Editing Languages of Pakistan (section)

== Major regional languages ==
=== Punjabi ===
{{see also|Punjabi dialects and languages}}
[[File:Punjabi-speakers_by_Pakistani_District_-_2017_Census.svg|thumb|150x150px|<div style="text-align: center">The proportion of people with [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] as their [[mother tongue]] in each Pakistani [[Districts of Pakistan|District]] as of the [[2017 Pakistan Census]]</div>]]
[[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] ({{Lang|pa|{{nq|پنجابی}}}}) is an [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan language]] primarily spoken in the [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab province]] of Pakistan, with the prominent dialect being the [[Majhi dialect|Majha dialect]], written in the [[Shahmukhi script]]. Punjabi is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan. It is spoken as a first language by 36.98% of Pakistanis.<ref name="2023 census" /> The language is spoken among a significant overseas diaspora, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Punjabi is unusual among the Indo-Aryan languages and the broader [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]] in its usage of [[Tone (linguistics)|lexical tone]].<ref>{{cite book|author-last = Bhatia|author-first = Tej| date = 1999| editor1-last = Lust| editor1-first = Barbara| editor2-last = Gair| editor2-first = James| title = Lexical Anaphors and Pronouns in Selected South Asian Languages| chapter = Lexican Anaphors and Pronouns in Punjabi| page = 637| publisher = Walter de Gruyter| isbn = 978-3-11-014388-1}} Other tonal Indo-Aryan languages include [[Hindko]], [[Dogri language|Dogri]], [[Western Pahari]], [[Sylheti language|Sylheti]] and some [[Dardic languages]].</ref>

=== Pashto ===
[[File:Pashto-speakers_by_Pakistani_District_-_2017_Census.svg|thumb|150x150px|<div style="text-align: center">The proportion of people with [[Pashto]] as their [[mother tongue]] in each Pakistani [[Districts of Pakistan|District]] as of the [[2017 Pakistan Census]]</div>|left]]
[[Pashto]] ({{Lang|ps|{{naskh|پښتو}}}}) is an [[Iranian language]] spoken as a first language by more than 18.15% of Pakistanis, mainly in [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] and in northern [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]] as well as in ethnic [[Pashtun people|Pashtun]] communities in the cities of [[Islamabad]], [[Rawalpindi]] and most notably [[Karachi]],<ref name="pbs">{{cite web|author=Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy|date=17 July 2009|title=Karachi's Invisible Enemy |url=https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2009/07/karachis_invisi.html|access-date=24 August 2010|publisher=PBS}}</ref><ref name="The National">{{cite web|date=24 August 2009|title=In a city of ethnic friction, more tinder|url=http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090825/FOREIGN/708249931|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116211443/http://www.thenational.ae/|archive-date=16 January 2010|access-date=24 August 2010|publisher=The National}}</ref><ref name="tribune.com.pk">{{cite magazine|date=28 August 2010|title=Columnists {{pipe}} The Pakhtun in Karachi|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/43827/the-pakhtun-in-karachi/|access-date=8 September 2011|magazine=Time}}</ref><ref name="thefridaytimes.com">[http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta2/tft/article.php?issue=20110715&page=5] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121209085408/http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta2/tft/article.php?issue=20110715&page=5|date=9 December 2012}}, thefridaytimes</ref> which may have the largest Pashtun population of any city in the world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lieven|first=Anatol |date=2021-05-04|title=An Afghan Tragedy: The Pashtuns, the Taliban and the State |journal=Survival|volume=63|issue=3|pages=7–36|doi=10.1080/00396338.2021.1930403|s2cid=235219004 |issn=0039-6338|doi-access=free}}</ref> There are three major dialect patterns within which the various individual dialects may be classified; these are the Pakhto variety of Northern ([[Peshawar]]) variety, the southern Pashto spoken in the vicinity of [[Quetta]], and the [[Wanetsi]] or Tareeno variety of northern Balochistan.

=== Sindhi ===
[[File:Sindhi-speakers_by_Pakistani_District_-_2017_Census.svg|thumb|150x150px|<div style="text-align: center">The proportion of people with [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]] as their [[mother tongue]] in each Pakistani [[Districts of Pakistan|District]] as of the [[2017 Pakistan Census]]</div>]]
[[Sindhi language|Sindhi]] ({{Lang|sd|{{naskh|سنڌي}}}}) is an [[Indo-Aryan language]] spoken as a first language by almost 15% of Pakistanis, mostly in the [[Sindh province]] of Pakistan. The name "Sindhi" is derived from ''Sindhu'', the original name of the [[Indus River]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.languagesgulper.com/eng/Sindhi.html |title=Sindhi |work= The Languages Gulper|access-date=January 29, 2013}}</ref>

Like other languages of this family, Sindhi has passed through Old Indo-Aryan ([[Sanskrit]]) and Middle Indo-Aryan (Pali, secondary Prakrits, and [[Apabhramsha]]) stages of growth. 20th century Western scholars such as [[George Abraham Grierson]] believed that Sindhi descended specifically from the Vrācaḍa dialect of Apabhramsha (described by [[Markandeya]] as being spoken in ''Sindhu-deśa'') but later work has shown this to be unlikely.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wadhwani |first1=Y. K. |title=The Origin of the Sindhi Language |journal=Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute |date=1981 |volume=40 |pages=192–201 |jstor=42931119 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/42931119.pdf |access-date=9 April 2021}}</ref> It entered the New Indo-Aryan stage around the 10th century CE.<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica">{{cite web |url= https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/545670/Sindhi-language|title=Encyclopædia Britannica|website=Britannica.com|access-date=May 11, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mustgo.com/worldlanguages/sindhi/|title=Sindhi Language – Structure, Writing & Alphabet |website=Mustgo.com|access-date=1 March 2022}}</ref>

The six major known dialects of the Sindhi language are Siroli, Vicholi, Lari, Thari, [[Lasi dialect|Lasi]] and [[Kutchi language|Kutchi]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Parekh |first=Rauf |date=2008-09-30 |title=The Sindhi language and its variations |url=https://www.dawn.com/2008/09/30/the-sindhi-language-and-its-variations/ |access-date=2023-05-26 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}}</ref>

=== Saraiki ===
[[File:Saraiki-speakers_by_Pakistani_District_-_2017_Census.svg|thumb|150x150px|<div style="text-align: center">The proportion of people with [[Saraiki language|Saraiki]] as their [[mother tongue]] in each Pakistani [[Districts of Pakistan|District]] as of the [[2017 Pakistan Census]]</div>|left]]
[[Saraiki language|Saraiki]] ({{Nq|سرائیکی}}) is a collective term for speakers of Saraiki, an Indo Aryan language of the [[Lahnda]] group spoken in central and southeastern Pakistan, primarily in the southern part of the province of Punjab. Saraiki is to a high degree mutually intelligible with [[Standard Punjabi]]<ref>{{harvnb|Rahman|1995|p=16}}; {{harvnb|Shackle|2014b}}</ref> and is coshares 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}} 

Saraiki is spoken by approximately 26 million people in [[Pakistan]], ranging across southern [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], southern [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]], and border regions of northern [[Sindh]] and eastern [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Saraiki |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/skr |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref>

=== Balochi ===
[[File:Balochi-speakers_by_Pakistani_District_-_2017_Census.svg|thumb|150x150px|<div style="text-align: center">The proportion of people with [[Balochi language|Balochi]] as their [[mother tongue]] in each Pakistani [[Districts of Pakistan|District]] as of the [[2017 Pakistan Census]]</div>]]
[[Balochi language|Balochi]] ({{Lang|bal|بلوچی}}) is an [[Iranian language]] spoken as a first language by about 3% of Pakistanis, mostly in the [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]] province. Rakshani is the major dialect group in terms of numbers. Sarhaddi is a sub-dialect of Rakshani. Other sub-dialects are Kalati (Qalati), Chagai-Kharani and Panjguri. Eastern Hill Balochi or Northern Balochi is very different from the rest.

=== Hindko ===
[[File:Hindko-speakers by Pakistani District - 2017 Census.svg|thumb|150x150px|The proportion of people with [[Hindko]] as their [[First language|mother tongue]] in each Pakistani [[Districts of Pakistan|District]] as of the [[2017 Census of Pakistan|2017 Pakistan Census]]|left]]
[[Hindko]] ({{Nq|ہندکو}})is an [[Indo-Aryan language]]  group of [[Lahnda]] dialects spoken in several discontinuous areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] and [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]].
Hindko is mutually intelligible with [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] and [[Saraiki language|Saraiki]],{{sfn|Rahman|1996|p=211}} and has more affinities with the latter than with the former.{{sfn|Shackle|1979|pp=200–1}} Differences with other [[Punjabi varieties]] are more pronounced in the morphology and phonology than in the syntax.{{sfn|Shackle|1980|p=486}}
The word ''Hindko'', commonly used to refer to a number of Indo-Aryan dialects spoken in the neighbourhood of [[Pashto]], likely originally meant "the Indian language" (in contrast to Pashto).<ref>{{harvnb|Shackle|1980|p=482}}; {{harvnb|Rensch|1992|pp=3–4}}. See there for alternative etymologies.</ref> An alternative local name for this language group is ''Hindki''.{{sfn|Rensch|1992|p=4}}{{efn|The term ''Hindki'' normally refers to a Hindko speaker and {{harvtxt|Shackle|1980|p=482}} reports that in [[Pashto]] the term has slightly pejorative connotations, which are avoided with the recently introduced term ''Hindkūn''.}}

=== Brahui ===
[[File:Brahui-speakers_by_Pakistani_District_-_2017_Census.svg|thumb|150x150px|<div style="text-align: center">The proportion of people with [[Brahui language|Brahui]] as their [[mother tongue]] in each Pakistani [[Districts of Pakistan|District]] as of the [[2017 Pakistan Census]]</div>]]
[[Brahui language|Brahui]] ({{Lang|brh|براہوئی}}) is a [[Dravidian language]] spoken in the central part of [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan province]]. Brahui is spoken in the central part of Pakistani [[Balochistan]], mainly in [[Kalat District|Kalat]], [[Khuzdar District|Khuzdar]] and [[Mastung District|Mastung]] districts, but also in smaller numbers in neighboring districts, as well as in [[Afghanistan]] which borders Pakistani Balochistan; however, many members of the ethnic group [[language attrition|no longer speak]] Brahui.{{sfn|Parkin|1989|p=37}}