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Saraiki language

NameSaraiki
StatesPakistan
India
Afghanistan
Speakers13.9 million in Pakistan (1998 Population and Housing Census, Pakistan)However , it is estimated that there are approximately 56 million(5.6 Crore) people in all four provinces of Pakistan who speak Seraiki as their native language.out of which 45 Million reside in Southern Punjab,
68,000 in India (Census of India, 2001) (combined figure for persons claiming either the Multani dialect or the Bahawalpuri dialect)
FamilycolorIndo-European
Fam1Indo-European
Fam2Indo-Iranian
Fam3Indo-Aryan
Fam4North-Western Zone
Fam5Lahnda
ScriptPersian alphabet, Laṇḍā scripts particularly Gurumukhi, Devanagari script, Langdi script
Iso3skr
NoticeIndic
Notice2IPA

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Saraiki (Persian script: سرائیکی ), transliterated as Sirāikī and sometimes spelled Seraiki and Saraiki, is a standardized written language of Pakistan belonging to the Indo-Aryan (Indic) languages. It is a language spoken in the heart of Pakistan. Saraiki is based on a group of vernacular, historically unwritten dialects spoken by over 14 million people across the southern most half of Punjab Province, the adjacent border region of Sindh Province, and the northwest of Punjab Province, southern districts of Dera Ismail Khan and Tank of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province as well as by nearly 70,000 emigrants and their descendants in India. The development of the standard written language, a process which began after the founding of Pakistan in 1947, has been driven by a regionalist political movement. It is to be considered that this is the movement for a separate ethnic identity only and Saraikis are considered as Pakistani nationalists due to their geographic position within Pakistan. The national census of Pakistan has tabulated the prevalence of Saraiki speakers since 1981. Saraiki is the fourth most widely spoken language in Pakistan, behind Punjabi, Pashto, and Sindhi; and within Punjab Province it is one of the two major languages.

However, it is estimated that there are approximately 56 million (5.6 Crore) people in all four provinces of Pakistan who speak Seraiki as their native language, out of which 45 million reside in Southern Punjab. Nearly 3 Million (30 Lacs) Seraikis are living in Karachi which is the economic hub of Pakistan. Mostly the labour class of Karachi consists of either Seraikis or the Pashtuns. In Karachi if you visit any hair parlour, ride any taxi or cab, hire a daily wages labourer or go to any fruit vendor you will find a Seraiki speaking labourer everywhere.

The standard English language spelling of the name (at least de facto) is "Saraiki". However, into the new millennium, "Saraiki", "Seraiki", and "Siraiki" have all been used in academia and among promoters of Sairaiki ethnic consciousness. 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.


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