Afghan proverbs

Across Afghanistan, proverbs are a valued part of speaking, both publicly and in conversations. Afghans "use proverbs in their daily conversations far more than Westerners do, and with greater effect".^[1] The most extensive proverb collections in Afghan languages are in Pashto and Dari, the two official languages in Afghanistan.

Pashto is the native tongue of Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns, who are also the second biggest ethnic group in Pakistan. Pashto has the oldest and largest collections of proverbs. The Dari, which is a variety of Persian spoken in Iran and Tajikistan. A broader, more contextualized, study of Afghan proverbs would include comparisons of Afghan proverbs with Persian proverbs from Iran (for which several volumes are available in English) and with Tajik proverbs (e.g. comparing with those in Bell 2009) from Tajikistan.

^ Edward Zellem 2012b: i)

[1] Edward Zellem 2012b: i)

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