Misplaced Pages

Languages of Pakistan

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.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 2.196.31.146 (talk) at 18:57, 26 December 2024 (I removed Hindko and Saraiki from this list, because Saraiki and Hindko are dialects of Punjabi and not languages). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 18:57, 26 December 2024 by 2.196.31.146 (talk) (I removed Hindko and Saraiki from this list, because Saraiki and Hindko are dialects of Punjabi and not languages)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Languages of Pakistan
Dominant mother tongue in the districts of Pakistan
OfficialUrdu
English
NationalUrdu (by law), Punjabi (by people)
RegionalBalochi
Balti
Brahui
Brokskat
Burushaski
Dhatki
Dari
Hazaragi
Kashmiri
Khowar
Kohistani
Pamir Kyrgyz
Marwari
Pashto
Punjabi
Parkari Koli
Shina
Sindhi
Uzbek
Wakhi
SignedPakistani Sign Language
Keyboard layoutQWERTY and Urdu keyboard

Part of a series on the
Culture of Pakistan
History
People
Languages
Traditions
folklore
Cuisine
Eastern
Western
Northern
Overseas and fusion
Festivals
Religion
Art
Literature
Music and performing arts
Media
Sport
Monuments
Symbols

Pakistan is a multilingual country with over 70 languages spoken as first languages. The majority of Pakistan's languages belong to the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European language family.

Urdu is the national language and the lingua franca of Pakistan, and while sharing official status with English, it is the preferred and dominant language used for inter-communication between different ethnic groups. Numerous regional languages are spoken as first languages by Pakistan's various ethnolinguistic groups. Languages with more than a million speakers each include Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Urdu, Balochi, Persian and Brahui.There are approximately 60 local languages with fewer than a million speakers.

List of languages

The 2022 edition of Ethnologue lists 77 established languages in Pakistan. Of these, 68 are indigenous and 9 are non-indigenous. In terms of their vitality, 4 are classified as 'institutional', 24 are 'developing', 30 are 'vigorous', 15 are 'in trouble', and 4 are 'dying'.

Established languages
Language Province Language group
Aer Sindh Indo-Aryan
Badeshi Khyber Pakhtunkwa Iranian
Balochi, Eastern Balochistan, Punjab, Sindh Iranian
Balochi, Southern Balochistan, Sindh Iranian
Balochi, Western Balochistan, Sindh Iranian
Balti Gilgit Baltistan Sino-Tibetan
Bateri Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Bhaya Sindh Indo-Aryan
Brahui Balochistan, Sindh Dravidian
Burushaski Gilgit Baltistan Isolate
Chilisso Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Dameli Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Dari Khyber Pakhtunkwa Iranian
Dehwari Balochistan Iranian
Dhatki Sindh Indo-Aryan
Domaaki Gilgit Baltistan Indo-Aryan
English Federal co-official Germanic
Gawar-Bati Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Gawri Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Ghera Sindh Indo-Aryan
Goaria Sindh Indo-Aryan
Gowro Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Gujarati Sindh Indo-Aryan
Gujari Azad Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan,
Khyber Pakhtunkwa, Punjab
Indo-Aryan
Gurgula Sindh Indo-Aryan
Hazaragi Balochistan Iranian
Jadgali Balochistan, Sindh Indo-Aryan
Jandavra Sindh Indo-Aryan
Jogi Sindh Indo-Aryan
Kabutra Sindh Indo-Aryan
Kacchi Sindh Indo-Aryan
Kalasha Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Kalkoti Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Kamviri Khyber Pakhtunkwa Iranian
Kashmiri Azad Kashmir Indo-Aryan
Kati Khyber Pakhtunkwa Iranian
Khowar Gilgit Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Kohistani, Indus Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Koli, Kachi Sindh Indo-Aryan
Koli, Parkari Sindh Indo-Aryan
Koli, Wadiyari Sindh Indo-Aryan
Kundal Shahi Azad Kashmir Indo-Aryan
Lasi Balochistan Indo-Aryan
Loarki Sindh Indo-Aryan
Mankiyali Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Marwari Punjab, Sindh Indo-Aryan
Mewati Punjab, Sindh Indo-Aryan
Memoni Sindh Indo-Aryan
Oadki Punjab, Sindh Indo-Aryan
Ormuri Khyber Pakhtunkwa Iranian
Pakistan Sign Language Throughout Indo-Pakistani Sign Language
Palula Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Pashto, Central Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkwa, Punjab Iranian
Pashto, Northern Khyber Pakhtunkwa, Punjab Iranian
Pashto, Southern Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkwa, Punjab Iranian
Punjabi Punjab Indo-Aryan
Sarikoli Khyber Pakhtunkwa Iranian
Savi Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Shina Azad Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Shina, Kohistani Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Sindhi Sindh, Balochistan Indo-Aryan
Sindhi Bhil Sindh Indo-Aryan
Tamil Sindh Dravidian
Torwali Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Urdu Sindh, Punjab, Azad Kashmir , Islamabad Indo-Aryan
Ushojo Khyber Pakhtunkwa Indo-Aryan
Vaghri Sindh Indo-Aryan
Wakhi Gilgit Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkwa Iranian
Waneci Balochistan Iranian
Yadgha Khyber Pakhtunkwa Iranian

Statistics

Languages of Pakistan (2023 census)

  Punjabi (58.9%)  Pashto (14.15%)  Sindhi (12.31%)  Balochi (7.00%)  Marwari (2.25%)  Ladakhi (1.38%)  Urdu (1.32%)  Brahui (1.16%)  Kohistani (6.5%)  Hazaragi (0.43%)  Kashmiri (0.11%)  Shina (0.05%)  Balti (0.02%)  Kalasha (0.003%)  Others (1.38%)  Mewati (0.43%)
Census history of major languages
Rank Language 1951 census 1961 census 1981 census 1998 census 2017 census 2023 census
1 Punjabi* 57.08% 56.39% 53.7% 56.2% 58.5% 58.9%
2 Pashto 8.16% 8.47% 13.15% 15.42% 18.24% 18.15%
3 Sindhi 12.85% 12.59% 11.77% 14.1% 14.57% 14.31%
5 Urdu 7.05% 7.57% 7.60% 7.57% 7.08% 6.25%
6 Balochi 3.04% 2.49% 3.02% 3.57% 3.02% 3.38%
8 Brahui 1.21% 1.24% 1.16%
9 Mewati 0.46%
10 Kohistani 0.43%
11 Kashmiri 0.17% 0.11%
12 Shina 0.05%
14 Balti 0.02%
15 Kalasha 0.003%
16 Others 11.82% 12.49% 2.81% 4.66% 2.27% 1.38%

*

*Census data for the Pakistani administered territories of Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Kashmir not available as of 2024.

Official languages

Urdu (official language)

Urdu (اردو) is the national language (قومی زبان) and lingua franca of Pakistan. Although only about 6% of Pakistanis speak it as their first language, it is widely spoken and understood as a second language by the vast majority of Pakistanis.

Urdu was chosen as a symbol of unity for the new state of Pakistan in 1947, because it had already served as a lingua franca among Muslims in north and northwest British India. It is written, spoken and used in all provinces/territories of Pakistan, and together with English as the main languages of instruction, although the people from differing provinces may have different native languages.

Urdu is taught as a compulsory subject up to higher secondary school in both English and Urdu medium school systems, which has produced millions of second-language Urdu speakers among people whose native language is one of the other languages of Pakistan – which in turn has led to the absorption of vocabulary from various regional Pakistani languages, while some Urdu vocabularies has also been assimilated by Pakistan's regional languages.

English (co-official language)

See also: Pakistani English

English is a co-official language of Pakistan and is widely used in the executive, legislative and judicial branches as well as to some extent in the officer ranks of Pakistan's armed forces. Pakistan's Constitution and laws were written in English and are now being re-written in the local languages. It is also widely used in schools, colleges and universities as a medium of instruction. English is seen as the language of upward mobility, and its use is becoming more prevalent in upper social circles, where it is often spoken alongside native Pakistani languages. In 2015, it was announced that there were plans to promote Urdu in official business, but Pakistan's Minister of Planning Ahsan Iqbal stated, "Urdu will be a second medium of language and all official business will be bilingual." He also went on to say that English would be taught alongside Urdu in schools.

Major regional languages

Punjabi

See also: Punjabi dialects and languages

Punjabi (پنجابی) is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken in the Punjab province of Pakistan, with the prominent dialect being the Majha dialect, written in the Shahmukhi script. Punjabi is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan. It is spoken as a first language roughly by 60% of Pakistanis. The language is spoken among a significant overseas diaspora, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Punjabi is unusual among the Indo-Aryan languages and the broader Indo-European language family in its usage of lexical tone.

Pashto

The proportion of people with Pashto as their mother tongue in each Pakistani District as of the 2017 Pakistan Census

Pashto (پښتو) is an Iranian language spoken as a first language by more than 18.24% of Pakistanis, mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in northern Balochistan as well as in ethnic Pashtun communities in the cities of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, and most notably Karachi, which may have the largest Pashtun population of any city in the world. There are three major dialect patterns within which the various individual dialects may be classified; these are the Pakhto variety of Northern (Peshawar) variety, the southern Pashto spoken in the vicinity of Quetta, and the Wanetsi or Tareeno variety of northern Balochistan.

Sindhi

The proportion of people with Sindhi as their mother tongue in each Pakistani District as of the 2017 Pakistan Census

Sindhi (سنڌي) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken as a first language by almost 15% of Pakistanis, mostly in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The name "Sindhi" is derived from Sindhu, the original name of the Indus River.

Like other languages of this family, Sindhi has passed through Old Indo-Aryan (Sanskrit) and Middle Indo-Aryan (Pali, secondary Prakrits, and Apabhramsha) stages of growth. 20th century Western scholars such as George Abraham Grierson believed that Sindhi descended specifically from the Vrācaḍa dialect of Apabhramsha (described by Markandeya as being spoken in Sindhu-deśa) but later work has shown this to be unlikely. It entered the New Indo-Aryan stage around the 10th century CE.

The six major known dialects of the Sindhi language are Siroli, Vicholi, Lari, Thari, Lasi and Kutchi.


Balochi

The proportion of people with Balochi as their mother tongue in each Pakistani District as of the 2017 Pakistan Census

Balochi (بلوچی) is an Iranian language spoken as a first language by about 3% of Pakistanis, mostly in the Balochistan province. 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.

Brahui

The proportion of people with Brahui as their mother tongue in each Pakistani District as of the 2017 Pakistan Census

Brahui (براہوئی) is a Dravidian language spoken in the central part of Balochistan province. Brahui is spoken in the central part of Pakistani Balochistan, mainly in Kalat, Khuzdar and Mastung districts, but also in smaller numbers in neighboring districts, as well as in Afghanistan which borders Pakistani Balochistan; however, many members of the ethnic group no longer speak Brahui.

Endangered languages

Map showing some of the minor languages in Pakistan as of 1998.

Other languages spoken by linguistic minorities include the languages listed below, with speakers ranging from a few hundred to tens of thousands. A few are highly endangered languages that may soon have no speakers at all. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization defines five levels of language endangerment between "safe" (not endangered) and "extinct":

  • Vulnerable - "most children speak the language, but it may be restricted to certain domains (e.g., home)"
  • Definitely endangered – "children no longer learn the language as mother tongue in the home"
  • Severely endangered – "language is spoken by grandparents and older generations; while the parent generation may understand it, they do not speak it to children or among themselves"
  • Critically endangered – "the youngest speakers are grandparents and older, and they speak the language partially and infrequently"
  • Extinct – "there are no speakers left; included in the Atlas if presumably extinct since the 1950s"

The list below includes the findings from the third edition of Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010; formerly the Red Book of Endangered Languages), as well as the online edition of the aforementioned publication, both published by UNESCO.

Language Status Comments ISO 639-3
Balti Vulnerable Also spoken in: India bft
Bashkarik Definitely endangered   gwc, xka
Badeshi Critically endangered   bdz
Bateri Definitely endangered   btv
Bhadravahi Definitely endangered Also spoken in: India bhd
Brahui Vulnerable Also spoken in: Afghanistan brh
Burushaski Vulnerable   bsk
Chilisso Severely endangered   clh
Dameli Severely endangered   dml
Domaaki Severely endangered   dmk
Gawar-Bati Definitely endangered Also spoken in: Afghanistan gwt
Gowro Severely endangered   gwf
Jadgali jdg
Kalasha language Severely endangered  Not to be confused with Kalasha-ala kls
Kalkoti Severely endangered    
Kati (Kamkata-viri,
Kata-vari, Kamviri)
Definitely endangered Also spoken in: Afghanistan bsh, xvi
Khowar Vulnerable   khw
Kundal Shahi Definitely endangered Also spoken in: India  
Maiya Vulnerable   mvy
Ormuri Definitely endangered Also spoken in: Afghanistan oru
Phalura Definitely endangered   phl
Purik Vulnerable Also spoken in: India prx
Savi Definitely endangered Also spoken in: Afghanistan sdg
Spiti Vulnerable Also spoken in: India spt
Torwali Definitely endangered   trw
Ushojo Definitely endangered   ush
Wakhi Definitely endangered Also spoken in: China, Tajikistan, Afghanistan wbl
Yidgha Definitely endangered   ydg
Zangskari Definitely endangered Also spoken in: India zau

Other languages

Arabic

Arabic is used as a religious language by Muslims. The Quran, Sunnah, Hadith and Muslim theology is taught in Arabic with Urdu translation. Arabic is taught as a religious language in mosques, schools, colleges, universities and madrassahs. A majority of Pakistan's Muslim population has had some form of formal or informal education in the reading, writing and pronunciation of Arabic as part of their religious education. However, Pakistanis are not Arabs and do not speak Arabic.

Arabic is mentioned in the constitution of Pakistan. It declares in article 31 No. 2 that "The State shall endeavour, as respects the Muslims of Pakistan (a) to make the teaching of the Holy Quran and Islamiat compulsory, to encourage and facilitate the learning of Arabic language ..."

The National Education Policy 2017 declares in article 3.7.4 that: "Arabic as compulsory part will be integrated in Islamiyat from Middle to Higher Secondary level to enable the students to understand the Holy Quran." Furthermore, it specifies in article 3.7.6: "Arabic as elective subject shall be offered properly at Secondary and Higher Secondary level with Arabic literature and grammar in its course to enable the learners to have command in the language." This law is also valid for private schools as it defines in article 3.7.12: "The curriculum in Islamiyat, Arabic and Moral Education of public sector will be adopted by the private institutions to make uniformity in the society."

Persian

Main article: Persian language in South Asia See also: Persian and Urdu

Persian was the official of the region up until the late 19th century when the English passed several laws to replace it with local languages. Persian had a long history in the lands of Pakistan and was the cultural language of the erstwhile Mughal Empire, a continuation since the introduction of the language by Central Asian Turkic invaders who migrated into the Indian Subcontinent, and the patronisation of it by the earlier Turko-Persian Delhi Sultanate. Persian was officially abolished as a language of administration with the arrival of the British: in Sindh in 1843 and in Punjab in 1849.

Today the eastern Dari dialect of Persian is spoken by refugees from Afghanistan and a small number of local Balochistani Hazara community. A larger number of Pakistani Hazaras speak Hazaragi dialect. In the Madaklasht valley of Chitral, the Madaklashti dialect of Tajik Persian is spoken by the descendants of ironmongers from Badakhshan who settled there in the eighteenth century.

Foreign languages

As of 2017 some Pakistanis are learning Mandarin to do business with companies from the People's Republic of China.

Classification

Indo-Iranian

Most of the languages of Pakistan belong to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this family is called Proto-Indo-Iranian—also known as Common Aryan—which was spoken in approximately the late 3rd millennium BC. The three branches of the modern Indo-Iranian languages are Indo-Aryan, Iranian, and Nuristani. A fourth independent branch, Dardic, was previously posited, but recent scholarship in general places Dardic languages as archaic members of the Indo-Aryan branch.

Indo-Aryan

Majority of the languages spoken in eastern regions of Pakistan belong to the Indo-Aryan group.

Modern Indo-Aryan languages descend from Old Indo-Aryan languages such as early Vedic Sanskrit, through Middle Indo-Aryan languages (or Prakrits).

Some of the important languages in this family are dialect continuums. One of these is Lahnda, and includes Saraiki (spoken mostly in southern Pakistani Punjab by about 26 million people), the diverse varieties of Hindko (with almost five million speakers in north-western Punjab and neighbouring regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially Hazara), Pahari/Pothwari (3.5 million speakers in the Pothohar region of Punjab, Azad Kashmir and parts of Indian Jammu and Kashmir), Khetrani (20,000 speakers in Balochistan), and Inku (a possibly extinct language of Afghanistan).

Iranian

Majority of the languages spoken in western regions of Pakistan belong to the Iranic group. There are several dialects continuums in this family as well: Balochi, which includes Eastern, Western and Southern Balochi; and Pashto, and includes Northern, Central, and Southern Pashto.

Other

The following three languages of Pakistan are not part of the Indo-European language family:

Writing systems

Main articles: Nastaliq and Urdu alphabet
An English-Urdu bilingual sign at the archaeological site of Sirkap, near Taxila. The Urdu says: (right to left) دو سروں والے عقاب کی شبيہ والا مندر, dō sarōñ wālé u'qāb kī shabīh wāla mandir. "The temple with the image of the eagle with two heads."

Most languages of Pakistan are written in the Perso-Arabic script. The Mughal Empire adopted Persian as the court language during their rule over South Asia as did their predecessors, such as the Ghaznavids. During this time, the Nastaʿlīq style of the Perso-Arabic script came into widespread use in South Asia, and 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.

The phrase zubān-e-Urdū-e-muʿallā ("the language of the exalted camp") written in Nastaʿlīq script
Lashkari Zabān title in Naskh script

The Urdu alphabet is a right-to-left alphabet. 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.

Sindhi adopted a variant of the Persian alphabet as well, in the 19th century. The script is used in Pakistan today, albeit unlike most other native languages of Pakistan, the Naskh style is more common for Sindhi writing than the Nasta'liq style. It has a total of 52 letters, augmenting the Urdu 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.

Balochi and Pashto are written in Perso-Arabic script. The Shahmukhī script, a variant of the Urdu alphabet, is used to write the Punjabi language in Pakistan.

Usually, bare transliterations of Urdu into Roman letters, Roman Urdu, omit many phonemic elements that have no equivalent in English or other languages commonly written in the Latin script. 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 Urdu.

Maps

This is a series of maps which shows the distribution of different languages in Pakistan as of the 2017 Pakistan Census. These all refer to the mother tongues of individuals only.

Dominant Mother Tongue in each Pakistani District as of the 2017 Pakistan Census
  • Percent speaking Punjabi natively Percent speaking Punjabi natively
  • Percent speaking Pashto natively Percent speaking Pashto natively
  • Percent speaking Sindhi natively Percent speaking Sindhi natively
  • Percent speaking Saraiki natively Percent speaking Saraiki natively
  • Percent speaking Urdu natively Percent speaking Urdu natively
  • Percent speaking Balochi natively Percent speaking Balochi natively
  • Percent speaking Hindko natively Percent speaking Hindko natively
  • Percent speaking Brahui natively Percent speaking Brahui natively
  • Percent speaking a minor language (not collected on the census) natively in 1998. Percent speaking a minor language (not collected on the census) natively in 1998.

See also

Notes

  1. Excluding large urban centres

References

  1. "Article: 251 National language". Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  2. ^ Ashraf, Hina (22 March 2022). "The ambivalent role of Urdu and English in multilingual Pakistan: a Bourdieusian study". Language Policy. 22 (1): 25–48. doi:10.1007/s10993-022-09623-6. ISSN 1573-1863. PMC 8939399. PMID 35340722.
  3. ^ Ashraf, Muhammad Azeem; Turner, David A.; Laar, Rizwan Ahmed (January 2021). "Multilingual Language Practices in Education in Pakistan: The Conflict Between Policy and Practice". SAGE Open. 11 (1): 215824402110041. doi:10.1177/21582440211004140. ISSN 2158-2440. S2CID 232484396.
  4. Rengel, Marian (15 December 2003). Pakistan: A Primary Source Cultural Guide. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-8239-4001-1.
  5. Kachru, Braj B.; Kachru, Yamuna; Sridhar, S. N. (27 March 2008). Language in South Asia. Cambridge University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-139-46550-2.
  6. ^ Eberhard, Simons & Fennig 2022.
  7. "Endangered Languages Project - Torwali - Challenges to the linguistic diversity of North Pakistan". www.endangeredlanguages.com. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  8. https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/national/table_11.pdf
  9. Division, Population Census Organisation Statistics; Pakistan, Government of; Islamabad (December 1981). 1981 Census Report of Pakistan. Population Census Organisation Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad.
  10. "POPULATION BY MOTHER TONGUE" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 September 2016.
  11. Ilahi, Mazhar (2014). "Legislative Drafting in Plain Urdu Language for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan". European Journal of Law Reform (in Dutch). 16 (3): 597–609. doi:10.5553/EJLR/138723702014016003005. ISSN 1387-2370.
  12. "TABLE 11 - POPULATION BY MOTHER TONGUE, SEX AND RURAL/ URBAN" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  13. "TABLE 11 : POPULATION BY MOTHER TONGUE, SEX AND RURAL/URBAN, CENSUS-2023" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  14. Muzaffar, Sharmin; Behera, Pitambar (2014). "Error analysis of the Urdu verb markers: a comparative study on Google and Bing machine translation platforms". Aligarh Journal of Linguistics. 4 (1–2): 1. Modern Standard Urdu, a register of the Hindustani language, is the national language, lingua-franca and is one of the two official languages along with English in Pakistan and is spoken in all over the world. It is also one of the 22 scheduled languages and officially recognized languages in the Constitution of India and has been conferred the status of the official language in many Indian states of Bihar, Telangana, Jammu, and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and New Delhi. Urdu is one of the members of the new or modern Indo-Aryan language group within the Indo-European family of languages.
  15. "PAKISTAN". Official U.S. Marine Corps. Archived from the original on 31 January 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  16. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 1992. p. 264.
  17. "Dec 25, 2017 | Why did the Quaid make Urdu Pakistan's state language?". Dawn Epaper. 25 December 2017.
  18. "EDUCATION SYSTEM PROFILES Education in Pakistan". World Education Services. 25 February 2020. English has been the main language of instruction at the elementary and secondary levels since colonial times. It remains the predominant language of instruction in private schools but has been increasingly replaced with Urdu in public schools. Punjab province, for example, recently announced that it will begin to use Urdu as the exclusive medium of instruction in schools beginning in 2020. Depending on the location and predominantly in rural areas, regional languages are used as well, particularly in elementary education. The language of instruction in higher education is mostly English, but some programs and institutions teach in Urdu.
  19. Robina Kausar; Muhammad Sarwar; Muhammad Shabbir (eds.). "The History of the Urdu Language Together with Its Origin and Geographic Distribution" (PDF). International Journal of Innovation and Research in Educational Sciences. 2 (1).
  20. Ahmad, Aijazuddin (2009). Geography of the South Asian Subcontinent: A Critical Approach. Concept Publishing Company. ISBN 978-81-8069-568-1.
  21. Hock, Hans Henrich; Bashir, Elena (24 May 2016). The Languages and Linguistics of South Asia: A Comprehensive Guide. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-11-042330-3.
  22. Raj, Ali (30 April 2017). "The case for Urdu as Pakistan's official language". Herald Magazine. Archived from the original on 28 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  23. "Pakistan to replace English with Urdu as official language – The Express Tribune". The Express Tribune. 29 July 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  24. "CCI defers approval of census results until elections". Dawn. 21 March 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021. The figure of 80.54 million is calculated from the reported 38.78% for the speakers of Punjabi and the 207.685 million total population of Pakistan.
  25. Bhatia, Tej (1999). "Lexican Anaphors and Pronouns in Punjabi". In Lust, Barbara; Gair, James (eds.). Lexical Anaphors and Pronouns in Selected South Asian Languages. Walter de Gruyter. p. 637. ISBN 978-3-11-014388-1. Other tonal Indo-Aryan languages include Hindko, Dogri, Western Pahari, Sylheti and some Dardic languages.
  26. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (17 July 2009). "Karachi's Invisible Enemy". PBS. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
  27. "In a city of ethnic friction, more tinder". The National. 24 August 2009. Archived from the original on 16 January 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
  28. "Columnists | The Pakhtun in Karachi". Time. 28 August 2010. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  29. Archived 9 December 2012 at archive.today, thefridaytimes
  30. Lieven, Anatol (4 May 2021). "An Afghan Tragedy: The Pashtuns, the Taliban and the State". Survival. 63 (3): 7–36. doi:10.1080/00396338.2021.1930403. ISSN 0039-6338. S2CID 235219004.
  31. "Sindhi". The Languages Gulper. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  32. Wadhwani, Y. K. (1981). "The Origin of the Sindhi Language" (PDF). Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute. 40: 192–201. JSTOR 42931119. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  33. "Encyclopædia Britannica". Britannica.com. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  34. "Sindhi Language – Structure, Writing & Alphabet". Mustgo.com. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  35. Parekh, Rauf (30 September 2008). "The Sindhi language and its variations". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  36. Parkin 1989, p. 37.
  37. Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (2005). Languages of Pakistan. In Ethnologue Languages of the World (15th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International.
  38. ^ Moseley, Christopher, ed. (2010). Atlas of the World' s Languages in Danger. Memory of Peoples (3rd ed.). Paris: UNESCO Publishing. ISBN 978-92-3-104096-2. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  39. "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org.
  40. Rahman, Tariq (1997). "Language and Ethnicity in Pakistan". Asian Survey. 37 (9): 833–839. doi:10.2307/2645700. ISSN 0004-4687. JSTOR 2645700.
  41. Constitution of Pakistan: Constitution of Pakistan, 1973 - Article: 31 Islamic way of life Archived 26 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine, 1973, retrieved 28 July 2018
  42. Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training: National Education Policy 2017 Archived 10 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine, p. 25, retrieved 28 July 2018
  43. Clinton Bennett; Charles M. Ramsey (1 March 2012). South Asian Sufis: Devotion, Deviation, and Destiny. A&C Black. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-4411-5127-8.
  44. "Hazaragi (آزرگی)". omniglot.com.
  45. Shah Meer Baloch (21 November 2017). "Asia Why are Pakistanis keen to learn Chinese language?". Deutsche Welle.
  46. Marian Rengel Pakistan: A Primary Source Cultural Guide page 38 ISBN 0823940012, 9780823940011
  47. Mukhtar Ahmed Ancient Pakistan - an Archaeological History pages 6-7 ISBN 1495966437, 9781495966439
  48. Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World (page 283)
  49. Burde, Jayant (2004). Rituals, Mantras, and Science: An Integral Perspective. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. p. 3. ISBN 978-81-208-2053-1. The Aryans spoke an Indo-European language sometimes called the Vedic language from which have descended Sanskrit and other Indic languages ... Prakrit was a group of variants which developed alongside Sanskrit.
  50. Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (26 July 2007). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. p. 163. ISBN 978-1-135-79711-9. ... a number of their morphophonological and lexical features betray the fact that they are not direct continuations of R̥gvedic Sanskrit, the main base of 'Classical' Sanskrit; rather they descend from dialects which, despite many similarities, were different from R̥gvedic and in some regards even more archaic.
  51. Chamber's Encyclopaedia, Volume 7. International Learnings Systems. 1968. Most Aryan languages of India and Pakistan belong to the Indo-Aryan family, and are descended from Sanskrit through the intermediate stage of Prakrit. The Indo-Aryan languages are by far the most important numerically and the territory occupied by them extends over the whole of northern and central India and reaches as far south as Goa.
  52. Donkin, R. A. (2003). Between East and West: The Moluccas and the Traffic in Spices Up to the Arrival of Europeans. American Philosophical Society. p. 60. ISBN 9780871692481. The modern, regional Indo-Aryan languages developed from Prakrt, an early 'unrefined' (prakrta) form of Sanskrit, around the close of the first millennium A.D.
  53. ISO 639 code sets. Sil.org. Retrieved on 2011-01-14.
  54. Shackle 1979, p. 198.
  55. Languages of Pakistan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  56. ISO 639 code sets. Sil.org. Retrieved on 2011-01-14.
  57. ISO 639 code sets. Sil.org. Retrieved on 2011-01-14.
  58. WALS – Sino-Tibetan. Wals.info. Retrieved on 2011-01-14
  59. Naim, C. M. (1999), Ambiguities of Heritage: Fictions and Polemics, City Press, p. 87, ISBN 978-969-8380-19-9

Bibliography

External links

Languages of Pakistan
Official languages
Other languages
(by administrative unit)
Azad Kashmir
Balochistan
Gilgit-Baltistan
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Punjab
Sindh
Related topics
Pakistan articles
History
Ancient
Medieval
Modern
Pre-colonial
Colonial
Dominion
Republic
Geography
Features
Areas
Geology
Environment
Other topics
Governance
State
Government
Legislative
Judicial
Politics
Law
Military
Economy
Infrastructure
Industry
Commerce
Policy programmes
Society and Culture
Society
Demographics
Arts
Lifestyle
Sports
Places
Languages of Asia
Sovereign states
States with
limited recognition
Dependencies and
other territories
Major languages of South Asia
Languages of
Contemporary
languages
Great Andamanese
Dravidian
Germanic
Indo-Aryan
Iranian
Isolates
Khasic
Malay creoles
Munda
Nicobaric
Ongan
Romance
Sino-Tibetan
Turkic
Scripts
Historical
Arabic
Brahmic
Old Italic
Other
Prestige language-

influence
Activism
Category: