Pashto dialects ( də Pəx̌tó žәbgóṭi) can be divided into two large varieties: Northern Pashto and Southern Pashto. Each of the two varieties of Pashto is further divided into a number of dialects. Northern Pashto is spoken in eastern Afghanistan, and central, northern and eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (including Peshawar). Southern Pashto is spoken to the south of it, in southern and western Afghanistan (including Kandahar), southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern Balochistan (including Quetta). 'Ethnologue' divides Pashto into Northern, Southern and Central Pashto, and Wanetsi. Overview According to David Neil MacKenzie , a consonant shift took place in the northern parts of Pashtunistan in several phases in the medieval era. During the shift, the retroflex fricative ṣ̌ changed to x̌ or to x , while ẓ̌ changed to ǵ or to g . That is supported by the linguist Georg Morgenstierne's assertion that the Pashto script developed in the Northeast which had the phonology of a Southwestern Pashto in the 16th century. The shift was likely complete before the Pashto book Khayr al-Bayān was written by Bayazid Pir Roshan from Waziristan in 1651. According to Michael M. T. Henderson in Balochistan [Southeast]: the spilt ṣ̌ into š and ẓ̌ into ž may never have occurred in that they were always pronounced as š and ž there or that a split did occur. Among the other Eastern Iranian languages outside Pashto, the Shughni (Khughni) and Yazgulyami branch of the Pamir languages also seem to have been affected from the ṣ̌ to x consonant shift. E.g. "meat": ɡuṣ̌t in Wakhi and ğwáṣ̌a in Southwestern Pashto, but changes to guxt in Shughni and ğwáxa in Northerneastern Pashto. Classification 1. Southern variety Abdali dialect (or South Western dialect) Kakar dialect (or South Eastern dialect) Shirani dialect Marwat-Bettani dialect Southern Karlani group Khattak dialect Banuchi dialect Dawarwola dialect Masidwola dialect Wazirwola dialect 2. Northern variety Central Ghilji dialect (or North Western dialect) Yusufzai dialect (or North Eastern dialect) Northern Karlani group Taniwola dialect Khosti dialect Zadran dialect Mangal dialect Afridi dialect Khogyani dialect Wardak dialect 3. Waṇetsi Dialect Standards Regional standards There are several regional standard forms of Pashto which have high prestige, and serve as a means of communication between the various tribal communities in those regions. Central Pashto Central Pashto dialects are also referred to as middle dialects. Southern regional standard Southern Pashto compromises of the South Western and South Eastern dialects. Southern Western