Saraiki (Shahmukhi: سرائیکی) is the southern dialect of Western Punjabi of the Indo-Aryan language family. An organization namely Saraiki Academy was founded in Multan on 6 April 1962.[3] It is spoken by 17 million people (2007) across the South Punjab, southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and border regions of North Sindh and Eastern Balochistan, with some 20,000 migrants and their descendants in India who migrated as a result of the independence of Pakistan, as well as overseas, especially in theMiddle East. Saraiki is also spoken by some Hindus in Afghanistan, though the number there is unknown.
Language or dialect
Because Sindhi, Punjabi and Urdu are spoken in a region that has witnessed significant ethnic and identity conflict, all have been exposed to the dialect-versus-language question. A century ago, each of these languages had a central standard on which its literature was based.
Since recently Saraiki has been regarded as a language with its own standard, as opposed to a dialect of Punjabi. However, this is controversial. The development of the standard written language began after the founding of Pakistan in 1947, driven by a regionalist political movement. The national census of Pakistan has tabulated the prevalence of Saraiki speakers since 1981.
On the other hand Saraiki is also considered a dialect of Punjabi, because Saraiki is mutually intelligible with and morphologically and syntactically similar to standard Punjabi, as agreed by local linguists such as Harjeet Singh Gill and Henry A. Gleason, Narinder K. Dulai,Omkar N. Koul and Siya Madhu Bala, Amar Nath Malik and Afzal Ahmed Cheema as well as modern linguistics organizations such as the UCLA Language Materials Project (LMP) along with modern linguists such as Cardona[15] and N. I. Tolstay classifying Saraiki as a dialect of Punjabi.
In Sindh province (Pakistan) it is considered a dialect of Sindhi spoken in the ten northern districts of the province. There is also a debate about it being the earliest form of theUrdu language after the first Muslim ruler in (historical) India and made Multan the capital of Sindh.
Etymology
The word "Sarāiki" originated from the word "Sauvira", 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: asserts that this etymology is unverified. Another view is that Saraiki word originates from the word Sarai.
The most common rendering of the name is "Saraiki". However, "Seraiki" and "Siraiki" have also been used in academia until recently. Precise spelling aside, the name was adopted in the 1960s by regional social and political leaders. A Saraiki Academy was founded in Multan on 6 April 1962, which gave the name of universal application to the Saraiki. Currently, "Saraiki" is the spelling used in universities of Pakistan (the Islamia University of Bahawalpur, department of Saraiki established in 1989,Bahauddin Zakariya University, in Multan, department of Saraiki established in 2006, and Allama Iqbal Open University, in Islamabad, department of Pakistani languages established in 1998), and by the district governments of Bahawalpur and Multan,as well as by the federal institutions of the Government of Pakistan like Population Census Organization and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation.
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.
History
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.
Geographic distribution
Pakistan
Today, millions of people from North Sindh, South Punjab, South Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and Eastern Balochistan province speak Saraiki.
The first national census of Pakistan to gather data on the prevalence of Saraiki was the census of 1981. 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. Following is the distribution of Saraiki in the four provinces of Pakistan:
In Punjab Saraiki 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 dialect of North ten districts is Saraiki. In Balochistan the native dialect of Daroug and Rakni, Barkhan, Sibi, Naseerabad, Jafferabad and Jhal magsi is Saraiki. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the native dialect 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 independence of Pakistan in 1947. Some of these speakers are settled in Andhra Pradesh who went and settled there before the independence because of their pastoral and nomadic way of life, and these are Muslims.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. One dialects of Saraiki that is spoken by Indian Saraikis is Derawali, spoken by Derawals inDerawal Nagar, Delhi who migrated to India during the independence.The dialects of Saraiki spoken in India are "Bahawalpuri (Bhawalpuri, Reasati, Riasati), Jafri, Jatki, Siraiki Hindki, Thali". 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.
Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, Kandhari, a dialect of Multani Saraiki is a mother tongue of the Hindki. Before the influx of Pathans into the region, the most common spoken dialect in Kandahar was Saraiki, namely the Kandhari or Jataki dialect.
| Saraiki alphabet |
|---|
Saraiki numerals
The Saraiki numerals (also called Arabic–Indic numerals and Arabic Eastern numerals) are the symbols (٠ ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩) used to represent the Hindu–Arabic numeral system in conjunction with the Arabic alphabet in the countries of the Arab east, and its variant in other languages and countries.
| Hindu–Arabic | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saraiki | ٠ | ١ | ٢ | ٣ | ٤ | ٥ | ٦ | ٧ | ٨ | ٩ |
Saraiki in academia
Department of Saraiki, Islamia University, Bahawalpur was established in 1989 and Department of Saraiki, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multanwas established in 2006. Saraiki is taught as subject in schools and colleges at higher secondary, intermediate and degree level. Allama Iqbal open university Islamabad,and Al-Khair university Bhimbir have their Pakistani Linguistics Departments. They are offering M.Phil. and Ph.D in Saraiki. Associated Press of Pakistan has launched its site in saraiki also.
Saraiki media[edit]
Television channels[edit]
Main article: Television in Pakistan
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’.[39]
| TV Channel | Genre | Founded | Official Website |
| Waseb TV (وسیب) | Entertainment | http://www.waseb.tv/ | |
| Kook TV (کوک) | |||
| Rohi TV (روہی) | Entertainment | http://www.rohi.tv/ | |
| PTV MULTAN (پی ٹی وی ملتان) | Entertainment | http://ptv.com.pk/ (presents programmes in Saraiki) | |
| PTV National (پی ٹی وی نیشنل) | Entertainment | http://ptv.com.pk/ (presents programmes in Saraiki along with other regional languages) |
