Alternate Names: Pashai
Dialects: None known. Somewhat intelligible of Southwest Pashayi ,; hardly intelligible of Northeast Pashayi , and Northwest Pashayi ,. Lexical similarity: about 30% with Southwest Pashayi ,, Northeast Pashayi ,, and Northwest Pashayi ,.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 180,000 (2011 Pashai Language Development Project), increasing. 100,000 monolinguals. Ethnic population: 400,000.
Language Use: Vigorous. Home, market, all informal settings. All ages. Positive attitudes. Also use Northern Pashto [pbu], Southern Pashto [pbt].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: Below 1%. Literacy rate in L2: Less than 20%. Many books for early readers have been produced by the Pashayi people as part of their literacy program. The Afghanistan Ministry of Education plans to produce Pashayi Language textbooks for 1st through 12th grades. The 1st grade textbook is in progress. Poetry. Radio programs. Dictionary.
Typology: SOV.
Writing System: Arabic
Nation of Origin: Afghanistan
Other Comments: Muslim (Sunni).