Misplaced Pages

Saraiki language: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 12:35, 3 January 2007 view sourceSiddiqui (talk | contribs)11,789 edits →Geographic distribution← Previous edit Revision as of 12:42, 3 January 2007 view source Siddiqui (talk | contribs)11,789 edits →See alsoNext edit →
Line 161: Line 161:


==See also== ==See also==
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]

Revision as of 12:42, 3 January 2007

Siraiki
Native toPakistan and India
Native speakers~14,000,000
Language familyIndo-European
Writing systemArabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-2inc
ISO 639-3skr

Siraiki (Urdu: سراییکی ) is a language mostly spoken in the provinces of Sindh and the Punjab in central Pakistan by about 13.9 million people (according to 1998 census) as well as by about 20,000 people in India, and an immigrant population in the United Kingdom.

Classification

Siraiki is part of a dialect continuum with Punjabi and Sindhi, and is considered by some to be a dialect of Punjabi.

Siraiki, Punjabi and Sindhi are members of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family.

Geographic distribution

Siraiki is widely spoken and understood as a second language in northern and western Sindh down to the suburbs of Karachi and in the Kachhi plain of Balochistan. It is also known as Derawali in Derajat area. Siraiki is also spoken in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and it is third poular language after Pashtu and Punjabi. Saraiki is widely spoken in southern NWFP areas specially in Dera Ismail Khan, Kulachi and in Tank District and also speaking widely in Lakki Marwat. It is mostly spoken in the south of Punjab in Dera Ghazi Khan, and Multan.

Origin of the name

Proposed etymologies include it being derived from a Sindhi word meaning "north".

Phonology

Vowels

Siraiki has three short vowels, seven long vowels and six nasal vowels.

Consonants

Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Stops and
affricates 		Voiceless p pʰ t̪ t̪ʰ t tʰ ʧ ʧʰ k kʰ ʔ
Voiced b bʰ d̪ d̪ʰ d dʰ ʤ ʤʰ ɡ ɡʰ
Implosives ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ
Nasals m mʰ n nʰ ɳ ɲ ŋ
Fricatives Voiceless f s ʃ x h
Voiced v z ʒ ɣ
Trills r rʰ
Flaps ɽ ɽʰ
Laterals l lʰ
Semivowel j

Writing system

Siraiki is written in a variant of the Arabic alphabet. Very few Siraiki speakers are literate in their own language, however, although some may be able to write other languages.


There are two writing systems for Multani / Siraiki. One is a variant of the arabic script, which is in vogue today. However, the hindus, especially the traders, wrote a script called LINDE / LINDEY / LINDAY, which was written from left to right. It is no longer used in Pakistan, but there are still people of the generation that learned the script before the partition of India, when they had to flee and settle and get assimilated in different regions and linguistic territories of India and other places of the world.

If there is anyone who reads and writes the script, we solicit your help. Please send us as much input as you can. vikram.malhotra@vidushiacademy.in

File:Ali xain saraiki.PNG
A sample saraiki DOHRA.

Bibliography

  • Ahsan, Wagha (1990). The Siraiki Language: Its Growth and Development. Islamabad: Dderawar Publications.
  • Gardezi, Hassan N. (1996). Siraiki Language and its poetics: An Introduction. London: Sangat Publishers.
  • Shackle, Christopher (1976). The Siraiki Language of Central Pakistan: A Reference Grammar. London: School of Oriental and African Studies.
  • Shackle, Christopher (1977). "Siariki: A Language Movement in Pakistan". Modern Asian Studies. 11 (3): 279–403.

See also

External links

Categories: