Dari is the local name for the variety of Persian spoken in Afghanistan. It is the major language of the country and is spoken in the northern and western parts including the capital Kabul in the east. Approximately 60% of the population of Afghanistan, speaks Persian, with bilingualism widespread. It is the primary language of the Tajik, Hazara, and Chahar Aimak peoples. The language serves as the means of communication between speakers of different languages in Afghanistan.

The syntax of Afghanistan's Persian does not differ greatly from Iran's Persian (locally called Farsi), but the stress accent is less prominent in Afghanistan's Persian than in Iran's Persian. To mark attribution, spoken Afghan Persian uses the suffix -ra. The vowel system also differs from that of Iranian Persian, to some degree.

Some people don't consider Dari itself to be a dialect or a language. They consider it to be the written language (written Persian, with no dialects), while they consider Farsi the spoken language (spoken Persian, which has many different dialects). It is also believed by some, that Dari should not be called Afghan Persian, because:

• it has existed centuries before the creation of Afghanistan
• the term is also used by certain Tajikistani and Iranian schollars to refer to the language, including Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
• Afghan (in its original meaning) refers to Pashtuns only, who do not speak Persian but Pashto

Therefore, Dari can be considered a synonym for Persian language .

This variety of Persian spoken in Afghanistan is distinct from the language of the Zoroastrians who live in Yazd and Kerman, Iran, which is also called Dari (or Gabri).

External links

Dari Alphabet (www.afghan-web.com)