[] occurs before and after consonants; in word-final position, it is usually a free variation between a flap or a trill when followed by a consonant or a pause, but flap is more common, only flap before vowel-initial words. As in many other languages, is realized as bilabial before bilabial stops and as velar before velar stops. is voiced to before voiced consonants. Vowels When occurring as lax, the open vowels are raised to . Political views and disputes on the language Successive governments of Afghanistan have promoted New Persian as an official language of government since the time of the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526), even as those governments were dominated by Pashtun people. Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty (1826–1973) first introduced the Pashto language as an additional language of administration. The local name for the Persian variety spoken in Afghanistan was officially changed from Farsi to Dari, meaning "court language", in 1964. Zaher said there would be, as there are now, two official languages, Pashto and Farsi, though the latter would henceforth be named Dari. Within their respective linguistic boundaries, Dari and Pashto are the media of education. The term continues to divide opinion in Afghanistan today. While Dari has been the official name for decades, "Farsi" is still the preferred name to many Persian speakers of Afghanistan. Omar Samad, an Afghan analyst and ambassador, says of the dispute: See also Persian grammar Middle Persian Tajik language Hazaragi dialect References Further reading Lazard, G. "Darī – The New Persian Literary Language " in Encyclopædia Iranica Online Edition. Sakaria, S. (1967) Concise English – Afghan Dari Dictionary, Ferozsons, Kabul, OCLC 600815 Farhadi, A. G. R.('Abd-ul-Ghafur Farhadi)(Abd-ul-ghafûr Farhâdi) (1955) Le Persan Parlé en Afghanistan: Grammaire du Kâboli Accompagné d'un Recueil de Quatrains Populaires de la Région de Kâbol, Centre national de la recherche scientifique or Librairie C. Klincksieck, Paris. Farhadi, Rawan A. G. (1975) The Spoken Dari of Afghanistan: A Grammar of Kaboli Dari (Persian) Compared to the Literary Language, Peace Corps, Kabul, OCLC 24699677 Zellem, Edward. 2015. Zellem, Edward. 2012. Harold F. Schiffman Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors (Brill's Studies in South and Southwest Asian Languages) BRILL, Leiden, 1.ed, 2011 External links Dari at Encyclopædia Iranica Dari language at Britannica Dari language, alphabet and pronunciation Dari language resources Dari alphabet Dari encyclopedia on Miraheze Eastern Persian dialects in Afghanistan Languages of Iran Languages of