Editing Hindko (section)

==Geographic distribution and dialects==
Varieties of Hindko are primarily spoken in a core area in the district of Attock in the northwestern corner of the province of [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], and in two neighbouring regions: in [[Peshawar]] to the north-west, and [[Hazara region|Hazara]] to the north-east, both in the province of [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province). The Hindko of Hazara also extends east into nearby regions of [[Kashmir]].

The central dialect group comprises [[Kohati]] (spoken in the city of [[Kohat]] and a few neighbouring villages in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and the three closely related dialects of [[Attock District]], Punjab: [[Chacchi]] (spoken in [[Attock Tehsil|Attock]] and [[Haripur Tehsil]]s), [[Ghebi]] (spoken to the south in [[Pindi Gheb Tehsil]]) and [[Awankari dialect|Awankari]] (spoken in [[Talagang Tehsil]], now part of [[Chakwal District]]).{{sfn|Shackle|1980|pp=484–86}}{{sfn|Rensch|1992|pp=57, 85}} Rensch's classification based on lexical similarity{{efn|Lexical similarity was calculated on the basis of a 210-item wordlist elicited in the following localities:
*the city of [[Peshawar]]
*rural [[Peshawar District]]: [[Wad Pagga]] and [[Pakha Gholam]]
*Kohati: the city of [[Kohat]]
*Attock: [[Attock]] City and [[Talagang]]
*Hazara: three settlements of [[Mansehra District]]: [[Balakot]], [[Sherpur, Mansehra|Sherpur]] and [[Mansehra]] City; two in [[Haripur District]]: [[Singo Di Garhi]] and [[Jammun]] (near [[Ghazi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|Ghazi]]) {{harv|Rensch|1992|pp=53–58}}
}} also assigns to this group the rural dialects of [[Peshawar District]].{{sfn|Rensch|1992|pp=55–56}} Shackle, however, sees most{{efn|The exception is the divergent ''Khālsavī'' dialect of the Tappa Khālsā group of villages east of the city.}} of them as closely related to the urban variety of Peshawar City.{{sfn|Shackle|1980|pp=497–98}}

In a group of its own is Peshawari,{{efn|The local pronunciation is {{IPA|[pɪʃʌori]}}) {{harv|Shackle|1980|p=497}}.}} the [[Prestige (sociolinguistics)|prestigious]] urban variety spoken in the city of [[Peshawar]] and the one that is promoted as a standardised literary language.<ref>For its literature and status in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, see {{harvtxt|Shackle|1980|pp=486, 509}}; for the emerging prestige of Peshawari in Hazara, see {{harvtxt|Rensch|1992|pp=76–77}}.</ref> It has a wide dialectal base{{sfn|Shackle|1980|p=497}} and has undergone the influence of [[Urdu]] and [[Standard Punjabi]].{{sfn|Rensch|1992|pp=55–56}}{{sfn|Shackle|1980|p=509}}

A separate group is formed in the northeast by the relatively homogeneous dialects of the [[Hazara region]],{{sfn|Shackle|1980|p=485}}{{sfn|Rensch|1992|p=56}} which are collectively known as ''Hazara Hindko'' or ''Northern Hindko'', with the variety spoken in [[Kaghan Valley]] known as ''Kaghani'',<ref name=e26hno/> and the variety of [[Tanawal]] known variously as ''Tanoli Hindko'', ''Tanoli'' or ''Tinauli''.{{sfn|Nawaz|2014|pp=1–4}}
Hindko is also spoken further east into Kashmir. It is the predominant language of the [[Neelum Valley]], in the north of Pakistan-administered [[Azad Kashmir]], where it is locally known as ''Parmi'' (or ''Pārim''; the name likely originated in the Kashmiri word {{lang|ks-Latn|apārim}} 'from the other side', which was the term used by the Kashmiris of the [[Vale of Kashmir]] to refer to the highlanders, who spoke this language).{{sfn|Akhtar|Rehman|2007|pp=68–69}} This variety is also spoken across the [[Line of Control]] into Indian-administered [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]].{{sfn|Sohail|Rehman|Kiani|2016}}

The whole dialect continuum of Hindko is partitioned by ''[[Ethnologue]]'' into two languages: Northern Hindko ([[ISO 639-3]] code: hno)<ref name=e26hno/> for the dialects of Hazara, and Southern Hindko (ISO 639-3: hnd)<ref name=e26hnd>{{e26|hnd|Hindko, Southern}}</ref> for the remaining varieties. This grouping finds support in the results of the intelligibility testing done by Rensch, which also found out that the southern dialects are more widely understood throughout the Hindko area than are the northern ones.{{sfn|Rensch|1992|pp=58–62}}

Hindko dialects gradually transition into other varieties of Lahnda and Punjabi to the south. For example, to the southwest across the [[Salt Range]] are found dialects of [[Saraiki language|Saraiki]],{{sfn|Shackle|1980|p=484}} and at least one of these – the one spoken in the [[Dera Ismail Khan District]] – is sometimes also referred to as "Hindko".{{sfn|Rensch|1992|pp=7–8, 57}} To the southeast, Hindko is in a dialect continuum with [[Pahari–Pothwari]], with the [[Galyat]] region of Abbottabad district and the area of [[Muzaffarabad]] in Azad Kashmir approximately falling on the boundary between the two.{{sfn|Lothers|Lothers|2010|ps =. The speech of Muzaffarabad is locally called "Hindko", but in its vocabulary it is closer to Pahari.}}

There are Hindko [[diaspora]]s in major urban centres like [[Karachi]],<ref>See {{harvtxt|Pierce|2011}} for a study of a community of Hazara Hindko speakers in Karachi.</ref> as well as in some neighbouring countries. 

Before [[partition of India]] in 1947, a substantial population of Hindkowans were [[Hindus]] and [[Sikh]]. This population migrated en masse to India.<ref name="GeijbelsAddleton">{{cite book |title=The rise and development of Urdu and the importance of regional languages in Pakistan |publisher=Christian Study Centre |page=38 |quote=Shackle suggests Hindko simply means "Indian language" and describes it as a "collective label for the variety of Indo-Aryan dialects either alongside or in vicinity of Pushto in the northwest of the country". Hindko is the most significant linguistic minority in the NWFP, represented in nearly one-fifth (18.7%) of the province's total households. ... The Influence of Pushto on Hazara appears to have become more pronounced, due in part to an Influx of Pashtuns replacing the Hindko-speaking Sikhs and Hindus who formerly held key trading positions and who departed at independence.}}</ref><ref name="DT2003">{{cite web|url = http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_29-12-2003_pg7_25|title = Peshawarites still remember the Kapoor family|publisher = Daily Times|date = 29 December 2003|access-date = 10 October 2019|archive-date = 24 July 2012|archive-url = https://archive.today/20120724145202/www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_29-12-2003_pg7_25|url-status = live}}</ref> These Hindkowans have completely assimilated into larger [[Punjabi language|Punjabi-speaking]] and [[Hindi|Hindi-speaking speakers]] in India, with only few elders identifying as hindokowans.<ref name="KVenkatesh">{{cite web |last1=Venkatesh |first1=Karthik |title=The strange and little-known case of Hindko |url=https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/the-strange-and-little-known-case-of-hindko-1562400834033.html |publisher=[[Mint (newspaper)|Mint]] |access-date=24 September 2019 |language=en |date=6 July 2019 |quote=In India, Hindko is little known, and while there are Hindko speakers in parts of Jammu and Kashmir as well as among other communities who migrated to India post Partition, by and large it has been absorbed under the broad umbrella of Punjabi...There is also a strong sense of a Hindko identity, as the Pakistani state realized when the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) was renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2010. The loudest opposition to the renaming came from Hindkowans who feared being submerged in the Pashtun identity of the newly named state. It also prompted calls for a separate state for Hindko speakers. |archive-date=30 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630202558/https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/the-strange-and-little-known-case-of-hindko-1562400834033.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

There was also a small Sikh and Hindu Hindkowans diaspora in [[Indians in Afghanistan|Afghanistan]], who became established there during the Sikh Empire in the first half of the 19th century. Most of them emigrated to India or western countries since the war and subsequent rise of the Taliban, and the total population, being not more than 60 (as of 2024).{{sfn|Wyeth|2018}}