Sarayki language - Wikipedia

Saraiki (Shahmukhi: سرائیکی, Gurmukhi: ਸਰਾਇਕੀ, Devanagari: सराइकी), also spelled Siraiki and Seraiki, is a recently standardized language of the Indo-Aryan (Indic) language family that has traditionally been considered a southern dialect of Panjabi. It is spoken by 17 million people across the South Punjab, southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and border regions of Sindh and Balochistan, with some 20,000 migrants and their descendants in India^[1] who migrated as a result of the partition of India, as well as overseas, especially in the Middle East. Saraiki is also spoken by some Hindus in Afghanistan, though the number there is unknown.^[2][4]

The development of the standard written language began after the founding of Pakistan in 1947, driven by a regionalist political movement.^{[5]: 838 [6]} The national census of Pakistan has tabulated the prevalence of Saraiki speakers since 1981.^[7]: 46 Saraiki is the fourth most widely spoken language in Pakistan after Punjabi, Pashto, and Sindhi; and within Punjab Province it is one of the two major languages.

Itagi, N. H. (1994). Spatial Aspects of Language. Central Institute of Indian Languages. p. 70. ISBN 81-7342-009-2.</ref>

The word "Sarāiki" originated from the word "Sauvira",^[8] a kingdom name of ancient India, also mentioned in the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata. By adding adjectival suffix "-ki" to the word "Sauvirā" it became "Sauvirāki". The consonant 'v' with its neighboring vowels was dropped for simplification and hence the name became "Sarāiki". Although George Abraham Grierson reported that "Sirāiki" (that was the spelling he used) is from a Sindhi word sirō, meaning 'of the north, northern', Christopher Shackle^[6]: 388 asserts that this etymology is unverified. Another view is that Saraiki word originates from the word Sarai.

The standard Romanization of the Saraiki language name (at least de facto) is "Saraiki". However, "Seraiki", and "Siraiki" have also been used in academia until recently. The language name (in whichever of these spellings) was adopted in the 1960s by regional social and political leaders. An organization namely Saraiki Academy was founded in Multan on 6 April 1962, under the Presidentship of Mir Hassaan-ul-Haidri who was replaced by Makhdoom Sajjad Hussain Qureshi, which gave the name of universal application to the language.^[6] Presently, "Saraiki" is the spelling used in universities of Pakistan (the Islamia University of Bahawalpur, department of Saraiki established in 1989,^[9] Bahauddin Zakariya University, in Multan, department of Saraiki established in 2006,^[10] and Allama Iqbal Open University, in Islamabad, department of Pakistani languages established in 1998),^[11] and by the district governments of Bahawalpur^[12] and Multan,^[13] as well as by the federal institutions of the Government of Pakistan like Population Census Organization^[14] and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation.^[15]

Two of the native scripts, Gurmukhi and Devanagari, use the 'a' spelling (or rather, its native equivalent), which indicates that the vowel of the first syllable is a short /a/. In the Gurmukhi and Devanagari spellings given above, this is manifested by the lack of any vowel diacritic. As is standard for native Indo-Aryan orthographies, the absence of any diacritic over a consonant indicates that a short /a/ is spoken after that consonant.

The name "Saraiki" (or variant spellings) was formally adopted in the 1960s by regional social and political leaders who undertook to promote Saraiki dialects of Punjabi.

Saraiki is member of the Indo-Aryan subdivision of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. Standard Punjabi and Saraiki (South Punjabi) are mutually intelligible; they slightly differ in consonant inventory and in the structure of the verb. Saraiki is about 80% intelligible with Dogri.

In 1919, Grierson maintained that the dialects of what is now the southwest of Punjab Province in Pakistan constitute a dialect cluster, which he designated "Southern Lahnda" within a putative "Lahnda language". Subsequent Indo-Aryanist linguists have confirmed the reality of this dialect cluster, even while rejecting the name "Southern Lahnda" along with the entity "Lahnda" itself.^{[16]: 18–20} Grierson also maintained that "Lahnda" was his novel designation for various dialects up to then called "Western Punjabi", spoken north, west, and south of Lahore. The local dialect of Lahore is the Majhi dialect of Punjabi, which has long been the basis of standard literary Punjabi.^[17] However, outside of Indo-Aryanist circles, the concept of "Lahnda" is still found in compilations of the world's languages (e.g., Ethnologue).

The historical inventory of names for the dialects now called Saraiki is a confusion of overlapping or conflicting ethnic, local, and regional designations. "Hindki" and "Hindko" – which means merely "of India" – refer to various Saraiki and even non-Saraiki dialects in Punjab Province and farther north within the country, due to the fact they were applied by arrivals from Afghanistan or Persia. One historical name for Saraiki, Jaṭki, means "of the Jaṭṭs", a northern South Asian ethnic group; but Jaṭṭs speak the Indo-Aryan dialect of whatever region they live in. Only a small minority of Saraiki speakers are Jaṭṭs, and not all Saraiki speaking Jaṭṭs necessarily speak the same dialect of Saraiki. However, these people usually call their traditions as well as language as Jataki. Conversely, several Saraiki dialects have multiple names corresponding to different locales or demographic groups. When consulting sources before 2000, it is important to know that Pakistani administrative boundaries have been altered frequently. Provinces in Pakistan are divided into districts, and sources on "Saraiki" often describe the territory of a dialect or dialect group according to the districts. Since the founding of Pakistan in 1947, several of these districts have been subdivided, some multiple times. Until 2001, the territorial structure of Pakistan included a layer of divisions between a province and it's districts. The name dialect name "Ḍerawali" is used to refer to the local dialects of both Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan, but "Ḍerawali" in the former is the Multani dialect and "Ḍerawali" in the latter is the Thaḷi dialect.^{[16]: Appendix I:220-245 [17]: 239ff} The critical point in categorizing Saraiki is that many dialects traditionally considered as Saraiki are also claimed by Punjabi scholars. For instance, Multani and Derawali are dialects of Saraiki but the regions where these dialects are spoken are part of Punjab as there is no Saraiki speaking independent province. In the National Census of Pakistan (1981), Saraiki, Pahari-Potohari and Hindko (Before categorized as "Western Punjabi") got the status of separate languages. Therefore, the exact figures of Saraiki speaking population are not confirmed. Some people claim that actually the number of speakers of Saraiki are greater than the standard Punjabi dialects.

Saraiki is a language of great antiquity in Pakistan. It served as lingua franca among the people living in the Indus Valley for centuries. It also remained the language of commerce and trade until recent times. Today, people of North Sindh,South Punjab,South Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and Easteren Baluchistan province speak Saraiki as their first language.

Pakistan

The first national census of Pakistan to gather data on the prevalence of Saraiki was the census of 1981.^{[citation needed]} In that year, the percentage of respondents nationwide reporting Saraiki as their mother tongue was 9.83. In the census of 1998, it was 10.53 out of a national population of 132 million, for a figure of 13.9 million Saraiki speakers resident in Pakistan. Also according to the 1998 census, 12.8 million of those, or 92%, lived in the Province of Punjab.^[18] Following is the distribution of Saraiki in the four provinces of Pakistan:

In Punjab Saraiki Dialect region is categorized as the combination of four sub-regions:

• Roh: means mountains, referred to the Sulaiman Mountains in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts.
• Rohi: Cholistan Desert in Bahawalpur and Rahim yar khan districts
• Thal: Thal Desert in Layyah, and Muzaffargarh districts
• Daamaan: meaning the foothills, referred to the foothills of Sulaiman Mountains in Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan. It may also referred to the plain areas around Multan and Lodhran.

In Sindh the native language of North ten districts is Saraiki. In Balochistan the native language of Daroug and Rakni, Barkhan, Sibi, Naseerabad, Jafferabad and Jhal magsi is Saraiki. In Khyber Pakhtunkha the native Language in DI khan, Tank and Lakki Marwat is Saraiki.

India

According to the Indian census of 2001, Saraiki is spoken in urban areas throughout northwest and north central India by a total of about 70,000 people, mainly by the descendants of migrants from western Punjab after the partition of India in 1947. Some of these speakers are settled in Andhra Pradesh who went and settled there before the partition because of their pastoral and nomadic way of life, and these are Muslims.^[19] Out of these total speakers of the language, 56,096 persons report their dialect as Mūltānī and by 11,873 individuals report their dialect as Bahāwalpurī.^[1] One dialects of Saraiki that is spoken by Indian Saraikis is Derawali, spoken by Derawals in Derawal Nagar, Delhi who migrated to India during the partition.^[20] Other dialects spoken by Indian Saraikis include Jafri, Saraiki Hindki, Jhangi, Thali, and Jatki.^[21] Saraiki is spoken in Faridabad, Ballabhgarh, Palwal, Rewari, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Bhiwani, Panipat districts of Haryana, some area of Delhi and Ganganagar district,Hanumangarh and Bikaner districts of Rajasthan. It is spoken at low scale in Utrakhand and U.P.

Romani and Saraiki share some words and similar grammatical systems. The cause of the Romani diaspora is unknown. However, the most probable conclusion is that the Romanies were part of the military in Northern India. When there were repeated raids by Mahmud of Ghazni and these soldiers were defeated, they were moved west with their families into the Byzantine Empire. This would have occurred between AD 1000 and 1030.^{[citation needed]}

Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, Kandhari, a dialect of Multani Saraiki is a mother tongue of the Hindki.^[2] Before the influx of Pathans into the region, the most common language spoken in Kandahar was Saraiki, namely the Kandhari or Jataki dialect.^[22]

Outside South Asia

Saraiki is also spoken in Iran. Many Saraiki migrants are in Middle East, Europe and America with smaller communities in Australia, South East Asia and China and Cuba. Saraiki is second largest language in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with more than 2.5M. In United Kingdom Saraiki is spoken by 400,000. In Canada,^[23] China, South Africa and usa^[24] saraiki is also spoken.

Saraiki and Sindhi both have somewhat similar consonant inventories.^[16] This inventory includes phonemically distinctive implosive consonants, which makes Sindhi and Saraiki unusual among the Indo-European languages (and not just among the Indo-Aryan languages).

Vowels

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

Consonants

There are three writing systems for Saraiki, though very few Saraiki speakers—even those literate in other languages — are able to read or write their own language in any writing system. The most common Saraiki writing system today is the Persian script, which has also been adapted for use on computers. Saraiki has a 42-letter alphabet including 37 of the Urdu alphabet and five letters unique to Saraiki. The Saraiki keyboard can also be used for other languages such as Punjabi & Kashmiri. The Devanagari and Gurmukhi scripts, written from left to right, were used by Sikhs and Hindus. Though not used in present-day Pakistan, there are still emigrant speakers in India who know the Devanagari or Gurmukhi scripts for Saraiki.^[25][26] Traders or bookkeepers wrote in a script known as Langdi, although use of this script has been significantly reduced in recent times. Likewise, a script related to the Landa scripts family, known as Multani, was previously used to write Saraiki.Preliminary Proposal to Encode the Multani Script in ISO/IEC 10646 is submitted by Anshuman Pandey, on 26-04-2011.^[27] Saraiki Unicode has been approved in 2006. The transliteration from and to Persian and Devanagari scripts for Saraiki language can be made online.^[28]

In the process of creating a distinct Saraiki written language, activists have paid attention to creating a standard script and orthographic norms. Orthographic and linguistic standardization of Saraiki seems more connected with the politics of identity. Although Saraiki shares four implosive sounds with Sindhi, care was taken so that the Saraiki script and the representation of these symbols should be different from that of Sindhi so that the Sindhis should not lay any claims over Saraiki literature as theirs.^{[citation needed]} Here is an example of Saraiki poetry by Khwaja Ghulam Farid:

اپڑیں ملک کوں آپ وسا توں ۔ پٹ انگریزی تھانے

Department of Saraiki, Islamia University, Bahawalpur was established in 1989^[29] and Department of Saraiki, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan^[30] was established in 2006. Saraiki is taught as subject in schools and colleges at higher secondary, intermediate and degree level. Allama Iqbal open university Islamabad,^[11] and Al-Khair university Bhimbir have their Pakistani Language Departments. They are offering M.Phil. and Ph.D in Saraiki.

Khawaja Ghulam Farid (1845–1901), his famous collection is Deewan-e-Farid, Sultan Bahu and Sachal Sar Mast (1739–1829) are the most celebrated Sufi poets in Saraiki and their poems known as Kafi are still famous.

The beloved's intense glances call for blood

The dark hair wildly flows The Kohl of the eyes is fiercely black

And slays the lovers with no excuse

My appearance in ruins, I sit and wait

While the beloved has settled in Malheer I feel the sting of the cruel dart

My heart the, abode of pain and grief A life of tears, I have led Farid

-one of Khwaja Ghulam Farid's poems (translated)

Shakir Shujabadi (Kalam-e-Shakir, Khuda Janey, Shakir Diyan Ghazlan, Peelay Patr, Munafqan Tu Khuda Bachaway, Shakir De Dohray are his famous books) is very well recognized modern poet.

Famous singers who performed in Saraiki include Attaullah Khan Essa Khailwi, Pathanay Khan, Abida Parveen, Ustad Muhammad Juman, Mansoor Malangi, Talib Hussain Dard, Kamal Mahsud,^[31] and The Sketches (band). Many modern Pakistan Singers like Hadiqa Kiyani and Ali Zafar have also sung Saraiki folk songs.

Television channels

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday said southern Punjab is rich in cultural heritage which needs to be promoted for next generations. In a message on the launch of Saraiki channel by Pakistan Television (PTV) in Multan, Prime Minister Gilani said the step would help promote the rich heritage of ‘Saraiki Belt’.^[32]

Radio

These are not dedicated Saraiki channels but play most programmes in Saraiki.

Newspapers

• Saraiki people
• Saraiki literature

• Saraiki culture
• Saraiki Tradition
• Saraiki nationalism
• Sauvira Kingdom
• Saraikistan
• Bahawalpur (princely state)
• Multan
• Indus Valley Civilization
• Cholistan
• Thal
• Derajat, comprising Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan
• Sulaiman Mountains
• Salt Range
• Christopher Shackle, Yuri Andreyevich Smirnov and George Abraham Grierson are Westerners who did research on Saraiki language.

•   This article incorporates text from The cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia: commercial, industrial and scientific, products of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, useful arts and manufactures, Volume 2, by Edward Balfour, a publication from 1885, now in the public domain in the United States.

• Wagha, Ahsan (1990). The Saraiki Language: Its Growth and Development. Islamabad: Dderawar Publications.
• Ethnologue: Languages of the World (unknown ed.). SIL International.^{[This citation is dated, and should be substituted with a specific edition of Ethnologue]}
• Gardezi, Hassan N. (1996). Saraiki Language and its poetics: An Introduction. London: Sangat Publishers.
• Latif, Amna. Phonemic Inventory of Saraiki Language and Acoustic Analysis of Voiced Implosives (PDF). Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing, CRULP Annual Student Report, 2002-2003.
• Rahman, Tariq. 1999. Language, education, and culture. Islamabad : Sustainable Development Policy Institute ; Karachi : Oxford University Press.
• Rahman, Tariq. No date. People and Languages in the Pre-Islamic Indus Valley. Hosted by the Asian Studies Network Information Center, University of Texas.
• Saraiki Alphabet with Gurmukhi equivalents

• Asif, Saiqa Imtiaz. 2005. Saraiki Language and Ethnic Identity Journal of Research (Faculty of Languages and Islamic Studies), 7: 9-17. Multan (Pakistan): Bahauddin Zakariya University.
• HEC, Islamabad Pakistan.Letter No. 20-/R7D/09 -5243 Dated 20-01-2010.
• Shackle, C. 1976. The Saraiki language of central Pakistan: a reference grammar. London:School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).
• http://www.lisindia.net/Lahnda/lah_demo.html

• DailySaraiki.com The Voice of Saraiki,Online Newspaper of Saraiki
• Download Saraiki font and keyboard layout for Windows