Editing Languages of Pakistan (section)

=== 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>