Name: WALEED BIN TAHIR

Registration No:
F20-BSTH-018
Subject : CULTURAL
TOURISM
Submitted To: Mr. USMAN
KHAN
Section: Tourism 3rd
Semester
Date: 1/21/2022
Languages of Pakistan
Statistics
Following are the major languages spoken in Pakistan. The percentage of Pakistanis who are native speaker of
that languages are also given.

Numbers of speakers of larger languages

Language 2008 estimate 1998 census Areas of Predominance

1 Punjabi 76,367,360 44.17% 58,433,431 44.15% Punjab

2 Pashto 26,692,890 15.44% 20,408,621 15.42% Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

3 Sindhi 24,410,910 14.12% 18,661,571 14.10% Sindh

4 Saraiki 18,019,610 10.42% 13,936,594 10.53% Southern Punjab

5 Urdu 13,120,540 7.59% 10,019,576 7.57% Karachi

6 Balochi 6,204,540 3.59% 4,724,871 3.57% Baluchistan

 National language: Urdu
Urdu (‫ )اردو‬is the national language (‫)ان زب ومی ق‬, lingua franca and one of two official languages of
Pakistan (the other being English). Although only about 8% of Pakistanis speak it as their first
language, it is spoken and understood as a second language by almost all Pakistanis. Its
introduction as the lingua francawas encouraged by the British upon the capitulation and annexation
of Sindh (1843) and Punjab (1849) with the subsequent ban on the use of Persian. The decision to
make the language change was to institute a universal language throughout the then British Raj in
South Asia as well as minimize the influence of Persia, the Ottoman
Empire, Afghanistan and Central Asia on this transitional region. Urdu is a relatively new language
in the contemporary sense but has undergone considerable modifications and development
borrowing heavily on the
traditions of older languages like Persian, Arabic, Turkish and local South Asian languages all of
which can be found in its vocabulary. According to the linguistic historian Tariq Rahman, however,
the oldest name of what is now called Urdu is Hindustani or Hindvi and it existed in some form at
least from the 14th century if not earlier (Rahman 2011). It was probably the language of the area
around Delhi that absorbed words of Persian and Arabic and, to a much lesser extent, Turkish—the
same process that created modern English. This language, according to Rahman, is the ancestor of
both modern Hindi and Urdu. These became two distinct varieties when Urdu was first Persianized
in the 18th century and then Hindi was Sanskritized from 1802 onwards.
The name Urdu is a short form of 'Zuban-e-Urdu-e-Mualla' i.e. language of the exalted city. In India
the term Urdu, although it means 'military camp' in Turkish, was used for the capital city of the king.
In other words, the language of the king's capital was a Persianized form of the language usually
called Hindi. This was shortened to 'Urdu' and this term was used for the first time in written records
by the poet Mushafi in 1780 (Rahman 2011: 49). The British called this language 'Hindustani' and
wrote it in both the Perso-Arabic and the Devanagari script. 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 (Muslim refugees who fled from different parts of India after independence of
Pakistan in 1947), who form nearly 8% of Pakistan's population, and is an acquired language. As
Pakistan's national language, Urdu has been promoted to promote national unity. It is written with a
modified form of the Perso-Arabic alphabet—usually in Nastaliq script—and its basic Hindustani
vocabulary has been enriched by words from Persian, Arabic,Turkic languages and English. Urdu
has drawn inspiration from Persian literature and has now an enormous stock of words from that
language.
In recent years, the Urdu spoken in Pakistan has gradually been influenced by many of the native
languages, such as Pashto,Punjabi and Sindhi, in terms of intonation, as well the incorporation of
terminology from those languages. As such, the language is constantly developing and has acquired
a particularly "Pakistani" flavour that distinguishes it from the language spoken in ancient times and
in India. The first poetry in the ancestor of Urdu-Hindi is attributed to Baba Farid Ganj Shakar of
Pakpattan (1175-1265), or the poet Amir Khusro (1253– 1325), but, since the actual writing of the
manuscripts is of a later date, this cannot be said with certainty. Lines in what may be understood as
Urdu are scattered in the Persian biographies and conversations of saints (Rahman 2011: 61-65)
and the first book of Pashto Khairul Bayan, probably written by Bayazid Ansari between 1560 to
1570, has some pages in the Perso-Arabic script that is written in this language. The image of these
pages is displayed by Rahman in his book From Hindi to Urdu (2011: 134-135). descendants—while
his (or Hindustani) fluently—as did his ancestors mostly spoke Persian and Turkish The Mughal
Emperor Aurangzeb
 Provincial languages

Punjabi
Punjabi (‫ )یباجنپ‬is spoken as a first language by more than 44% of Pakistanis, mostly in Punjab. The
exact numbers of Punjabi speakers in Pakistan is difficult to ascertain since there are many dialects,
such
asSaraiki and Hindko which some regard as part of Punjabi and others regards as a separate
language. If both included then 60% population speaks Punjabi which is the exact population
proportion of Punjab province to overall country population. The standard Punjabi dialect is
from Lahore, Sialkot, Gujranwalaand Sheikhupura districts of the Pakistani Punjab which was used
by Waris Shah (1722–1798) in his famous book Heer Ranjha and is also nowadays the language of
Punjabi literature and music.
Punjabi is descended from Prakrit in the Vedic period (1700 B.C.), Pali, Old Persian and
Apabhramsha in
the Ashoka period (273 B.C. - 232 B.C.) and Hindvi, Lahori and Multani in the Muslim period (711
A.D. - 1857 A.D.). Punjabi literature was principally spiritual in nature and has had a very rich oral
tradition.
Pashto
Pashto (‫ )وتښپ‬is spoken as a first language by 15.5% (c. 29 million) of Pakistanis, mainly in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and in northern Balochistan as well as in
ethnic Pashtun communities in the cities of Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore. Karachi is
one of the most Pashto speaking cities in the world although Pashto speakers constitute only about
25% of the city's population.[1] Pashto is also widely spoken in neighboring Afghanistan where it
has official language status.

Pashto has rich written literary traditions as well as an oral tradition. There are two major dialect
patterns within which the various individual dialects may be classified; these are Pakhto, which is
the Northern (Peshawar) variety, and the softer Pashto spoken in the southern areas. Khushal Khan
Khattak (1613–1689) and Rahman Baba (1633–1708) were famous poets in the Pashto language.
In the last part of 20th century, Pakhto or Pashto has produced some great poets like Ghani Khan,
Khatir Afridi and Amir Hamza Shinwari. They are not included in the overall percentage.
Sindhi
Sindhi (‫ )يڌنس‬is spoken as a first language by 15.5% of Pakistanis, mostly in Sindh, parts of
Balochistan, Southern Punjab and Balochistan. It has a rich literature and is taught in schools. It is
an Indo-Aryan (Indo- European) language, derived fromSanskrit, and Arabic languages. The Arabs
ruled Sindh for more than 150 years after Muhammad bin Qasim conquered it in 712 AD, remaining
there for three years to set up Arab rule. Consequently, the social fabric of Sindh contains elements
of Arabic society. Sindhi is spoken by over 53.4 million people in Pakistan and some 5.8 million in
India as well as some 2.6 million in other parts of the world. It is the official language of Sindh
province and is one of the scheduled languages officially recognized by the federal government in
India. It is widely spoken in the Lasbela District of Balochistan (where the Lasi tribe speaks a dialect
of Sindhi), many areas of the Naseerabad, Rahim Yar Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan districts in Sindh
andJafarabad districts of Balochistan, and by the Sindhi diaspora abroad. Sindhi language has six
major dialects: Sireli, Vicholi, Lari, Thari, Lasi and Kachhi. It is written in the Arabic script with
several additional letters to accommodate special sounds. The largest Sindhi-speaking cities
are Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Shikarpur, Dadu, Jacobabad, Larkana and Nawabshah.Sindhi
literature is also spiritual in nature. Shah Abdul Latif Bhita'i (1689–1752) is one of its greatest poets,
and wrote Sassi Punnun and Umar Marvi, folk stories, in his famous book "Shah Jo Risalo".
Balochi
Balochi (‫ )یچولب‬is spoken as a first language by about 4% of Pakistanis, mostly in Balochistan
province. It is believed that the language was brought to its present location in a series of migrations
from
the Kurdistan region of northeastern Iraq and northwestern Iran. 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.
Balochi language is very close to the Persian itself. The name Balochi or Baluchi is not found before
the 10th Century. It is one of the 9 distinguished languages of Pakistan. Since Balochi is a very
poetic and rich language and has a certain degree of affinity to Persian and Urdu, Balochi poets
tend to be very good poets in Urdu as well and Ata Shaad, Gul Khan Nasir andNoon Meem Danish
are excellent examples of this.
Regional languages
Kashmiri
Kashmiri (‫ )أشك ُر‬is an ancient Dardic language spoken in Azad Kashmir, Gilgit–Baltistan and Punjab
provinces of Pakistan. There are over 100,000 Kashmiri speakers in Pakistan.

Brahui
Brahui (‫ )یوھاكب‬is a Dravidian language of central and east-central Balochistan. The language has
been influenced by neighboring Balochi and to a lesser extent by Sindhi and Pashto. 1–1.5% of the
Pakistani population has Brahui as their first language. It is one of the nine distinguished
[clarification needed] languages
of Pakistan.The Brahui people have traditionally been taken as a relict population, suggesting that
Dravidian languages were formerly more widespread but were supplanted by the incoming Indo-
Aryan
languages.[3] However, this idea has fallen out of favor; Brahui appears to have migrated to
Balochistan from central India after 1000 CE, as evidenced by the absence of Avestan loanwords.
The main Iranian contributor to Brahui vocabulary, Balochi, is a western Iranian language like
Kurdish that moved to the area from the west only around 1000 CE.
Hindko
Hindko (‫ )وکدنہ‬name is derived from Hindukush mountains" is mainly spoken in this mountain range
in the districts of Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Peshawar, Kohat, Nowshera, Swabi, the lower
half of Neelum District and Muzafarabad District of Kashmir by an estimated 2.2 to 4 million people.
[citation needed]. It is very similar to northern dialects of Punjabi
Shina
Shina (‫( )انیش‬also known as Tshina) is a Dardic language spoken by a plurality of people in Gilgit–
Baltistan of Pakistan. The valleys in which it is spoken include Astore, Chilas, Dareil, Tangeer, Gilgit,
Ghizer, and a few parts of Kohistan. It is also spoken in Gurez, Drass, Kargil, Karkit Badgam and
Ladakh valleys of Kashmir. There were 321,000 speakers of Gilgiti Shina in 1981. Current estimate
is nearly 600,000 people.
Saraiki
Saraiki (‫ )یکیئاكس‬is spoken in southern Punjab,which comprises Multan, Lodhran, Bahawalpur,
Bhakkar, Mianwali, Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh and Rahim Yar Khan districts. It is also
spoken by majority of population of Dera Ismail Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (‫)كبیخ اوخنوتښپ‬
province, kachi plain of Balochistan, northern parts of Sindh, and also spoken by few people in the
cities of Hyderabad and Karachi. More than 18 million Saraiki live in Pakistan, and nearly 100
thousand Saraiki live in other countries specially India, UAE and Saudi Arab.
Other languages
English (official language)
English is one of the official languages of Pakistan (the other being Urdu) and is widely used in the
executive, legislative and judicial branches as well as to some extent in the officer ranks of
Pakistan's armed forces.
Pakistan's Constitution and laws are written in English. It is also widely used
in schools, colleges and universities as a medium of instruction. Amongst the more educated social
circles of Pakistan, English is seen as the language of upward mobility and its use is becoming more
prevalent in upper social circles often spoken alongside native Pakistani languages. For details of
the history of the English

language in India and Pakistan see Rahman (2002).

Other languages spoken by linguistic minorities include the languages listed below, with speakers
ranging from a few hundred to tens of thousands. A few are highly endangered languages that may
soon have no speakers at all.