- The historical و after خ
In some varieties of Afghan Persian, the
w sound after
kh in certain words, which was historically pronounced, has been preserved. Thus, خوار ‘abject, lowly’ is pronounced as
khwār. The word for ‘sister’, خواهر, can be pronounced as
khwāharby some speakers, although this is rare; the more common pronunciation of خواهر is
khār, identical with the Iranian pronunciation with the exception of the dropped
h and subsequently the merging of
ā and
a. Some speakers will even pronounce خواستن ‘to want’ as
khwāstan, although this is also uncommon. خویش, the formal, literary word for ‘self’, however, is pronounced as
khēsh, without the historical
w, and it also seems that few people pronounce خواندن ‘to read’ as
khwāndan and virtually no one says
dastarkhwān for دسترخوان ‘tablecloth’. Nevertheless, Afghan Persian remains the only living variety of Persian to have retained the pronunciation of the historical
w after
kh, even if it is only in some instances.