Languages of Pakistan
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Most of the languages of Pakistan are part of the Indo-European family of languages and span the Indo-Iranian range of that family with the Indo-Aryan languages predominant in the east and the Iranian languages the most significant in the west as well as Dardic languages in the north and northwest.
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History
Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and has historical significance as a language developed during the Islamic conquests in the Subcontinent during the period of the Mughal Empire and was chosen as a neutral language to unite the various groups of modern Pakistan. However it is English which is the language of government and commerce. Most secondary educational institutes and almost all universities use English as the medium of instruction. Many other languages are spoken in Pakistan, including the following regional tongues from largest to smallest: Punjabi, Pashtu, Sindhi, and Balochi. Other languages spoken include from largest to smallest: Siraiki (sometimes included within Punjabi, also called Seraiki, Sira'iki, Lahndi, Multani - from the city of Multan, Derawali, Southern Punjabi, and Western Punjabi), Hindko, Brahui, Burushaski, Balti, Shina, and Khowar (see Dardic languages). Brahui is a Dravidian language, its closest relatives being spoken primarily in southern India, far removed from Pakistan. Balti is Sino-Tibetan and Burushaski is a language isolate
In addition, according to Ethnologue, Pakistan has a million speakers of Persian, many of whom are refugees from Afghanistan (mainly Tajiks and Hazaras) whose dialects vary from the Hazaragi-speaking population, while others include an ethnic group called the Dehwaris. Smaller groups include the Uzbeks and there is a large Kashmiri speaking population, largely refugees as well who fled from the Vale of Kashmir.
Arabic and Persian are still taught as classical languages to a small number of students. Arabic is popular due to its religious significance, but most Pakistanis do not learn to speak Arabic beyond that required to read and recite Islamic prayers. Persian is an important literary language in Pakistan.
Languages
Prevalence
According to the census, Pakistanis identified the following languages as their mother tongues [figures rounded to nearest percent]: Punjabi 44%, Pashto 15%, Sindhi 14%, Siraiki 11%, Urdu 8%, Balochi 4%, others 4%
The majority of Pakistanis can speak or understand two or more languages.
Major languages
The official language of Pakistan is English. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca, although it is spoken as a first language by approximately 8% of the population. ~44% speak Punjabi as a first language, 15% Pashto, and 31% other languages such as (Sindhi, Siraiki, Balochi, Hindko and Brahui.)
English
English is the official language, being widely used within the government, by the civil service and the officer ranks of the military. Pakistan's Constitution and laws are written in English. Many schools, and nearly all colleges and universities, use English as the medium of instruction.
Urdu
Urdu is the national language, the lingua franca of the people. It is widely used, both formally and informally, for personal letters as well as public literature, in the literary sphere and in the popular media. It is a required subject of study in all primary and secondary schools. It is the first language of most Muhajirs.
Panjabi
Spoken as a first language by ~44% of Pakistanis, mostly in Punjab, Pakistan as well as by a large number of people in Karachi. It is an important language since Punjabi is spoken by about half of Pakistanis. However, Punjabi does not have any official status in Pakistan. The exact numbers of Punjabi speakers in Pakistan is hard to find since there are many dialects/languages, such as Seraiki, which some regard as part of Punjabi and others regard as separate language.
Pashto
Spoken as a first language by 15% of Pakistanis, mostly in the North-West Frontier Province and in Baluchistan as well as by immigrants to the eastern provinces who are often not counted due to census irregularities. Additionally, Afghan refugees are often outside the census count, but appear to be largely Pashto speakers from Afghanistan.
Sindhi
Spoken as a first language by 14% of Pakistanis, mostly in Sindh.
Siraiki
Related to Panjabi (See Classification, below) Spoken as a first language by 11% of Pakistanis, mostly in southern districts of Punjab, Pakistan (see Seraikis).
Balochi
Spoken as a first language by 4% of Pakistanis, mostly in Balochistan.
Other languages
Numerous other languages are spoken by relatively small numbers of people, especially in some of the more remote and isolated places in, for example, the Northern Areas of Pakistan [1].
Classification
Indo-European
Nearly all of Pakistan's languages are Indo-European languages.
Lahnda dialects
Punjabi, Hindko and Seraiki, all mutually intelligible, are classified by linguists as dialects of Lahnda [2], also spelled as Lehnda. These are also, to a lesser extent, mutually intelligible with Urdu. Added together, speakers of these mutually-intelligible languages make up nearly two-thirds of Pakistan's population.
Iranian family of languages
Pashto and Balochi are classified as memb ers of the Iranian family of languages. [3] If combined, Iranian peoples who speak Pashto, Balochi, Dari (Afghan refugees speak both Pashto and Afghan Persian dialect of Dari), Persian, and Wakhi comprise over 1/5 of the population of Pakistan.
Dravidian
Brahui belongs to the Dravidian language family.
See also
- Pakistan
- Urdu
- Punjabi
- Statistics Division of the Government of Pakistan
- Languages of India
- List of official languages