Editing Saraiki language (section)

{{Short description|Indo-Aryan language spoken in Pakistan}}
{{Distinguish|text=the [[Siraiki (Sindhi dialect)|Siraiki]] dialect of [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]]}}
{{pp-move}}
{{Use Pakistani English|date=May 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Saraiki
| nativename       = {{Nastaliq|سرائیکی}}
| image            = Saraiki.svg
| imagescale       = 0.6
| imagecaption     = ''Saraiki'' in [[Shahmukhi]] script ([[Nastaʿlīq]] style)
| states           = [[Languages of Pakistan|Pakistan]]
| region           = Southern [[Punjab]]<ref>{{Cite web| title=Population by mother tongue, sex and rural/urban, census-2023 | url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/table_11_punjab_province.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250130024854/https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/table_11_punjab_province.pdf | archive-date=2025-01-30}}</ref> Minority in [[Derajat]]<ref>{{Cite web| title=Population by mother tongue, sex and rural/urban, census-2023 | url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/table_11_kp_province.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250110094147/https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/table_11_kp_province.pdf | archive-date=2025-01-10}}</ref> and Northern [[Sindh]]<ref>{{Cite web| title=Population by mother tongue, sex and rural/urban, census-2023 | url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/table_11_sindh_province.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250129035009/https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/table_11_sindh_province.pdf | archive-date=2025-01-29}}</ref>
| ethnicity        = [[Saraiki people|Saraikis]]{{sfn|Grierson|1919|p=240}}
| speakers         = 28.84 Million<ref>{{Cite web| title=Population by mother tongue, sex and rural/urban, census-2023 |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/national/table_11.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240723195551/https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/national/table_11.pdf | archive-date=23 July 2024}}</ref>
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
| fam3             = [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]]
| fam4             = [[Northwestern Indo-Aryan languages|Northwestern]]
| fam5             = [[Punjabi dialects and languages|Punjabic]]
| fam6             = [[Lahnda]]
| agency           = Saraiki area study centre (SASC), BZU Multan
| script           = [[Perso-Arabic script|Perso-Arabic]] ([[Saraiki alphabet]])<br />[[Devanagari]]<br />[[Gurmukhi]]<br />[[Multani script|Multani]]
| iso3             = skr
| glotto           = sera1259
| glottorefname    = Saraiki
| glottofoot       = no
| notice           = IPA
| map              = Saraiki-speakers by Pakistani District - 2017 Census.svg
| mapcaption       = The proportion of people with Saraiki as their [[mother tongue]] in each Pakistani [[Districts of Pakistan|District]] as of the [[2017 Pakistan Census]]
}}
'''Saraiki''' ({{lang|skr|{{Nastaliq| سرائیکی}}}} ''{{Transliteration|skr|Sarā'īkī}}''; also spelt '''Siraiki''', or '''Seraiki''') is an [[Indo-Aryan language]] of the [[Lahnda]] group.<ref name=":0">{{harvnb|Grierson|1919|p=233}} "The existence of Lahnda as a separate language has long been recognised under various names such as Jatki, Multani, Hindki or Hindko and Western Panjabi....it is called Multani, but this name properly applies only to the form of Lahnda spoken around Multan and the neighbourhood."</ref> It is spoken by 28.84 million people, as per the [[2023 Pakistani census]], taking prevalence in Southern [[Punjab]] with remants in Northern [[Sindh]] and the [[Derajat]] region.<ref name="pbs.gov.pk">{{Cite web| title=Key Findings Report - The Largest Digitization Exercise of South Asia | url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/key_findings_report.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240719134526/https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/key_findings_report.pdf | archive-date=19 July 2024}}</ref><!--<ref>{{harvnb|Lewis|Simons|Fennig|2016}}: "Until recently it was considered a dialect of Panjabi."; {{harvtxt|Masica|1991|p=443}} defines Saraiki as a "new literary language"; see also {{harvtxt|Shackle|2003|pp=585–86}}</ref>
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Saraiki has partial [[mutual intelligibility]] with [[Standard Punjabi]],<ref>{{harvnb|Bashir|Conners|Hefright|2019}}; see also {{harvnb|Rahman|1995|p=16}} and {{harvnb|Shackle|2014b}}.</ref> and it shares with it a large portion of its vocabulary and [[Linguistic morphology|morphology]]. At the same time in [[#Phonology|its phonology]] it is radically different{{sfn|Shackle|1977|p=389}} (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.{{sfn|Shackle|2014b}} Saraiki is closely related to Western Punjabi dialects.<ref name=":0" />

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.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Shams | first=Shammim Ara | title=The Impact of Dominant Languages on Regional Languages: A Case Study of English, Urdu and Shina | journal=Pakistan Social Sciences Review | volume=4 | issue=III |year=2020| doi=10.35484/pssr.2020(4-III)79 | pages=1092–1106| doi-access=free }}</ref>