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The Impact of Arabic Orthography on Literacy and Economic Development in Afghanistan

Received: 15 October 2018     Accepted: 8 November 2018     Published: 31 January 2019
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Abstract

Currently, Pashto and Dari (Afghan Persian), the two official languages, and other Afghan languages are written in modified Arabic alphabets. Persian adopted the Arabic alphabets in the ninth century, and Pashto, in sixteenth century CE. This article looks at how the Arabic Orthography has hindered Literacy and Economic development in Afghanistan. The article covers a comprehensive analysis of Arabic Orthography adopted for writing Dari and Pashto, a study of the proposed Arabic Language reforms, and research conducted about reading and writing difficulty in Arabic script by Arab intellectuals. The study shows how adopting modified Latin alphabets for a language can improve literacy level which further plays its part in the economic development of a country. The article dives into the history of Romanization of languages in the Islamic World and its impact on Literacy and economic development in those countries. Romanization of the Afghan Official languages and its possible impact on Literacy, Economy, and Peace in Afghanistan is discussed. Proposed Latin-based Alphabets are introduced for Dari and Pashto languages and factors that may facilitate or hinder the implementation of a Latin-based script in Afghanistan are explained at the end of the article. Romanization, referred to in this article, means converting to Roman script, also called Latin-based script, the alphabets of a language currently written in orthography other than the Latin.

Published in International Journal of Education, Culture and Society (Volume 4, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijecs.20190401.11
Page(s) 1-12
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Romanization, Arabic, Pashto, Dari, Literacy, Orthography, Script

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Anwar Wafi Hayat. (2019). The Impact of Arabic Orthography on Literacy and Economic Development in Afghanistan. International Journal of Education, Culture and Society, 4(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20190401.11

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    ACS Style

    Anwar Wafi Hayat. The Impact of Arabic Orthography on Literacy and Economic Development in Afghanistan. Int. J. Educ. Cult. Soc. 2019, 4(1), 1-12. doi: 10.11648/j.ijecs.20190401.11

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    AMA Style

    Anwar Wafi Hayat. The Impact of Arabic Orthography on Literacy and Economic Development in Afghanistan. Int J Educ Cult Soc. 2019;4(1):1-12. doi: 10.11648/j.ijecs.20190401.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijecs.20190401.11,
      author = {Anwar Wafi Hayat},
      title = {The Impact of Arabic Orthography on Literacy and Economic Development in Afghanistan},
      journal = {International Journal of Education, Culture and Society},
      volume = {4},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-12},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijecs.20190401.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20190401.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijecs.20190401.11},
      abstract = {Currently, Pashto and Dari (Afghan Persian), the two official languages, and other Afghan languages are written in modified Arabic alphabets. Persian adopted the Arabic alphabets in the ninth century, and Pashto, in sixteenth century CE. This article looks at how the Arabic Orthography has hindered Literacy and Economic development in Afghanistan. The article covers a comprehensive analysis of Arabic Orthography adopted for writing Dari and Pashto, a study of the proposed Arabic Language reforms, and research conducted about reading and writing difficulty in Arabic script by Arab intellectuals. The study shows how adopting modified Latin alphabets for a language can improve literacy level which further plays its part in the economic development of a country. The article dives into the history of Romanization of languages in the Islamic World and its impact on Literacy and economic development in those countries. Romanization of the Afghan Official languages and its possible impact on Literacy, Economy, and Peace in Afghanistan is discussed. Proposed Latin-based Alphabets are introduced for Dari and Pashto languages and factors that may facilitate or hinder the implementation of a Latin-based script in Afghanistan are explained at the end of the article. Romanization, referred to in this article, means converting to Roman script, also called Latin-based script, the alphabets of a language currently written in orthography other than the Latin.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    AB  - Currently, Pashto and Dari (Afghan Persian), the two official languages, and other Afghan languages are written in modified Arabic alphabets. Persian adopted the Arabic alphabets in the ninth century, and Pashto, in sixteenth century CE. This article looks at how the Arabic Orthography has hindered Literacy and Economic development in Afghanistan. The article covers a comprehensive analysis of Arabic Orthography adopted for writing Dari and Pashto, a study of the proposed Arabic Language reforms, and research conducted about reading and writing difficulty in Arabic script by Arab intellectuals. The study shows how adopting modified Latin alphabets for a language can improve literacy level which further plays its part in the economic development of a country. The article dives into the history of Romanization of languages in the Islamic World and its impact on Literacy and economic development in those countries. Romanization of the Afghan Official languages and its possible impact on Literacy, Economy, and Peace in Afghanistan is discussed. Proposed Latin-based Alphabets are introduced for Dari and Pashto languages and factors that may facilitate or hinder the implementation of a Latin-based script in Afghanistan are explained at the end of the article. Romanization, referred to in this article, means converting to Roman script, also called Latin-based script, the alphabets of a language currently written in orthography other than the Latin.
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Author Information
  • Department of Economics, Kabul University, Kabul, Afghanistan

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