Sindhi Language.

1. ROLL NO. : D-14-CS-07
SAQIB IQBAL 5/6/14 PAKISTAN STUDIES

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
S.NO TOPIC NAME PAGE
NO
1 INTRODUCTION 02
2 HISTORY AND ORIGIN 03
3 WAY OF WRITING 05
4 DIALECTS 08
5 REFERENCES 09

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INTRODUCTION
Sindhi is one of the major languages of Pakistan , spoken in the province of Sindh
by approximately forty million people. It is one of the oldest language of the sub-
continent with a rich culture, vast folklore and extensive literature. Sindhi is an
Indo Aryan language spoken by approximately 41 million people in Pakistan, and
12 million people in India; it is the second most spoken language of Pakistan,
mostly spoken in the Sindh province. It is a recognized official language in
Pakistan, and also an official language in India. Government of Pakistan issues
National Identity Cards to its citizens only in two languages; Sindhi and Urdu.It
was the first language in which Quraan was translated to. The translation was made
possible by Abdullah bin Umar bin Abdul Aziz on a request of a Hindu Raja
Mehruk in 884 CE.

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HISTORY AND ORIGIN
Sindhi's history dates back to the era of Mohenjo-daro, but unfortunately linguists
have failed to unite on the opinion on origin of Sindhi langauge.
Scholars have different opinions. Some opinions are:
The Sindhi is a pure Sanskritical language, more free from foreign elements than
any of the North Indian vernaculars.
- Professor E. Trumpp
The oldest book written in Sindh was in Prakrit. It dates back to three centuries
B.C.
- Dr Suniti Kumar Chatterji
Politically, Mohammed Bin Quasim's conquest of Sindh in 711 AD started the
influence of Arabic language on Sindhi.
Since then Sindh was rules by many empires, followed by British.
Britisher wanting to administer the country properly, had to understand the
language of the land so they started standardizing the script, and promoting the
language.

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Sir Bartle Frere, Commissioner in Sind, 1851, issued an order and made the study
of Sindhi Language compulsory for the British officers.
Capt. George Stack and Capt. Richard Burton differed in their opinion on what
script to use for Sindhi. Capt. Stack argued in favor of a modified form of
Devnagari script while Capt. Burton advised modified form of Perso-Arabic script.
In 1853, East India Company decided to use Perso-Arabic on a trial basis and soon
it became the official language of Sindh.
In India, still Perso-Arabic and Devnagari both are recognized. Even UPSC accepts
both the scripts for its examination.
Sindhi became the medium of instruction in Schools.
It was this time that many British scholars like Dr. Earnest Trumpp and Captain
Stack and many more have started working on the Sindhi language and came up
with many books, dictionaries and other literature in Sindhi.Dr Earnest Trumpp
published his books Shah-jo-Risalo ( compiled verses of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai )
and Sindhi Grammar from Germany.

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WAY OF WRITING
Sindhi can be written in more than 7 ways
i.e.
Laṇḍā scripts, Khudabadi, Khojiki, Gurmukhi, Arabic script, Devanagari script And
Gujarati script .
But 3 main ways of writing are:
Khudabadi script
The Khudabadi script was used for writing the Indo-Aryan Sindhi language spoken
by almost 20 million people in the Sindh province of Pakistan and in India. It is no
longer used. The Khudabadi script is written using sixty-nine letters, including
thirty-seven consonants, ten independent vowels, nine vowel diacritics, and a set
of digits from 0-9.

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Devanagari script
The Sindhi-Devanagari script is adapted from the Sanskrit system of writing. Each
character in the Devanagari system represents a syllable. It consists of either a
vowel or a consonant followed by the vowel. Devanagari characters are written
from left to right.

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Arabic script
The Sindhi-Arabic script is adapted from the Persian system of writing, which itself
is an adaptation of the Arabic system. Arabic characters are written from right to
left. The script comprises of fifty-two characters and seven diacritic signs.

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DIALECTS
A variety of a language that is distinguished from other varieties of the same
language by features of phonology,grammer and vocabulary.
Six major dialects are
identified with regard to
spoken Sindhi viz. (i)
Siraiki, spoken in Siro, i.e.
Upper Sindh, (ii) Vicholi, in
Vicholo, Central Sindh,
(iii)Lari, in Laru, i.e. Lower
Sindh, (iv) Lasi, in Lasa
B’elo, a part of Kohistan in
Baluchistan on the
western side of Sindh, (v)
Thari or Thareli, in Tharu,
(the desert region on the
southeast border of
Sindh) and a part of the
Jaisalmer district in
Rajasthan and (vi) Kachhi,
in the Kutch region and in
a part of Kathiawar in
Gujarat, on the southern side of Sindh. Vicholi, the standard dialect for all Sindhi
speakers, is commonly used among the educated class and is accepted as the
language of literature and education and is the administrative language in Sindh,
Pakistan. The largest Sindhi-speaking city is Hyderabad, Pakistan.

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REFERENCES
http://www.sindhilanguage.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sindhi_language
http://www.thesindhi.com/Language
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/sindhi.htm
http://historypak.com/sindhi-culture/
http://www.sindhila.org/Index.php?dflt=Sindhilanguage