Hindko dialect

Hindko (Hindko: ہندکو ALA-LC: Hindko IPA: [hɪnd̪koː]), also known as Panjistani or (ambiguously) as Pahari,^[3] is a dialect of Western Punjabi (Lahnda) of the Indo-Aryan (Indic) language family spoken in Northern Pakistan. Hindko follows the standardized Punjabi Shahmukhi script for writing.^[4][5]

Name

The name Hindko simply means "Indian" (of the Indus),^[6] and has been applied to various dialects spoken in northern Pakistan, in the areas of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (including Hazara), Punjab especially Pothohar Plateau, Pakistan Administered Kashmir, including by some Pashtun tribes, as well as by the Hindki people of Afghanistan. The name is found in Greek references to the mountainous region in eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan as Καύκασος Ινδικός (Caucasus Indicus, or Hindu Kush).

There is no generic name for these people because they belong to diverse ethnic groups and tend to identify themselves by the larger families or castes. However the people of the largest group in the districts of Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram and Kohistan are sometimes recognised collectively as Hazarawal, named after the defunct Hazara Division that comprised these districts. In Peshawar city they are called Peshawari or "Kharay" by Pashtuns meaning City-dwellers.

Language or dialect

Almost all linguists classify Hindko as a dialect of Punjabi, and only very few consider it a distinct language, especially in modern times. In recent years, the migration of the people from the Hazara region to the plains of Punjab and intermarriages has brought Hindko even closer to standard Punjab. Punjabi has, like Sindhi, Urdu, and Hindi, also been exposed to the dialect-versus-language question. Each of these languages have a central standard on which its literature is based, and from which there are multiple dialectal variations.^[7]

Subdialects

Hindko could be classified into four subdialects: Hazara Hindko, Peshawari Hindko, Chachhi, and Kohati. The Hindko of Peshawar is prestigious and the basis for an emergent literature. Due to the ambiguous nature of the name "Hindko", much of the literature on the language is confused, and much of the material below concerns all dialects called "Hindko" rather than Hindko proper.Hindko is closely related to few other dialects of Punjabi specially with Dhani dialect of Chakwal.

History and origin

During the pre-Islamic era in present day Pakistan, the language of the masses was refined by the ancient grammarian Pāṇini, who set the rules of an ancient language called Sanskrit which was used principally for Hindu 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. It has undergone very little grammatical change, but has borrowed considerable vocabulary from its neighbours, in particular Kashmiri, Gujari, Maiya, and Pashto.

Demographics

The speakers of Hindko live primarily in seven districts: Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur, Peshawar, Nowshera, Akora Khattak, Swabi and Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Attock and Rawalpindi in Punjab, and parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir including Muzaffarabad; Jonathan Addleton states that "Hindko is the linguistic majority in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, represented in nearly one-third of the province's total households." (Pakhtunkhwa referring to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.) In Abbottabad District 88 per cent of households reported speaking Hindko, in Mansehra District 77 per cent, in Peshawar District 35 per cent, and in Kohat District 40 per cent (1986). Testing of inherent intelligibility among Hindko dialects through the use of recorded tests has shown that there is a northern (Hazara) dialect group and a southern group. The southern dialects are more widely understood throughout the dialect network than are the northern dialects. The dialects of rural Peshawar and Talagang are the most widely understood of the dialects tested. The dialect of Balakot is the least widely understood.

In most Hindko-speaking areas, speakers of Pashto live in the same or neighbouring communities (although this is less true in Abbottabad and Kaghan Valley than elsewhere). In Abottabad, it is now being advanced due to usage of Urdu words. It is spoken by the Pathans, Mughals, Awans, Shaikhs, Rajputs, Various Kashmiri Groups and Gujjars aswell as some Khatris in India. In the mixed areas, many people speak both languages. The relationship between Hindko and Pashto is not one of stable bilingualism. In the north east, Hindko is the dominant dialect both in terms of domain of usage and in terms of the number of speakers, whereas in the south west, Pashto seems to be advancing in those same areas.

The Gandhara Hindko Board has published the first dictionary of hindko and its launching ceremony was held on March 16, 2003. According to a press release, Sultan Sakoon, a prominent Hindko poet, compiled the dictionary.

Hindko speakers are also found throughout Afghanistan, where they are known as Hindkois.

Literature and writers

The Gandhara Hindko Board is a leading organisation that has been active in the preservation and promotion of the Hindko and culture since 1993. The board was launched in Peshawar in year 1993 to preserve and promote Hindko —the second most spoken of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. It brings out four regular publications— Hindkowan, The Gandhara Voice, " Sarkhail" and "Tarey" and a number of occasional publications. Late professor Zahoor Ahmad Awan of Peshawar city, the author of 61 books and publications, was the founding-chairman of the board. Now the board is headed by Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi. The board has published first Hindko dictionary and several other books on a variety of topics. With head office in Peshawar, the organisation has regional offices in other cities of the province where Hindko is spoken and understood. The organisation has arranged a number of mega events to raise awareness among the Hindkowans about the importance of their language and culture. The board seeks respect for and due attention to all the languages spoken in Gandhara.

In 2003 the Gandhara Hindko Board published first a Hindko dictionary which was compiled by a prominent linguists from Abbottabad, Sultan Sakoon. The board published a second more comprehensive Hindko dictionary in 2007 prepared by Elahi Bakhsh Awan of the University of London. He is the author of Sarzamin e Hindko, and Hindko Sautiyat. His three booklets on Hindko phonology were published by the University of Peshawar in the late 70's.

The Idara-e-Faroghe Hindko based in Peshawar is another body that is promoting the Hindko. Riffat Akbar Swati and Aurangzeb Ghaznavi are main people of this organisation. The Idara has published the first Hindko translation of the Quran by Haider Zaman Haider and the first Ph.D. thesis on Hindko by E.B.A. Awan. A monthly magazine Faroogh is also published regularly from Peshawar under supervision of Aurangzeb Ghaznavi. In Karachi Syed Mehboob is working for the promotion of Hindko. His articles are frequently published in Farogh monthly. He is organiser of Hindko Falahi Forum.

Many organisations like Bazm-e-Ilm-o-Fun Abbottabad and Halqa-e-Yaraan Shinkyari are contributing in their own way to the cause of promoting Hindko and literature. Asif Saqib, Sufi Abdur Rasheed, Fazal-e-Akbar Kamal, Sharif Hussain Shah, Muhammad Farid, Yahya Khalid, Nazir Kasalvi, and Muhammad Hanif have contributed a lot in this regard. Sultan Sakoon has written the First Hindko dictionary that has been published by Gandhara Hindko Board. Sultan Sakoon stands out for his literary contribution as he is a prolific writer and his books including those on Hindko proverbs and Hindko riddles have been published.

See also

• Hindkowans
• Punjabi dialects

References

Sources

Hindko dialect test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

Languages of Pakistan Official languages Urdu English Provincial languages Punjabi Pashto Sindhi Balochi Regional languages Brahui Dari Hindko Kashmiri Khowar Potwari Saraiki Shina Related topics Dardic languages Iranic languages Indo-Aryan languages Pakistani Sign Language Arabic Persian Turkish