Editing Languages of Pakistan (section)

=== Urdu (official language) ===
[[File:Urdu-speakers_by_Pakistani_District_-_2017_Census.svg|thumb|The proportion of people with Urdu as their [[mother tongue]] in each Pakistani [[Districts of Pakistan|District]] as of the [[2017 Pakistan Census]]]]
{{anchor|Urdu}} [[Urdu]] ({{Nastaliq|اردو}}) is the [[national language]] ({{Nastaliq|قومی زبان}}) and ''[[lingua franca]]'' of Pakistan.<ref name="MuzaffarBehera2014">{{cite journal |last1=Muzaffar |first1=Sharmin |last2=Behera |first2=Pitambar |date=2014 |title=Error analysis of the Urdu verb markers: a comparative study on Google and Bing machine translation platforms |journal=Aligarh Journal of Linguistics |volume=4 |issue=1–2 |page=1 |quote=Modern Standard Urdu, a register of the Hindustani language, is the national language, lingua-franca and is one of the two official languages along with English in Pakistan and is spoken in all over the world. It is also one of the 22 scheduled languages and officially recognized languages in the Constitution of India and has been conferred the status of the official language in many Indian states of Bihar, Telangana, Jammu, and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and New Delhi. Urdu is one of the members of the new or modern Indo-Aryan language group within the Indo-European family of languages.}}</ref> Although only about 9% of [[Pakistanis]] speak it as their first language, it is widely spoken and understood as a second language by the vast majority of Pakistanis.<ref>{{cite web |title=PAKISTAN |url=https://www.iandl.marines.mil/Divisions/Logistics-Plans-Policies-Strategic-Mobility-LP/Logistics-Life-Cycle-Management-Branch-LPC/LPC-4-Contracts/MARFORCENT/Pakistan/ |website=Official U.S. Marine Corps |access-date=10 May 2022 |archive-date=31 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131054726/https://www.iandl.marines.mil/Divisions/Logistics-Plans-Policies-Strategic-Mobility-LP/Logistics-Life-Cycle-Management-Branch-LPC/LPC-4-Contracts/MARFORCENT/Pakistan/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JkQfwA30aY4C&pg=PA264 |title=The World Factbook |date=1992 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |page=264 |language=en}}</ref>

Urdu was chosen as a symbol of unity for the new state of Pakistan in 1947, because it had already served as a ''lingua franca'' among Muslims in north and northwest [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|British India]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-12-25 |title=Dec 25, 2017 {{!}} Why did the Quaid make Urdu Pakistan's state language? |url=https://epaper.dawn.com/DetailImage.php?StoryImage=25_12_2017_116_001 |website=Dawn Epaper |language=en}}</ref> It is written, spoken and used in all [[Subdivisions of Pakistan|provinces/territories of Pakistan]], and together with English as the main languages of instruction,<ref>{{cite web |date=25 February 2020 |title=EDUCATION SYSTEM PROFILES Education in Pakistan |url=https://wenr.wes.org/2020/02/education-in-pakistan |website=World Education Services |quote=English has been the main language of instruction at the elementary and secondary levels since colonial times. It remains the predominant language of instruction in private schools but has been increasingly replaced with Urdu in public schools. Punjab province, for example, recently announced that it will begin to use Urdu as the exclusive medium of instruction in schools beginning in 2020. Depending on the location and predominantly in rural areas, regional languages are used as well, particularly in elementary education. The language of instruction in higher education is mostly English, but some programs and institutions teach in Urdu.}}</ref> although the people from differing provinces may have different native languages.<ref>{{cite journal |editor2=Muhammad Sarwar |editor3=Muhammad Shabbir |title=The History of the Urdu Language Together with Its Origin and Geographic Distribution |url=https://www.ijires.org/administrator/components/com_jresearch/files/publications/IJIRES-154_final.pdf |journal=International Journal of Innovation and Research in Educational Sciences |volume=2 |issue=1 |editor1=Robina Kausar}}</ref>

Urdu is taught as a compulsory subject up to higher secondary school in both English and Urdu medium school systems, which has produced millions of second-language Urdu speakers among people whose native language is one of the other languages of Pakistan – which in turn has led to the absorption of vocabulary from various regional Pakistani languages,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ahmad |first=Aijazuddin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I2QmPHeIowoC&q=urdu+adopting+regional+language&pg=PA119 |title=Geography of the South Asian Subcontinent: A Critical Approach |date=2009 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |isbn=978-81-8069-568-1 |language=en}}</ref> while some Urdu vocabularies has also been assimilated by Pakistan's regional languages.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hock |first1=Hans Henrich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PSFBDAAAQBAJ&q=urdu+pashto+speakers+assimilate&pg=PA291 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of South Asia: A Comprehensive Guide |last2=Bashir |first2=Elena |date=24 May 2016 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-042330-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Raj |first=Ali |date=30 April 2017 |title=The case for Urdu as Pakistan's official language |url=http://herald.dawn.com/news/1153737 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028222041/https://herald.dawn.com/news/1153737 |archive-date=28 October 2019 |access-date=28 October 2019 |website=Herald Magazine |language=en}}</ref>