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Sindhi | |
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Sindhi written in Perso-Arabic script and Devanagari | |
Pronunciation | IPA: [sɪndʱiː] |
Native to | |
Region | Sindh and near the border in neighbouring regions such as Kutch and Balochistan |
Ethnicity | Sindhis |
Native speakers | c. 32 million (2011–2017) |
Naskh script, Devanagari and others[1] | |
Official status | |
Official language in | |
Regulated by |
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | sd |
ISO 639-2 | snd |
ISO 639-3 | snd |
Glottolog | sind1272 Sindhi |
Linguasphere | 59-AAF-f |
![]() The proportion of people with Sindhi as their mother tongue in each Pakistani District as of the 2017 Pakistan Census | |
![]() Sindhi is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Sindhi (/ˈsɪndi/ SIN-dee;[3] Sindhi: سِنڌِي (Perso-Arabic) or सिन्धी (Devanagari), pronounced [sɪndʱiː])[a] is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 30 million people in the Pakistani province of Sindh, where it has official status. It is also spoken by a further 1.7 million people in India, where it is a scheduled language, without any state-level official status. The main writing system is the Perso-Arabic script, which accounts for the majority of the Sindhi literature and is the only one currently used in Pakistan. In India, both the Perso-Arabic script and Devanagari are used.
Sindhi is first attested in historical records within the Nātyaśāstra, a text thought to have been composed between 200 B.C. and 200 A.D. The earliest written evidence of Sindhi as a language can be found in a translation of the Qur’an into Sindhi dating back to 883 A.D.[4] Sindhi was one of the first Indo-Aryan languages to encounter influence from Persian and Arabic following the Umayyad conquest in 712 CE. A substantial body of Sindhi literature developed during the Medieval period, the most famous of which is the religious and mystic poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai from the 18th century. Modern Sindhi was promoted under British rule beginning in 1843, which led to the current status of the language in independent Pakistan after 1947.
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Dodo_Chanesar_Khudabadi_script.png/220px-Dodo_Chanesar_Khudabadi_script.png)
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Origins
The name "Sindhi" is derived from the Sanskrit síndhu, the original name of the Indus River, along whose delta Sindhi is spoken.[5]
Like other languages of the Indo-Aryan family, Sindhi is descended from Old Indo-Aryan (Sanskrit) via Middle Indo-Aryan (Pali, secondary Prakrits, and Apabhramsha). 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, corresponding to modern Sindh) but later work has shown this to be unlikely.[6]
Early Sindhi (2nd–16th centuries)
Literary attestation of early Sindhi is sparse. Sindhi is first mentioned in historical records within the Nātyaśāstra, a text on dramaturgy thought to have been composed between 200 B.C. and 200 A.D. The earliest written evidence of Sindhi as a language can be found in a translation of the Qur’an into Sindhi dating back to 883 A.D.[4] Historically, Isma'ili religious literature and poetry in India, as old as the 11th century CE, used a language that was closely related to Sindhi and Gujarati. Much of this work is in the form of ginans (a kind of devotional hymn).[7][8]
Sindhi was the first Indo-Aryan language to be in close contact with Arabic and Persian following the Umayyad conquest of Sindh in 712 CE.
Medieval Sindhi (16th–19th centuries)
Medieval Sindhi literature is of a primarily religious genre, comprising a syncretic Sufi and Advaita Vedanta poetry, the latter in the devotional bhakti tradition. The earliest known Sindhi poet of the Sufi tradition is Qazi Qadan (1493–1551). Other early poets were Shah Inat Rizvi (c. 1613–1701) and Shah Abdul Karim Bulri (1538–1623). These poets had a mystical bent that profoundly influenced Sindhi poetry for much of this period.[7]
Another famous part of Medieval Sindhi literature is a wealth of folktales, adapted and readapted into verse by many bards at various times and possibly much older than their earliest literary attestations. These include romantic epics such as Sassui Punnhun, Sohni Mahiwal, Momal Rano, Noori Jam Tamachi, Lilan Chanesar, and others.[9]
The greatest poet of Sindhi was Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (1689/1690–1752), whose verses were compiled into the Shah Jo Risalo by his followers. While primarily Sufi, his verses also recount traditional Sindhi folktales and aspects of the cultural history of Sindh.[7]
The first attested Sindhi translation of the Quran was done by Akhund Azaz Allah Muttalawi (1747–1824) and published in Gujarat in 1870. The first to appear in print was by Muhammad Siddiq in 1867.[10]
Modern Sindhi (1843–present)
In 1843, the British conquest of Sindh led the region to become part of the Bombay Presidency. Soon after, in 1848, Governor George Clerk established Sindhi as the official language in the province, removing the literary dominance of Persian. Sir Bartle Frere, the then commissioner of Sindh, issued orders on August 29, 1857, advising civil servants in Sindh to pass an examination in Sindhi. He also ordered the use of Sindhi in official documents.[11] In 1868, the Bombay Presidency assigned Narayan Jagannath Vaidya to replace the Abjad used in Sindhi with the Khudabadi script. The script was decreed a standard script by the Bombay Presidency thus inciting anarchy in the Muslim majority region. A powerful unrest followed, after which Twelve Martial Laws were imposed by the British authorities. The granting of official status of Sindhi along with script reforms ushered in the development of modern Sindhi literature.
The first printed works in Sindhi were produced at the Muhammadi Press in Bombay beginning in 1867. These included Islamic stories set in verse by Muhammad Hashim Thattvi, one of the renowned religious scholars of Sindh.[9]
The Partition of India in 1947 resulted in most Sindhi speakers ending up in the new state of Pakistan, commencing a push to establish a strong sub-national linguistic identity for Sindhi. This manifested in resistance to the imposition of Urdu and eventually Sindhi nationalism in the 1980s.[12]
The language and literary style of contemporary Sindhi writings in Pakistan and India were noticeably diverging by the late 20th century; authors from the former country were borrowing extensively from Urdu, while those from the latter were highly influenced by Hindi.[13]
Geographic distribution
In Pakistan, Sindhi is the first language of 30.26 million people, or 14.6% of the country's population as of the 2017 census. 29.5 million of these are found in Sindh, where they account for 62% of the total population of the province. There are 0.56 million speakers in the province of Balochistan,[14] especially in the Kacchi Plain that encompasses the districts of Lasbela, Hub, Kachhi, Sibi, Sohbatpur, Jafarabad, Jhal Magsi, Usta Muhammad and Nasirabad.
In India, Sindhi mother tongue speakers were distributed in the following states:
State | Population |
---|---|
Gujarat | 1,184,024 |
Maharashtra | 723,748 |
Rajashtan | 386,569 |
Madhya Pradesh | 245,161 |
Chattisgarh | 93,424 |
Delhi (NCT) | 31,177 |
Uttar Pradesh | 28,952 |
Assam | 19,646 |
Karnataka | 16,954 |
Andhra Pradesh | 11,299 |
Tamil Nadu | 8,448 |
West Bengal | 7,828 |
Uttarakhand | 2,863 |
Odisha | 2,338 |
Bihar | 2,227 |
Jharkhand | 1,701 |
Haryana | 1,658 |
Kerala | 1,251 |
Punjab | 754 |
Goa | 656 |
Dadra and Nagar | 894 |
Meghalaya | 236 |
Chandigarh | 134 |
Puducherry | 94 |
Nagaland | 82 |
Himachal Pradesh | 62 |
Tripura | 30 |
Jammu and Kashmir | 19 |
Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 14 |
Arunachal Pradesh | 12 |
Lakshadweep | 7 |
Sikkim | 2 |
Official status
Sindhi is the official language of the Pakistani province of Sindh[16][2] and one of the scheduled languages of India, where it does not have any state-level status.[17]
Prior to the inception of Pakistan, Sindhi was the national language of Sindh.[18][19][20][21] The Pakistan Sindh Assembly has ordered compulsory teaching of the Sindhi language in all private schools in Sindh.[22] According to the Sindh Private Educational Institutions Form B (Regulations and Control) 2005 Rules, "All educational institutions are required to teach children the Sindhi language.[23] Sindh Education and Literacy Minister, Syed Sardar Ali Shah, and Secretary of School Education, Qazi Shahid Pervaiz, have ordered the employment of Sindhi teachers in all private schools in Sindh so that this language can be easily and widely taught.[24] Sindhi is taught in all provincial private schools that follow the Matric system and not the ones that follow the Cambridge system.[25]
At the occasion of 'Mother Language Day' in 2023, the Sindh Assembly under Culture minister Sardar Ali Shah, passed a unanimous resolution to extend the use of language to primary level[26] and increase the status of Sindhi as a national language[27][28][29] of Pakistan.
The Indian Government has legislated Sindhi as a scheduled language in India, making it an option for education. Despite lacking any state-level status, Sindhi is still a prominent minority language in the Indian state of Rajasthan.[30]
There are many Sindhi language television channels broadcasting in Pakistan such as Time News, KTN, Sindh TV, Awaz Television Network, Mehran TV, and Dharti TV.
Dialects
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/The_dialects_of_Sindhi_language.png/220px-The_dialects_of_Sindhi_language.png)
Sindhi has many dialects, and forms a dialect continuum at some places with neighboring languages such as Saraiki and Gujarati. Some of the documented dialects of Sindhi are:[31][32][33][34][35]
- Vicholi: The prestige dialect spoken around Hyderabad and central Sindh (the Vicholo region). The literary standard of Sindhi is based on this dialect.
- Uttaradi: The dialect of northern Sindh (Uttaru, meaning "north"), with minor differences in Larkana, Shikarpur and in parts of Sukkur and Kandiaro.[36]
- Lari: The dialect of southern Sindh (Lāṛu) spoken around areas like Karachi, Thatta, Sujawal, Tando Muhammad Khan and Badin districts.
- Siroli/Siraiki or Ubheji: The dialect of northernmost Sindh (Siro, meaning "head").[37] Spoken in smaller number all over Sindh but mainly in Jacobabad and Kashmore districts, it has little similarity with the Saraiki language of South Punjab[38] and has variously been treated either as a dialect of Saraiki or as a dialect of Sindhi.[39]
- Lasi: The dialect of Lasbela, Hub and Gwadar districts in Balochistan, closely related to Lari and Vicholi, and in contact with Balochi.
- Firaqi Sindhi: The dialect of the Kachhi plains the north eastern districts of Balochistan, where it is referred to as Firaqi Sindhi or commonly just Sindhi.[40][41]
- Thareli: also called Tharechi dialect, spoken in north eastern Thar Desert of Sindh, called Nara desert (Achhro thar), but mainly spoken in the western part of Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan, India by many Sindhi Muslims.[42][43]
- Sindhi Bhili: It is a dialect spoken in Sindh by the Sindhi Meghwars and Bheels.[44] Sindhi Bhil is known to have many old Sindhi words, which were lost after Arabic, Persian, and Chaghatai influence.[45][46]
The variety of Sindhi spoken by Sindhi Hindus who emigrated to India is known as Dukslinu Sindhi. Furthermore, Kutchi and Jadgali are sometimes classified as dialects of Sindhi rather than independent languages.
English | Vicholi | Lari | Uttaradi | Lasi | Kutchi[48] | Dhatki |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I | Aao(n) | Aao(n) | Mā(n) | Ã | Aau(n) | Hu(n) |
My | Muhnjo | Mujo | Mānjo/Māhjo | Mojo/Mājo | Mujo | Mānjo/Māhyo |
You "Sin, plu" (formal) | Awha(n)/Awhee(n)
Tawha(n)/Tawhee(n) |
Aa(n)/Aei(n) | Taha(n)/Taa(n)/
Tahee(n)/Taee(n) |
Awa(n)/Ai(n) | Aa(n)/Ai(n) | Awha/Ahee(n)/ Aween |
To me | Mukhe | Muke | Mānkhe | Mukh | Muke | Mina |
We | Asee(n) | Asee(n), Pān | Asā(n) | Asee(n) | Asee(n), Pān | Asee(n), Asā(n) |
What | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Sindhi_alphabet