About 2,500 people, 1,000 of them civilians, have been killed in bombs  
and clashes between Taliban insurgents on one side and Afghan and  
international troops on the other.

Afghanistan blames Pakistan for much of the violence, accusing its  
neighbour of giving sanctuary and support to militants. Meanwhile,  
Western allies accuse President Hamid Karzai's government of failing  
to crack down on rampant corruption, which has led to Afghanistan  
being listed 172nd out of 180 countries on Transparency  
International's corruption perception index.

A harsh winter and poor rains are expected to produce a poor harvest  
this year and, coupled with high world food prices, are expected to  
lead to food shortages this year for millions of Afghans, already some  
of the poorest people in the world. (Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin;  
Editing by David Fogarty)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL208419.htm


____________________
Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

http://illinois.edu/goto/debaron

read the Web of Language:
http://illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage







-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20080812/e6dc8bbd/attachment.htm>