The Sindhi language

Sindhi Language Alphabet in 1190AH.

Sindh? (Arabic script: ????, Devanagari script: ??????) is spoken by about 15 million people in the province of Sindh. The largest Sindhi-speaking city is Hyderabad, Pakistan. It is an Indo-European language, related to Kutchi, Gujarati and other Indo-European languages prevalent in the region with substantial Persian, Turkish and Arabic loan words. In Pakistan it is written in a modified Arabic script.

Sindhi is an official language in both Pakistan, where it is spoken by approximately 18.5 million speakers, and in India, where it is spoken by close to three million speakers in the northern region of the country. Outside Pakistan and India, Sindhi is spoken in Oman, United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and in the USA. Although Sindhi is an Indo-Aryan language, it shows some signs of Dravidian influence (in both the lexicon and phonology), making it a noteworthy Indic language both linguistically and culturally.

Sindhi is spoken in Pakistan and is also one of the constitutional languages of India. It is spoken by about 20 million people in the province of Sind, southern Pakistan, Balochistan and by about 2 million more across the border in India. In Pakistan it is written in the Arabic script with several additional letters to accommodate special sounds. The largest Sindhi-speaking city is Hyderabad, Pakistan. Sindhi literature is also spiritual in nature and Shah Abdul Latif Bhattai (1689-1752) was one of its legendary poet who wrote Sassi Punnu, Umar Marwi in his famous book "Shah jo Rasalo".

Key Dialects: Kachchi, Lari, Lasi, Thareli, Vicholo (Central Sindhi), Macharia, Dukslinu (Hindu Sindhi), and Sindhi Musalmani (Muslim Sindhi).