Saraiki language

Not to be confused with the Siraiki dialect of Sindhi.

Saraiki
سرائیکی
Saraiki in Shahmukhi script (Nastaʿlīq style)
Native toPakistan
RegionSouth Punjab and neighbouring regions
EthnicitySaraiki
Native speakers
28.84 Million[1]
Perso-Arabic (Saraiki alphabet)
Devanagari
Gurmukhi
Multani
Official status
Regulated bySaraiki area study centre (SASC), BZU Multan
Language codes
ISO 639-3skr
Glottologsera1259
The proportion of people with Saraiki as their mother tongue in each Pakistani District as of the 2017 Pakistan Census
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Saraiki ( سرائیکی Sarā'īkī; also spelt Siraiki, or Seraiki) is an Indo-Aryan language of the Lahnda group, spoken by around 28 million people primarily in the south-western half of the province of Punjab in Pakistan.[2] It was previously known as Multani, after its main dialect.

Saraiki has partial mutual intelligibility with Standard Punjabi,[3] and it shares with it a large portion of its vocabulary and morphology. At the same time in its phonology it is radically different[4] (particularly in the lack of tones, the preservation of the voiced aspirates and the development of implosive consonants), and has important grammatical features in common with the Sindhi language spoken to the south.[5] Saraiki however, does relate considerably with other Western Punjabi dialects.[citation needed] There is a political movement in Pakistan to declare Saraiki the administrative language of its own region.[6]

The Saraiki language identity arose in the 1960s, encompassing more narrow local earlier identities (like Multani, Derawi or Riasati),[7] and distinguishing itself from broader ones like that of Punjabi.[8]

Due to effects of dominant languages in Pakistani media like Urdu, Standard Punjabi and English and religious impact of Arabic and Persian, Saraiki like other regional varieties of Pakistan are continuously expanding its vocabulary base with loan words.[9]

  1. ^ https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/national/table_11.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  2. ^ https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/key_findings_report.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  3. ^ Bashir, Conners & Hefright 2019; see also Rahman 1995, p. 16 and Shackle 2014b.
  4. ^ Shackle 1977, p. 389.
  5. ^ Shackle 2014b.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference JBM was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Shackle 1977, pp. 388–89; Rahman 1995, pp. 2–3
  8. ^ Rahman 1995, pp. 7–8; Shackle 1977, p. 386
  9. ^ Shams, Shammim Ara (2020). "The Impact of Dominant Languages on Regional Languages: A Case Study of English, Urdu and Shina". Pakistan Social Sciences Review. 4 (III): 1092–1106. doi:10.35484/pssr.2020(4-III)79.