Northern Pashto

Northern Pashto (Pashto: شمالي پښتو) is a standard variety of the Pashto language spoken in the northern and central parts of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and central-eastern Afghanistan, comprising the Northwestern and Northeastern dialects of Pashto.^[3]

Northern Pashto
Native to	Pakistan, Afghanistan
Ethnicity	Pashtun
Speakers	L1: 23 million (2017)[1] L2: 1.4 million (2022)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Eastern Pashto Northern Pashto
Writing system	Pashto alphabet
Official status
Regulated by	Pashto Academy of Pakistan[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pbu
Glottolog	nort2646

North Eastern

Northeastern Pashto,^[4] is spoken primarily in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

Yusapzai

Yusufzai/Yusapzai Pashto is the most-spoken subdialect^[5] in the Northeastern Dialect.

Comparison:

Dialects[6]	ښ	ږ	څ	ځ	ژ
North Eastern (e.g. Yusapzai)	[x]	[ɡ]	[s]	[z]	[d͡ʒ]
North Western (e.g Jalalabad)	[x]	[ɡ]	[s]	[z]	[ʒ]
North Western (e.g. Wardak)	[ç]	[ʝ]	[t͡s]	[d͡z]	[ʒ, z]

Lexical Variation

Even within the Yusapzai dialect; regional lexical variation is noted; as pointed out by Dr. Muhammad Ali Kaleem:^[7]

Meaning	Mardan	Swat
Ring	ګتمه gʊ́tma	ګوتۍ gwə́təi or Guta
Spinach	ساګ sāg	سابه sābə́
Cup	پيالۍ pyālə́i	پياله pyālá
Puppy	کوتری kutré or Spey	کوکری kukré

Sub-regional lexical variation

Even with regions there can be minor differences in pronunciation. Example:

Malakand District [some localities]	Malakand District [general]	Standard Pashto	Meaning
فپه fpa	ښپه xpa	پښه px̌a, pxa, pša, pṣ̌a	foot

North Western

The North Western is spoken in the east and northeast Afghanistan.^[8]

Phonological Variation

There is regional difference in North Western Pashto in pronunciation of words:^[9]

	Meaning	Wardak	Jalalabad	Bati Kot
دوی	they	deɪ	ˈduwi	ˈduwi
راکړه	give [imperative of راکول]	ˈrɑka	ˈrɑka	ˈrɑkɽa
پوهېدل	to know [infinitive]	pijeˈdəl	pojeˈdəl	pojidəl
شپږ	six	ʃpaʝ	ʃpag	ʃpiʒ
وريځ	cloud	wərˈjed͡z	wrez	wəˈred͡z
ښځه	woman	ˈçəd͡za	ˈxəza
اوبه	water	oˈbə	uˈbə	oˈbə