Pashayi languages

Pashayi
Native to	Afghanistan
Ethnicity	Pashayi people
Native speakers	400,000 (2000–2011)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Dardic Pashayi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: aee – Northeastern glh – Northwestern psi – Southeastern psh – Southwestern
Glottolog	pash1270
Linguasphere	59-AAA-a

Pashayi or Pashai (sometimes referred to colloquially in neighbouring languages as "Shari") is a group of languages spoken by the Pashai people in parts of Kapisa, Laghman, Nuristan, Kunar, and Nangarhar Provinces in Northeastern Afghanistan. It belongs to the Dardic branch of the Indo-Aryan languages. Most speakers are bilingual in Pashto with a literacy rate of about 25%, with the Pashayi languages having no written form prior to 2003. There are four mutually unintelligible varieties, with only about a 30% lexical similarity:

• Northeastern: Aret, Chalas (Chilas), Kandak, Kurangal, Kurdar dialects
• Northwestern: Alasai, Bolaghain, Gulbahar, Kohnadeh, Laurowan, Najil, Nangarach, Pachagan, Pandau, Parazhghan, Pashagar, Sanjan, Shamakot, Shutul, Uzbin, Wadau dialects
• Southeastern: Damench, Laghmani, Sum, and Upper and Lower Darra-i-Nur dialects
• Southwestern: Ishpi, Isken, Tagau dialects

A grammar of the language was written as a doctoral dissertation in 2014.