ROLL NO. : D-14-CS-07

SAQIB IQBAL 5/6/14 PAKISTAN STUDIES

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.NO TOPIC NAME PAGE

NO

1 INTRODUCTION 02

2 HISTORY AND ORIGIN 03

3 WAY OF WRITING 05

4 DIALECTS 08

5 REFERENCES 09

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INTRODUCTION

Sindhi is one of the major languages of Pakistan , spoken in the province of Sindh

by approximately forty million people. It is one of the oldest language of the sub-

continent with a rich culture, vast folklore and extensive literature. Sindhi is an

Indo Aryan language spoken by approximately 41 million people in Pakistan, and

12 million people in India; it is the second most spoken language of Pakistan,

mostly spoken in the Sindh province. It is a recognized official language in

Pakistan, and also an official language in India. Government of Pakistan issues

National Identity Cards to its citizens only in two languages; Sindhi and Urdu.It

was the first language in which Quraan was translated to. The translation was made

possible by Abdullah bin Umar bin Abdul Aziz on a request of a Hindu Raja

Mehruk in 884 CE.

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HISTORY AND ORIGIN

Sindhi's history dates back to the era of Mohenjo-daro, but unfortunately linguists

have failed to unite on the opinion on origin of Sindhi langauge.

Scholars have different opinions. Some opinions are:

The Sindhi is a pure Sanskritical language, more free from foreign elements than

any of the North Indian vernaculars.

- Professor E. Trumpp

The oldest book written in Sindh was in Prakrit. It dates back to three centuries

B.C.

- Dr Suniti Kumar Chatterji

Politically, Mohammed Bin Quasim's conquest of Sindh in 711 AD started the

influence of Arabic language on Sindhi.

Since then Sindh was rules by many empires, followed by British.

Britisher wanting to administer the country properly, had to understand the

language of the land so they started standardizing the script, and promoting the

language.

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Sir Bartle Frere, Commissioner in Sind, 1851, issued an order and made the study

of Sindhi Language compulsory for the British officers.

Capt. George Stack and Capt. Richard Burton differed in their opinion on what

script to use for Sindhi. Capt. Stack argued in favor of a modified form of

Devnagari script while Capt. Burton advised modified form of Perso-Arabic script.

In 1853, East India Company decided to use Perso-Arabic on a trial basis and soon

it became the official language of Sindh.

In India, still Perso-Arabic and Devnagari both are recognized. Even UPSC accepts

both the scripts for its examination.

Sindhi became the medium of instruction in Schools.

It was this time that many British scholars like Dr. Earnest Trumpp and Captain

Stack and many more have started working on the Sindhi language and came up

with many books, dictionaries and other literature in Sindhi.Dr Earnest Trumpp

published his books Shah-jo-Risalo ( compiled verses of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai )

and Sindhi Grammar from Germany.

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WAY OF WRITING

Sindhi can be written in more than 7 ways

i.e.

Laṇḍā scripts, Khudabadi, Khojiki, Gurmukhi, Arabic script, Devanagari script And

Gujarati script .

But 3 main ways of writing are:

Khudabadi script

The Khudabadi script was used for writing the Indo-Aryan Sindhi language spoken

by almost 20 million people in the Sindh province of Pakistan and in India. It is no

longer used. The Khudabadi script is written using sixty-nine letters, including

thirty-seven consonants, ten independent vowels, nine vowel diacritics, and a set

of digits from 0-9.

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Devanagari script

The Sindhi-Devanagari script is adapted from the Sanskrit system of writing. Each

character in the Devanagari system represents a syllable. It consists of either a

vowel or a consonant followed by the vowel. Devanagari characters are written

from left to right.

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Arabic script

The Sindhi-Arabic script is adapted from the Persian system of writing, which itself

is an adaptation of the Arabic system. Arabic characters are written from right to

left. The script comprises of fifty-two characters and seven diacritic signs.

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DIALECTS

A variety of a language that is distinguished from other varieties of the same

language by features of phonology,grammer and vocabulary.

Six major dialects are

identified with regard to

spoken Sindhi viz. (i)

Siraiki, spoken in Siro, i.e.

Upper Sindh, (ii) Vicholi, in

Vicholo, Central Sindh,

(iii)Lari, in Laru, i.e. Lower

Sindh, (iv) Lasi, in Lasa

B’elo, a part of Kohistan in

Baluchistan on the

western side of Sindh, (v)

Thari or Thareli, in Tharu,

(the desert region on the

southeast border of

Sindh) and a part of the

Jaisalmer district in

Rajasthan and (vi) Kachhi,

in the Kutch region and in

a part of Kathiawar in

Gujarat, on the southern side of Sindh. Vicholi, the standard dialect for all Sindhi

speakers, is commonly used among the educated class and is accepted as the

language of literature and education and is the administrative language in Sindh,

Pakistan. The largest Sindhi-speaking city is Hyderabad, Pakistan.

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REFERENCES

http://www.sindhilanguage.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sindhi_language

http://www.thesindhi.com/Language

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/sindhi.htm

http://historypak.com/sindhi-culture/

http://www.sindhila.org/Index.php?dflt=Sindhilanguage