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

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.

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