Languages of Pakistan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Most of the languages of Pakistan are part of the family of Indo-European languages and span the Indo-Iranian range of that family with the Indo-Aryan languages predominant in the east and the Iranian languages the most significant in the west as well as Dardic languages in the north and northwest.

Contents 1 History 2 Languages 2.1 Prevalence 2.2 Major languages 2.2.1 Urdu (National Language) 2.2.2 English (Official Language) 2.2.3 Punjabi (Provincial Language) 2.2.4 Pashto (Provincial Language) 2.2.5 Sindhi (Provincial Language) 2.2.6 Seraiki (Regional Language) 2.2.7 Balochi (Provincial Language) 2.2.8 Gujarati (Regional Language) 2.3 Other languages 2.4 Classification 2.4.1 Indo-Aryan 2.4.1.1 Lahnda dialects 2.4.1.2 Iranian family of languages 2.4.2 Semitic 2.4.3 Dravidian 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] History

Urdu, a standardized register of Hindustani, is the national language of Pakistan and has historical significance as a language developed during the Islamic conquests in the Indian Subcontinent during the period of the Mughal Empire and was chosen as a neutral language to unite the various groups of modern Pakistan. However, the language of the government and commerce is English. Most secondary educational institutes and almost all universities use English as the medium of instruction. Many other languages are spoken in Pakistan, including the following regional tongues from largest to smallest: Punjabi, Pashtu, Sindhi,Balochi, Seraiki (sometimes included within Sindhi and sometimes with Punjabi, also called Seraiki, Sira'iki, Lahndi, Multani - from the city of Multan, Derawali, Hindko, Brahui, and Khowar (see Dardic languages). Brahui is a Dravidian language, its closest relatives being spoken primarily in southern India, far removed from Pakistan. Languages spoken in Pakistani occupied parts of J&K are Shina, Balti, Kashmiri, Gujjari, Dogri, Pahari, Hindko, Wakhi and Burushaski. Balti and Puriki are Sino-Tibetan and spoken in Baltistan and Indian Ladakh. Burushaski is a language isolate.

In addition, according to Ethnologue, Pakistan has a million speakers of Persian, a few of whom are refugees from Afghanistan (mainly Tajiks and Hazaras) whose dialects vary from the Hazaragi-speaking population, while others include an ethnic group called the Dehwaris. Smaller groups include the Uzbeks and there is a large Kashmiri speaking population, largely refugees as well who fled from the Vale of Kashmir of India.

Arabic and Persian are still taught as classical languages to students. Arabic is popular due to its religious significance, but some Pakistanis do not learn to speak Arabic beyond that required to read and recite Islamic prayers. Persian is an important literary language in Pakistan.

[edit] Languages

[edit] Prevalence

According to the census, Pakistanis identified the following languages as their mother tongues [figures rounded to nearest percent]: Punjabi 39%, Pashto 14%, Sindhi 18%, Seraiki 15%, Urdu 6%, Balochi 4%, others 4%

The majority of Pakistanis can speak or understand two or more languages.

[edit] Major languages

The official language of Pakistan is English. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca. ~39% speak Punjabi as a first language, 14% Pashto, and 47% speak other languages such as (Sindhi, Seraiki, Balochi, Brahui, Hindko spoken in northern Pakistan and Pakistan Kashmir.

[edit] Urdu (National Language)

Urdu - a central Indian language - is the national language, the lingua franca of the people. It is widely used, both formally and informally, for personal letters as well as public literature, in the literary sphere and in the popular media. It is a required subject of study in all primary and secondary schools. It is the first language of most Indian immigrants. Urdu is Pakistan's national language and has been promoted as a token of national unity, though less than 6% of Pakistanis speak it as their first language but it is spoken as a second language by majority literate Pakistanis. Rural women usually do not speak Urdu in most parts of the country. Urdu by origin is an "Persian version" of Hindi language which was spoken for centuries in the neighborhood of Delhi and it was known as Western Hindi, Hindvi, Dehlvi, Reekhta and Hindustani. It is written in a modified form of the Persian alphabet and its basically Indic vocabulary has been enriched by borrowings from Arabic, Persian, English and other Indian languages. Urdu has drawn inspiration from Persian literature and has now an enormous stock of words. The first poetry in Urdu was by the Persian poet Ameer Khusru (1253-1325) and the first Urdu book "Woh Majlis" was written in 1728 and the first time the word "Urdu" was used by Saraj-ud-din Aarzoo in 1751. Urdu was an official language in British India since 1835 and in India since 1947, where it is spoken mainly by Muslim and non-Muslims of UP-Bihar, is one of the 20 national languages recognized by the constitution of India.

[edit] English (Official Language)

English is the official language, being widely used within the government, by the civil service and the officer ranks of the military. Pakistan's Constitution and laws are written in English. Many schools, and nearly all colleges and universities, use English as the medium of instruction.

[edit] Punjabi (Provincial Language)

Punjabi is spoken as a first language by ~39% of Pakistanis, mostly in Punjab. It is an important language however, Punjabi does not have any official status in Pakistan. The exact numbers of Punjabi speakers in Pakistan is hard to find since there are many dialects/languages. The standard Punjabi dialects is from Lahore, Sialkot, Gujranwala and Sheikupura districts of the Pakistani Punjab which was used by Waris Shah (1722-1798) in his famous book "Heer" and is also now days langueage of Punjabi literature, film and music; such as Lollywood. Other dialects are Multani, Doabi, Pothowari, and Shahpuri in Sargodha area.

Punjabi's lineage can be traced through Sanskrit in Vedic-period (ca 4000 B.C.), Pali, Prakart and Upbharnash in Ashok-period (273-32 B.C.) and Hindvi, Lahori and Multani under Muslim period (711-1857). Punjabi literature was principally spiritual in nature and has had a very rich oral tradition. The Great Sufi/Saint poetry has been the folklore of the Punjab and still sung with great love in many parts of Punjab.

In India it is the official language of the state of Punjab, and Haryana, and one of the 20 official languages recognized by the Indian constitution. It is also spoken in the neighboring states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. In addition about 25 percent of the people living in the New Delhi metropolitan area speak Punjabi in everyday life. All told, there are about 30 million speakers in India.

Punjabi dialects:

• Maajhi

This dialect is "the standard Punjabi language" and spoken in the heart of Punjab where most of the Punjabi population lives. The main districts are Lahore, Sheikhupura, Gujaranwala and Sialkot in Pakistani Punjab and Gurdaspur and Amritsar in Indian Punjab.

• Jhangvi, Doabi or Jangli

This dialects is spoken in the central Pakistani Punjab, stretches from districts Khanewal to Jhang and includes Faisalabad and Chiniot.

• Shahpuri

This dialect is spoken in Sargodha, Khushab and Mandi Bahaudin districts.

• Pothowari (regional language)

The area where Pothowari is spoken extends in the north from Pakistan Administered Kashmir (PAK) (Mirpur) to as far south as Jhelum, Gujar Khan, Chakwal and Rawalpindi.

• Hindko

This dialect is spoken in districts of Peshawar, Attock, Nowshehra, Mansehra, Abbotabad and Murree.

• Malwi

Spoken in the eastern part of Indian Punjab. Main districts are Ludhiana, Ambala, Bathinda, Ganganagar, Maleerkotla Fazilka, Ferozepur. Malwa is the southern and central part of present day Indian Punjab. Also includes the Punjabi speaking northern areas of Haryana, viz. Ambala, Hissar, Sirsa, Kurukhetra etc.

• Doabi (regional language)

The word "Do Aabi" means "the land between two rivers" and this dialects is spoken between the rivers of Beas and Sutlej. It includes Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts.

• Multani (regional language)

Multani (also Lehndi by some) and perhaps differs from Punjabi more than any other dialect. Multani becomes more and more different as you move down south, as the influence of Sindhi / Seraiki. Siraiki itself is Sindhi word and means northern. See the map of Siraiki language: Siraiki Area's City of Bahawalpur, Rahimyar Khan, Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bhakkar, Dera Ismail Khan, Khanewal, Muzafargarh, Sukkur, Jaccobabad, Layyah and Mianwali.

[edit] Pashto (Provincial Language)

Pashto is spoken as a first language by 14% of Pakistanis, mostly in the North-West Frontier Province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and in Balochistan as well as by immigrants to the eastern provinces who are often not counted due to census irregularities. Additionally, Afghan refugees are often outside the census count, but appear to be largely Pashto speakers from Afghanistan. Pashto speakers are almost 14% of Pakistani population and about 35% in Afghanistan. Pashto has written literary traditions and rich oral tradition. There are two major dialect patterns within which the various individual dialects may be classified; these are Pakhto, which is the northern (Peshawar) variety, and the softer Pashto spoken in southern areas. Khushal Khan Khatak (1613-1689) and Rehman Baba (1633-1708) were some big poets in Pashto language.

[edit] Sindhi (Provincial Language)

Sindhi is spoken as a first language by 18% of Pakistanis, in Sindh and parts of Balochistan and Punjab. Sindhi has very rich literature and is used in schools. Sindhi langugae contains Arabic words. The reason being Arab ruled Sindh for more than 150 years. Muhammad bin Qasim entered Sindh and conquered it in 712 AD. He remained here for three years and set up Arabic rule in the area. Sindhi is spoken in Pakistan and is also one of the constitutional languages of India. It is spoken by about 35 million people in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh, Southern Pakistan, and by about 4 million more across the border in India. In Pakistan it is written in the Arabic script with several additional letters to accommodate special sounds. The largest Sindhi-speaking city is Karachi and Hyderabad, Pakistan. Sindhi literature is also spiritual in nature and Shah Abdul Latif Bhattai (1689-1752) was one of its legendry poet who wrote Sassi Punnu, Umar Marwi in his famous book "Shah jo Rasalo".

[edit] Seraiki (Regional Language)

Seraiki is related to Sindhi (See Classification, below) Spoken as a first language by 16% of Pakistanis, mostly in southern districts of Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan (see Seraikis). Almost 16% of the population of Pakistan speak Siraiki language. Dialects tend to blend into each other, into Punjabi to the north, and Sindhi to the south. Until recently it was considered to be a dialect of Sindhi. 85% lexical similarity with Sindhi; 68% with Odki and Sansi. Dialects are Derawali, Khatki, Jangli or Jatki and Riasti or Bahawalpuri.

[edit] Balochi (Provincial Language)

Balochi is spoken as a first language by 4% of Pakistanis, mostly in Balochistan, Sindh and southern Punjab. Baluchi language is spoken by almost 4% of the Pakistani population and is very close to the Persian language itself. The name BALUCHI or BALOCHI is found before the 10th Century. It is believed that the language was brought to its present location in a series of migrations from Northern Iran, near the Caspian Shores. Rakshani is the major dialect group in terms of numbers. Sarhaddi, is a sub dialect of Rakshani. Other sub - dialects are qalati, Chagai-kharani, Panjguri. Eastern Hill Baluchi or Northern Baluchi is very different from the rest.

[edit] Gujarati (Regional Language)

Gujarati is spoken by 3,000,000 Pakistanis who reside in Lower Punjab and Sindh. All Parsi (5,000), many Ismaili Muslims, and many Hindus (10,000 to 100,000) speak Gujarati. Many Parsi and Ismaili Muslims are literate in Gujarati.

[edit] Other languages

Numerous other languages are spoken by relatively small numbers of people, especially in some of the more remote and isolated places in, for example, the Pakistani controlled parts of Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit, Baltistan [1]. These inlude: 1) Burshaski - Spoken in Hunza 2) Shina - spoken in Gilgit and Diamer 3) Khowar - Spoken is Chitral 4) Kalash - spoken the Kalash Valley

Balti and Puriki are Ladakhi languages spoken in Baltistan. Baltistani language and culture is similar to Indian Ladakh, Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet

[edit] Classification

[edit] Indo-Aryan

Most of Pakistan's languages are Indo-Aryan languages (80%). However, nearly all of Pakistan's languages are Indo-European languages.

[edit] Lahnda dialects

Punjabi, Hindko and Seraiki, all mutually intelligible, are classified by linguists as dialects of Lahnda [2], also spelled as Lehnda. These are also, to a lesser extent, mutually intelligible with Urdu. Added together, speakers of these mutually-intelligible languages make up nearly two-thirds of Pakistan's population. Seraiki also is similar to the Sindhi language.

[edit] Iranian family of languages

Pashto and Balochi are classified as members of the Iranian family of languages. [3] If combined, Iranian peoples who speak Pashto, Balochi, Dari (Afghan refugees speak both Pashto and Afghan Persian dialect of Dari), Persian, and Wakhi comprise over 20% of the population of Pakistan. Persian was official language of Muslim states for more than thousand years before the British colonial rule. It is taught and understood in many schools in Pakistan.

[edit] Semitic

Arabic is widely taught and understood in Pakistan. The Arabic is language of Islam and nearly all Pakistani children learn it in schools or Madrasahs (religious schools).

[edit] Dravidian

Brahui belongs to the Dravidian language family. Brahui is a major language of western Pakistan. Brahui is heavily influenced by Baluchi and Sindhi, languages in which many Brahui speakers are necessarily bilingual. Although its Dravidian descent is still obvious, Brahui now has rather few inherited Dravidian words in its lexicon.

[edit] See also

• Pakistan
• Urdu
• Punjabi
• Hindustani
• Statistics Division of the Government of Pakistan
• Languages of India
• List of official languages
• Pakistani Proverbs

[edit] External links

• Urdu Site Pakistan's Official Language Urdu Site

• Pakistan Facts & Figures
• CIA - the worldfact book, Pakistan Section
• Statistics from Pakistan Govenment Statistics
• List of Pakistani Languages

Life in Pakistan

Cinema • Climate • Cuisine • Culture • Demographics • Economy • Education • Entertainment • Flag • Foreign relations • Geography • Government • History • Holidays • Languages • Military • Music • Politics • Religion • Sports • Transport