Dari
Variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dari (/ˈdɑːri, ˈdæ-/; endonym: دری [d̪ɐˈɾiː]), Dari Persian (فارسی دری, Fārsī-yi Darī, [fʌːɾˈsiːjɪ d̪ɐˈɾiː] or Fārsī-ye Darī, [fʌːɾˈsiːjɛ d̪ɐˈɾiː]), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan.[4][5] Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;[6][7] it is known as Afghan Persian or Eastern Persian in many Western sources.[8][9][10][11] The decision to rename the local variety of Persian in 1964 was more political than linguistic to support an Afghan state narrative.[12] Dari is most closely related to Tajiki Persian as spoken in Tajikistan and the two share many phonological and lexical similarities. Apart from a few basics of vocabulary, there is little difference between formal written Persian of Afghanistan and Iran; the languages are mutually intelligible.[13] Dari Persian is the official language for approximately 35 million people in Afghanistan[14] and it serves as the common language for inter-ethnic communication in the country.[15]
Dari | |
---|---|
Afghan Persian, Eastern Persian | |
دری | |
Pronunciation | [d̪ɐˈɾiː] |
Native to | Afghanistan |
Speakers | L1: 10 million (2017)[1] L2: 21 million (2022)[1] |
Dialects | [note 1][2][3] |
Persian alphabet | |
Official status | |
Official language in | Afghanistan |
Regulated by | Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | prs |
Glottolog | dari1249 |
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As defined in the 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan, Dari (or Farsi) is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan; the other is Pashto.[16] Dari is the most widely spoken language in Afghanistan and the native language of approximately 25–55%[9][17][18][19] of the population.[18] Dari serves as the lingua franca of the country and is understood by up to 78% of the population.[20]
Dari served as the preferred literary and administrative language among non-native speakers, such as the Turco-Mongol peoples including the Mughals,[21] for centuries before the rise of modern nationalism. Also, like Iranian Persian and Tajiki Persian, Dari Persian is a continuation of Middle Persian, the official religious and literary language of the Sassanian Empire (224–651 AD), itself a continuation of Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenids (550–330 BC).[22][23] In historical usage, Dari refers to the Middle Persian court language of the Sassanids.[24]