Saraiki language

Saraiki (Shahmukhi: سرائیکی, Gurmukhi: ਸਰਾਇਕੀ, Sarā'īkī, Saraiki pronunciation:; also spelt Siraiki, or Seraiki) is a language of Lahndadialect continuum within the Punjabilanguage variety of the Indo-Aryan language family. It is spoken by 28.84 million people, as per the 2023 Pakistani census, mostly in southern Punjab, northern Sindh and southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Saraiki is also spoken in Indian Punjab by Sikhs and Hindus who migrated from the southern regions of West Punjab in 1947 and write it using the Gurmukhi script.

Saraiki has partial mutual intelligibility with Standard Punjabi, and it shares with it a large portion of its vocabulary and morphology. At the same time in its phonology it is radically different (particularly in the lack of tones, the preservation of the voiced aspirates and the development of implosive consonants), and has important grammatical features in common with the Sindhi language spoken to the south.

Due to the effects of dominant languages in Pakistani media like Urdu, Standard Punjabi and English and the religious impact of Arabic and Persian, Saraiki, like other regional language varieties of Pakistan, is continuously expanding its vocabulary base with loan words.