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Sindhi language
*** Shopping-Tip: Sindhi language
{{language
|name=Sindhi
|nativename=سنڌي، सिन�धी ''sindhī''
|states=
Pakistan,
India. Also
Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR,
Oman,
Philippines,
Singapore,
United Arab Emirates UAE,
United Kingdom UK,
United States USA
|region=
South Asia
|speakers=19.7 million
|rank=47
|familycolor=Indo-European
|fam2=
Indo-Iranian languages Indo-Iranian
|fam3=
Indo-Aryan languages Indo-Aryan
|fam4=Northwestern Zone
|nation=
Pakistan,
India
|iso1=sd|iso2=snd|iso3=snd
|notice=Indic}}
'''Sindhi''' (سنڌي، सिन�धी ''sindhī'') is the language of the
Sindh region of
South Asia, which is now a province of
Pakistan. It is an
Indo-Aryan language spoken by approximately 35 million people in
Pakistan, and 2.8 million in
India; it is also a recognised official language in both of these countries. ÙŽAlthough the language is predominantly Aryan, it also shows up signs of Dravidan influence, making it unique in its importance and identity. Most Sindhi speakers in
Pakistan are concentrated in
Sindh. The remaining speakers are found spread throughout the many areas of the world (mainly other parts of
India) to which members of an
ethnic group migrated when
Sindh became a part of
Pakistan during the
partition of India partition of
British India in
1947. The language is written using the modified
Arabic language Arabic script. In 1948, the govt. of India implemented
Devanagari script for the Sindhi language that did not get wide acceptance.
Geographical distribution
Sindhi is taught as a first language in the schools of south-east Pakistan. Sindhi language has a vast vocabulary; this has made it a favourite of many writers and so a lot of literature and poetry has been written in Sindhi. Dialects of Sindhi are spoken in southern
Panjab,
Balochistan, Northwest province of Pakistan (NWFP), and also
Gujrat as well as
Rajasthan in India.
History
Sindhi was a very popular literary language around the
14th century 14th-
18th century 18th centuries. This is when
sufis such as
Shah Abdul Latif (as well as numerous others) narrated their
theosophical poetry depicting the relationship between humans and God.
The
Qur'an was first translated into Sindhi in rhymatic format. This was the first ever translation of Qur'an in the
12th century or earlier.
Sounds
Sindhi has a very rich sound inventory. It has 46 distinctive
consonant phonemes (more than all the phonemes of
English language English combined) and a further 16
vowels. All
plosives,
affricates,
nasal consonant nasals, the
retroflex flap and the
lateral approximant /l/ have
aspiration aspirated or
breathy voiced counterparts. The language also features four separate
implosives.
Consonants
{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial Unicode MS, Lucida Sans Unicode"
|-
!
! colspan="2" |
Bilabial
! colspan="2" |
Labiodental
! colspan="2" |
Dental
! colspan="2" |
Alveolar
! colspan="2" | Post-
alveolar
! colspan="2" |
Palatal
! colspan="2" |
Velar
! colspan="2" |
Glottal
|- align=center
|
Plosives
| p
p
h
| b
b
ɦ
| colspan="2" |
| t
t
h
| d
d
ɦ
| colspan="2" |
| ʈ
ʈ
h
| É–
É–
ɦ
| colspan="2" |
| k
k
h
| g
g
ɦ
| colspan="2" |
|- align=center
|
Implosives
|
| É“
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|
| É—
| colspan="2" |
|
| Ê„
|
| É
| colspan="2" |
|- align=center
|
Affricates
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| c
c
h
| ÉŸ
ÉŸ
ɦ
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|- align=center
|
nasal consonant Nasals
| colspan="2" | m
m
ɦ
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" | n
n
ɦ
| colspan="2" | ɳ
ɳ
ɦ
| colspan="2" | ɲ
| colspan="2" | Å‹
| colspan="2" |
|- align=center
|
Fricatives
| colspan="2" |
| f
|
| colspan="2" |
| s
| z
| Ê‚
|
| colspan="2" |
| x
| ɣ
| h
|
|- align=center
|
tap consonant Taps and flaps
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" | r
| colspan="2" | ɽ
ɽ
ɦ
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|- align=center
|
Approximants
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" | Ê‹
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" | j
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|- align=center
| Lateral
approximants
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" | l
l
ɦ
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|- align=center
|}
The phoneme /r/ is usually pronounced as an
alveolar tap, [ɾ], though occasionally reminiscent of a trill with two or more contacts. The affricates /c, c
h, ÉŸ, ÉŸ
ɦ/ are pronounced with a relatively short release and corresponding plosives symbols have therefore been used. /ʋ/ can be realized as either [w] or [ʋ] with
free variation.
Vowels
Image:Sindhi vowel chart.png The vowel phonemes of Sindhi
Writing system
In
Pakistan, Sindhi is written in a variant of the
Arabic alphabet Arabic script, which was adopted under the encouragement of the British when Sindh fell to the British in the 19th century. It has a total of 52 Arabic-derived letters, accommodating the additional sounds peculiar to Indo-Aryan languages.
In
India, Sindhi is widely written in the same standard modified Arabic script, with some popular use of
Devanagari script as well.
See also
[http://www.geocities.com/sindhmag '''Khushboo - Online Sindhi Magazine ==''']
*
Languages of India
*
List of national languages of India
*
List of Indian languages by total speakers
[http://www.sindhologyind.org '''Indian institute of Sindhology - Working for promotion of sindhi language ==''']
*Osar Peerrhkaa
اوسر پيڙھڪا -- [http://www.ausar.org '''working for the promotion of Sindhi language, Culture and Education]
References
* International Phonetic Association (1999) ''Handbook of the International Phonetic Association'' ISBN 0-521-63751-1
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/sindhi.htm
External links
{{interwiki|code=sd}}
Category:Indo-Aryan languages
Category:Languages of India
Category:Languages of Pakistan
Category:Sindh
bg:Синдхи
br:Sindeg
ca:Sindhi
da:Sindhi
de:Sindhi
es:Idioma sindhi
fr:Sindhi
hi:सिंधी à¤à¤¾à¤·à¤¾
id:Bahasa Sindhi
ka:სინდური ენ�
nl:Sindhi
sv:Sindhi
zh:ä¿¡å¾·è¯
*** Shopping-Tip: Sindhi language
