Siraiki_language

Saraiki (Perso-Arabic: سراییکی), also called Multani (Perso-Arabic: ملتانی, Gurmukhi: ਮੁਲਤਾਨੀ, Devanagari: मुल्तानी), is an Indo-Aryan (Indic)Seraiki. Ethnologue. Retrieved on 2007-07-14. language mostly spoken in the provinces of South Punjab in central Pakistan by about 13.9 million people (according to 1998 census) as well as by about 26,000 people in India,The Multani of India. Bethany World Prayer Center. Retrieved on 2007-07-14. and by a small minority in Afghanistan.Introduction. Afghan Hindu. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.

Classification

Saraiki is part of a dialect continuum with Punjabi and Sindhi. Saraiki, Punjabi and Sindhi are members of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family.

Geographic distribution

Saraiki 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. Saraiki is also spoken in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and it is third popular 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 spoken widely in Lakki Marwat. It is mostly spoken in the south of Punjab in Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Mailsi, Mianwali, Vehari, Rahim Yar Khan, Rajan Pur and Bahawalpur in Pakistan.

In India, it is known as Multani and is spoken by the Multanis who settled mostly in the urban areas of the states of Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Gujarat after the partition of India in 1947. Their population in mainly concentrated in Delhi and in the towns of Haryana, such as Rohtak, Kaithal, Jind, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Fatehabad and Hissar.

In Afghanistan, Kandahari, a dialect of Multani/Saraiki is a mother tongue of Afghan Hindus.Introduction. Afghan Hindu. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.

Phonology

Vowels

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

Consonants

Writing system

There are two writing systems for Multani / Saraiki. One is a variant of the Arabic script, which is in vogue today. Very few Saraiki speakers are literate in their own language, however, although some may be able to write other languages. However, the Hindus, especially the traders, wrote a script called Lahnda, which was written from left to right.People and Languages in the Pre-Islamic Indus Valley. University of Texas. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.ਮੁਲਤਾਨੀ. Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Retrieved on 2007-12-08. It is no longer used in present-day Pakistan, but there are still people of the generation that learned the script before the partition of India, when they had to flee, settle, and assimilate in different regions and linguistic territories of India and other places of the world. Some Indian Multanis also write in the Devanagari script.Multani poets relive memories of struggle. Indian Express. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.Multani Writing. The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.

See also

• Saraikistan
• Saraiki people
• Saraiki literature

References

Bibliography

• Ahsan, Wagha (1990). The Seraiki Language: Its Growth and Development. Islamabad: Dderawar Publications. 
• Gardezi, Hassan N. (1996). Seraiki Language and its poetics: An Introduction. London: Sangat Publishers. 
• Shackle, Christopher (1976). The Seraiki 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. 

External links

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

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