Not to be confused with the Siraiki dialect of Sindhi.
Saraiki
سرائیکی
Saraiki in Shahmukhi script (Nastaʿlīq style)
Native to
Pakistan
Region
South Punjab and neighbouring regions
Ethnicity
Saraiki
Native speakers
26 million (2017)[1]
Language family
Indo-European
Indo-Iranian
Indo-Aryan
Northwestern
Saraiki
Writing system
Perso-Arabic (Saraiki alphabet)
Official status
Regulated by
Saraiki area study centre (SASC), BZU Multan
Language codes
ISO 639-3
skr
Glottolog
sera1259
The proportion of people with Saraiki as their mother tongue in each Pakistani District as of the 2017 Pakistan Census
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Saraiki ( سرائیکیSarā'īkī; also spelt Siraiki, or Seraiki) is an Indo-Aryan language of the Lahnda group, spoken by 26 million people primarily in the south-western half of the province of Punjab in Pakistan. It was previously known as Multani, after its main dialect.
Saraiki appears to be a transitional language between Punjabi and Sindhi. Spoken in
Upper Sindh as well as the southern Panjab, it is sometimes considered a dialect of either Sindhi or of Panjabi due to a high degree of mutual intelligibility.[2] Saraiki has partial mutual intelligibility with Standard Punjabi,[3] and it shares with it a large portion of its vocabulary and morphology. At the same time in its phonology it is radically different[4] (particularly in the lack of tones, the preservation of the voiced aspirates and the development of implosive consonants), and has important grammatical features in common with the Sindhi language spoken to the south.[5] Saraiki however, does relate considerably with other Western Punjabi dialects.[citation needed] There is a political movement in Pakistan to declare Saraiki the administrative
language of its own region.[2]
The Saraiki language identity arose in the 1960s, encompassing more narrow local earlier identities (like Multani, Derawi or Riasati),[6] and distinguishing itself from broader ones like that of Punjabi.[7]
Due to effects of dominant languages in Pakistani media like Urdu, Standard Punjabi and English and religious impact of Arabic and Persian, Saraiki like other regional varieties of Pakistan are continuously expanding its vocabulary base with loan words.[8]
^Saraiki at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
^ abKlein, Jared; Joseph, Brian; Fritz, Matthias, eds. (2017). Handbook of comparative and historical Indo-European linguistics ; Volume 1. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 434–435. ISBN 9783110393248.
^Bashir, Conners & Hefright 2019; see also Rahman 1995, p. 16 and Shackle 2014b.
^Shackle 1977, p. 389.
^Shackle 2014b.
^Shackle 1977, pp. 388–89; Rahman 1995, pp. 2–3
^Rahman 1995, pp. 7–8; Shackle 1977, p. 386
^Shams, Shammim Ara (2020). "The Impact of Dominant Languages on Regional Languages: A Case Study of English, Urdu and Shina". Pakistan Social Sciences Review. 4 (III): 1092–1106. doi:10.35484/pssr.2020(4-III)79.
Saraiki ( سرائیکی Sarā'īkī; also spelt Siraiki, or Seraiki) is an Indo-Aryan language of the Lahnda group, spoken by 26 million people primarily in the...
province of Pakistan. They are multi-ethnic in origin and speak the Saraikilanguage. They are mainly found in a region of southern Punjab known as Saraik...
Look up Saraiki in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Saraiki, Siraiki or Seraiki may refer to: Saraikilanguage, an Indo-Aryan language of central Pakistan...
Saraiki literature is the literature of the Saraikilanguage of Pakistani Punjab. The language, partly codified during the British Raj, derived its emotional...
Saraiki culture is the culture of the Saraiki people, residing in Pakistan and outside Pakistan. The traditional dress of Saraiki People is the Shalwar...
trouble', and 4 are 'dying'. * Saraiki was included with Punjabi in the 1951 and 1961 censuses. Urdu (اردو) is the national language (قومی زبان) and lingua franca...
Shahmukhi alphabet. Saraiki has a 43-letter alphabet including, which includes four letters not used in the related Punjabi and Hindko languages. Another difference...
19th-century British writer Richard Francis Burton for a variety of the Saraikilanguage.[need quotation to verify] Jakati is a possibly spurious name used...
Dr. Shakir Shujabadi (Urdu: شاکر شجاع آبادی) is a prominent Saraiki-language poet (born 25 February 1954) in Shujabad, a small city near Multan, Pakistan...
little similarity with the Saraikilanguage of South Punjab and has variously been treated either as a dialect of Saraiki or as a dialect of Sindhi. Lasi:...
Saraikilanguage, and have majorly diluted into speaking Punjabi or Hindi. Saraikistan Saraiki people List of Saraiki people Saraiki culture Saraiki cuisine...
Dera Ismail Khan District (Urdu and Saraiki: ضلع ڈیره اسماعیل خان, Pashto: دېره اسماعيل خان ولسوالۍ), often abbreviated as D.I. Khan is a district in...
Saraiki cuisine (Saraiki: سرائیکی کھاݨیں) refers to the native cuisine of the Saraiki people in central Pakistan. The style of cooking is present in the...
Hindko, Panjabi, and Saraiki. Vol. 4 of Mouton-CASL Grammar Series. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 28. ISBN 9781614512257. Saraiki has four voiced implosive...
Lodhran District (Saraiki: ضِلع لودهراں), is a district in the province of Punjab, Pakistan, with the city of Lodhran as its capital. Located on the northern...
Pakistan, also written in the Brahmic script known as Gurmukhi in India Saraiki, written with a modified Arabic script – that has 45 letters Sindhi, a...
Riasti, Bhawalpuri or Cholistani is a dialect of Saraikilanguage, spoken in Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan districts, located on the banks of the river...
Sajarak also known as Saraiki ajrak (Saraiki: سرائیکی اجرک) is a form of block-printing, inspired by the Sindhi Ajrak, found in South Punjab in Pakistan...
Dera Ismail Khan (/deɪrʌ-ɪsmaɪ.iːl-xɑːn/; Urdu and Saraiki: ڈیرہ اسماعیل خان, Pashto: ډېره اسماعيل خان), abbreviated as D.I. Khan, is a city and capital...
was a notable Saraiki-language poet and lexicographer and was known for compilation of 115,000 words of Saraiki words under title Saraiki Akhar Pothi....
in Saraikilanguage) Muhammad Juman (1935 - 1990) (sang in Sindhi and Saraikilanguages) Reshma (1947 - 2013) (sang in Punjabi and Saraikilanguages) Inayat...
1981 and 2017 censuses respectively, speakers of the Western Punjabi's Saraiki and Hindko varieties were no longer included in the total numbers for Punjabi...
The literary languages that have developed on the basis of dialects of this area are Standard Punjabi in eastern and central Punjab, Saraiki in the southwest...
Muzaffargarh (Saraiki: مظفر ڳڑھ and Urdu: مظفر گڑھ, lit. 'Fort of Muzaffar') is a city in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Located on the bank of the...
Himachali Pali Rajasthani Saraiki Sambalpuri Shauraseni Prakrit Sikkimese Tenyidie Tulu In addition to official languages, a few states also designate...
(also romanized as Fareed; c. 1841 – 24 July 1901) was a 19th-century saraiki sufi poet. He belonged to the Chishti Order and was a mystic from Bahawalpur...
Global Information
