Neologisms in Pashto and Their Currency in the Kandahari Dialect Spoken in Quetta and Kandahar

Abstract

A spoken language usually has more than one dialect because of different types of linguistic variations occur. Pashto, which is widely spoken language of South Asia, has also different dialects. The present research aims to explore the lexical differences of Kandahari dialect of Pashto also known as Western dialect, spoken in Kandahar, Afghanistan and Quetta, Pakistan. The differences are in great quantity and in multitude of ways. This study narrows down on the differences in lexicon of the same dialect spoken in two different capitals: Kandahar and Quetta. In the study, some very commonly occurred neologisms are found out in Kandahari dialect through different sources: primary and secondary. The comparative study of the both varieties shows the reasons of Kandahar’s Kandahari dialect being dynamic and progressive lexically than that of Kandahari Dialect spoken in Quetta and some of the very common phonological changes that have occurred in the borrowed words of dialect spoken in Quetta. These examples of the phonological changes very clearly delineate that how a borrowed word is carved by the phonotactics of the recipient language. The pivotal role of Neology, which is the study of coining of new words, and language policies is revealed in making the variety dynamic through finding out the currency of the newly coined words in both areas.