Waziristani dialect

Waziristani (Pashto: وزیرستانۍ‎), also known as Wazirwola (Pashto: وزیرواله‎, meaning "of the Wazirs"), Waziri, Dawari, or Masidwola, is an east-central Pashto dialect spoken in North Waziristan, South Waziristan, and parts of Bannu and Tank in Pakistan, and in certain adjacent districts of Paktika, Khost and Paktia provinces of Afghanistan.

The Waziristani dialect is almost identical to the dialect spoken around Urgun (eastern Paktika province) and the Bannuchi dialect of Bannu, and somewhat resembles the dialect spoken by Khattaks in Karak. The dialects of Loya Paktia like Zadrani are also very closely related, except that they are of the harsh northern variety.

Waziristani differs significantly in pronunciation and grammar from the standard literary Pashto based on the larger Kandahar, Kabul and Yousafzai dialects. The vowels [a], [ɑ], [u] and [o] of standard Pashto yield [ɑ], [o], [i] and [e] respectively, so [paʂto] becomes [pɑɕte] in Waziristani. A special feature of Waziristani is that the phonemes [ʃ] and [ʂ], along with their voiced counterparts, [ʒ] and [ʐ], have merged into the phonemes [ɕ] and [ʑ], both of which also exist in the nearby Ormuri language of Kaniguram, South Waziristan.[2] The Pashto alphabet has no symbol for their expression and the regular symbols of ژ and ش may be used.

The standard Pashto word for "boy", "هلک" [halək], is rarely heard in Waziristani, instead, "وېړکی" [weɻkai] meaning "little one" is used. The word "ləshki" [ləɕki] is used instead of the standard "لږ" [ləʐ], "a little bit". The pronoun موږ ([muʐ] or [mung]), meaning "we", is pronounced [miʑ] in Waziristani.

Waziristani, like many other obscure Pashto dialects, is almost never written and its speakers may use standard Pashto as a literary language. Waziristani Pashto is spoken by various tribes, and it is also called Maseedwola by the Mahsuds and Dawarwola by the Dawari. There are slight differences in pronunciation, for example, the phonemes [t͡s] and [d͡z] can become [s] and [z], or even [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ], depending on the tribe or area the speaker is from.