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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 N.W.F.P although Frontier is famous for Pathans but Saraiki is Second Main Language of N.W.F.P and is widely spoken in Southern N.W.F.P Areas Specially in D.I.Khan, Kulachi and in Tank District and also speaking widely in Lakki Marwat City.It is mostly spoken in the south of punjab in D.G Khan, Multan.

Origin of the name

Proposed etymologies include it being derived from a Sindhi word meaning "north", and from a Sanskrit word meaning "sun".

Phonology

Vowels

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

Consonants

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

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

• Siraikistan
• Siraiki people
• Siraiki Literature
• Features Of Siraiki Culture

External links

• Ethnologue report for language code:skr
• Western Panjabi (Siraiki) Alphabet with Gurmukhi equivalents
• Wasaib.com Collection of Articles and other resources on Seraiki language & culture
• Phonemic Inventory of Siraiki Language and Acoustic Analysis of Voiced Implosives (PDF)

• Indo-Aryan languages
• Languages of Pakistan
• Languages of India
• Siraiki people