Sindhi is taught as a first language in the schools of Sindh
and as a second language in Balochistan in Pakistan. In India, especially in
the states of Maharashtra & Gujarat, Sindhi is either taught as the medium
of instruction or as a subject by many educational institutions managed by
Sindhi community. Due to its vast vocabulary, it is a favorite of many writers
and therefore, much literature and poetry have been written in Sindhi. Southern
Punjab, Balochistan, Northwest province of Pakistan (NWFP), Gujarat and
Rajasthan are the places where dialects of Sindhi are spoken.
Sindhi is the language of the Sindh region of Pakistan. It
is spoken by approximately 18 million people in Pakistan, making it the third
most spoken language of Pakistan and the official language of Sindh in
Pakistan. It is also spoken in India and has also been made an official
language of India. It is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch of
the Indo-European language family. Sindhi and Urdu are the two languages in
which the government of Pakistan issues national identity cards to its
citizens.
History Of Sindhi Language:-
Sindhi was a very popular literary language between the 14th
and 18th centuries. The ancestor of Sindhi was an Apabhramsha Prakrit, named
'Vrachada'. Abu-Rayhan Biruni in his book 'Mal al-Hind' had declared that even
before the advent of Islam in Sindh, the language was common in the region. It
was not only widely spoken, but also written in three different scripts.
Ardhanagari, Saindhu and Malwari, all variations of Devanagari were the three
different scripts in which it was written. During the British period
Devanagari, Modi or Vanika scripts, without any vowels were used by the traders
and common people including Khojas and Memons for writing Sindhi, whereas
government employees used some kind of Arabic script.
Writing System Of Sindhi Language:-
The Sindhi Hindus followed Devanagari script for writing the
language (which they do even today). However, a modified Arabic script was
produced with the Arab invasion of Sindh and the conversion of most Sindhis to
Islam. The government of India introduced Devanagari, alongside the official
Arabic script, for writing Sindhi after the independence of both Pakistan and
India from British rule. Given below are the two most common scripts used for
Sindhi language.
Arabic Script:-
Sindhi is written in a variant of the Persian
alphabet in Pakistan. This was adopted under the support of the British, when
Sindh fell to them in the 19th century. It has a total of 52 letters. Some
letters that are distinguished in Arabic or Persian are homophones in Sindhi
Devanagari
Script:- In India, the Devanagari script is used to write Sindhi. In 1948, the government of India re-introduced it. However, it did not gain full acceptance that is the reason both the Sindhi-Arabic and Devanagari scripts are used. To mark implosive consonants diacritical bars below the letter are used. The dots known as nukta are used to form other additional consonants.
 |
| Sindhi Alphabet |
