| Languages of Pakistan | |
|---|---|
| Official language(s) | Urdu, English |
| National language(s) | Urdu |
| Main language(s) | Punjabi (44.15%), Pashto (15.42%), Sindhi (14.1%), Saraiki(12.1%), Urdu (7.57%) (understood & spoken by 90%), Balochi (3.57%) |
| Regional language(s) | Saraiki; Hindko; Kashmiri;Pothowari |
| Sign language(s) | Pakistan Sign Language |
| Common keyboard layout(s) |
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Languages of Pakistan include two official languages: Urdu, which is also Pakistan's national language and lingua franca, and English. Additionally, Pakistan has four major provincial languages: Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Farsi(Persian) and Balochi, as well as three major regional languages: Saraiki, Hindko/Pothohari and Kashmiri.
Most of the languages of Pakistan belong to the Indo-Aryan languages of the Indo-European language family.
Contents |
| Rank | Language | 1998 census[1] | 1982 census | 1961 census | 1951 census |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Punjabi | 44.15% | 48.17% | 66.39% | 67.08% |
| 2 | Pashto | 15.42% | 13.15% | 8.47% | 8.16% |
| 3 | Sindhi | 14.1% | 11.7% | 12.59% | 12.85% |
| 4 | Saraiki* | 10.53% | 9.54% | -- | -- |
| 5 | Urdu | 7.57% | 7.60% | 7.57% | 7.05% |
| 6 | Balochi | 3.57% | 3.02% | 2.49% | 3.04% |
Following are the major languages spoken in Pakistan. The percentage of Pakistanis who are native speakers of that language is also given.
| Language | 2008 estimate | 1998 census | Areas of Predominance | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Punjabi | 76,367,360 | 44.17% | 58,433,431 | 44.15% | Punjab | |||
| 2 | Pashto | 26,692,890 | 15.44% | 20,408,621 | 15.42% | Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa | |||
| 3 | Sindhi | 24,410,910 | 14.12% | 18,661,571 | 14.10% | Sindh | |||
| 4 | Seraiki | 18,019,610 | 10.42% | 13,936,594 | 10.53% | Punjab | |||
| 5 | Urdu | 13,120,540 | 7.59% | 10,019,576 | 7.57% | Karachi | |||
| 6 | Balochi | 6,204,540 | 3.59% | 4,724,871 | 3.57% | Balochistan | |||
Urdu (اردو) is the national language (قومی زبان), lingua franca and one of two official languages of Pakistan (the other being English). Although only about 8% of Pakistanis speak it as their first language, it is spoken as a second and often third language by nearly all Pakistanis. Its introduction as the lingua franca was encouraged by the British upon the capitulation and annexation of Sindh (1843) and Punjab (1849) with the subsequent ban on the use of Persian. The decision to make the language change was to institute a universal language throughout the then British Raj in South Asia as well as minimize the influence of Persia, Ottoman Empire, Afghanistan and Central Asia had on this transitional region. Urdu is a relatively new language in the contemporary sense but has undergone considerable modifications and development borrowing heavily on the traditions of older languages like Persian, Arabic, Turkish and local South Asian languages all of which can be found in its vocabulary. It began as a standardized register of Hindi and in its spoken form. 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 Muhajirs (Muslim refugees that fled from genocide and pograms from different parts of India after independence of Pakistan in 1947) that form nearly 8% of Pakistan's population and is an acquired language. As Pakistan's national language, Urdu has been promoted to promote national unity. It is written with a modified form of the Perso-Arabic alphabet, usually in Nastaliq script, and its basic Hindustani vocabulary has been enriched by words from Persian, Arabic, Turkic languages and English. Urdu has drawn inspiration from Persian literature and has now an enormous stock of words from that language. In recent years, the Urdu spoken in Pakistan has gradually been influenced by many of the native languages including Pashto, Punjabi and Sindhi in terms of intonation, as well as incorporating terminology from those languages. As such the language is constantly developing and has acquired a particularly "Pakistani" flavour to it distinguishing itself from that spoken in ancient times and in India. The first poetry in Urdu was by the Persian poet Amir Khusro (1253–1325) and the first Urdu book "Woh Majlis" was written in 1728; the first time the word "Urdu" was used was by Sirajuddin Ali Khan Arzoo in 1741. [2] The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir (1658-1707) spoke Urdu (or Hindustani) fluently as did his descendants while his ancestors mostly spoke Persian and Turkish.[3]
Punjabi (پنجابی) is spoken as a first language by more than 44% of Pakistanis, mostly in Punjab as well as by a large number of people in Karachi. 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, such as Saraiki, which some regard as part of Punjabi and others regard as separate language. When taking into account Hindko, Potwari, Pahari, Saraiki, Punjabi dialects are thus spoken by almost 60% of the population in Pakistan. The standard Punjabi dialects is from Lahore, Sialkot, Gujranwala and Sheikhupura districts of the Pakistani Punjab which was used by Waris Shah (1722–1798) in his famous book Heer Ranjha and is also now days the language of Punjabi literature, film and music; such as Lollywood. Other dialects are Multani or Saraiki in the West and South, Pothowari & Hindko in the North, Dogri in the mountain areas and Saraiki in the Sargodha district.
Punjabi is descended from Prakrit in the Vedic period (1700 B.C.), Pali, Old Persian and Apabhramsha in the Ashoka period (273 B.C. - 232 B.C.) and Hindvi, Lahori and Multani in the Muslim period (711 A.D. - 1857 A.D.) Punjabi literature was principally spiritual in nature and has had a very rich oral tradition. The Great poetry written by Sufi saints has been the folklore of the Punjab and is still sung with great love in any part of Punjab.
Punjabi dialects include:
Pashto (پشتو) Pashto is spoken as a first language by 15.5% (28-30 millions) of Pakistanis, mostly in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in Balochistan as well as by immigrants to the eastern provinces who are often not counted due to census irregularities. The Pashto has rich written literary traditions as well as an 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 the southern areas. Khushal Khan Khattak (1613–1689) and Rahman Baba (1633–1708) were the most famous poets in the Pashto language. In the last part of 20th century, Pakhto or Pashto has produced some great poets like Ghani Khan, Khatir Afridi and Amir Hamza Shinwari. There are also many Pakistanis from the adjacent regions of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan who are conversant in Pashto and count it as their second language. They are not included in the overall percentage. Karachi is the biggest Pashto speaking city in the world although the Pashto speakers constitute only about 20% of Karachi's population.
Sindhi (سنڌي) is spoken as a first language by 15.5% of Pakistanis, mostly in Sindh. It has a rich literature and is used in schools. It is an Indo-Aryan (Indo-European) language, derived from Sanskrit, and Arabic languages. The Arabs ruled Sindh for more than 150 years after Muhammad bin Qasim conquered it in 712 AD, remaining there for three years to set up Arab rule. Consequently, the social fabric of Sindh contains elements of Arabic society. Sindhi is spoken by over 36 million people in Pakistan, and is the official language of Sindh province. It is widely spoken in the Lasbela District of Balochistan (where the Lasi tribe speaks a dialect of Sindhi), many areas of the Naseerabad and Jafarabad districts of Balochistan, and by the Sindhi diaspora abroad. Sindhi language has six major dialects: Sireli, Vicholi, Lari, Thari, Lasi and Kachhi. It is written in the Arabic script with several additional letters to accommodate special sounds. The largest Sindhi-speaking cities are Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Shikarpur, Dadu, Jacobabad, Larkana and Nawabshah. Sindhi literature is also spiritual in nature. Shah Abdul Latif Bhita'i (1689–1752) is one of its greatest poets, and wrote Sassi Punnun and Umar Marvi, folk stories, in his famous book "Shah Jo Risalo".
Sindhi Dialects:
Vicholi is considered as the standard dialect by all Sindhi speakers.
Balochi (بلوچی) is spoken as a first language by about 4% of Pakistanis, mostly in Balochistan province. It is believed that the language was brought to its present location in a series of migrations from the Kurdistan region of northeastern Iraq and northwestern Iran. Rakshani is the major dialect group in terms of numbers. Sarhaddi is a sub-dialect of Rakshani. Other sub-dialects are Kalati (Qalati), Chagai-Kharani and Panjguri. Eastern Hill Balochi or Northern Balochi is very different from the rest. Balochi language is very close to the Persian itself. The name Balochi or Baluchi is not found before the 10th Century. Rakshani is the major dialect group in terms of numbers. Sarhaddi, is a sub dialect of Rakshani. Other sub - dialects are Qalati, Chagai Kharani, and Makrani. The Eastern Hill Balochi or Northern Balochi are distinct dialects. The Kethran language in North East Balochistan is also a variant of Balochi. It is one of the 9 distinguished languages of Pakistan. Since Balochi is a very poetic and rich language and have a certain degree of affinity to Persian and Urdu, Balochi poets tend to be very good poets in Urdu as well and Ata Shaad, Gul Khan Nasir and Noon Meem Danish are excellent examples of this.
Saraiki or Multani (also Lehndi by some) is spoken in Pakistani Punjab.It perhaps differ more than any other dialect of Punjabi. It becomes more and more different as you move down south, as the influence of Sindhi increases. Saraiki itself is Sindhi word and means northern.It is now considered as a separate language, instead of merely a dialect of Punjabi.It is mostly spoken in southern and western districts of Punjab,which comprises Multan, Lodhran, Bahawalpur, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Rahim Yar Khan, southern and western parts of Khanewal,southern parts of Bahawalnagar and western parts of Khushab districts. It is also spoken by majority of population of Dera Ismail Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (خیبر پښتونخوا) province, kachi plain of Balochistan, northern parts of Sindh, and cities of Hyderabad and Karachi.
Hindko language (ہندکو) is known as the "language of the mountains" and is one of the oldest languages in Pakistan. It is spoken in many dialects in the districts of Peshawar, Kohat, Nowshera, Swabi, Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Attock, and Murree, the lower half of Neelum District and Muzafarabad District of Kashmir. Hindko is an ancient Indo-Aryan language spoken by Hindkowans in Pakistan. It is very similar to northern dialects of Punjabi. The language is spoken in the areas of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (including Hazara), local people of Peshawar Punjab and Azad Kashmir by an estimated 2.2 to 4 million people. During the pre-Buddhist era in present day Pakistan, the language of the masses was refined by the ancient grammarian Pāṇini, who set the rules of a structurally rigorous language called Sanskrit which was used principally for scriptures (analogous to Latin in the Western world). Meanwhile, the vernacular language of the masses, Prakrit developed into many tongues and dialects which spread over the northern parts of South Asia. Hindko is believed to be closely related to Prakrit. Due to the geographic isolation of the regions, it has undergone very little grammatical corruption, but has borrowed considerable vocabulary from its neighbours, in particular Pashto. It shows close affinity to Punjabi and the Lahnda sub-group of Indo-Aryan tongues and can be sub-divided into a northern and southern dialects.
Kashmiri (كأشُر) is an ancient Dardic language spoken in Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Punjab provinces of Pakistan. There are over 2 million Kashmiri speakers in Pakistan. Most of the Kashmiris in Punjab province and Karachi are refugees and their descendents who fled Indian invasion and occupation of Kashmir in 1948.
In 1919 George Abraham Grierson wrote that “Kashmiri is the only one of the Dardic languages that has a literature”. Kashmiri literature dates back to over 750 years, this is, more-or-less, the age of many a modern literature including modern English. Kashmiri retains several features of Old Indo-Aryan that have been lost in other Modern Indo-Aryan languages such as Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi.[5]
Brahui (براہوی) is of Dravidian origin despite the fact that a reasonable amount of the language shares lexical similarities to Balochi as well as Sindhi and Pashto due to influence of neighboring languages. Though, Brahui has been influenced by these languages, a majority of the literature contains pure Dravidian words that relate to the languages of South India. Spoken in southern Pakistan, it may have evolved from the original languages of Indus valley civilizations at Mehrgarh, suggesting that the Dravidian languages were more widespread. It is spoken in central and east central Balochistan. The Mengals are a famous Brahvi tribe. Around 1-1.5% of Pakistani population has Brahui as their first language. It is one of the nine distinguished languages of Pakistan.
The Brahui population of Balochistan has been taken by some as the linguistic equivalent of a relict population, perhaps indicating that Dravidian languages were formerly much more widespread and were supplanted by the incoming Indo-Aryan languages.[6] According to J. H. Elfenbein, Brahui could have migrated to Balochistan from central India after 1000 CE. He cites the absence of any Avestan, an older Iranian language, loanwords in Brahui to supports this hypothesis. The main Iranian contributor to Brahui vocabulary, Balochi, is a western Iranian language like Kurdish, and moved to the area from the west only around 1000 CE.[7]
Shina (شینا) (also known as Tshina) is a Dardic language spoken by a plurality of people in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan and Dras in Ladakh of regions of Kashmir. The valleys in which it is spoken include Astore, Chilas, Dareil, Tangeer, Gilgit, Ghizer, and a few parts of Baltistan and Kohistan. It is also spoken in Gurez, Drass, Kargil, Karkit Badgam and Ladakh valleys of Kashmir. There were 321,000 speakers of Gilgiti Shina as of 1981, and an estimated total of speakers of all dialects of 550,000. Many Shina speakers are also found in Pakistan's major urban centres of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Abbottabad, Hyderabad and Karachi.
Persian was the preferred language amongst the educated Muslim elite in South Asia, and was the official and cultural language of the Mughal Empire and other Turkic Empires and various Muslim princely states based in what is now Pakistan. Persian was officially abolished from the region with the arrival of the British to the province of Sindh in 1843 and Punjab in 1849 to minimize the influence of Persia and Afghanistan on the regions that now make up Pakistan and integrate these regions with the rest of South Asia under a common Urdu language. It is still spoken and understood by the educated elite as a literary and prestigious language.
Many Persian speaking refugees, Dari and Tajiks, from Afghanistan have settled in Pakistan permanently. There are also Tajiks refugees from Tajikistan that have settled in Pakistan.
Arabic (عربي) is considered to be religious language of Muslims. The Quran, Sunnah, Hadith and Muslim theology is taught in Arabic with Urdu translation. The large numbers of Pakistanis living in the Persian Gulf region and in other Middle Eastern countries has further increased the number of people who can speak Arabic in Pakistan. Arabic is taught as a religious language in mosques, schools, colleges, universities and madrassahs. Nearly all of Pakistan's Muslim population has had some form of education in the reading, writing and pronunciation of the Arabic language.
Many Arabs who took part in Afghanistan war have now settled in Pakistan permanently with their families. Millions of Pakistanis that have worked in Middle East also speak Arabic.
Turkic (ترک) languages were used by the ruling Turco-Mongols (or Mughals) and earlier Sultans of India many of whom have settled in Pakistan. There are pockets of Turkic speakers found throughout the country, notably in the valleys in the countries northern regions which lie adjacent to Central Asia, western Pakistani region of Waziristan principally around Kanigoram where the Burki tribe dwells and in Pakistan's urban centres of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. The autobiography of Mughal emperor Babur, Tuzk Babari was also written in Turkish. After returning from exile in Safavid Persia in 1555, Mughal emperor Humayun introduced Persian language and culture in court and government. The Chaghatai language, in which Babur had written his memoirs, disappeared almost entirely from the culture of the courtly elite, and Mughal emperor Akbar could not speak it. Later in life, Humayun himself is said to have spoken in Persian verse more often than not.
Many Turkic speaking refugees, Uzbeks and Turkmens, from Afghanistan have settled in Pakistan permanently. They are also Uzbeks and Turkmen refugees that have moved from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and settled in Pakistan. Turkey also provides scolarships to large number of Pakistani students to study in Turkish universities. President Pervez Musharraf studied in Turkey and spoke Turkish fluently.
The word Urdu is of Turkic origin, as Urdu was originally called Zaban-e-Ordu or language of the Army, ordu meaning army' in Turkish.
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. Nearly all schools, colleges and universities, use English as the medium of instruction. Amongst the more educated social circles of Pakistan, English is seen as the language of upward mobility and its use is becoming more prevalent in upper social circles often spoken alongside native Pakistani languages. Among countries that use English as an official language, Pakistan is the third most populous in the world.
Other languages spoken by linguistic minorities include Aer, Badeshi, Bagri, Balti, Bateri, Bhaya, Brahui, Burushaski, Chilisso, Chitrali, Dameli, Dehwari, Dhatki, Domaaki, Farsi (Dari), Gawar-Bati, Ghera, Goaria, Gowro, Gujarati, Gujari, Gurgula, Hazaragi, Indo-Pakistani Sign Language, Jadgali, Jandavra, Kabutra, Khowar, Kachchi (Kutchi), Kalami, Kalasha, Kalkoti, Kamviri, Kati, Khetrani, Khowar, Indus Kohistani, Koli (three varieties), Lasi, Loarki, Marwari, Memoni, Od, Ormuri, Pahari-Potwari, Palula (Phalura), Sansi, Savi, Shina (two varieties), Torwali, Ushojo, Vaghri, Wakhi, Waneci, and Yidgha.[8] Some of these have a few hundred speakers, while others have tens of thousands of speakers. A few are highly endangered languages that may soon have no speakers at all.
There are around 75 to 80 known languages of Pakistan although, in practice, there are primarily seven major languages in Pakistan spoken by 95% of the population: Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki, Urdu, Persian, and Balochi. The official language is English and the national language is Urdu, the census indicates that around 8% of the population speak Urdu as their first language. However, due to rapid urbanization and modernization, the use of Urdu as a primary language is increasing, especially amongst the growing urbanized middle class of Pakistan. Around 44% speak Punjabi, 15.5% speak Pashto, 15.5% speak Sindhi, 10.5% Saraiki, 7.5% Urdu, 3.5% Balochi and 3.5% other languages (Hindko, Brahui etc.) as their first language. Most Pakistanis, however, speak or understand at least two to three languages and almost all Pakistanis speak or understand the national language, Urdu.
The most prevalent native languages appear in bold below, with the percentage of the population speaking them as their first language rounded to the nearest percentage point:
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Most of the languages of Pakistan belong to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. They are divided between two major groups of that branch: Indo-Aryan (the majority, including Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Persian, Hindko, and Saraiki, among others), and Iranian (including Pashto, Balochi, and Khowar, among others).
Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages are further divided into groups of languages, although the reasons for the divisions are not always well-documented. Indo-Aryan languages all belong to the same language genus Indo-Aryan, and Iranian languages all belong to a different language genus (Iranian).[9]
Some of the important languages in the Indo-Aryan group are dialect continuums. One of these is Lahnda,[10] and includes Western Panjabi (but not the Panjabi of India and Pakistan), Northern Hindko, Southern Hindko, Khetrani, Saraiki, and Pahari-Potwari, plus two more languages outside of Pakistan. The other is Marwari, and includes Marwari of Pakistan and several languages of India (Dhundari, Marwari, Merwari, Mewari, and Shekhawati).[11] A third is Rajasthani, and consists of Bagri, Gujari in Pakistan and several others in India: Gade Lohar,[12] Harauti (Hadothi), Malvi, and Wagdi.
There are several dialects continuums in the Iranian group as well: Balochi, which includes Eastern, Western and Southern Balochi;[13] Pashtun, and includes Northern, Central, and Southern Pashto;[14] and Persian, which includes Western Farsi in Iran and Eastern Farsi in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The following four languages of Pakistan are not part of the Indo-European language family:
All languages of Pakistan are written in Nastaʿlīq, a modified Perso-Arabic script. The Mughal Empire used Persian as the court language during their rule over South Asia. During this time, Nastaʿlīq came into widespread use in South Asia. The influence remains to this day. In Pakistan, almost everything in Urdu is written in the script, concentrating the greater part of Nastaʿlīq usage in the world.
After the Islamic conquest of Persia, Iranians adopted the Perso-Arabic script and the art of Persian calligraphy flourished in Iran alongside other Islamic countries. Apparently, Mir Ali Tabrizi (14th century) developed Nastaʿlīq by combining two existing scripts of Nasḫ and Taʿlīq. Hence, it was originally called Nasḫ-Taʿlīq. Another theory holds that the name means "that which abrogated (naskh) Taʿlīq".
Taʿlīq script, in Arabic calligraphy, cursive style of lettering developed in Iran in the 10th century. It is thought to have been the creation of Ḥasan ibn Ḥusayn ʿAlī of Fars, but, because Khwājah ʿAbd al-Malik Buk made such vast improvements, the invention is often attributed to him. The rounded forms and exaggerated horizontal strokes that characterize the taʿlīq letters were derived primarily from the Riqāʿ script. The ornateness and sloping quality of the written line had roots in the Tawqīʿ script of Ibn Muqlah (died 940).
Sindhi adopted a variant of the Persian alphabet as well, in the 19th century. The script is used in Pakistan today. It has a total of 52 letters, augmenting the Persian with digraphs and eighteen new letters (ڄ ٺ ٽ ٿ ڀ ٻ ڙ ڍ ڊ ڏ ڌ ڇ ڃ ڦ ڻ ڱ ڳ ڪ) for sounds particular to Sindhi and other Indo-Aryan languages. Some letters that are distinguished in Arabic or Persian are homophones in Sindhi.
The Urdu alphabet is the right-to-left alphabet used for the Urdu language. It is a modification of the Persian alphabet, which is itself a derivative of the Arabic alphabet. With 38 letters, the Urdu alphabet is typically written in the calligraphic Nasta'liq script, whereas Arabic is more commonly in the Naskh style.
Usually, bare transliterations of Urdū into Roman letters, Roman Urdu, omit many phonemic elements that have no equivalent in English or other languages commonly written in the Roman alphabet. The National Language Authority of Pakistan has developed a number of systems with specific notations to signify non-English sounds, but these can only be properly read by someone already familiar with Urdū, Persian or Arabic for letters such as ژ خ غ ط ص or ق and Hindi for letters such as ڑ.
Balochi and Pashto are written in Perso-Arabic script.
The Shahmukhī script is a local variant of the Urdu alphabet, a modified Perso-Arabic script, which has been used by the Punjabi Muslims of Punjab to write Punjabi language.
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