Abstract
This paper overviews the contact of English and Pashto language
in Afghanistan, covering the twentieth century and look ahead into
the future for the prospects of two languages coming into contact
with each other. Research is primarily qualitative and based on
archival sources supplemented by a string of interviews conducted
during 2010-2016. The study aimed to find the causes, nature and
outcome of English, Pashto contact in Afghanistan. As the period
and languages involved in the study have an extensive profile,
therefore, the researchers limited themselves to the most
significant points in the form of overview and leave the details to
future researchers to further refine the assumptions and findings
provided here. The study finds colonialism and postcolonial
globalization as the deterministic forces that compelled
Afghanistan to let English flourish in Afghanistan. However, the
very factor of the colonial arsenal that powered the introduction of
English in Afghanistan also became a major barrier as Afghans
were suspicious of the English people and their language. The
love-hate relation for English language and its accompanying
culture creates a complex contact-linguistic situation where some
actors like the Anglophone west and Afghan authorities promote
English and provide a rich context for Pashto language to change
as a result of this contact, while on the other hand, the resistance to
foreign influence and military presence in Afghanistan taints the
process of English language acquisition as well.
Dr. Ayaz Ahmad, Dr. Asghar Khan. (2019) Pashto and English in Afghanistan: An Overview of Past, Present and the Future of Contact linguistics in the Planning , Pashto, Volume 48, Issue 1.
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