Editing Saraiki language (section)

==Classification and related languages==
{{Further|Punjabi dialects}}
[[File:Dialects Of Punjabi.jpg|thumb|Map of Punjabi dialects and language varieties, including Saraiki (Multani, Riasti and Derawali) in the south-west|300x300px]]
Saraiki is a member of Western Punjabi sub family of the [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]] subdivision of the [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]] branch of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language family.

In 1919, [[George Abraham Grierson]] maintained that the dialects of what is now the southwest of Punjab Province in Pakistan constitute a dialect cluster, which he designated "Southern [[Lahnda]]" within a putative "Lahnda language". Subsequent Indo-Aryanist linguists have confirmed the reality of this dialect cluster, even while rejecting the name "Southern Lahnda" along with the entity "Lahnda" itself.{{sfn|Masica|1991|pp=18–20}} Grierson also maintained that "Lahnda" was his novel designation for various dialects up to then called "Western Punjabi", spoken north, west, and south of [[Lahore]]. The local dialect of Lahore is the [[Majhi dialect]] of [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]], which has long been the basis of standard literary Punjabi.{{sfn|Grierson|1919}} However, outside of Indo-Aryanist circles, the concept of "Lahnda" is still found in compilations of the world's languages (e.g. [[Ethnologue]]). Saraiki appears to be a transitional language between [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] and [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]]. Spoken in
Upper Sindh as well as the southern Panjab, it is sometimes considered a dialect of either Sindhi or of Panjabi due to a high degree of mutual intelligibility.<ref name="JBM">{{cite book |editor1-last=Klein |editor1-first=Jared |editor2-last=Joseph |editor2-first=Brian |editor3-last=Fritz |editor3-first=Matthias |title=Handbook of comparative and historical Indo-European linguistics; Volume 1 |date=2017 |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |location=Berlin, Boston |isbn=9783110393248 |pages=434–435}}</ref>

===Dialects===
The following dialects have been tentatively proposed for Saraiki:<ref>This is the grouping in {{harvtxt|Wagha|1997|pp=229–31}}, which largely coincides with that in {{harvtxt|Shackle|1976|pp=5–8}}.</ref>
*Central Saraiki, including Multani: spoken in the districts of [[Dera Ghazi Khan District|Dera Ghazi Khan]], [[Muzaffargarh District|Muzaffargarh]], [[Layyah District|Leiah]], [[Multan District|Multan]] and [[Bahawalpur District|Bahawalpur]].
*Southern Saraiki: prevalent in the districts of [[Rajanpur District|Rajanpur]] and [[Rahim Yar Khan District|Rahimyar Khan]].
*Sindhi Siraiki: dispersed throughout the province of [[Sindh]] and in [[Kacchi Plain|Kachhi Plain]] region in [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]] province.
*Northern Saraiki, or [[Thali dialect|Thali]]:{{sfn|Shackle|1976|p=8}} spoken in the district of [[Dera Ismail Khan District|Dera Ismail Khan]] and the northern parts of the [[Thal Desert|Thal region]], including [[Mianwali District]] and [[Bhakkar District]]

The historical inventory of names for the dialects now called Saraiki is a confusion of overlapping or conflicting ethnic, local, and regional designations. One historical name for Saraiki, Jaṭki, means "of the [[Jat people|Jaṭṭs]]", a northern [[South Asia]]n ethnic group. Only a small minority of Saraiki speakers are Jaṭṭs, and not all Saraiki speaking Jaṭṭs necessarily speak the same dialect of Saraiki. However, these people usually call their traditions as well as language as ''Jataki''. Conversely, several Saraiki dialects have multiple names corresponding to different locales or demographic groups. The name "[[Derawali dialect|Derawali]]" is used to refer to the local dialects of both [[Dera Ghazi Khan]] and [[Dera Ismail Khan]], but "Ḍerawali" in the former is the Multani dialect and "Derawali" in the latter is the Thaḷi dialect.{{sfn|Masica|1991|p = 426}}{{sfn|Grierson|1919|pp=239ff}}

When consulting sources before 2000, it is important to know that Pakistani administrative boundaries have been altered frequently. Provinces in Pakistan are divided into [[Districts of Pakistan|districts]], and sources on "Saraiki" often describe the territory of a dialect or dialect group according to the districts. Since the founding of Pakistan in 1947, several of these districts have been subdivided, some multiple times.<!--see for example Nasirabad District-->

===Status of language or dialect===
In the context of South Asia, the choice between the appellations [[Dialect#Dialect or language|"language" and "dialect"]] is a difficult one, and any distinction made using these terms is obscured by their ambiguity.<ref>See {{harvnb|Masica|1991|pp=23–27}}. For a brief discussion of the case of Saraiki, see {{harvtxt|Wagha|1997|pp=225–26}}.</ref> In a sense both Saraiki and Standard Panjabi are "dialects" of a "[[Punjabi dialects and languages|Greater Punjabi]]" macrolanguage.{{sfn|Rahman|1995|p=16}} The term "Saraiki" was first introduced for the [[Multani dialect|Multani]], [[Riasti dialect|Riasti]] and [[Derawali dialect|Derawali]] dialects of this "[[Punjabi dialects and languages|Greater Punjabi]]" macrolanguage in the 1960s as a result of a sociopolitical movement.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Nazir |first=Kahut |date=24 May 2009 |title=The origin and politics of the Seraiki movement |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/881086/the-origin-and-politics-of-the-seraiki-movement#:~:text=To%20alienate%20central,Punjabi.%E2%80%9D%20(P.%20180). |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126124345/https://www.dawn.com/news/881086/the-origin-and-politics-of-the-seraiki-movement#:~:text=To%20alienate%20central,Punjabi.%E2%80%9D%20%28P.%20180%29. |archive-date=26 January 2021 |access-date=28 January 2025 |work=DAWN |pages=1}}</ref> According to [[Pakistanis|Pakistani]] politicians such as [[Hanif Ramay]] and [[Fakhar Zaman (poet)|Fakhar Zaman]], the Saraiki linguistic movement was thought to have been pushed by feudal landowners of the Seraiki belt.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ahmed |first=Ishtiaq |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=czSm7cmhgA0C&dq=Main+ethnicity+of+saraikis&pg=PA184 |title=State, Nation and Ethnicity in Contemporary South Asia |date=1 January 1998 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-85567-578-0 |page=184 |language=en |quote=The president of the Punjab PPP, Fakhir Zaman, thought that Seraiki was one among many other dialects of Punjabi. Hanif Ramay a former PPP chief minister of Punjab, had a similar stance. Both also thought that it was the feudal landowners of the Seraiki belt who were behind the seperatist movement.}}</ref>{{TOC limit|3}}

Saraiki was considered a [[Punjabi dialects|dialect of Punjabi]] by most [[British Raj|British colonial]] administrators,{{sfn|Rahman|1996|p=173}} and is still seen as such by many [[Punjabis]].{{sfn|Shackle|2014a|ps=: "it has come to be increasingly recognized internationally as a language in its own right, although this claim continues to be disputed by many Punjabi speakers who regard it as a dialect of Punjabi".}} Saraikis, however, consider it a language in its own right<ref>{{harvnb|Rahman|1995|p=16}}: "the Punjabis claim that Siraiki is a dialect of Punjabi, whereas the Siraikis call it a language in its own right."</ref> and see the use of the term "dialect" as [[Social stigma|stigmatising]].{{sfn|Rahman|1996|p=175}}
A language movement was started in the 1960s to standardise a script and promote the language.{{sfn|Shackle|1977}}{{sfn|Rahman|1997|p=838}} The [[Census in Pakistan|national census of Pakistan]] has tabulated the prevalence of Saraiki speakers since 1981.{{sfn|Javaid|2004|p=46}}