Editing Languages of Pakistan (section)

{{Short description|Common Spoken Languages in Pakistan}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Languages of
|country        = Pakistan
|national       = Urdu{{efn|Under the provisions of the [[Constitution of Pakistan|Pakistani constitution]], Urdu has status as the 'national language'<ref>{{cite web |title=Article: 251 National language|url=https://pakistanconstitutionlaw.com/article-251-national-language/|access-date=23 July 2018}}</ref>}}
|official       = {{ubli|[[Urdu]] (nationwide){{efn|name=Nationwide Official|Urdu and English have official status all around the country under the provisions of the [[Constitution of Pakistan|Pakistani constitution]]}}|[[English language|English]] (nationwide){{efn|name=Nationwide Official}}|[[Sindhi language|Sindhi]] (in [[Sindh]]){{efn|Sindh's official language is Sindhi. It is the only province in the country that has its own official language, alongside the nationally official languages Urdu and English}}}}
|regional       = [[Languages of Pakistan#List of languages|Over 70 regional languages]]
|minority       = 
|foreign        = 
|keyboard       = [[QWERTY]] and Urdu keyboard
|keyboard image = [[File:KB_United_Kingdom.svg|200px]]<br />[[File:Urdu keyboard win.png|200px]]
|sign           = [[Pakistani Sign Language]]
|image          = Mother Tongue by Pakistani District - 2017 Census.svg
|caption        = Dominant mother tongue in the [[districts of Pakistan]] as of the [[2017 Pakistani census]]
}}{{Culture of Pakistan}}
[[Pakistan]] is a [[List of multilingual countries and regions|multilingual country]] with over 70 languages spoken as [[first language]]s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Ashraf |first=Hina |date=2022-03-22 |title=The ambivalent role of Urdu and English in multilingual Pakistan: a Bourdieusian study |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-022-09623-6 |journal=Language Policy |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=25–48 |language=en |doi=10.1007/s10993-022-09623-6 |issn=1573-1863 |pmc=8939399 |pmid=35340722}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Ashraf |first1=Muhammad Azeem |last2=Turner |first2=David A. |last3=Laar |first3=Rizwan Ahmed |date=January 2021 |title=Multilingual Language Practices in Education in Pakistan: The Conflict Between Policy and Practice |journal=SAGE Open |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=215824402110041 |doi=10.1177/21582440211004140 |s2cid=232484396 |issn=2158-2440|doi-access=free }}</ref> The majority of Pakistan's languages belong to the [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian group]] of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rengel |first=Marian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJMlW-zDE14C&pg=PA38 |title=Pakistan: A Primary Source Cultural Guide |date=2003-12-15 |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc |isbn=978-0-8239-4001-1 |pages=38 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kachru |first1=Braj B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O2n4sFGDEMYC&pg=PA34 |title=Language in South Asia |last2=Kachru |first2=Yamuna |last3=Sridhar |first3=S. N. |date=2008-03-27 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-46550-2 |pages=34 |language=en}}</ref>

[[Urdu]] is the [[national language]] and the ''[[lingua franca]]'' of Pakistan, and while sharing official status with English, it is the preferred and dominant language used for inter-communication between different ethnic groups.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Numerous regional languages are spoken as first languages by Pakistan's various ethnolinguistic groups. 

According to the [[2023 Census of Pakistan|2023 census]], languages with more than a million speakers each include [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]], [[Pashto]], [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]], [[Saraiki language|Saraiki]], [[Urdu]], [[Balochi language|Balochi]], [[Hindko]], [[Brahui language|Brahui]] and the [[Kohistani languages]].<ref name="2023 census" /> The census excludes data from [[Gilgit-Baltistan|Gilgit Baltistan]] and [[Azad Kashmir]], therefore [[Shina language|Shina]] and [[Balti language|Balti]] population might not be exact.<ref name="2023 census" /> There are approximately 60 local languages with fewer than a million speakers.{{sfn|Eberhard|Simons|Fennig|2022}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Endangered Languages Project - Torwali - Challenges to the linguistic diversity of North Pakistan |url=https://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/3501/samples/10638 |access-date=2023-06-11 |website=www.endangeredlanguages.com |language=en}}</ref>