| Group |
Iranian (with Kurdish,
Talysh etc.), Southwest Iranian (with Tadjik,
Tati etc.) |
| Geography |
Dari is spoken and written by natives in central and northern Afghanistan
and all over the country by the urban population. Since the Middle Ages
Dari (or Farsi Kabuli, another name for it) has been widely used as the
language of the educated classes of people. The total number of its speakers
makes some 4 million people, including several minor groups of autochtonic
population of the region (e.g. Khazareans, a Turkish people living in Afghanistan).
Dari includes various dialects, and the literature language is formed by
the one of Kabul. |
| History |
Dari, Persian and Tadjik
languages all come from one source (Classical Persian), but historically
the territory of modern Afghanistan was included in the region where some
peculiarities in comparison with the literature Persian appeared, so that's
how Dari now differs more from Persian than from Tadjik. Dari became an
independent tongue in the 16th century. It used to be very conservative,
and the language of aristocracy in the beginning of the 20th century was
sometimes not understandable for ordinary people. After Afghanistan was
proclaimed a republic (1973), the popular language became more important
in social life, and literature forms have changed a little. |
| Phonetics |
Dari has got two long vowels [o] and [e], which Persian lacks, and
uses two archaic diphthongs, ai and aw. |
| Nominal Morphology |
Dari grammar has a complicated system of aspects and tenses of the
verb. |
| Lexicon |
The vocabulary differs much from Persian and is closer to Tadjik. |
| Writing |
Arabic based script |
| Close Contacts |
Tadjik, Persian are the closest relatives; Pashto
and Baluchi are the closest neighbours. |
| Sample |
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| Picture |
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| More info |
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